good afternoon, it's thursday may the 30 presideth. we start with breaking news. there's a tornado warning in effect in parts of oklahoma, many of the same areas reeling from the massive tornado just ten days ago. nbc news' meteorologist dilan dryer is in the newsroom. >> we have severe thunderstorm warnings developing into tornado warnings over the course of the last 45 minutes or so. there are three areas we are watching right now. and you can see where oklahoma city is right in the center of the screen. the storm to the southwest of oklahoma city is not as of right now an official tornado, but there are indications that we could see some lowering of the clouds out that way and that could two into a stronger storm. just to the southwest of norman, oklahoma. if it moves to the northeast as it's doing at around 30, 406 miles per hour, that could be a concern for that area. right now that one is just a severe thunderstorm. then we go north of oklahoma

city. that's where a lot of the storm chasers are right now. those storms although the clouds look very ominous and they're lowering to the ground and we do have tornado warnings in thefef, we're not seeing these storms as very organized. they're disorganized in nature. there's rotation the radar is indicating. from the ground, there isn't a lot of rotation. perkins, langeston, with the storm in the middle. to the northeast just a little bit more, that's in osage and pawnee counties. those storms are moving east at about 40 miles per hour. towns of concern there, blackburn, cleveland, osage and homanee. they're trying to on firm the rotation that the radar is indicating. this is when the spotters are so important. as soon as the funnel reaches the ground, you have a tornado and you can actually track it.

though it looks extremely ominous, there is no indication from the ground there is any rotation, but with the lowering of those clouds and any rotation that could occur, i mean, it could take a minute's time before this storm gets itself a little more organized and that's what the storm trackers are out there doing from the sky. you can see the helicopter right there and also from the ground, with a lot of spotters just driving and trying to follow those storms. they are moving to the northeast at around 25 to 35 miles per hour. so, again, that storm just to the southwest of norman, oklahoma. not a tornado-producing storm just yet. but that certainly is going to be one of concern just because of that area being the hardest hit between last week and just past tornadoes in that area. so we are keeping an eye on those three storms, and the tornado warnings are in effect, and we have a lot of tornado watches in effect, actually up and down the midwest. you can see from wisconsin, right down into illinois, through missouri, and into arkansas, that's an area where we could see several tornadoes start to develop as we continue

through the afternoon and evening. even back into north-central texas, too. those are all your tornado watches and we will certainly be watching as we continue through the afternoon. >> i know you can see this ominous cloud, as i'm looking at it as well, provided by our local affiliate kfor. i'm assuming the advice to people living in those areas is the same as it was ten days ago which is batten down, get below ground level, or move away from that area if you can. >> absolutely. that is the word coming out of the national weather service in that area. now, you know, we're not as experienced with the tornadoes in the northeast, around here. for those folks living in that area, they understand that that right there doesn't indicate an actual tornado. the moment of rotatiorotation, clouds dipping down closer to the ground, a moment of rotation can occur in a minute. that's why the tornado warnings are issued and everyone needs to batten down the hatches now. get into safe zones, interior

room and basement of the home, and hunker down until the storms and tornadoes pass. >> i'm grateful to you. i know you're going to stay with us for the hour. thank you so much. let's go to chris mcbee who's a storm chaser actually on the ground in oklahoma. chris, we're looking at aerial shots. these pictures are pretty ominous. what can you see? >> well, we had a very low-hanging wall cloud near chikashay, oklahoma. we're reapproaching as it reaches blanchard, oklahoma. this could be a threat for the oklahoma city metro. we're watching this very closely. >> and are you noticing any kind of rotation yet? have these clouds in any way begun to gather together and produce the kind of force that happened ten days ago? >> well, i don't know about the force that was ten days ago. it was quite a devastating

tornado. we've not seen anything like that just yet. we have definitely seen some low-level rotation, and this is of immediate concern to people in this area. >> and as you look out, are people still using the roads? can you see people around? or have people generally decided to move away or move under ground, as it were, and away from being exposed to this weather system? >> well, we're not seeing that many people scrambling to get under ground right now. the storm we are on does not have an active tornado warning. it did earlier. we're still watching it because it may gain strength again as we go east. i'm sure people will take the necessary precautions if need be. >> chris mcbee, a storm chaser. thank you so much. as i said, we will continue to follow this developing news as it happens this hour. but coming up next, should michele bachmann step away from congress before 2014? we'll ask someone who may know, straight ahead. [ tires screech ]

whoa! hey, we got a weather alert for this location... golf-ball sized hail and damaging winds are on the way... kids... eh, don't worry. it's tornado-proof. anyway, i'd put the car in the garage and secure these things. they could become flying debris. kids! watch this. [ beep ] [ children screaming ] [ car alarm chirps ] awesome. [ male announcer ] mobile weather alerts from your home insurance? that's allstate home insurance. great protection plus helpful tools to make life better. talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] and let the good life in. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

and didn't know where to start. used a contractor before at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more, angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey.

