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

handle sending out paychecks. when people get adp paycheck in their account or by mail, however they get it, a copy of their check, it is a company frank lautenberg helped build. took it public and took his millions after retiring and decided to enter into politics. probably the most significant thing he did in the '80s in his first ten years is the smoking ban on airlines. remember, there was a time, chris, when people smoked on airplan airplanes. >> you and i are old enough to remember that. >> those weird things, there would be a nonsmoking section and you'd see a tube of smoke coming out all over the plane. it was frank lautenberg who helped get rid of smoking on airplanes. >> and mark murray, obviously political implications. he had been sick for some time. this democrat now gets replaced by a republican governor, chris christie. what's likely to happen next and

how quickly? >> we knew that frank lautenberg wasn't running for re-election. cory booker said he was going to be running for this seat in 2014. but new jersey governor chris christie gets to have an interim appointment. that person would be expected to be a republican and that would bring the democrats majority in the senate from 55 to 54, reducing it by one. of course, how this impacts some particular pieces of legislation like the immigration legislation that's going to be hitting the senate floor later this month is unknown. but it does mean that the democratic majority won't be as big as it was earlier. >> all right. thank you very much, mark murray. again, a liberal icon in the u.s. senate, senator frank lautenberg. we have casey hunt? on capitol hill. i know that -- we literally just got this confirmed, but i'm wondering at this early moment, is there -- i'm sorry?

is there any reaction there? all right, casey sh we're having some ifb problems, so let me bring in our panel for this morning. amanda turkel joins us with "huffington post" and ron fornier. let's talk first about what we heard mark murray was discussing and that is the potential impact on pending legislation moving forward. >> well, like mark was saying, it's expected that governor chris ki will appoint a republican, which can make things harder. we don't know yet who this person will be and where they will fall. this republican appointee could actually help immigration reform if he or she comes into the senate, decides to join with the republicans who are pushing with comprehensive immigration reform. it could give a boost to the

legislation and get other republicans on board. or it could be a republican who decides to join with the others saying look, we can't go forward with this right now. it will be interesting to see what happens and that republican then will i think republicans will have a bit of an advantage now or more of an advantage than they had going into this special election to fill the seat. >> and there was some surprise, and again, we did hear mark mention this when cory booker, who is the well-known mayor of new jersey, had indicated his interest in this seat. i guess it was some months ago, but you would certainly get a little higher profile if you're a republican, especially one who might be running against a more high profile democrat if you're running against the appointed interim senator. >> this is going to be the first high profile appointment that chris christie will make. a gentleman who really wants to run for president. is becoming a national figure. this is not akin to picking your vice presidential running mate, but it's, he's going to get a

lot of attention. does he pick a moderate? a liberal? a harsh conservative? someone who is a can do pragmatic no bs type of politician, the kind of brand he's trying to build? it will be really interesting to see who he puts forward. is it a minority, a woman? i think that's the most fascinating thing. >> is it too early do you think at this point? has there been any rumblings about if this happened, who he might be looking at or talking to? >> if there has been, i have not heard it. i'm really looking forward to see what he does with his pick. >> amanda, does he have an opportunity here to say something about who chris christie is and obviously somebody who's being looked at on the national stage potentially for 2016? >> absolutely. this pick could be part of his legacy. you saw that when governor david paterson in new york chose senator gillibrand to fill the senate seat there. a lot of people were skeptical,

but she's proven to be a very high pro file, prominent senator and chris christie has really sort of made waves. he's really worked hard to increase diversity. lgbt appointments. minority appointments and something he's gotten flak for, appointees who are muslim. so he could really make a statement with this. >> and also, this gives republicans a leg up. going against cory booker, to have somebody in office who's the sitting senator makes it much better position than he would have been had the senator finished out his term. >> let me bring in steve kornacki and steve is on the phone with us. a little bit more if we can talk about, sort of the legacy of frank lautenberg and in some ways, the unique shoes that whoever eventually replaces him will have to fill.

