be considered damaging to trayvon martin including mast marijuana abuse and detail of the suspension that had him out of school on the day he died. all of which we found out is going to be blocked from the courtroom. >> the state is seeking to prohibit the defense from making any reference to the fact that trayvon martin had at any time been suspended for school. >> that will not be mentioned at all without a prior ruling of the court. >> any communications or evidence that trayvon martin had used marijuana in the past we're asking the court to exclus that. >> previously used marijuana the state's motion will be granted. that will not come in. >> among the most compel -- compelling of the issues, how do you keep a jury, impartial, anonymous and away from the press. >> the concern i have is making

sure that in a highly profile and highly publicized case is that the people that need to do their job on this case fairly and impartially are as protected as we can make them. >> i don't know how we're going to do that just from a logistics standpoint. how are you going to sequester for three or four weeks? we're going to book people into hotels? it's impossible. >> joining us is kerry sanders outside the courtroom. before we get started i want to mention that george zimmerman sued nbc universal for defamation and the company strongly denied his allegations. a lot of fast moving parts but let's start with what we do know and the fact that the judge denied any delay. >> that means that things are set two weeks from now. that monday morning there will be 500 potential jurors that will be summoned here to the courthouse in sanford, florida and they'll walk in and begin

the voir dire process. that's where the prosecutors and defense get to interview this potential jurors. the judge ordered that there will be no names released and that the cameras will not be allowed to show the faces of the potential jurors in the courtroom. 500 people coming into the courthouse with cameras everywhere. there will be pictures of them taken going into the courthouse. that's one thing that the judge did not address. there will be a hearing on how this is all going to be handled. there is an attorney here representing the media. florida has a very open record state where just about everything is presented for public inspection which means that cameras and reporters can show and reveal just about everything in the judicial process. this is some what unusual, however not unprecedented. >> is the defense having a bad morning so far not getting the delay they requested? they wanted to be able to use

that time to gather more evidence and evidence issues regarding trayvon martin not going to be considered or brought up in the courtroom when they're trying to bring up issue with potential past marijuana use and things like that. >> things are not necessarily going their way but it is not set in stone that like mast marijuana use will not necessarily make it's way back into the courtroom or photographs like these, these are photographs taken from trayvon martin's cell phone and you can see if these pictures that he is blowing smoke. there's pictures of a marijuana plant. there's pictures of a pistol. the judge ordered that will not be included in the opening statements to the jury. but it may work it's way into the course of this case at some point and a lot of that has to do with where things go with witnesses on the stand. an example, if trayvon martin's -- if the question comes up why with trayvon martin in sanford, he didn't live here, he lives in miami. why was he in sanford visiting

his father who was with his girlfriend? well it was because he had been suspended from school and he had been suspended for school from marijuana use. if the state somehow brings up that question, then it may need to be answered to the jury's satisfaction and the judge will rule she says at that time of whether the defense can bring it up. so while it won't be included in the opening statements with we may indeed see it part of this case. >> and real quickly, george zimmerman not in the courtroom today. why is that? do we know. >> i don't have a specific answer as to why he's not obligated to be in the courtroom and so he is not here today. >> kerry sanders reporting from sanford florida. thank you so much. i want to bring in paul headerson, a prosecutor. as a prosecutor and you're hearing what's going on this morning. a lot of fast moving developments but the judge is decisive in her rulings. what do you make of the character evidence they have tried to get presented for trial and the fact that the judge

already ruled out much of the pieces of evidence such as the school records. >> it was pretty predictable but i'm disappointed that what they tried to present was evidence that they knew or should have known was never going to be allowed in this courtroom so to me, it's a disingenuous attempt to taint the jury pool to try and portray their client in a more favorable manner by messing up the victim in this case or trying to look bad. they knew ahead of time. >> paul because of the way our system works in this country, isn't george zimmerman afforded and shouldn't have the best defense possible and this would be the case that they're trying to present to be able to paint the picture of what they're up against here. who was trayvon martin? >> he is entitled to that. he'll have a good defense. you have to weigh and balance, though, what is legal and i believe the lawyers in this case knew better. they knew that there is not a