gestarting may 20th atts participating bay area stores. ♪

we're continuing our coverage of tornado warnings in oklahoma at this hour. ominous storm clouds looming treacherously over the central plains near the area of oklahoma city, and the region hit by that terrible tornado just ten days ago. residents in those areas are being warned to take shelter, and, of course, we will bring you more as that situation develops. we want to turn now to a behind the scenes look at the ethics probe that congresswoman michele bachmann says in no way impacted her announcement wednesday that she will not seek a fifth term in congress. >> rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former

presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. it was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign, and i have no reason to believe that that was not the case. >> that message released on the same day that a trial date was set in iowa in an iowa lawsuit alleging miss bachmann and her presidential campaign staff stole and misused an e-mail distribution list. and days after the fbi jumped into a multipronged investigation of alleged ethical misconduct by the campaign, joining probes by the federal election commission, the office of congressional ethics, the iowa senate ethics committee, and the urbandale police department. bachmann and her accused staffers maintain their innocence. for another side of the story, we're joined now by peter waldron, the former bachmann aide whose complaint launched

the fbi and congressional investigations. he's joining us from powell, wyoming. good afternoon, sir. >> hey, martin. how are you doing today? >> i'm great. thank you for joining us. can you briefly tell us what your role in michele bachmann's presidential campaign was? >> sure. i was the national faith coordinator. i worked among the value voters. i endeavored to coalesce the pro-life, pro-family, born again catholic constituencies in support of the candidate, michele bachmann. >> okay. let's focus now on the campaign's finances. when did you first become concerned, become troubled, about payments to particular individu individuals? >> i think it began in january, well, that's when i looked at the fec reports. but going back into december and november, we were notified by senior advisers that the

campaign was low on funds and that we would have to defer, if possible, our december paychecks. and that included not only myself but a dozen or more iowa staffers with large families at christmastime were asked by the campaign to defer their checks until the following year. and the second signal, as it were, that there was trouble, is that we bought no radio and no media time that would target michele's foundation, her core group of faith-based individuals. so we had no money for media, for her targeted audience or targeted constituency in awario and the staff were asked to defer payments for the month of december at christmastime. >> then you, mr. waldron, you allege that you discover there were some payments being made. that you were not being paid,

but one individual was receiving money. what was that? >> well, there's the conflict, martin. on one hand, we have a gentleman, guy short, who is the senior political director for the bachmann for president committee, who is exhorting his colleagues to include me and our other colleagues to defer our pay. and i discovered in a 2012 f.e.c. report that he wrote himself a check for $20,000 from a political action committee of which he was executive director then again on january 3rd, the day of the caucus, he wrote a second check. if you will, here's a fellow who pays himself $40,000 with one hands and with the other hand he's telling us, come on, guys, let's defer your checks, hold back. the campaign is low on money, can you just sacrifice the month

of december? i find that to be the height of hypocrisy and i think it's unmoral that believers and other employees were asked to sacrifice while he was writing checks to himself totaling $40,000 in less than 30 days. that's a lot of money. that's a lot of money to those of us who have historically -- >> right, but do you believe that he was breaching any ethical rules by doing this? >> oh, absolutely. oh, i allege in my f.e.c. complaint that it is not appropriate for a political action committee, michele pac in this case, to pay a full-time employee who's serving as the political director on a presidential campaign. i believe that's a breach of ethics. it's a breach of the rules and regulations of the f.e.c. i allege that and believe it. i believe the investigators, the professional finders of fact will prove that allegation to be true. >> did you mention this to michele bachmann? >> i did. with all due respect, let me