>> yeah, i mean, frank lautenberg, it's an interesting story, his senate career. he was a little later in life when he first got elected back in 1982. he was a wealthy businessman. there had been the senator before him, harrison williams had gone to jail. and there was sort of a crazy situation, a wide open democratic primary. frank lautenberg was not expe expected to win that primary. his money helped him. a very divided race. he was able to win the primary with a pretty small share of the vote. he was active around transportation issues in the senate. frank lautenberg is the reason i think we have basically a federal 21-year-old drinking age right now. that was one of his signature issues. you know, he severrved in the ey 1990s. there was a -- the pact increase

and it caused democrats left and right to lose their jobs. frank lautenberg lost his and when bill clinton took office, put his first budget together, which included tax hikes, an awful lot of trouble getting it through the senate and frank lautenberg, you know, basically told the president at this point, there was a tax revolt going on in the state and frank lautenberg didn't want democrats to go against that. the interesting story is what happened during the end of his first time in the senate. he was 75 years old. approaching the 2000 re-election race. he stopped at christie whitman, the republican governor who was going to run against him and beat the tough race, so he decided to retire and i've talked to somebody who knows him very well. he said he made the announcement about a year before the 2000

election that he wasn't going to run. as soon as he made the announcement, he said to this guy, i think i just made the biggest mistake of my life. frank lautenberg was miserable in retirement. he left the senate. he lived and breathed the senate for 18 years. he looked like he didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of his life and then two years later, in 2002, he caught one of the biggest all time political breaks when the other from new jersey got entangled in all sorts of ethical problems. ended his campaign a month before election day of 2002 and he was one of probably lautenberg's biggest enemy in new jersey politics. the two did not like each other. when he got out of the race under the assumption that democrats would turn to somebody else. instead, they turned to frank lautenberg and he was 78 years old in 2002.

he got into the race a month before the election. it required a state supreme court ruling to get him on the ballot. he won the election any way. biggest break i ever seen in politics. that man was very happy for the last ten years of his life. >> thank you. i think we have casey's audio problems fixed now and you can't help but listen to what everyone has had to say. you're looking at a man who leaves such a liberal legacy and things that affect all of us in our every day lives, like smoking on planes and the 21-year-old drinking age. an unapologetic liberal and you wonder, certainly not in this day and age and you wonder if there will be someone like him with his kinds of views who can have the kind of impact that he had. >> well, you know, the senate has really been losing its figures like this. we lost ted kennedy not that long ago and lautenberg is another who is in there. that same sort of age group and you know, we'll have to remember also lautenberg's lost appearance in the senate, which of course was on the gun control

legislature. that was an issue that he again was sort of a liberal lion about and on and he took the time and effort as ill as he was, to come down here because the senate democrats really thought they were going to need his vote on that critical piece of legislation. >> we're starting to get some early reaction, i just have gotten some -- kelly o'donnell has sent us the statement of roy blount and he says senator lautenberg and i often talked about his training experiences during world war ii in southwest missouri. that was just the fwibeginning a life dedicated to serving the united states. i was always glad to work alongside him on his transportation efforts and my thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family as they mourn this loss. and steve kornacki, are you still with us? >> yep, i am. >> you know, i think that the things you talked about, to what casey and i were talking about,

the idea that someone who is so clearly liberal in this day and age, it's hard to see how someone like him could accomplish the things that he did in the time that he did. >> you know, it's true, although he also had -- he and his office in new jersey, i think had a very good reputation when it came to more nuts and bolts constituent services types of things. for a long time, when frank lautenberg was in the senate, the other was bill bradley. the minute bill bradley was elected to the senate in 1978, people were saying he's going to run for president some day. he had a reputation of being sort of aloof from the state's political culture. he can't like to deal with mayors, county political people. sort of these local politician would raise. lautenberg didn't have those

