themselves are wrong. the real results are more like this. there are wild differences between those that oppose obama care, only 35% are against it because it is too liberal. most like it or want more. chart imitates life. that does it for us. imitat. "first look" is up next. >> good thursday morning. right now on "first look," billionaire new york mayor michael bloomberg said ricin-laced letters will not deter him from pushing his gun control measures. >> the heat is rising on attorney general eric holder as the news media balks over an off the record meeting over leaks. >> donations are pouring into oklahoma's hardest hit areas. investing like warren buffett, we'll tell you where he's putting his money now. flooding continues to be a problem in many parts of the country. and one bear's frightening encounter with a motorist. good morning. i'm mara schiavocampo.

>> the fbi and nypd have launched an investigation into a pair of letters that tested positive for the poison ricin. one of sent to new york michael bloomberg, the other to the director of his gun control group. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington now with more on the investigation. good morning. >> reporter: what we know this morning, mara s that those letters were intercepted before anyone was hurt, and that earlier tests confirm they did con train traces of the deadly poison ricin. >> the latest letter landed here, sunday at the washington headquarters of mayors against illegal guns. the group new york mayor michael bloomberg founded seven years ago. mark glaze opened the letter. he is fine, so are the people who came in contact with it. the other letter was sent to bloomberg in new york, and landed at a mail facility there friday. again no one was injured. both made anonymous threats against the push for gun control. preliminary tests confirm both

letters contained the deadly poison ricin. >> the letter was referred to our anti-gun efforts. >> reporter: president obama talked about it at a fund-raiser in chicago last night. >> 90% of the american people and 80% of gun owners agree with us. >> reporter: the fbi and new york police are investigating the letters. both were mailed that from shreveport, louisiana on may 20th. ricin-laced letters tent to the president, a mississippi senator and a mississippi judge were sent a month ago. a man was arrested on suspicion of sending those earlier letters. there's no word if the earlier letters and the latest ones are linke linked. >> mara? >> thank you very much. >> attorney general eric holder already under fire from republicans is facing a new round of criticism from the news media.

the new york times is refusing a scheduled meeting with him, they say because it's off the record. reporter and lawmakers have been critical of the justice department's seizure of ap phone records as part of a leak investigation. holder testified before congress earlier this month where he denied any wrongdoing and cited national security as the reason for that search. a possible game changer in pakistani taliban leadership and influence. intelligence officials say a u.s. drone strike killed the number two leader. the white house will not confirm the reports. but press secretary jay carney says if true the death would be a strong blow to a group responsible for horrific attacks against america and pakistan. >> it's worth noting his demise

would deprive the ttp of its second in command and chief strategist. >> the reports come less than a week after president obama outlined new guidelines for drone strikes. the state department had previously offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his location. a spokesman for the pakistan taliban denies the reports. the bush era republican who decried wiretapping and other contentious tactics may be on his way to fbi's top spot. sources tell nbc news president obama plans to nominate former deputy attorney general james comey as the next fbi director. comey will take over after current director of 12 years robert mueller steps down in september. comey's potential nomination comes at a time that the white house is facing a trio of controversies. but comey is no stranger to controversy himself. he refused for a time to reauthorize bush wiretapping. in 2006 comey said some interrogation practices were wrong and would damage the justice department's reputation.

turning now to mexico where an american mother of seven is sitting behind bars accused of trying to smuggle drugs into the u.s. mexican authorities say they found about 12 pounds of marijuana under 42-year-old yanira maldonado's bus seat last week. the devout mormon an her husband were in northern mexico for a relative's funeral when they decided to travel back to arizona by bus. she says she's innocent and family members say they believe that she was framed. her attorney says he's confident that she will be released by friday. >> and now it's time for your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. the republican who doesn't trust republicans was certainly surrounded by an awful lot of them last night. texas senator ted cruz spoke at a gop fund-raiser in new york where he told the crowd not to worry about the party's future, instead he brought back a haunted phrase saying republicans should "want to be the party of the 47%."

