justice department's new strategy to deal with leaks and how it hopes to mend fences with the media. gaining momentum, disgraced former congressman anthony weiner making headway in his run for mayor of new york city. the new numbers that have him headed in the right direction, and yes, the puns will continue. it is "way too early." you know, we write the scripts for anthony weiner not trying to put puns in there and they end up there anyway. i'm brian shactman, wednesday, may 29th, and we begin with a story that broke overnight. congresswoman and former presidential candidate, maybe this story will make barnicle happy. michele bachmann has announced she'll not seek reelection in 2014. it would have been her fifth term in a lengthy youtube video

she dismissed claims the decision was because of federal inquiries into her presidential campaign fund raising. but first, she explained congressional term limits in heavy and some might say excruciating detail. >> this is the right decision. for some, a single two-year house term is enough service, for others, ten terms or two decades in the house is still not enough service. our constitution allows for the decision of length of service in congress to be determined by the congress people themselves or by the voters in the district. however, the law limits anyone from serving as president of the united states for more than eight years. and in my opinion, well, eight years is also long enough for an individual to serve as a representative for a specific congressional district. be assured my decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to congress. i've always in the past defeated

candidates who are capable, qualified, and well-funded. and i have every confidence that if i ran, i would again defeat the individual who i defeated last year who recently announced he is once again running. >> so why bring it up? if no one's concerned about it, i mean, you've got to go watch the rest of it for yourself. but that pretty much sums it up in terms of delivery and information. i was glad for that constitutional lesson on term limits, though. jim graves who was expected to give her a tight race this cycle fell short by fewer than 5,000 votes last year. bachmann also considered not running for the seat after her presidential bid because she didn't want to risk republicans losing her seat. we'll talk more about that, i'm sure, on "morning joe." and an update on the irs scandal, nbc news has learned several top officials at the agency requested information on conservative groups and that expands the scope, again, beyond the irs's cincinnati office.

and that includes one letter with the signature of the agency's suspended director. that would be lois lerner. the attorney representing more than two dozen conservative groups that applied for tax exempt status believes the also was engaged in a coordinated and deliberate attempt to silence the groups. he will join us at the top of the hour on "morning joe" with more information about his case against the irs. turning now to the department of justice scandals where weeks of public scrutiny appear to be taking its toll on eric holder. holder began feeling a, quote, creeping sense of personal remorse, end quote, after he became aware the "washington post" was working on a story covering the doj's affidavit to search fox news reporter james rosen's personal e-mail. you get a little brow sweat sort of thinking about it. maybe that's what he was going through. i'm not sure exactly what

describing those emotions were for the "daily beast." the house judiciary committee is looking at the congressional testimony on may 15th, where he denied any involvement in prosecuting the press. last week, the justice department admitted holder signed off on the decision to search rosen's phone and e-mail records. so a little bit of conflicting information there. now to a business where a group of men behind the online currency group liberty reserve are accused of using their business to launder about $6 billion creating what prosecutors called the, quote, bank of choice for the criminal underworld. for more on that story and the rest of today's business headlines, we go overseas, live for us in london. jeff, this is pretty unbelievable and shows you what the future of currency, doesn't have to do with paper anymore, it's all that sort of electronic currency. >> fantastic story. i mean, the fed officials handling this just said that the

extent of malpractice was staggering. those were the comments that were connected to this $6 billion that appeared to be circulating through various bad guys' accounts as a result of this online system. you've got to figure, you know, when you sign up for one of these financial institutions if they don't ask anything about you and there isn't a whole lot of box ticking checks being done, maybe there's something odd about it. they seemed to attract in a lot of the black cats and used this system to move money around the world elicitly, but the feds are on to them. so here's one for the white hats. let's talk about the market for a moment here, brian, we had better consumer confidence data, also an improvement in the case-shiler housing figures. that helped drive the indices up to the new all-time highs here. i have to tell you, we're a little weak here in europe, though. we'll see how you guys pick that

up. and walmart, a toxic story for walmart, $82 million fine over the mishandling of toxic substances. essentially, we're talking about employees here who poured things like bleach and fertilizer into the sewer system or threw it out as natural waste and now california upset about that. and they've been prosecuted for breaches of the effectively polluting the water table by doing these things. so not good news for walmart, but 82 million in reality is a drop in the ocean when it comes to a business of this size. let me send it back to you on that story. >> yeah, they have about $115 billion a quarter in revenue. very quickly, mothers, bringing home the bacon, a fair amount, correct? >> absolutely. we want equality, we want to see women picking up the bat and doing better. so often we report on these business stories that say women are not getting their fair