make myself very clear. when i met with her on three separate occasions, once in december, december 18th in ft. dodge, i met with her, again, or spoke with her on the phone on january 1st, and i spoke a third time with her husband on january 3rd. i did not know at that time that guy short had paid himself or had taken the license or liberty to write himself a check for $20,000, not once, but twice. what i did share with her when i met with her is that i was concerned that our chairman for the state of iowa, senator kent sorenson, a sitting senator in the iowa senate, was not only paid for his endorsement, but i was concerned he was being paid under the table. that i did share with her and her husband on december 18th in ft. dodge. yes, sir. >> and what was her reaction when you expressed anxieties and concerns about the way money was

being moved within the campaign? what was her reaction? >> she -- she empathized with me. she understood. she made a -- she and her husband made a couple of solid points. the first point that she made was that she had told the leadership, and we went through, i think, four sets in theory, and at least two solid sets of campaign managers that she and her husband did not want to go into debt. if there were any indication of debt that she was to be notified. so she was sensitive to the cash flow within the context of the campaign. secondly, she was concerned of any untoward behavior. she adheres to a principle in scripture that you're to avoid the appearance of evil. so let's be clear, in my meeting with her on december 13th, on a sunday, it was very clear that

she empathized, she was concerned. but i am only the messenger. she would have to go back to the campaign manager, a gentleman named keith, and say to him, this is what peter is alleging. what's the facts behind it? give me a little backup. so, yes, i brought it to her attention. she empathized with me. she expressed concern. in fact, before that meeting completed on december 18th, she and dr. bachmann tasked me with locating a new campaign manager which represents her lack of competence or eroding competence in the campaign and campaign manager and asked me to find a new speech coach. >> right. as the campaign began to break down, you had a very long, personal conversation with miss bachmann, didn't you? can you tell us -- >> about that. >> -- can you tell us about that? how do you describe her psychological state? i believe she broke town in tears when she spoke to you. >> that's an accurate

representation. i spoke to her for nearly two hours on january 1st. it was in the evening, i guess, as a typical quote/unquote american, i was watching football games, popping some corn and the phone rings and i would spend the next two hours talking with congresswoman bachma bachmann. i spoke to her in a different context. allow me to explain the context. yes, she is a sitting member of congress, a former prosecutor and member of house select committee on intelligence. on the other hand, she's also a committed believer in the christian faith. she's a committ eted believer i the resurrection of jesus, so i share a brother/sister relationship with her. so our conversation with regard to our christian relationship, i'll keep personal, private and privileged. on the other hand, as a congresswoman, she expressed a lot of concern. she was in tears. she was exhausted. the campaign manager and her

adviser in the form of a speech coach, they had pushed her hard. the last 99 county tour brought her to the breaking point. it was exhausting. she was exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally, and i felt for her. i was concerned for her health at that moment. >> now, there have also been -- >> the defeat saved her life. >> there have also been allegations of theft involving a staffer called barbara hekay, whose home school database was allegedly stolen and used by a bachmann staffer for campaign mailings. now, as you know, a trial date has now been set for may the 14th next year. >> yes. >> i have to ask you this. do you think she's chosen not to run for re-election next year because her campaign would coincide with the court case? >> i think you're absolutely right. i think there are two things.

the first is is that a court case will compel all the defendants to swear under oath in a deposition, and nothing is more concerned, i believed, and, again, it's speculation, that mrs. bachmann is concerned that her senior staff under oath are going to be asked a question, and that question is, did mrs. bachmann know this? what did she know? when did she know it? and what did she do? those are difficult questions under oath for a senior adviser to ask who lives and advises in close proximity to the candidate. so that's added a burden to her. so the lawsuit and the decision not to settle, the inability to resolve that, which was the plan, fell through and as a consequence, they're going to trial, and that trial is going to compel testimony, and discovery is going to result in interrogatories, and mrs.

bachmann and her co-defendants are going to be under a lot of scrutiny, a lot of pressure, and someone's going to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and it may implicate the sitting congresswoman from the sixth district of minnesota. i'm concerned. >> given that she has not been a particularly impressive congresswoman, she's tabled something, like, 58 bills. only one has passed. her attendance record at the house is in the lowest percentile amongst the last, i think, five individuals. the lowest in terms of attendance and commitment. does it not make sense for her to resign now, given that she's got all of these legal issues coming up? what's the point of her staying in the house? >> i believe that her mission is unfinished, and, two, with all due respect to how one might measure her effectiveness in onon congress, i think on other hand she's a champion and advocate for tens of millions of people in america. and champions don't quit.