same sort of hang ups, the same reservations. i remember talking to people in new jersey, talking to a lobbiest once who said if you want to get a social security check and you write to bill bradley, you get a three-page position paper on social security. you actually want to get the check, you write to frank lautenberg. >> i actually followed bill bradley and it was always an interesting interview for exactly that reason. let me go back you know to our panel and ron, what would you expect that as we hear in the coming hours from other members of the senate and other members of congress who served with him, what they'll remember most about frank lautenberg? >> i think everything you guys have all said about his record and the kind of politician he was. they all realize time has really passed now. they all saw bob dole, another

member of the greatest generation put ahead of his party last week by really laying into the republican party by being too far out to mainstream because he doesn't think his party right now is serving the country. that's the kind of men and women who this country generated coming out of world war ii and came out of that war and created a great middle class and culture in washington that people worked together and got things tone even if they disagreed with one another. his passing is sad for the institution and what it makes me wonder is how do we replicate men like dole, kennedy, lautenberg, men and women like that who put their country ahead of their party at a time when very few people seem to be doing that right now. >> well said, ron. senator frank lautenberg died this morning of viral pneumonia, 89 years old. there is more breaking news. we knew there was a possibility that we would get something from the supreme court today and we did. this is about the dna case and here's the question that was

before the court and i'm going to bripg in pete williams. this is basically the question of whether or not you can take dna from someone who's been arrested, but presumed innocent, correct? >> all states take dna from victim of crimes, this is once they're arrested, but not convicted of a crime. half the state do this and the support upheld the practice. what the challenge said is you're taking dna from somebody you don't suspect of committing another crime. there's no probable cause, police don't have the legal standing to get that dna sample. but the court said today there are two reasons why it is in essence a legitimate thing for the police to do. first of all, they said you want to establish the identity of the person and secondly, they said in order to determine whether it's safe to release them on

bail, it's good to know whether they have another conviction for violent crime out there that perhaps the dna would solve. what the police want to do is take this dna and check it against the database of unsolved or so-called cold cases and the supreme court said for those two reasons, you can do it. interesting lineup of the justices here. justice kennedy wrote the opinion. he was joined by three of the court's conservatives. roberts, thomas and alito and always by justice breyer for the fifth vote. the courts liberals, the other liberals. ginsburg, and kagan. for all practical purposes, it's the 21st century version of fingerprints and police can take them when someone's arrested. that's it for today. looks like we won't get opinions

again until next monday. >> the other things that are outstanding and obviously there are some very critical ones includinging same-sex marriage, doma and some voting rilgts rulings that are being anxiously awaited. >> we've been -- been on the calendar longer than any other case. it looks like another term where the biggies come at the end. >> thank you so much, pete williams at the supreme court. monday's very big. we are still going to be waiting for the decisions in those cases and coming up after the break, republicans still beating the drum on the irs scandal, but this new dance video is adding fuel to the fire. much more on that story coming up. ♪ i don't make any decisions about who to hire

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welcome back on a very busy monday morning. more trouble for the irs. a brand new inspector general report shows the irs spent $53 million on conferences over two years. and that's only fuelling the fires on capitol hill, which just this week has four hearings on it. adding to the controversy, thousands in taxpayer dollars were spent to recreate this video for a 2010 anaheim convention which came out. two of the hearings we're talking about this will deal with spending on the hearings. this afternoon, another house hearing will deal with the irs targeting tea party groups and after a short period of relative calm, congressman darrell issa is ratcheting up the rhetoric on this calling jay carney a liar and pointing the finger at

washington over the targeting of conservative groups. >> my get tells me that too many people knew this wrong doing was going on before the election and at least my by some sort of benign neglect allowed these conservative groups, if you will, not friends of the president, to be disenfranchised but an election. >> the congressman elijah cummings shot back saying so far no witnesses who have appeared before the committee have identified any irs official in washington, d.c. who directed employees in cincinnati to use tea party or similar terms to jean applicants for extra skoou scrutiny. let me bring back the national journal's national correspondent and the "huffington post's" reporter. officially, it comes out

