>> we are going-over to "the view" today. >> michael douglas. it's way too early. what time is it? >> it's time for "morning joe," but now over to "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. >> the vision thing. six months into his second term, is president obama driving the agenda or trying to manage daily drama. it will be a crucial and busy month, but will it be remembered for anything other than being busy. >> attorney general eric holder and anonymous democrats start to whisper about his leadership and future as the top cop. as the period meets with world leaders, violent protests in turkey has an impact on the steps taken for mideast peace. a potential partner than the prime minister of turkey. from washington, it's monday,

june 3rd. i'm chuck todd. glad to be back. president obama hosts a conference on mental health issues. it will start at the white house. the latest event to take up 24 hours of oxygen and a news cycle. it seeps student loan rates low and on tuesday he was at the jersey shore to boost the summer economy. he was laying out a new policy on drones. all the events beg this question. what's this second term about? team obama seems to be throwing the mud at the wall lacking that vision thing. the white house has been on the defensive on controversies around town. the acting commissioner will testify for the first time at a house hearing. just as a new embarrassment releases, a tent 10 video showing agency employees line dancing on top of the star trek and gilligan's island parodies by the irs released in recent

months. inspector general will issue another report exposing excessive spending at the irs and called the conference an unfortunate vestage from a prior era. house oversight committee darrell issa tried to imply at the white house on these issues. >> the administration is the paid liar and their spokesperson and he is still making up things about what happens in calling thislogy rogue. this is a problem that was coordinated in all hikely hood out of washington headquarters. >> in every response, they have only ratcheted up the name calling themselves. the former senior adviser tweeted this. strong words from mr. grand theft auto and insurance swindler and loose ethically today. what he is referring to is the early business career. he founded the company that created the famous viper car

alarm after an incident when he was charged with stealing a car. the prosecutors later dropped the charges and after a suspicious fire, the company's former owner said he suspected issa set the fire for insurance and no charges were ever filed. that came back in 2011. for the administration and the president's allies, it em saos like the focus has been limiting white house exposure on the controversies rather than cleaning up the problem. the administration could not have been involved in such a bungled effort. >> this was not driven by the white house. it would be the dumbest effort of all time. >> i said this many times. if there was someone politically involved, it never would have happened. it was the stupiddest thing you could imagine. >> there has been a divide about eric holder. they believe he has not managed the justice department well and they gave him the benefit of the doubt, believing he takes the

fire from republicans and has been willing to be a purchasing bag by proxy for the president himself. holder has gotten benefitted out personally that obamas and the holders are close. protecting holder in his job. while the holder pot boils over with quotes from the "new york times" from a former democratic official saying the white house is talking about him for a long time. that means the political advisers and not the president himself. they told associates they wish he would step down. the public response has been we can't weigh in and it would be inappropriate rather than any attempt to tackle the larger question. the same time, the white house and whether it's the tax reform or the budget standoff, it's a timid white house and a timid presidency. few attempts to put out an agenda since the state of the union. he is managing the second term rather than attempting a bold

approach. it's as if they are accepting the fate of having a minimalist approach. congress stinks so we are done trying and him immigration doesn't blow up and maybe that's all that's needed for the history books to not have a failed second term. but it's only six months into the second term. the month of june is not going to solve anything. partly by coincidence and promises to be a reactive month for the white house. the u.s. and china summit and the g 8 summit two weeks from now as well as the president's trip to berlin and africa at the end of the month. june will be dominated by the supreme court decisions. that adds to the complication that the white house faces of a second term agenda that seems lost with a year all right half over. there tough things no the to lose sight of. the white house's message has been all over the place. the sunday shows yesterday, republicans hit the

administration and there was barely a word about benghazi. that was the report that kicked off the trio of controversies. even on the irs, the issue where the gop has the political advantage, the message is confus confused. was the obama white house responsible or was it asleep at the wheel? it can't have been both of those things. as republicans call for eric holder to step down, it was republicans who were thes who complained about national security leaks and demanded investigations into them in the first place. they are counting on the fact that with polls showing americans care more about the economy than the scandals that americans will overreach. >> my warning to the republicans is look at 1998. all they did is spend their time on the impeachment of bill clinton. for the first time the incumbent president didn't lose seats in the house. if they go too far, they will lose. >> the question is is that all