champions may retire, but champions don't simply quit in the middle of a fight. they don't quit in the middle of a two of year term. i have every reason to believe she will finish her campaign. i don't anticipate or respect her to resign dby will, by choie or by force. >> i think, mr. waldron, you're hinting there at the fact she's an evangelical christian, that she represents many christians. is that a fair estimate of what you just said? >> yes. >> okay. >> not only christians, but tea party members. with all due respect, she represents libertarians -- >> absolutely. absolutely. let me ask you this. given that she purports to be a christian, what do you think of the fact that 75% of her statements that were checked by politifact were found to be mostly false or, worse, 25% of

them met the site's most egregious rating of pants on fire. how can a devout christian make such outrageous, defamatory and utterly untrue comments repeatly, like accusing the secretary of state's adviser houma abadeen of being a member of the muslim brotherhood or money spent on food stamps is actually spent on the salary or pensions of bureaucrats? or claiming the affordable care act is designed to, i'm quoting her, sir, literally kill women, children -- >> i know. >> how can a committed christian say such utterly false and untruthful things almost as a matter of fact each day? >> well, the knee jerk reaction to your question is, well, no one's perfect, martin. what do you expect? on the other hand, your question is serious. i believe that she has made misstatements. knowing her as i do, and as well as i do, i know that she doesn't sit down and make up a list of

deliberate lies. what i do know is that she can be misinformed. what i do know is she can misunderstand. and what i do know that she has made a lot of mistakes and she has misspoken. and i'm certain that it's caused her embarrassment. with respect, those statements are not always intended for the "washington post" or "politico" or even msnbc, martin bashir. those statements are to her constituency. she represents a constituency that believes much of what she says. there are many in america, many americans, voters, not only evangelicals, but others represented by rick santorum or senator rand or former -- or his dad. there are -- there is a constituency that believe that obama care is not good for america. there are many businessmen that would say, michele, you're right, it's not good for america. >> right. >> with all due respect, there are two sides to every opinion, but she speaks as a champion. she speaks to a constituency. and there are many people across

the board, east to west, north to south, that agree with what she's saying. now, there can be the policy wonks that will say, oh, that's horrible, and it may be tragic. it may be for you tragic, but with all due respect, she's a champion and she speaks for millions of people. >> mr. waldron, i thank you so much for your time. and we should note that -- >> thank you. >> and we should note that we did reach out to those named in the various filings about mr. waldron, including congresswoman bachmann, and while we have nothing to report at this stage, we would be glad to have them join us on this broadcast at any time in the future. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much, indeed. we want to bridge back in our meteorologist, as these storms over oklahoma continue to organize toward a tornado. we've just learned about a new tornado warning in the area. what can you tell us? >> i can tell you the tornado warning north of oklahoma city has now been extended until 4:00 p.m. central time because an actual tornado was spotted from the spotters on the ground.

now, you can't see it in that video right now, actually just looking at some scud clouds falling from base of that lowering cloud. but the one north of oklahoma city is approach cushing, yale, and ripley. it has been the one that a spotted tornado was seen just south of perkins, oklahoma. it's moving east at about 25 miles per hour. that's where the trackers, the storm trackers have been keeping a close eye on for those actual rotating clouds and the actual tornado, itself. now, the storm system just to the south of oklahoma city, that was that storm that we were keeping an eye on that was a severe thunderstorm warning not that long ago. that one is now considered a possible storm that could produce a tornado with some rotation found on the radar. percell, noble, washington, are areas in oklahoma that are under the radar there. this is a storm that is moving east at about 20 miles per hour. that would keep it to the south of moore and norman, oklahoma.

percell is just to the south of those towns. we are going to keep an eye. that one has not so far seen the actual storm on the ground. the tornado on the ground. that one is radar indicated, but it's the one just to the north of oklahoma city where that middle arrow is there. that's the one that has been spotted as a tornado on the ground near perkins. and that is moving east at about 2 20 miles per hour. that's the latest right now. two severe thunderstorm warnings upgraded to tornado warnings in effect until 4:00 p.m. central time. we'll on tcontinue to watch thee shot as it comes out. that's the best way of knowing where the tornado is when you can see it from the ground. >> indeed. thank you so much for staying with us on it. we will continue to track this storm system in oklahoma even as we continue the broadcast. 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. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

♪ want to invest in something that gives you many happy returns? invest in the lives of children by being a teacher. there's nothing as rewarding as watching kids succeed and knowing you had a hand in it. you'll want to be a teacher. the more you know. from the attorney general's volley, to ann romney's return, and, of course, senator cruz. here are today's top lines. nobody likes the tax man.