>> the national narrative the last election was the 40% -- 47% of americans who were not currently paying income taxes who are in some ways dependent upon government, we don't have to worry about you. that's what was communicated the last election. i got to tell you, as a conservative, i cannot think of an idea more opposite what we believe. >> leading politico this morning, the fallout from michele bachmann's decision not to seek re-election. the article says bachmann's fall shows the lacking support for the tea party. a new ppp poll says on average 66% of voters in arkansas, georgia and tennessee want universal checks. here's something we already knew. dennis rodman was not america's first choice to be a de facto diplomat to north korea, but

now, as it turns out, he wasn't anyone's first choice. the hbo news magazine "vice" who accompanied rodman on the trip said they originally wanted michael jordan but m.j. was not interested. jeb bush is still undecided on a future run for president. he said he will make a decision within the next 15 months, but he did laugh off previous comments from his famous mother who said too many bushes have already been in the white house. freud would have a field day. >> and new jersey governor chris christie is revealing his new diet since undergoing weight loss surgery last year. in "people" magazine the governor says he normally doesn't have the urge for breakfast, opting instead for a coffee mug full of milk and he said he's still not a vegetable lover, just sticking to green beans, lettuce and cucumbers. and that's your morning's dish of scrambled politics. well, carl sandberg college in central illinois is one of many places effected by the flooding happening all over the midwest. classes at the university have

been canceled until friday, due to flooding such as this. to tell us more is n bshgs krshc meteorologist bill karins. will we see more like that? >> not like that, but we will see some more flooding. yesterday we had more severe storms but no bad injuries, fatalities or no storms that took out towns. a lot of clean-up to do with wind damage in areas of oklahoma, kansas, nebraska, iowa and minnesota. upstate new york had serious storms around albany that dove down into areas of western massachusetts last night. 23 tornado reports yesterday. none that caused significant damage. as far as our storm tracker this morning, numerous areas of very heavy torrential rain around tulsa. these are slow-moving storms. this is where the flash flooding comes into flay.

near wichita, nasty storms to your north and west of town. all of this is headed up into the flooded regions of the midwest. especially all the counties covered in green have flood warnings, including northern missouri, much of iowa and western illinois. this is all the areas that go into the western mississippi. already major river flooding on the mississippi, and we're expecting a top five all-time flood on the mississippi. that's historical. by the way, mid-atlantic today, yesterday was warm and steamy, today we'll turn it up a notch, low to mid 90s. >> love it. i live for this time of year. >> i think you're in the minority on this one. this is my time of year. >> you have the nice new hair cut, too, so you don't have to worry about the humid air. coming up, unusual jobs that pay six figures. plus the latest in the battle between kate upton and victoria's secret. it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain.

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now to some other stories making news this morning. an american soldier is expected to plead guilty next week for killing 16 afghan civilians last march. the ap says the plea will allow staff sergeant robert bales to avoid the death penalty. a 22-year-old man will appear in a london court this morning after being formally charged in last week's gruesome and public murder of a british soldier. the man is one of two people arrested after a confrontation with police in that may 22nd attack. new this morning from "the washington post," a friend of boston suspect tamerlan tsarnaev who was killed during questioning was reportedly unarmed. law enforcement originally told reporters ibragim todashev went crazy and stabbed an fbi agent with a knife. police are looking for a motive after arresting a disneyland worker who they say caused a small explosion at the california bark. christian barnes is being held on $1 million bail after being

charged with setting off a so-called dry ice bomb. blake shelton welcomed several big name artists for the healing the heartland benefit concert. miranda lambert, reba mcentire and others performed to raise funds for the tornado-ravaged community. look at this video from russia. drivers heading down the road when suddenly a black bear darts across the street and smacks into the car. the bear was able to get up and scamper away unarmed. >> for your first look at today's business headlines, we turn to bertha cooms. >> the bears were out yesterday, we had the worst day in four weeks on worries about the health of the global economy, signs that it is slowing. motorola is launching a high-end smartphone later this year. it's called the moto-x, one thing that makes it special t

will be made at a plant outside of dallas which will employ 2,000 people. and france's palace is putting a portion of its farmed wine cellar on the auction block for the first time today. bidders can get their hands on modestly-priced winds starting at about $20, the high end, about $3,200. >> something tells me i would be just as happy with the $20 bott bottle. thanks. warren b warren buffett is on a spending spree again. he's buying up an energy company.

and kate upton and victoria's secret are at odds after victoria's secret said anybody with enough money could buy enough faces like hers. >> forbes is out with the list of some unusual jobs that pay surprisingly well. average salaries among them include hot dog vendor, $30,000 to $100,000, personal shopper, 25,000 to 100,000 a year, ice cream taster, 56,000, funeral service manager, 80,000, and a live man chuman statue could ea $100 an hour. coming up shgup, wicked weas

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well, it's time for sports. for the latest headlines, here is richard lui. >> good morning. i was going start with a game-seven thriller in the nhl playoffs. blackhawks and red wings tied at one. a detroit goal? no, disallowed on penalties. we go to overtime, and chicago seals the win. >> nyquist, run into. the shot, and he scores! >> what a shot, chicago wins and

faces the defending champs, los angeles kings. on "costas tonight" the attorney for penn state's late football coach joe paterno says they are filing a lawsuit against the ncaa. summer job hunting? lebron james wants applications for his website internship. qualifications? work well on a team, speak spanish or live in ohio, south florida or new york. and a tweet for a date for pondexter. she responds back by saying hi, you were looking for me? he goes oh, totally single? ditto. date? she responds we've got an audience waiting apparently.