share. this story suggests that now 40% of households in the united states have those with children, that have women as the main breadwinner or at least making more than the man. now, there's a sad side to this story and i guess that's that a quarter of all households now in the u.s. are single mother run. >> right. >> that's partly how we get to this statistic. and the other side of it is, i guess this is a positive one for the women's libbers, but many of the women are making more than their husbands. i don't know if that has to matter at all, whether it's worth reporting, but that's just the way things are going. you wouldn't have a problem with that, brian, would you, if your wife was making more than you? >> not at all. she certainly works harder than i do. i want to make a running list between you and sedgwick. the words that are different like baton and baton. that's my first on the difference of dialectic

differences between the two of us. jeffrey -- >> well, i've got shakespeare in my corner, brian, i don't know who you've got. >> i have eastern mass, dialect, which isn't very good. side by side, this time, declaring the boardwalk open for business. governor christie didn't shy away from appearing chummy with the president despite previously taking some heat from his own party in the wake of the president's first trip in the days after sandy struck. yesterday, the two walked the boardwalk touting the recovery efforts. you're looking at president obama trying to put the football through the hoop. they played a few games together. he went 0 for 5, he's a lefty like myself, looked like he was pressing a little bit. but the governor, by the way, on his very first try, right through the middle, i think that's experience on the jersey shore. >> mr. governor, you want to

give it a shot, sir? >> oh. >> that's because he's running for office. >> as a gesture of bipartisanship, the governor gave the stuffed bear he won to the president. i think it's a chicago bear maybe his hometown. later, he praised the residents for their work to bring the shore back to life. >> i saw what thousands of americans saw over memorial day weekend. you are stronger than the storm after all you've dealt with, after all you've been through, the jersey shore is back and it is open for business and they want all americans to know they're ready to welcome you here. >> which brings us to today's caption contest. now, this is a good one. take a look at this photo. give us your best shot. use the hashtag way too witty.

i'll read the best responses later in the show. little pickpocket going on there. have a little fun with that. now to new york city where anthony weiner is ticking up in his bid to become mayor. weiner is still trailing christine quinn, but cut her lead to within five points, 24-19, and a majority of registered new york voters say he deserves a second chance, but 39% still say he does not have the character to be mayor. weiner even took part in his first debate yesterday. and the "new york times" says weiner seemed to be more confident than the other candidate rolling up his sleeves and working the room while the other candidates just sat down. but he's yet to face his biggest competition in the bid. okay. we want to move forward. we're not going to do our caption contest again. obviously coming up, we will talk about the weather and the tea kettle that's drawing some surprising comparisons on the

internet. apparently jc penney is in a pretty odd position here. we'll discuss that when we hit the cooler with lewis. and lebron james not around for last night's game, but could the heat win without him? [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day.

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time for sports news with bill karins. >> am i the only one excited about this nba? >> clearly barnicle is not. >> trashed it. >> trash talked it with the bruins doing well. game four of the eastern conference finals, lebron james and the miami heat having tough time against the pacers. third quarter, pacers on a break away. see you later, lebron. >> his head could've hit right there. >> all ball, he's an amazing athlete. >> lance stevenson from the corner, time expiring, it is good. the fourth, pacers up by two. hibbert misses, go ets his own

rebound. 23 points, pacers take game four, 99-92. 83% of all game winners of game five win the series. >> next game wins. nothing like a hockey game seven, of course. even if you don't like hockey, you like sports, you can't miss these. this is goalie jonathan quick and he throws the glove. he's on his back and throws the glove out. kings close out the series with a 2-1 win. let's go to baseball. a great moment, a sentimental moment before sox/phillies. a victim of the boston bombing, and the man who helped save his life onhand. you might remember them from this particular photo which is iconic. they became a symbol of courage in the immediate days following the tragedy. well, together, they threw out the ceremonial first pitch in front of a packed house. >> nice throw. >> yeah.

it's tough -- it's good to see a smile on his face. they go on to win the game 3-1. more inner league play -- >> you want to skip this story? >> i don't, actually, even though mariano was fantastic. mets and yankees. an historic day for mariano rivera, but not particularly in a good way. in the ninth, he blew a 1-0 lead. >> human, okay. >> listen, he's amazing. but he had never in his career blown a save without recording a single out. >> that's amazing. >> that's why baseball is amazing. something can happen on any night that's never happened before. they play their third game of the series tonight at 7:05. by the way -- >> it's a mets celebration. >> in front of only 31,000 fans. they can't even sell out two of the best pitchers in the american league. finally, nikes ending the relationship with lance armstrong's cancer charity.