>> there are people all across this country who are still hurting. who desperately want to work. >> it's deeply troubling. >> common sense laws that check to see if we're keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. or folks who have significant mental illnesses. >> the letter obviously referred to our anti-gun efforts. >> it's deeply troubling. >> there are people who do things that may be irrational. do things that are wrong. >> you ready for another charm offensive? >> yes, indeed. eric holder. charming as he comes. >> it did go to the white house. the question is, how high up? >> with regard to the potential prosecution of the press, that is not something i've ever been involved with, heard of. >> people are upset with the irs scandal. >> these aswrgencies like the i are following barack obama's lead. >> eric holder, a pinata to the mainstream media. >> attorney general has never been in so much trouble. >> this is not a drip. this is like a fire hose. >> that's the point i'm getting at. >> every time i see that, i want

to put my boot through the television set. >> it may be necessary to have a special counsel. >> we have politics that's stuck. >> now you see what happens when i have brian's credit card in my bra. >> people think about the next election than the next generation. >> you get your credit card back. >> it's broken right now for a particular reason. >> the irs has been used by jfk, lbj, nixon, clinton, bush, obama as a political weapon. >> it's not permanently broken. >> there's only one way to fix this. >> it can be fixed. >> abolish the irs. let's get right to our panel now. joining us is joy reid, managing editor of the grios.com. and professor michael eric dyson of georgetown university. i do want to note we will continue to monitor that severe weather system in oklahoma. as things develop, we will bring them to you. joy, when you look at the forces that have been a raid against the president, the army now includes ann romney. but i actually don't know whether that's -- that may be a good thing for the president. >> yeah. i, you know, having the 1%

against you is probably not a bad thing for the president. i think that the problem for all of us, and i understand we are in scandal season, which i have a column today, why i liken it to shark season. >> i read that. >> we're in shark season. everybody who gets nipped, we have an epidemic of sharks. fine. the president, whenever he speaks, you showed him talking, he cuts so much against the image the right keeps trying to portray. when you poke these scandals, supposedly scandals a little bit, they kind of fall apart. i think the irs one is a great example. the romneys are an ironic group of people to get involved. they don't pay tablxes. they are symbolic of the problem. give us a tax exemption in less than a year or we're going to take you to court? i don't get it. >> no. okay. professor, eric holder's biggest problem at the moment seems to be the two top republicans on the judiciary committee opened an investigation whether he lied

to congress about the case involving a leak in 2009 to james rosen of fox news. congressman jim seson brenner is leading the probe. here he is with our own andrea mitchell. take a listen to him. >> either holder did sign off on an allocation that rosen violated the espionage act, or he didn't know that that was in the affidavit that was filed in the court. and he doesn't know what's going on in his own department. either case, he ought to resign and, as he's lost trust of congress and the trust of the american people. >> that's somewhat presumption. to a lot of people in washington, mr. sensenbrenner is saying because he was labored a co-conspirator, therefore he was being prosecuted. that seems logical, but it's not strictly true, is it? >> absolutely not. you can be a co-conspirator without being a target of investigation. it amazing me --

>> you just diluted the man in one sentence, professor. you've just stripped him bare. his whole thesis for 15 minutes was that. you took one second. >> you know, this is what we do in georgetown. >> clearly. >> the reality is this. the reality is this. is that the right is amazing because they're so hypocritical, martin. you know, i recall senators back in 2012 berating john brennan when he was being vetted to become head of the cia for why he doesn't doing enough and was he involved in the very leak that now is the subject of such consternation? how do you want it? do you want the obama administration to make sure that these leaks are not going on a pace so national security is not compromised on the one hand? or do you want to pile on on the other hand? what they're trying to do is get at eric holder. as miss reid indicated brilliantly, they keep poking at it but it's a pillsbury dough boy. he just laughs. mr. obama is laughing at the ticklish interferences going on

here. there's no there, there. there's no scandal. if you want scandal, look for kerry washington in the third season. there's none here in the obama administration. >> the national security correspondent for the "washington post" writes of the affair "when first advocates say he was theorized as a co-conspirator, they do not understand the law. when other claim this investigation is intimidating a growing number of government sources, they don't understand the theory." >> they see a way to recollect the problem that is always the eternal problem. why didn't they win the last election? as they see it, it's a combination of some kind of amorphous fraud and their voters not coming out. how can we get them excited? how can we get the tea party excited again? >> scandal. >> and the thing that's so funny is the only way they're able to fabricate these scandals, we