>> the french open, michael laudrup wins his match and his son there to congratulate him. while he is there, he says can you give me a hand? cute. that didn't stop him from giving his john hancock. >> thank you very much, richard. time to dig deeper in our top politcal stories. joining me now is syndicated columnist problem franken. attorney general eric holder later today will be meeting with several major news organizations to talk about the leak investigation. why is he doing this? what can we expect from the meeting? >> he's probably doing it because of all the bad publicity. some major news organizations are not coming because it's supposed to be off the record.

this is all quite simple. i'm not sure you need the meeting. it's simple. stop putting reporters under surveillance for doing their job. that's the kind of thing you get the e bachmann said she would not be seeking re-election and some say possibly because she could not win. >> i think it has to do more with the fact she's being discredited quite a bit. she said in her announcement that it wasn't because she was under investigation, and she wouldn't stand the chance of losing, and that might mean it is because she's under investigation for campaign irregularities and because she could lose. >> chris christie has been talking about his diet, are we seeing a kinder chris christie?

>> the word bromance has been used when he walked on the beach with president obama. the question is do you really wanted to know what his diet is? >> i don't. and it turns out to be like a 5-year-old's, milk for breakfast and very little vegetables. coming up, bill karins and richard lui will join me to tell you what we're talking about this morning. that's coming up next. ♪ [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me.

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it's time for first buzz, the stories we're talking about this morning. i'm joined by bill karins and richard lui. there's a yearly occurrence in new york? >> sunset like you've never seen before. the cross streets in new york city, we don't get sunsets for

the most part except two times of the year. yesterday was one of them. if you positioned yourself down the cross streets, this view from 34th and 42nd street are the best, you get the sunset in between the skyscrapers. pretty cool. it has been stopping traffic. more and more people are finding out about it. it happened twice a year. >> the sun even moves faster in manhattan. >> moves in a new york minute. >> that's beautiful. we rarely see natural beauty. >> the next is july 13th. >> so they're pretty close together. richard, you spoke to college graduates? >> i was doing a commencement speech at ccf, i had them all do the harlem shake. >> no you didn't. >> yeah, there they are. all 500 plus students. >> they did it? >> the parents in the stand were like what's going on here? >> the harlem what? >> are you taking this video? >> i am. >> i take exception to the fact that you told them do it but

that you didn't do it. >> after doing the harlem shake what advice did you give them? >> that's the way life s a big dance party. >> no better time to dance than when you're graduating from college. >> celebrate. >> and i have a story of some strange bedfellows. in oklahoma, fun, happy news out of oklahoma. a 500-pound lion named bone digger, an 11-pound dog have been best friends since they were four weeks old. bone digger, the lion, is mildly disabled. >> he can't bite? >> maybe that has something to do with the friendship. they do everything together. eat together, sleep together, and other dogs live in the enclosu enclosure. >> that friendship could end poorly. >> he's declawed. >> he's not. people go into the enclosure with him and everything. hopefully this won't turn into a different news story.

>> a little hot dog. >> you brought us the before. we'll wait for the after. >> i'm mara schiavocampo this is "first look" on msnbc. don't go anywhere, "way too early" starts right now. have a good thursday. >> no, i'm not angry. there are people who i would argue do things that may be irrational, do things that are wrong. but it's a very complex world out there. we have to deal with that. >> targeted. new york city mayor michael bloomberg sent a letter containing ricin. what we know about the person who mailed the poison. behind bars. an american woman accused of smuggling marijuana remains in a mexican prison this morning. it's no joke. why her family says she was set up. and easy come easy go. the tech entrepreneur who made a fortune but managed to blow all

of it. it's the $200 million question this morning, where did all that money go? yes, it's a thursday. one more day to go, folks. it's "way too early." good morning, everybody. brian schactman here. that's what i want to know from you this morning, if you had 200 million bucks, you had to spend t like you had to spend it, how would you do it? use the #waytoowealthy. i'll read the best responses later in the show, maybe share some of my buying habits in a few minutes. right now our top story this morning. according to bashar al assad, the country has received the first wave of sophisticated air defense missiles delivered from russia. moscow said it would send the s-300 missiles to help stabilize the region over objections from the