high likelihood or any likelihood that a lot of the evidence that they included in their motions which becomes a public record because they're filed as part of the records and it gets disseminated in the media but i know these lawyers knew better. i know that they knew there was not a high likelihood that any of that evidence could be released. in fact, that's why i think the prosecution in this case asked for the third time for a gag order to try and restrict what the defense team is putting out into the public even in these motions because it's not relevant. it's actually prejudicial and that's exactly why the judge kept all of that evidence out. >> okay. so since trayvon martin's shooting it came to the forefront, a lot of conversations in this country and creates a visceral reaction for a lot of people but when we look at the evidence and talk about that, there's a question of whose voice is heard in the background of a 9 11 call. and if both sides were able to

agree on voice analysis experts and one in general, is there a chance that the identity of that person screaming could really close the case or are there other prominent pieces of evidence that could sway? is it all down to the voice? who is calling for help? >> it's one of the lynch pins in the case. the prosecution has their experts lined up and they turned that information over. you're seeing the defense team try to challenge the expert and the prosecutions conclusion that it is trayvon martin's voice. the reason that's important is they know it's going to be very influnential to a jury to make a determination as to who was calling for help, right? because when you're evaluating who was the aguesssor in a fight or who was acting inappropriately in a conflict, one of the things you're going to be listening for is who was actually screaming out, asking for aid and assistance and, in this case, i think what we're

going to see is a continued fight over that tape and a continued fight challenging the prosecutions witness and analysis determining that it was trayvon martin that was actually the one calling for help, asking for assistance and being abused or threatened or being fought and ultimately obviously being shot in this case and that's why it's going to be important. >> prosecutor paul henderson. court is over for the day. it's going to resume on the 6th. the big development is the fact that the judge denied a request for the defense. the case will go to trial in two weeks. president obama will arrive in new jersey where he'll get a firsthand look at the recovery from super storm sandy. just as he did in the days after sandy struck in october he'll tour beach communities deaf stated by sandy with republican governor chris christie who might try to succeed him in the white house. many republicans are still

frustrated by last year's tour days before at the election where the president and governor famously exchanged gloeg praise for each other. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> i think the people of new jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul into making sure the people of new jersey bounce back stronger than before. i want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. >> that was october. fast forward to today. joining us, peter alexander. the political odd couple. they are back together once again. certainly what a difference six or seven months can make there on the jersey shore. >> yeah, in many ways it's a second act for this political odd couple. chris christie and the president will be together. the president is supposed to be here in the next 30 minutes or so. you can see it's raining now but the people that are from asbury park tell us we survived sandy.

rain is just a nuisance at this point. the president is going to visit with the people badly impacted. the business owners as well. i spoke to the mayor that said in an average summer they hired about 1500 workers and they're hiring 900 for this summer. they still have a ways to go. that's the message they want to deliver is the need to support tourism which in this state is a $40 billion industry. the president who was just in oklahoma over the weekend visiting with the people where the tornado ravaged the community of moore, oklahoma, said that he will pledge to support -- the on going support of the government. white house officials say this say chance to deliver on the same promise to the people of this region as well. there's obviously political consequences or implications to this as well. chris christie still get a little bit of blow back for his chumminess with the president but expect to see a lot more of that. as chris christie said when the

today show team was here a few days ago if the president wants to come to my town, i'm the governor and we'll be there to welcome him. >> peter alexander from the jersey shore. thank you. appreciate it. >> yeah. the sign on the national committee doors says closed for repairs. >> bob doyle's advice for his own party. will they listen? also john mccain's secret visit to syria. did the white house know about it? when did they know about it? do you think senator mccain's visit will help or hurt the obama administration efforts on the global stage. weigh in on facebook and find this on twitter at thomas a. roberts. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement

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welcome back everybody. got to show you this because the markets are loving coming back to work after a holiday. look. over 184 points right now up. it's been up almost by 200 points today. now there are two basic data point wes have been watching this morning as everyone on the market is reacting to this. consumer confidence, the reading that aims to measure how people feel about the overall economy is at it's highest point since february of '08 and a new national index is out that measures values. it had it's strongest reading in seven years. so consumer confidence, that combined with the strength of the housing market and we see the dow jones up nearly 200 points so far this morning. we have going to keep our eye on that this morning. we're learning more about a surprise visit to senator john mccain about the war torn country of syria. richard is in lebanon with more. the violence in the middle