tomorrow, although we know that between 2010 and 2012, the irs spent $50 million on conferences. that included 135,000 on outside speakers. they always paid full price for hotel rooms in exchange for perks like baseball tickets, hotel suites. ron, it's hard to imagine worst possible timing. >> oh, it's perfect timing for the republicans, which is why they're diing up when is an old controversy, that the administration has taken accountability for and promised not to happen again. it is outrageous, obviously, but it makes good tv. they want us to play that video over and over again to embarrass the administration rather than focus on the actual facts. can they prove that this abuse of the republicans went to the white house, went to the campaign or not and stop throwing around allegations and putting up videos until you really get to the bottom of this controversy. >> just to that point, eye sa

pointing to some interviews, like this one, it's about whether or not they were targeting in the cincinnati office quote from the employee of the cincinnati office. i think as you have seen in lots of press reports, that there were two rogue agents in cincinnati. that are sort of responsible for all of the issues that we have been talking about. what do you think about those allegations? and they respond it's impossible. we're controlled wii many, many people. we have to submit many, many reports, so the chance of two agents doing things like that could never happen. is this damming evidence? is there some context here we need to know about? >> i read this was a low level employee and they don't seem to have evidence. they're just saying it doesn't sound quite right to me. i think republicans have to be careful that they don't turn scandal into an agenda. they need to have an actual agenda on policy issues and

focusing on what americans care about most, which is the economy because scandal hasn't worked for republicans in the past when they tried to go after president clinton, they suffered losses at the ballot box and the american public got sick of what the republicans were trying to do. so i think republicans have to be careful they don't get too distracted by these. >> and the democrats have come out, a statement saying taxpayers should take comfort that a conference like this would not take place today. new spending restrictions have been put in place and travel and training expenses have dropped more than 80% since 2010 and similar large scale meetings did not take place in 2011, 2012 and '13, then you have the dance video. $60,000 to make it. along with two other parody videos. ron, is this the bigger problem with all this is it just sort of is a you know, a poster child for wasteful government

spending, which is something republicans love to talk about. >> to borrow a jay carney phrase, the conferences are a side show. the fact of the matter is the irs has admitted they targeted conservative t. we don't know if they did it on purpose or for political reasons and if it went to the white house or the campaign. at the least, they've admitted they're guilty of incompetence. that's bad enough. they may be guilty of corruption, we don't know. what i don't understand is why darrell issa let the facts speak for themselves. let the facts speak p for themselves. right now, they're not really in the white house's favor. >> here's what chuck schumer had to say about all these statements. >> my warning to the republicans is look at 1998. all they did is spend their time on the impeachment of bill clinton and for the first time, the incumbent president didn't lose seats in the house.

certainly, there should be investigations and of the irs, which i think is the really serious one of these three. >> what we know, amanda, is that there have been republicans who have been warning saying don't overreach. stop using words like water gate and impeachment, but when you listen to darrell issa, it doesn't seem everybody's gotten that memo from fellow republicans. >> john mccain this morning has said he's concerned about a lot of what's going on, especially on benghazi. he said he disagrees with congressman issa calling jay carney a liar, saying we shouldn't be name calling and tossing that name around. when you start name calling and you don't base your accusations on facts, it starts to look a bit like a middle school brawl. i think congressman issa has to be careful. sort of let the facts speak for themselves and put out the strongest thing. don't get distracted by these side shows. >> i want to bring in congressman mark -- if i can. good to see you, congressman.