keep finding out about these horrors the obama administration is doing from the obama administration. they're getting them from -- benghazi e-mails were e-mailed to congress by the white house. the irs was disclosed by the obama administration. the irs tried mightily to disclose it. the poor woman, lois lerner, disclosed it herself. on the issue of the "ap," fox news has known about rosen investigation for over a year. if this was an outrage, on the dignity of the constitution, why didn't they let the rest of us know when they found out? they've known about it quite a while. >> professor, we heard mr. sensenbrenner say the attorney general should stop down. congressman bob goodlat is also calling for resignation. he did that two years ago over fast and furious. is this actually going to lead to something, do you think, or more of the same, more continuous caulls for the attorney general to step down? >> i think the attorney general

should step down off the plateau where he represents on high principle and whip some heads. what he should understand is he's the chief law giver of the united states so to speak. he's the moses of our time and at least for this administration. yes, some people want to put him outside of the ark of the legal community. that's ridiculous. he is in one sense the whipping boy for so much of the frustration of the right wing. their inability to reconcile themselves to the fact they lost the election means they will be pursuing a person like an eric holder. in sense, they perceive him to be the most vulnerable. they attack him. i think what he has to do is continue to hold fast. i think the president has given strong indication that he will support mr. holder and, therefore, together they should go forward. and here's the real problem. the real problem is it's not against the law to leak classified information. that's what we need to get into our sights here. that what we need to do is shore up the law. not figure out how to scandalize

the name of eric holder or president obama. let's deal with the undergirding legal principles that are not present and as a result of that figure out a way to get beyond this morass. otherwise we're going to repeat this in the next administration and the administration after that as well. >> indeed. as in the past. professor michael eric dyson and joy reid. thank you so much. we will continue to monitor that violent weather in oklahoma as i just said. first, the child of reagan. alex p. keaton. you've got nothing on senator ted cruz. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief!

we make meeting times, lunch times and conference times. but what we'd rather be making are tee times. tee times are the official start of what we love to do. the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time. because being able to play all day is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. missing workouts because of sports injuries. runner's knee... ...it's right there. shin splints... ...it hurt right on this side. injuries like these can come from the pounding your feet take. but i found something that helps. dr. scholl's active series insoles with triple zone protection to help reduce pain from three sports injuries:

runner's knee, shin splints, plantar fasciitis. i can feel the difference. i'm a believer. i'm back working out. i'm a believer. try dr. scholl's active series. i'm a believer.

tens of thousands of dollars in hidden fees on their 401(k)s?! go to e-trade and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. e-trade. less for us. more for you. we want to bring back in dylan dreyer, our meteorologist as we continue to watch these storms in oklahoma. dylan, are developments becoming more ominous or are things less worrying at this moment? >> right now it is a little more ominous because that storm that is just north of oklahoma city, that has also now produced a confirmed tornado. so they have added on a tornado warning, and it is in effect until 4:30 central time. that's northwest creek county and pawnee county. that is significantly west of

tulsa, but the area of concern is the fact that it's moving east at 30 miles per hour, and that is now a life-threatening situation. that's coming out of the national weather service in tulsa saying that a tornado has been spotted on the ground, and it is moving east at 30 miles per hour. that's that top after rrrow to west of tulsa. it is moving east. that's why that's an area of concern. the other storm that is south of oklahoma city, there is still a tornado warning in effect until 4:00 central time. that does not include the town of moore, oklahoma. it also does not include the town of norman, oklahoma, two towns that certainly do not want to be included in a tornado warning by any means. those storms, again, south of oklahoma city have not yet seen a reported confirmed tornado, but there is indication looking at the radar that there could be some rotation. so the spotters are on the ground. they're looking for those clouds to drop and to see the funnel reach the ground making a tornado. that's what they'll be watching

for several hours from now through the evening. >> dylan, thank you so much for being with us this hour. we appreciate it. keep awatch on those storms. let's turn now to politics and ted cruz may now claim to have brought hundreds of thousands of dollars to new york state. well, to its republican party. his speech at an annual state gop dinner and fund-raiser wednesday was filled with the sort of bad irs jokes and conservative platitudes you'd expect from a man who voted against sandy relief. cruz, however, did leave the audience with a name for the new brand of conservative leader. the rand pauls and, of course, the ted cruzs of world making life difficult for the party's moderate wing. >> if you look at this generation, i refer to this new generation of leaders as the children of reagan. >> and joining us now is anna marie cox, a columnist for "the guardian." we'll delighted she's joining us this afternoon. maria teresa kumar, ceo of voter latino and msnbc contributor