east is no longer contained to syria. in fact, overnight three lebanese soldiers were killed along the syrian border. this as senator john mccain made an unannounced visit into syria. senator mccain has long been a supporter of the syrian opposition and now he went to meet with them for himself. >> reporter: the visit lasted a few hours. no big delegation, secret and low profile but a high risk trip to an area that's recently seen air strikes and suicide attacks. senator mccain crossed into syria from turkey. the rebel faction he wants the u.s. to support with arms and a no fly zone. washington already supplies the army with food and medicine. mccain met with the free syrian army's general commander that spoke exclusively to nbc earlier this month. he's a moderate and the mccain trip seemed aimed at

highlighting him as a partner in a conflict where white house officials said there's no one they trust enough to fully support. instead, the white house is pushing for a negotiated settlement and a u.s. and russian backed conference next month. >> we are committed to this. we want to make the conference happen together with many other conference that joined up. >> as the peace conference is debated bloodshed in syria continues and it's neighbors slip back to silence. now spreading into lebanon where rockets exploded over the weekend and into iraq where there were at least 15 explosions monday. most of them car bombs. most in markets against civilians killing more than 60 people. despite years of american sacrifice, the iraq war is coming back as syria drags the middle east down with it. the european union is also now

taking action. late last night lifting an arms embargo making it legal for european nations to supply weapons to the syrian opposition. joining me now to talk more about this deputy political director, good morning. we're talking about the surprise trip, the visit from senator mccain to the syrian rebels there. white house communications director told our colleague this wasn't a total surprise for the white house but the next question that comes to mind is does john mccain's involvement help the situation or undermine the -- take a listen -- >> i don't believe that his trip puts more pressure on us. this is all of the options you described are -- are what the administration is considering in terms of how we deal with syria and secretary kerry was in russia over the weekend discussing the issue with his

counter part there hoping to some talks in geneva about this. so we continue to put a lot of thought, a lot of effort into it and it's constantly evolving evaluation on our part. >> some white house spin there. what are the thoughts of the reaction inside washington about mccain showing up there. >> we know that the white house is going to want to know what john mccain was able to find out or glean from the ground to be able to figure out a little bit more of what the situation is like. after a decade of war in this country, americans are not too eager to find u.s. involvement in another middle eastern country with american soldiers on the ground with everything they're dealing with coming back from two wars. the president had noted very recently that the afghanistan war was going to be coming to an end and, you know, this is -- this is i think the delicate balance. the morale case that john mccain and others are trying to make for the u.s. to get more

involved set up a no fly zone and arm some of the rebels but it's a tricky situation. you're not sure who you can trust. mccain is pointing to this one man. he's going to have to convince the white house with president obama very cautious on whether or not he wants to commit americans to a place where most americans at this point aren't supportive of more intervention. >> we talk about that american commitment. so we've got really nobody including mccain in favor of putting boots on the ground there. a war weary america. so what are the options in terms of an intervention or the best options because basically it's a worse case scenario. it's the best of worst options. >> yeah, well, you saw in richard's piece that the u.s. is providing food and medicine to the opposition. they'd like the u.s. to go further and arm the rebels but they have to figure out who they would be giving the arms to and set up a no fly zone so you can't have the bombings. those are the things they want

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under arrest after passengers on an alaska airlines flight said he tried to open an emergency exit during the plane's descent yesterday. passengers on the flight restrained him using shoe strings and seat belt extensions. an oregon high school student will be arraigned today on charges he planned a columbine style attack. his mom says he suffers from a rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder. >> a storm chasers got up and close and personal yesterday. the tornado reached wind speeds of 150 miles per hour as it passed over them t. winds so powerful their measuring instruments were ripped off the vehicle. no reports of major damage or injury. just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list

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take advantage of a growing divide in the gop? a new report says some of the irs scrutiny of tea partiers may have been justified and there's more attention and drama ahead over medicaid expansion. those are the top stories for us. joining me today is the editor and chief of think process, joan walsh and he is founder and publisher of political wire. it's great to have you all here. let's talk about what we have going forward with president obama because you have this highlighted on your website talking about the president is going to soon accelerate his efforts to nominate three people to the courts, the high courts. the important federal court a move that is certain to release fierce opposition. this is from the new york times. how effective is the president trying to be right now? is this to create the divide or

a lasting imprint with the courts. >> well, what he is fortunate right now is that there's a change of discussion right now. there's a change of topic. he is going to new jersey to meet with governor christie but in washington at the same time he is exploiting what he sees as a weakness in the republican party. we saw senator john mccain and lee divided on whether to move forward on the budget. when it comes to the judicial nomination he sees a chance to divide republicans in the senate about what the president's power are. there's conservative republicans that will block any nomination under any circumstances. he's trying to push that wedge. meanwhile, bob doyle talking about the fact that the gop party is nothing like he recognizes and that he and ronald reagan wouldn't have succeeded in it. >> what do you think of your party?