congress is going to do? be obsessed with scandal and trying to score political points. worry about us. work on the economy. >> the president's problems may be par for the course when it am cans to second terms. it takes a look back at the history of clinton and bush. they both tried to push a big domestic priority. child care for clinton and both failed in the second terms. the political opposition for the kitchen sink. imbeachment for clinton and they found second terms reduced to locking in first term accomplishments and building on legacies and getting judicious nominations cleared through congress. washington gears up for what could be a petty and combative summer, there may not be an event that is more significant than the developing situation in turkey. they viewed turkey as a linchpin of the middle east strategy as a

member of nato. turkey act said as a positive bridge between the western and arab world. that has been the historical for the world. president obama has gone out of his way to have a close relationship. now he faces the biggest challenge of his ten-year rule. a long simmering disconnect erupted in violent demonstrations over the weekend as protesters clash with police, firing tear gas and armed with water cannons and it continues today. the demonstration dpru after they cracked down against a government plan to tear down trees and replace a park which has long been a gathering place with a housing complex and shopping mall. the protest sprayed to half of the provinces. a calmer day on sunday. the protesters clashed again in the sea side neighborhood where they have an office. he responded calling protesters

a minority and saying if you can call someone who was a servant a dictator, it leaves me speechless. he criticized twitter saying social media is the worst menace to society. the white house is urging all parties to continue to work to calm the situation. what makes it different than anything else is turkey is a democracy. few believe the government is in danger of falling, they see it as a sign of the autocratic tendencies to everyone term-limited and they believe to have his sights on the presidency. allies are campaigning for constitutional changes to give the post executive powers. you see what's going on here. allies have been growing more skeptical in his islamic party. he said democracy for him is a bus ride. when i get to my stop, i'm getting off. let's move on. another major factor in june,

the supreme court. the current term comes to a close at the end of the month. the high court will hand down decisions on a number of issues. they could come as early as today. among them, a decision on prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban, proved by california voters in 2008. a lower court found it unconstitutional and the issue of the federal defense of marriage act or doma that kept them from recognizing same-sex marriage in states where it's legal. a history of discriminating against minorities to get federal approval before changing election rules and affirmative action. a stay tuned denied admission is arguing the school was wrong to use race as a factor in admission process. another groundbreaking decision is whether companies should be allowed to own patents on human genes. for a look at how the court could rule, i am joined by pete

williams. pete, june is always where the controversial decisions, the ones that take the longest amount of time for the opinions to be rip and all that. that's why they wait until june. anything about the decisions that have come before june? any of the analysis of how the justice are interacting with one another give you a clue of what we are looking at? are. >> that's easy. no. >> fair enough. what is it that we should expect as each one goes on. on gay marriage, two major decisions. walk us through them. >> as we do so, remember we are basing this on to some extent the justice's past voting and they looked at the issues before. secondly oral arguments. that's the beginning. we don't know what's going on as the opinions circulate. most people, me included thought the court would strike down the obama care law. with that caution, here we go on what we think is going to

happen. on prop 8, we think that the supreme court is basically going to say this was not properly before the court. the people who support proposition 8 and stood in to appeal the decision striking it down didn't have the legal standing to do so and that would declare prop 8 unconstitutional and allow same-sex marriage to resume in california. on doma, it did seem like the court is prepared to get to the merits of the case and say it's unconstitutional for a mixture of reasons. both that it interferes with the normal federalism rule that the states get to decide what a legal marriage is and secondly it's unconstitutional discrimination. we move on to the cases involving race. on the voting rights act, it seemed that the majority is skeptical and they did seem prepared in oral arguments to strike it down and gut the voting rights act and leave part intact. if they go that far, it would be