good morning. >> thank you. glad to be here. >> what do you think of congressman issa's comments? did he go too far? >> i think that's the problem right now. we're trying to score political points rather than mean lful oversight. those reports look for specific recommendations on how not to have these things happen again and we should be putting more emphasis on that. rather than i think what they're trying to do, which is just score political points. >> you are going to get a chance to question the irs. with the interviews coming up, what do you want to get to the bottom of with the hearing you're going to be a part of? >> from the hearings we've had so far, it's pretty clear there's mismanagement that's happened at the irs. but what really comes out of that is the inspector general

report that says then let's help to find some of these areas and that's the way they did it. trying to go after certain words of groups. doesn't happen again, but instead, we have a clear definition. so, there are some really good recommendations that we should be following, but i think the community's getting a little lost because it seems we're trying to score political points, whether it be on benghazi and here we are as a congress not deal wg the economy or jobs. >> and these controversies have made attorney general eric holder a target. "the new york times" is reporting there are some in the west wing saying privately they wish eric holder would step down. at the very least, he's become a distraction. do you think he needs to go? >> no, i think we need to look at our shield laws and i think we need stronger laws, but there's that balance between freedom of speech and also making sure we're not putting

out information that's damaging. i don't think the attorney general is someone we should be focusing on. >> thank you very much for being with us. the same to amanda and ron. we appreciate all of you and he just went essentially to black because he's been staying with us through all the breaking news we had today and one piece of breaking news you see the flag there at half-staff, honoring frank lawtutenberg, 89 years ol the longest serving member of the u.s. senate who died overnight after fighting health problems for some time. again, frank lautenberg dead at the age of 89. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter... because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪

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in after the death of frank lautenberg. new york's mayor who called him as someone who vastly improved public health in america and whose strong voice will be missed. joining me on the phone now is new jersey congressman, rush holt. you knew senator lautenberg well and probably spent many hours with him. our sympathies to you and what would you like people to know about frank lautenberg? >> yeah, thanks. this is, it's a personal loss as well as a loss for new jersey and the country. i don't think there will be anybody quite like frank lautenberg. he came from humble beginnings. he never forget that. his father died while he was serving in the army and the g.i. bill sent him to columbia university and he always felt grateful for that and a need to pay back. he and i workeded together on a number of things and so i feel

this very personally, but whether it was his famous work on victims of gun violence or school ha hassment or keeping trains and buses safe or safeguarding chemical plants or as mayor bloomberg said promoting public health, research and development, all of those things. but what stands out in my mind is what he did for drunk driving. as part of his transportation work, he put in a law about blood alcohol level. today, you could fill several football stadiums with people who are alive because of frank lautenberg and not one of them will know who they are. >> i guess you could call it a laundry list of things he accomplished legislatively are things that have impacted all of us in our every day lives. how did he do it? how did he make these changes,

work behind the scenes? >> he was persistent. long before i was in congress, i, you know, i watched him whether it was fighting for some new jersey project or fighting for you know, public health, trying to keep smoking out of airplanes, he was just persistent. he would keep after his colleagues in the senate. they would sometimes laugh or smile about you know, here comes frank again to try to twist our arms or badger us about this or that. they liked him. obviously, he was part of this, of a cleenlgal time in the senate. which we don't see so much right now. how did he do it? he did his homework. he knew what he was talking

about and he just kept fighting. >> congressman rush holt with his thoughts on the death of frank lautenberg. thank you so much. we really appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. it's sad for us. >> we'll be right back. sfrz [ male announcer ] here's a word you should keep in mind. unbiased. some brokerage firms are. but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder -- isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds." yikes! then go to e-trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds, and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e-trade. less for us. more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing. for a current prospectus, visit etrade.com/mutualfunds.

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and definitely part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. always there for you. . the white house is calling for calm in turkey, but we are now in day four of the biggest protest that country has seen in years. today, police clashed with protesters in istanbul. police fired tear gas and used rubber bullets. that run rest sparked by the government's plans to destroy a park and build a mall, but they're fueled by something much more. i want to bring in former u.s. assistant secretary of state for public affairs. the prime minister says this is the work of a few looters and that the protests having nothing to do with redevelopment plans. what's really going on here?