or the republicans today? >> i think they ought to put a sign on the national committee doors that says closed for repairs until new years day next year. and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas. >> do you think that's going to fall on does he haeaf ears? >> it probably will. he could give an elbow out there but also worked closely on food stamp issues and he does go back to a day where you could be tough and tough on fashions and the old fashioned republican issues but you would reach across the aisle on things that mattered and it was your job to get things done. senator mccain is tearing his hair out, so to speak, over the

obstructionists who will not let the senate do what it has always done which is forge deals, find compromising and help. >> let me interrupt you. we have been notified that trayvon martin's parents have going to be taking the microphone there to talk in a moment. they're with their lawyer. let's listen. >> none of which had anything to do with the seven minute period on that night of february 26th that trayvon martin was killed. so now we know we're in a legal context now which is where we should be and all the things they did to defame his character, to give him a bad name, to turn people against him will not work because it doesn't fit in the legal arena and this time i'll have attorney crump address you. >> good afternoon. trayvon martin did not have a

gun. trayvon martin did not get out of the car to chase anybody. trayvon martin did not shoot and kill anybody. trayvon martin is not on trial. the judge went through about 22 motions that she denied primarily based on all that information that the defense lawyers put out. you all called it evidence. we told you it was not evidence. it was information that the defense lawyers put out. we have to respect the rule of law. we have to respect the ruls of evidence. we have to be responsible, all of us and when people put something out there, we have to challenge it. we just can't accept it as a relevant issue. none of the information released last week by the defense lawyers were relevant, admissible.

it's not brady evidence. it is not exculpatory. it was not factor -- it does not conclude the guilt or innocence of george zimmerman. so just because they put something out there and say it's relevant, you have to challenge that. you have to say what context is this just like we're challenged all the time. when we say something, it's not evidence because attorney crump says something. it has to be the perspective from every aspect. we have to be fair in this because we have to be fair to trayvon's family as well. now i will say one other important thing. it was a huge victory when the defense waved their pretrial stand your ground immunity

hearing because it validated what all the protestors said about having a right to have george zimmerman come to court to face the evidence against him for killing an unarmed teenager. and that's all they were asking for. they were not asking for a conviction. they were asking that the constitution apply to everybody. that we be fair. and sabrina fulton and tracy martin and trayvon's whole family asked continuously that the process be fair because that's all they want is a fair process and the verdict be based on the evidence. in conclusion i would only say that today was very important because the trial is on track to come forth on june 10th.

>> we have been listening to the attorney that represents the parents of trayvon martin talking about what happened today in the pretrial hearing for the case against george zimmerman. the state of florida against george zimmerman and the murder charge he is facing going forward. basically, benjamin crump talking about the fact that the defense attorneys were trying to defame the character of trayvon martin but reminding everybody it's not trayvon martin on trial for this. the biggest thing was the fact that the judge denied the defenses request to delay the start of the trial. that trial will begin coming up on june 10th. so i want to say thank you to my guests for standing by as we rolled with the punches there. i did give you fair warning. judd i'm sorry because you're away from me and i couldn't give you fair warning. i'll start with you on this because we left talking about obstructionism in washington d.c. and it starting to come to roost and here we have boehner talking about his shrinking

power and that he has little ability to work with his fellow house republicans, has quit for the good. his solo efforts to craft a grand bargain and taxes and sending as hasn't bothered to initiate a conversation with president obama this calendar year. so is he the weakest speaker in history as the headline would have you believe? >> well i think it's certainly remarkable that the only way he really has gotten things done is by teaming out with democrats and putting out provisions and bills that aren't supported by the majority of his caucus. so it's unclear who he represents at this point. i think this article is a reflection of the fact that while some of the scandals we have been talking about are important, this issue with the ap and fox news is important to freedom of the press, the issue of the irs is important to good governance, it hasn't been the political haymaker that the republicans were hoping for.