a set back for the civil rights community. the other is affirmative action. here again it seemed that the supreme court was skeptical of it. it didn't seem like they were going to say public colleges and that's at issue here, can't ever use affirmative action, about you they scale it being ba. how they will do so, i don't know. we have been waiting for this since it was argued in october. then -- >> seven months, right? unbelievable amount of time. >> one of the issues may be that the justice is recused and that leaves just eight and they want to avoid a 4-4 tie that would leave the ruling intact as if the supreme court never had the case. on the human gene case, they seemed skeptical. they achieved more notoriety. this is the breast cancer test that angelina jolie used and the company in utah that does this

test claims a patent not only on the test itself, but on the genes out of the human body. can you patent human genes and anything that's a product of nature? the company said look, to do the test we have to modify the gene so we have to strip away the proteins that coat and protect the jooen and in doing so, we are doing something new. the court seemed skeptical of that. they have 28 cases left to decide and probably have half a dozen more decision days. we don't know when they are coming. >> when we see you standing in front of the supreme court, we know it may be one of those days. we will let you go and find out. thank you, sir. we will be keeping our eye on the supreme court and any of these big days when there official decision days. up next, the summer heat scorcher is on washington as they come back to town. a look at the politics planner.

the pretrial hearing for whitey bolger and the health conference at the white house. irs hearings in capitol hill. it's all over the place. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnwc. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions

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. too many people knew this wrong-doing was going on before the election. at least by some sort of convenient benign neglect. >> my suspicion they will try to repeal obama care for the 40th

time and less on the economy. >> it's june and getting hot in washington. republicans pushing for more investigations and the controversies that followed the administration into the summer. the obama administration continues to play defense. he continues to take heat over the troubles that overshadowed his tenure. joining me now, contributor and former press secretary for president obama, robert gibbs and political analyst michael steele. welcome to both of you. robert, i want to start with the larger premises they opened the show with. here we are and we are starting the six months of the president's second term. it seems as if the white house is in a defensive crouch. part of it they department choose to hit them, but even on today in the mental health thing, it seems like a good event and it seems isolated. if i overreading something?

>> if you look at the priority that the white house has this year, immigration reform is completely on track and still on track despite the scandals and so-called scandals that are going on in washington. you had three sets of bad stories all hit and that always feels like a heavy thing. when you get outside of the perimeter of the beltway though, people are still mostly focused on the economy. >> if you were sitting there right now, do you fear that the white house has not got a connective vision out there? they are not able to take the events that they are trying to do and whether it's student loans or mental health or going to the jersey shore? this is part of -- >> there is always a bit of house keeping that you have to do across the landscape. i know this is a white house that wants to get back and focus on the prabroader economic pict.

>> michael steele,s republicans feel like they have an upper hand when it comes to the controversies. watching darrell issa, you are a party chairman and would you cheer them on or go members of 98 overreach? are pa. >> i would be cautious andle t them do not overreach here. you have the argument, particularly on the i are, s piece. you have the argument that you can make and it goes to the court. you believe about the overreach of government at times. an uncontrolled government that goes around and starts grabbing pieces of privacy. you can make the arguments. make that and get out of the name calling and get away from the heavy handed illusions to grandure. focus on making the case. the white house has given this up. benghazi happened in october of last year. it wasn't something that happened six weeks ago. these things have been in the

pipeline. set the course, set the argument and do not overplay it. >> do you think issa is the wrong person here? you got the leadership and that doesn't mean they can't do it the right way. >> he is not looked at and viewed in this town. it's somebody who is serious about that. >> i want to ask you about eric holder. there a lot of blind quotes and things i have heard myself. there is a split about eric holder. the that eric holder causes more of these problems on his own. eric holder's future. >> he will serve as long as the president wants him to. there is no evidence that the president wants him to leave. >> would it fix flit cal probpo

problems? >> everyone has to balance the problems that are trumped up political problems that darrell issa tries to attach and problems like the james rosen affair. it's a real mess. >> that is self-created. not like you can plame it on republicans. >> i said it a number of times and i will say it again. it would behoove them to explain the rationals behind the investigations. how about scheduling a session with the media and call the chiefs and making it off the record. you know. >> there is nothing trumped up here. the administration stepped on this from day one. the politics of this is flaring and surprising to me that they have not been able to manage it. i think holder is an achilles heel for the approximate the in a big way. he is trying to find a soft landing from this. until they do, holder is in the mix. >> you are to the point where