the company helped raise more than $100 million with the iconic yellow arm bands. things went bad for livestrong, when armstrong admitted he was on performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career. the charity says it remains committed to helping cancer patients. >> you've got to have an organic story. you knew that when nike severed the ties with lance, they said they were going to support livestrong, and eventually they were going to just going to make it go away. they need somebody to go there with a cancer story that's compelling, but right now, there's nothing there for livestrong. >> hopefully someone will continue the good things. unfortunately the heat is on and the severe weather is going to be increasing, brian. we're going to be hot on the east coast while the midwest will be dodging strong storms and possibly tornadoes later on today. that's a nice shot there in d.c., the ac will be blasting. 90s in d.c. probably in the next

four or five days in a row. yesterday, we did have tornadoes, thankfully one of those days where they missed the populated areas. even in michigan, a couple there near flint, michigan, that damaged some homes and houses. but the people did remain safe in their basements, and that's going to be the case once again today. everywhere in yellow has a chance of severe weather. literally going from northern minnesota down to the texas, new mexico border. maybe an isolated tornado in new england today. so conditions are ripe. but it's the area of red that's the tornado alley, it's the same spots that were hit about a week and a half ago. it includes the oklahoma city area, includes the moore, oklahoma, area. telling people in this region, make sure you review your safety plans in case a tornado heads to your area. including a populated area, oklahoma city to moore, down to norman, to wichita falls. tornadoes between 4:00 to 10:00 today. but i think the heavily

populated corridor right around 6:00 this evening local time. right around the dinner hour we'll be most concerned for those people there. it'll be a big story on the mississippi river. but brian, first, we have to get through another tornado outbreak in the next two days. >> yeah, i drove from dallas straight up 35 too, i know that area well. coming up at the top of the hour, "morning joe," president obama, governor christie spending another day together. the wider implications of this particular partnership. when we come back here the water cooler. beyonce's got one fan that took it too far. how she handled a handsy situation. i started a week ago going pro with crest pro-health. since i've been using crest pro-health, i've noticed a huge improvement. [ male announcer ] go pro

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i want to thank everybody who is here, the incredible warmth of the reception. a sign of the warmth is the lipstick on my collar. i have to say, i think i know the culprit. where's jessica sanchez. jessica -- no, it wasn't jessica, it was her aunt. auntie right there, look at this.

look at this. i just want everybody to witness. so i do not want to be in trouble with michelle. that's why i'm calling you out right in front of everybody. >> he can be funny. >> thank god his auntie was there, right. >> lipstick on the collar -- >> it's never good. >> beyonce a little hot under the collar. didn't really wear a collar. >> no, but she's really intense when she performs, you know. and at her concert in copenhagen, she got a little close to some of the fans and they took advantage. take a look at this clip. ♪ >> i will have you escorted out. all right?

i will have you escorted out. >> he did that, huh? >> yeah, he went there. >> little tap. little booty slap. jay-z's got people going over to that guy's apartment right now as we speak. no, i'm just kidding. beyonce had the fan tossed out of the arena, obviously. that's what you get when you get too close to fans, they can't help themselves. >> that happens to you all the time. >> always happens to me. >> he welcomes a tap. >> i do. this could be a story for the a cooler. a controversial teapot. you be the judge. this image caught on fire on the web and local tv station is covering it. it's displayed on a jc penney billboard in southern california. does it resemble anyone -- any dictator you may know, brian? >> well, i know this story, but you do the reveal and i'll tell you -- i'll clarify a little bit. >> passersby say it looks like

hitler. >> i was looking at the thing down the middle. >> the handle is his hair. >> and the little thing to take the top off is the mustache. >> is the mustache. >> now, jc penney obviously isn't commenting, but this was -- >> people are looking for ways to slam jc penney right now is all i've got to say. >> hitler teapot. well, i'm thinking of growing a beard. >> it takes you like a year and a half. >> it would. thank you, brian. >> that 5:00 shadow -- >> no, that's right, i haven't shaved for a week, but it's not really my thing. but i could use some extra cash. in lexington, kentucky, an ad firm is selling beard advertisements. you can grow a beard and get paid for it. $5 to put a mini billboard on your beard. the company says it's created a lot of buzz and now bigger advertisers are -- >> better than food stuck in there. >> everything is advertising

these days. >> if you can squeeze a little extra revenue, why not. and finally, this is a show i have to admit to watching. animal planet's documentary "mermaids: the new evidence" delivered nearly 6.3 million viewers shattering the records. and i hate to break it to all of you mermaid believers out there, but, unfortunately, the program is a hoax. yeah, brian, unfortunately it is. >> that's terrible. >> now, after numerous calls from viewers, they have released a statement confirming that there is no evidence that half human/half fish beings are genuine living species. >> they had to go to the point to explain that? >> yes, they did. they did. >> caption contest results. you got yours? >> yeah. >> what is it? >> hashtag, we're off to see the wizard. >> the best ones coming up and

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our way too witty caption contest focuses on governor christie and president obama on the shore. here's mine. i like to do a little dialogue. governor christie, hey, where are they? obama, i told you, i am not giving back those votes. i told i'm not giving back those votes. >> i thought it was good. our producer doesn't think so and in an intense debate who is witnessier. >> chris i need the keys back to camp david. you can't have them until 2016. the republican party is destroying itself. hold me and carl banks. >> carl banks? >> no, governor, i don't have any salt water taffy. aren't you on a diet? >> carl banks two super bowl titles and he is watching and even tweeting. time for "morning joe."