you see barrack obama, his poll numbers improving since all of this came out so then you start to see the narrative change and we're seeing it turn against john boehner now. >> does that mean that cantor is waiting in the wings and licking his chops and the fact that someone is questioning him to the degree of being the weakest speaker in history, it logically makes sense that he might asend. >> certainly he doesn't see eye to eye with some of the more hard lined people in the republican caucus. there's been rumors about kanter. he's probably waiting for the right time. at the same time, why try to do this now. he'll wait and usually these things are done after the election. so i think really the results of 2014 will probably determine john boehner's future. if they don't do well in this coming election. i think you'll probably then see a change. >> meanwhile, the other story we

continue to watch here is the target of the tea party and the irs scandal and what that all means, the new york times with their article out looking at what conservative groups were really targeted and who have been put to that extra scrutiny. we have donald who was a former lawyer with the justice department's tax division who is a law professor at ohio state university saying while some of the irs questions may have been overboard you can look at some of these groups and understand why these questions were asking asked. so is this trying to legitimize what the cincinnati offices were doing or at least what their vetting was in trying to decide who should be put up -- >> i think it's trying to explain it. we can all agree that having a list of keywords that include tea party and patriots and liberty the trigger was not a good thing. it was wrong. let me be more strong than that. it was actually wrong. however, the more we learn about what they were looking at and what they were faced with, we're seeing that a lot of the groups

were engaged in more work than they admitted to and probably should have been doing. we had an alabama tea party group that got involved with code red usa doing get out the vote drive to target barrack obama. we had a veteran -- very conservative veteran's group their main activity was to try to elect a conservative veteran to congress. we had the ohio liberty coalition working on behalf of mitt romney and the irs is seeing these things and learning these things and asking appropriate questions about who are your donors, what are your goals, are your leaders running for political office, are you affiliated with a party and those questions are quite legitimate. >> tea party history they don't like to pay taxes to begin with. so you named your group after people that don't want to pay taxes. that's okay but if perception is reality is the fact that learner took the fifth helping build the case that this group wasn't up

for any type of targeting that would put them at a disadvantage. >> well, you know, the republicans hoped that the scandal unfolded and as people dug in and investigated what happened they would hope to find links to the white house and to the president themselves but as we saw over the weekend in some of the reporting actually some of the investigations that were taking place of the groups were legitimate and justified and that's not a good thing for republicans and that's probably one of the good reasons why we changed the subject this week until more digging can be done. >> i want to get you on the fact that we are more issues with with medicaid expansion coming up. there was a great write up talking about the fact that there's been more cliff hangers than a season finale of homeland when it comes to medicaid but as we look at this, it's the governors in the different states around the country drawing headlines like jan brewer or rick perry down in texas. >> it's important to remember

that politics have consequences and the consequences in texas right now is that 1.5 million poor people have not going to get free health insurance that they're really entitled to and what's worse, all the people of texas are going to pay for this free health care through their federal taxes but because ideology is trumping all, the texas legislature supported by rick perry has said we're not going to allow these 1.5 million individuals to get free health care through 2016 and then the state contribution would be just 10% by 2020. you see the exact reverse course taken by jan brewer also an extremely conservative republican but she said until the state legislature approves this and allows the poor in arizona to take advantage of this she is going to veto every

single other piece of legislation. so two totally different tracks in arizona and texas but really the lives and the health of millions of people on the line and i think it's easy to forget as the constant chatter goes back and forth how much is at stake in some of the debates. >> all right gang. we'll have to leave it there. always great to have you on. thank you. more trouble for new jersey's flagship university. the allegations against the newly opponented athletic director and why they're leading for calls for the president of rutgers to step down. our question for you, do you think senator mccain's trip to syria will help or hurt the obama administration efforts? . [ tires screech ]