it's hard to get rid of him. it's hard to get rid of him. >> maybe these guys want eric holder. they said he should leave. if you are watching this in the white house and you see michael steel or darrell issa say it's time for him to go -- >> i said what did you want him to say? >> that's what i mean. >> it's the president's choice. the guy has gotten into this mess. you will get off and shoot it. way or the other. >> speaking of politics, i can keep up a little bit. michael steele for maryland governor. how serious are you looking at it. >> maryland is a tough state. >> why? is why do you want to be governor? >> i love the idea of service. i think we can move the state in a different direction. we lost 30,000 employers over the last eight years. our economy is not competitive in the region anymore. >> why? >> we are taxed to the hilt.

>> the taxes would be the same. >> 40 new taxes and fees in marylanders in years is ridiculous. that's gouging. >> when do you have to make a decision in. >> by the end of the year. >> as an msnbc analyst, that sounds like a candidate to me. >> michael steele, thank you both. >> you want the endorsement? >> right out of the gate. you asked him the ted kennedy question and he had a good one. he hit the pitch deep into the center field stands. >> a home run on that one. >> up next, the extreme weather with a wildfire raging in california. more tornados threatening and hard hit plains. who should cover the cost of recovery for disaster funding. today's trivia question. who was the first woman to represent pennsylvania's 13th

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had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. . large parts of the country are cleaning up after dangerous storms. heavy rain and thunderstorms and high winds moved through the northeast and 30,000 without power. the storm rattled major leaguers. you have seen this. the yankees and the red sox were trying to wait out the weather when thunder struck, freaking out the players. in oklahoma, more serious. residents are recovering from storms that claimed 13 lives including three veteran storm chasers. authorities confirmed at least three other deaths in flooding. the same system caused flash flooding. out west,a i massive wildfire

spreading north of los angeles. nearly 3,000 people are under evacuation orders and almost 1,000 firefighters are battling wind gusts of 40 miles per hour fueling the fast-moving fire. all this means what? we are dpg are going to have tat money and with clean up on the way today and the 2013 hurricane season under way, there is a bill that would create a catastrophe fund to put money aside ahead of time to be used in responding to the next natural disaster. a rainy day fund, if you will. a fema director and cochair of protecting america.org. they should set aside dollars ahead of time to cover the costs. >> the ideal goal is to create this fund that is the back stop for the industry that is going to create competition in these high risk states where insurance is more available and affordable

with a lower deductible and they have an opportunity to take up to 35% of the earned income off of that fund to do mitigation and prevention work. >> not everyone thinks that's a good idea. some died without a vote. the group smarter, saver.org focuses on protecting homes and calls for people to bear more of the cost. taxpayers for common sense, a nonpartisan budget watch dog and member of smarter, safer.org. thank you, sir. >> thank you, chuck. >> it would seem that they have a rainy day fund. >> we have the disaster refund that did a lot right after sandy and the reason why we could last before reflenishing it. the key thing is that former

director wit, this is really about getting the government into the home insurance business rather than the disaster relief business that we are right in right now. the insurers spent about 20 to $25 billion paying insured losses. not the 60 billion or 50 billion that they paid. this is moving into that arena that is concerning to us. >> you are advocating a different type of -- it sounds like you want federal intervention when it comes to natural disaster relief. let's identify the areas and keep a minimum amount of structures in the areas. >> we need every disaster and it's a tragic opportunity, but an opportunity to make ourselves more resilient and less vulnerable in the future. we can use that to respond to natural disaster. we can use the federal funds to encourage communities to make themselves less vulnerable. it can be through a sliding

scale and adopt building coats and have a plan in place. you will get more federal funding up to the full 75%. >> a community said every home will have a shelter included with it, they will get more funds? are. >> it has to make sense in the overall economics, but it's something to make the community less vulnerable. people were in more than a decade ago in the exact same issue happening with the tornados. we know this is tornado alley and a vulnerable place. with the protecting america.org proposal, they are trying to bail out one state with an insurance program that is heavily subsidizing and the insurer of first resort. you advocating that you can live on a coastline, but you are saying that the federal government is not going to be there to bail you out if a