graced with us her presence in new york. >> come on, martin. >> which is great. maria teresa, he spent time condemning gop politicians who don't stand on principle, but how much longer is the party going to tolerate this circus? >> well, this is the thing is he actually claims to be the direct of ronald reagan although ronald reagan would basically not recognize him or his policies. he's basically trying to get medicare, trying to shrink the irs and shrink federal programs. that more or less, though ronald reagan in work did not, you know, was against it, in practice he actually increased the federal government. it doesn't make any sense. >> it doesn't make any sense to you. anna maria, as i said earlier, the night was filled with bad irs jokes. listen to him. this one takes the biscuit. >> i'll give you the simplest solution to this irs scandal which is abolish the irs. >> abolish the irs, anna marie. i feel like this is a solution

that only benefits the trust fund children of ronald reagan. is that true? >> well, you know, i'm not sure exactly how ted cruz is like ronald reagan, but he certainly can pander with the best of them. and that's really the only way he kind of reminds me of reagan. reagan would be a moderate by some of the standards of this gop. ted cruz is one of those people who maybe like reagan is actually a pretty smart guy but likes to pander and can speak this language that is sort of folksy and genial and covers up an agenda i don't think fits in with the american mainstream. >> that's the polite way of saying it's absolutely awful. thank you for that. you were going to butt in. >> when he's talking about this idea of ronald reagan and starts talking about the 47% and abolishing the irs, that doesn't make sense. the purpose of the irs is to receive funding to provide a safety net for the poor. by abolishing the irs is saying we don't believe in providing a

safety net for the poor, therefore we don't believe in the 47% because they are trying to take -- >> well, you slightly -- because cruz -- hang on a second, anna marie. cruz also mentioned how the gop needs to be the party of the 47%, but then we told this story about his father. take a listen to this. >> you know what, when my dad was washing dishes, he was in the 47%. but he had no intention of staying there. that's the american story. >> magnificent pause there. i mean, one wonders when he's going to win an alivier award in london or academy award. it sounds like he's making a mistake thinking the 47% is only poor people. it isn't. it's the military, it's the elderly. i mean, when are they going to understand who the 47% really are? >> let's be very clear about a couple things here. number one, he's wrong about that. number two, the people in the 47% who are there because they are poor, because they need government assistance do not

want to stay there. no one who is poor wants to be poor. and even those who are there because they were in the military or they're elderly, we are not a country that is comfortable with having to have a safety net, but we think a safety net should exist. the other thing i want to say, we cannot emphasize this enough. to talk about abolishing the irs is crazy. it is insane. it does not pass any sort of common senseical test you could put on it. >> anna marie, what are you talking about? hang on a second. in ohio yesterday there was a tea party caucus meeting, and virtually every speaker who got up said, seriously, abandon, crush, kill, destroy the irs. >> well, you know, it's sort of like saying because we have military misconduct we should abolish the army or abolish the military. i mean, it's not something that makes any sense at all to any normal human being. i don't like paying taxes. you don't like paying taxes. i know they support things that i do believe in, and i recognize there must be some kind of infrastructure in order to do that. and i recognize, and i think

most americans recognize that taxes are a way of, yes, redistributing wealth. i mean, i'm not ashamed to say that. people who earn a lot of money should have to pay a little more. that is something that a lot of people are comfortable with. and, again, like, it is crazy to say we should abolish the irs. i can't believe that he has not gotten more called out on this particular aspect of it. it is, like, eliminating a whole branch of government. i mean, he's talking like rick perry here. >> i think it's a little more than that. it's also not recognizing that as a person that's wealthy, they have actually benefited. this is elizabeth warren's, this is what made her win election is recognizing that by participating in the united states, whether if you're a small business, whether -- whatever resource that you receive, whether you use our roads, your children are educated in public school, you benefited somehow. this is actually a collective good. and irs, as in recent -- redistributes that collective good to rise as a nation. >> maria teresa kumar, anna