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players at the university of tennessee. rutgers said looking at her entire record of accomplishment we remain confident that we selected an individual that will work in the best interest of all of our student athletes, our teams and the university. hermann herself issued a statement saying i'm truly sorry that some were disappointed during my tenure as coach. for sure i was an intense coach but there is a vast difference between high intensity and abusive behavior. >> this latest controversy comes months after mike rice was fired after video showed him physically and verbally abusing players. the allegations against hermann were uncovered by craig wolf who appeared today on morning joe. >> rutgers did not make the phone calls that i did and when i say that, i'm not trying to suggest that what i did was an act of genius by any any stretch. i picked up the phone and doing basic reporting 101 i called former players and that's how i

discovered it. >> all right. so joining me right now is edge of sport.com. it's great to have you here. as we talk about what's going on with julie hermann's past, all players on the 1997 volleyball team said the mental cruelty we as a team suffered is unbearable. it says she refers to them as whores, alcoholics and learning disabled. do you think that her statement is enough here based on what the '97 team is saying? >> not even close. look, i would call what's happening at rutgers a clown show but that would be a grave insult to clown. the issue is less what julie may have done 17 years ago, because over the last 17 years her reputation, specifically at louisville has been absolutely sterling. the problem has been julie hermann's response.

she has now been caught in two lies. the first was saying that she did not believe that the meeting with the players ever took place even though they saul swear up and down it did even to the point of describing the couches they sat on and the second saying she was never on video telling a former assistant coach that if she got pregnant she could use her job. that assistant coach won a huge financial settlement for tennessee and there is video tape and if there's one thing rutgers should be sensitive to is now a video tape can help a scandal mushroom even more. the part that gets to the school, what makes this an issue that could threaten the president at rutgers is that his team of people that hired julie hermann said we have no idea this was part of her past and, yes, we knew this was part of her past but we didn't have a problem with it. that does not breed institutional confidence. >> joining us by phone is the

democratic state senator richard codey who is calling for the resignation of the rutgers president. is this the straw that broke the camels back for you. >> i'm calling on her to come up with the best a.d. candidates in the country. they gave him 41. she was not even on the list. so somehow, someway she gets into the process. and at the head of the process, and gets selected. now i agree with dave. she's a flat-out liar. and if you're looking for a candidate for rutgers, what is the number one thing? nothing in their background about abusing fellow coaches, players in any way, shape or form. that's number one and she has it. like dave said, she flat-out lied about the incidents with the players, about the meeting. about saying to her assistant coach, if you get married, and you become pregnant i'm going to

fire you. which she did. and cost the taxpayers of tennessee, $150,000. what in god's name are we hiring this person for? and by the way, the past a.d.? everybody said he did a great job. when he wanted to fire the basketball coach, he was told by university lead counsel, no, you can't. so he fined him $50,000 to suspend him for four games, and told him he has to go to anger management courses, he guess fired. she gets hired? now that's pretty stupid. >> sir, one thing i want to point out to everybody, herman is set to officially take over the rutgers athletic department june 17th. dave, i want to ask you, as the state senator is pointing out, he wants to see barchie go and he never wants to see herman take over the post in june. do you think that's what rutgers has to re-evaluate now. especially according to the state senator they had a firm,

pulled together all the best names that could take over the role, her name was not on the list, makes you wonder how she was elevated to the top. >> look, robert barchie has put his hip chips on the table for julie herman. will she go if robert bampie goes as well? it won't be one or the other, both are going to stay or both are going 0 go. this is an issue that's not going away. >> i want to say thanks to both of you for joining me. we're back with more after this.

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thanks for your time. i'll see you back tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. "now" comes up next with alex

wagner. >> president obama and new jersey governor chris christie team up again to tour the recovery effort seven months after hurricane sandy made landfall. nbc's peter alexander joins us to talk fema and frenemies. and the white house does damage control on a series of leak investigations. but will a new shield law help quiet the controversy? we'll discuss with bob her bert. katrina vandenhuevel. and can the new york city mayoral race lead the nation. democratic candidate bill deblasiel joins us.

relief from the storm or in the president's case, multiple storms. it's tuesday, may 28th, and this is "now." right now, president obama is in new jersey, touring

reconstruction efforts since superstorm sandy devastated the shore seven months ago. this is a look at asbury park, where the president will speak in the next hour. the president is accompanied today by governor chris christie and will also meet with victims of the storm. today's images will likely recall president obama's visit to the region in the wake of the disaster last year. when he spent time consoling families who had just lost everything. the president played a similar role on sunday in moore, oklahoma. >> our fellow americans are praying with you, thinking about you and they want to help. and so i'm just a messenger here today. letting everybody here know that you are not alone. that you've got folks behind you. >> as he's grown accustomed to playing the role of consoler in chief, it's clear that president obama has internalized certain lessons from his predecessor, understanding the importance of setting foot on broken ground, rather than surveying damage by air. while president obama was on the ground at