hurricane comes? >> in some cases we have to look at that. we have a program called the coastal barrier resources act created by president reagan who said states designated highly vulnerable islands and said we will not provide flood insurance or disaster relief. you want to build there, go ahead, but you are doing so on your own. we have been too soft headed about this approach. we can't be hard hearted and not soft headed either. >> nobody wants to see people suffering either. taxpayers for common sense. we hope it's an uplifting debate. road warriors. what happens when a former president pedals 100 kilometers in three days. it's bush and is veterans. make sure to check out the newest feature on our website. we have collected the big and small political events in the near and not so near future. check it out early and often.

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with centurylink visionary cloud a brinfrastructure, and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable, secure, and agile. in today's deep dive, a little bit of an off the radar story. how do you catch up with a former president? during the april opening of his presidential center, he vowed to stay involved in public service. for him it involves military veterans if are good reason. he said had i not made decisions that i made, they wouldn't have been in combat. on the other hand, every one of these men were volunteers. none are angry. they don't blame anybody and i don't feel sorry for them because they don't feel sorry for themselves.

he was deployed in iraq and afghanistan. he made a point to keep veterans close to his heart. >> to all the men and women in the mideast, the peace of the troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people depend on you. that trust is well-placed. >> all of americans veterans placed the nation's security before their own lives. their sacrifice creates a debt that america can never fully repay. >> president bush tried to follow those words with action and increased va funding and set aside billions more to expand the research of ptsd despite the handling. he worked to keep the focus on veterans. he organized the three-day

mountain bike race and membership of them who are wounded in combat. this time biking with bush wasn't just all veterans. john ward joined the fray and joins me now. he was in the race over memorial day and was the only reporter pedalling next to the former president there. he joins me now. are you recovered from the ride? >> yes. it was a good time. obviously his legacy is tied to the wars particularly iraq. his focus was on snag seems post presidency you want to put a focus on. >> this and africa are the two big touch points for him post presidency. this is one big event and the other is a golf event that he does with guys who are wounded. the interesting thing is some have prosthetics and some are mostly there for ptsd and we get

into that for a minute. it's an interesting dynamic between the two. >> you got in there and what does the president say to these guys and what's the interaction? walk me through. >> sure. he shows up on the first day on a gator. one of the golf carts on steroids. >> it's more than a golf cart. >> it's for a ranch. he shows up on a gator and saying to people and people are getting dressed. his interactions are casual. he hangs out before the race and they get on their bikes and they go and ride for an hour and a half. he hangs out talking with people. there was a short speech before the ride, but not a lot of ra ra. they were just there to ride. >> is he hoping to use these to start a new policy conversation and does he believe there was focus on ptsd and look back at it and think there needs to be more focus on the research?

>> that's an interesting point. he told me that he wants to destigmatize the injury. some of the veterans on the ride, we are talking about how it's something that can be overcome and you should be -- >> a guy that lost a is not feeling sorry. >> that's right. >> understandable. >> it is understandable. it's self-report and a lot is unknown about it. there was tension there, but he kept talking about where you want these guys to get jobs and get back to work. we don't want them to be permanently disabled. >> this is something he does every year? are. >> every year so far. he is 67 next month. he will probably do it as long as he is able. >> in politics with him? during the conversations? >> we talked about rubio and immigration and the president.

>> what does he think of rubio? >> he likes him because his brother likes him which is an interesting comment. he wants jeb to run. >> did you ask him about the barbara bushes? curious to see what hoe thought about that. "huffington post" with exclusive access. we will take a look and you have a punch of great pictures and videos. the gaggle will be here, but first the white house soup of the day. we'll be right back. asional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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college republican national committee is painting a dismal picture for the future of its party. a report writes quote, we've become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but won't offer you a hand to help you get there.

dan bals and robert, dean trainer and former white house press secretary to president clinton, he's the dean of the washington -- >> left out. i need to be the dean. >> call you dean dean. >> capital dean. >> you worked in the republican party. seems actually, you know, it's not an unobvious things. >> what i thought was interesting, they focus a lot on the social issues and say gay marriage, reaching out to african-americans, brown people who look like me, we need to be relevant in the community. but also, they touch upon the policy differences. i thought it was a really good report.