marie cox. thank you both so much. coming up, we're starting to feel the full effects. it's our latest installle of sequestarity. that's ahead. and we'll continue to watch the weather tornado warnings in oklahoma. stay with us. it's a steakover. it's tender. good flavor. it just melts in your mouth. mine's perfect -- man! we're actually eating walmart steaks. are you serious? fantastic! that was a good cut of meat. [ earl ] these are perfectly aged for flavor and tenderness. i would definitely go to walmart to buy steaks. walmart choice premium steak in the black package. it's 100% satisfaction guaranteed. try it. but i see a world burstingteak with opportunity,ople nervous. with ideas, with ambition. i'm thinking about china, brazil, india. the world's a big place. i want to be a part of it. ishares international etfs. emerging markets and single countries. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors

choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

since going into effect in march, sequestration cuts have only had a single impact. a few flight delays back in april. other than that, nobody has been affected at all. or so you'd think. judging by the fact that ending the air traffic controller furloughs is one of the only actions congress has taken since these cuts began. but if anyone in congress is watching this, perhaps we could have your attention, because over the past three months, we've also seen major cuts to the nation's head start programs. drastic cuts to the meals on wheels programs. and now cuts to education for the children of military families. in fact, the effects of these cuts are so widely felt that according to a new poll, 37% of

americans are being negatively affected by the cuts which is up from 25% in march. things are getting worse. and not too many in washington seem to care or even notice. i'm joined by someone who does care, congressman keith ellison, democrat from minnesota. good afternoon, sir. >> good to be here, martin. thank you for having me. >> it's a pleasure. 37% of americans are feeling negatively affected by sequester cuts with 18% feeling a major impact, and yet the only thing congress will act on are flight delays? will congress only act to remedy those things which effect wealthy, powerful individual, is that it? >> well, you know, those flight delays, we voted to restore those cuts about 20 minutes before we actually closed for the week and went to the airport, ourselves. so the optics of that were ugly, but it looks quite self-serving. i mean, your point is is very

well taketaken. just this week we had furlough notices go out to civilian employees of the defense department. these are people who do important jobs but who are civilian workers. 800,000 affected across the country. a lot here in my home state of minnesota. they got furlough notices and they're extremely upset. i also met with a federal judge yesterday who i called and asked him how are sequestration affecting you? and we're going to see significant cuts to the public defender system. you know, in the united states we have a right to counsel if you cannot afford one. that's gideon v. wainwright. the way the cuts are coming down, this core right is in jeopardy when you look at all the days furloughs going to affect federal public defenders, not to mention people on pretrial release, not to mention other important aspects of court administration. that means people's cases being delayed. this means people, perhaps, being released who shouldn't be.

this means people being kept in who should not be. it's a real serious problem. >> i'd be remiss, sir, if i didn't ask about representative michele bachmann's decision not to run for re-election. it's certainly a comedic turn we've enjoyed. she's now, as you know, a fellow minnesotan like yourself. you've sparred with her repeatedly. you've sparred with her repeatedly. what is your reaction to her announcement? will it make very little difference in the process of congress? >> i think it won't make much difference. i think that there's other people who have identical voting records to hers. they may have better attendance than she had, but they have better voting records, the same voting records as she does, but they i just are not as likely to make inflammatory comments. so in my opinion, you know, we just got to get in there, make a case to the american people that we've got to have a government that reflects its values, its needs, its priorities, and that's somebody who doesn't believe in the basic idea of

government. >> congressman keith ellison, democrat of minnesota, thank you, sir, for believing in government. we appreciate it. and we'll be right back. 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 and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? how much is too much water? too little? until we got miracle-gro moisture control. it does what basic soils don't by absorbing more water, so it's there when plants need it. with the right soil, everyone grows with miracle-gro. available out there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking

and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university, we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships for qualified new students. learn more at devry.edu.

i'm in my work van, having lunch, next minute i'm in the back of an ambulance having a heart attack. the emts gave me bayer aspirin. it helped save my life. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. my doctor recommends i take bayer aspirin to help prevent another heart attack. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i've lived through a massive heart attack. i don't take life for granted.

see your doctor and get checked out. ♪ thanks so much for watching this afternoon. chris matthews and "hardball" picks things up right now. choose your weapons. scandals, or jobs? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. politics is what you're talking about. if you're talking about the national debt, bet on republicans. same with crime. that's another good issue for them. benghazi. better yet, think irs. that will get you votes if you're a republican. or if nothing else is happening, say they're coming to get your guns. this is the conversation in this country right now. they're not talking about the debt, we're talking about benghazi or the irs or here's