>> i got in economic issues, too. >> issues with that and younger folks -- >> if you're rich, great, but there's no ladder up for me. >> we've got sad news to report here. we just learned that senator frank lautenberg died this morning. his office says he died of viral pneumonia. he took the oath of office, at 89, longest serving senator in new jersey history. also the last world war ii veteran serving in the senate. lautenberg announced this year he would not seek re-election in 2014. for those wondering about this according to new jersey election log, chris christie will appoint his replacement serving until 2014. dan, you and i have been in the senate a long time, both covered frank lautenberg. he was one of the first guys to sort of buy a u.s. senate seat. made his fortune from a piece of direct mail, their paycheck.

adp. but sort of an interesting character over the years. >> yes, he was. a liberal when people weren't necessarily -- >> wasn't cool. >> he never hid that. he was a serious legislator in many of his things that he did. came back at a late age to -- >> well, he came back at sort of a weird time in politics. they needed the embarrassment and a candidate. he saved them. >> and reluctantly stepped aside when it was clear that it was time to step aside. >> now, he's been battling health for quite a while and there were some times where he hadn't been voting this year, so this isn't coming as a surprise to many folks, but i do come back to this idea, this is the last world war ii veteran and it's hard, a passage of time, we're all getting older, but that still seems striking to me. not a single member a veteran.

>> obviously lautenberg -- >> who retired. >> i remember serving in the senate with rick santorum in the late '90s and early 2000s and it was lautenberg and -- lawtutenbg was the nice e of the senators. he was just a very nice gentlemen. very much partisan, but still a gentlemen. >> it's interesting. this is at a time when you know right now, democrats get criticized for not having people from the business community, he was a guy in the '80s from the business world. a ceo. a founder, made it big and it was a liberal democrat. >> exactly. a large publicly traded company and he made it a point of letting you know he had business experience and he p put that to work in the senate and democrats always appreciated having that credential in the ranks. very helpful. >> he would push things. he was on the gun issue before it was cool to be on the gun

issue. smoking bans. he was a big proponent of that. i think himself as a recovering smoker, so that's why he pushed some of these things so hard. very much wanting an activist government. >> it's this notion that all business executives hate the government. he was an example of the opposite. somebody who made his mark in business. but had a sense of what government could and should do in other areas. >> one of the legendary races, i have to bring this up, pete dawkins, '88. >> pete dawkins, west point graduate. great athlete and not a great politician. >> no, there was a time that '88 race -- won that '82 race at a time when it was percolating in '82. democratic harrison waynes was having --

>> with him on the side of the ticket, people thought that lautenberg was toast and he showed he had a lot more political resistance than that. >> when the bio's betterandidac. >> thank you very much. we'll be having more on the death of frank lautenberg coming up at the top of the hour. that's it for this edition of the daily rundown. middle of the country, looks

nice, still hot in the desert southwest. it's not until tuesday that thunderstorms will return here to the central plains. have a great day. completely dif. i met a turtle friend today so, completely dif. you don't get that very often. it seemed like it was more than happy to have us in his home. so beautiful. avo: more travel. more options. more personal. whatever you're looking for expedia has more ways to help you find yours.

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a new take on an old favorite. we have just been reporting this breaking news that senator frank lautenberg, the oldest serving member of the u.s. senate, died overnight. he is someone who has had significant impact on this country's laws i including in particular, he wrote sweeping safety and health care laws.

let me bring in chuck todd, host of "the daily rundown," who first reported this for nbc news. obviously, many superlatives will be used to describe frank lautenberg. he's the last of the greatest general ved in world war ii. just give us a quick sort of summary, the importance of frank lautenberg in the u.s. senate. >> i would say he was a liberal's liberal. an activist before it was a government activist, if you will. if you think about it, he came into politics after a successful business career. a lot of people get paid, get their paychecks from a company called adp. well, he basically took adp from a small little mom and pop shop that helped companies are payrolls to one of the most dominant payroll companies that