>> it's really about the ongoing political and economic transformation of turkey. it's becoming a very wealthy country. it's economy is going gang busters. it has money to spend. prime minister juan -- there's been much greater political stability than there was 15 or 25 years ago. he's done meaningful things to advance democracy in turkey, but by the same token, he's becoming more and more of a polarizing figure. he doesn't toll lar dissent very well. he's been at war with traditional media since he's been in office. i think this is a man of a station of the challenge of obtaining political balance in turkey. >> i'm sure you know comparisons have been made to egypt. do you buy any comparison there and how much of what's happening

in turkey has been influenced be i the arab spring or the rebellion against the government there? >> i don't really see a comparison per se. in many respect, you'd like to see egypt evolve as turkey has. as a dominatinging political figure, is -- at risk of going too ar and becoming an ill liberal democratic and figure. that's the challenge. he has done some mean lful things to advance democracy. he's a moderate islamist. in many respects, turkey is a model for the rest of the region. but there are these indicators, particular with respect to dissent, i'm not surprised by his harsh reaction. >> we woke up to the news this morning that lebanon is is being pulled into syria's civil war with border fights between the rebels and hezbollah. let me play what senator mccain had to say about what should be done on "morning joe" today. >> i believe that we could still

intervene by cruise missiles taking out their air on a runway, providing zone protected by patriot missiles. no boots on the ground. >> as you see it, what are the risks and possible rewards of that approach? >> well, clearly, the conflict is expanding, becoming more secular in nature. hezbollah's now all in and with the help of iran, hezbollah and russia, bashar al assad is becoming more confidence he can survive. the other day, we quipped about running for re-election. i do think that the international community of the united states need to up the an antein response to this. the united states becoming a direct combatant in this conflict and i'm hard pressed to see how that necessarily or automatically makes the situation better. it could very much continue that expansion if the united states enters the war, then israel will be affected as well.

>> it's always good to have you on the program. thanks. >> a pleasure. much more after the break. now yf a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. accomplishing even little things can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. you should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure,

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it was meant to be heartwarming, but a new commercial for cheerios has sparked a major debate about race in america. >> mom? >> yes, honey. >> dad told me that cheerios is good for your heart. is that true? >> says here it has whole grain oats that can help remove cholesterol and that's heart healthy. >> so, you have a mixed race family and once theed advertisement hit the web, it produced a ton of racist, angry remarks, so much so that the maker of cheerios disabled all the youtube comments about its commercials, although it did

refuse to pull the ad. i'm joined by a social media expert and a reporter with the grio.com. good to see both of you. eric, this is the downside of social media. the haters out there are despicable. >> cheerios has done the perfect job. it's not the downside. youtube is known for bad comments. they took it down. probably a smart move temporarily, but they're un -- they're just gung ho on going forward and saying like this is not what everybody should be talking about and it's not. everybody will remember this about cheerios. i think what we see in social media is a minority, not the majority. for me, it's kind of disgusting to see that minority still exists. >> that really is a part of it. when you have these people who have these passionate views and in this case, obviously racist views, alexis, they're the ones

who actually take the time to go on and make these comments. >> in this video, there are about 1700 thumbs down, but 20,000 gave is a thumbs up an it's been viewed almost 2 million times. when you look at the people being negative -- >> i think the problem is early on when it first started, the majority of the comments were negative. >> but now, we're seeing an outpouring of people who are so vociferous about how strongly they feel that cheerios is doing the right thing by standing by it. 20,000 people gave us a thumbs up, the vast majority of people saying this is a beautiful thing. when you look at comments about the piece, they're going to rush out and buy more cheerios to show their sport. >> don't forget that when cheerios makes this spot, this is not the first interracial television spot.

akia had an outpouring just like this. people will buy more and look at us. we're talking about cheerios. that ad buy, you know what they can multiply that because it's not news every single day because that small minority who popped it up to the top of the front page, voiced their concerns in social media? just ridiculous. >> you can legislate against certain things, if you make threats online, that should be a prosecutable offense, but where do you draw the line between free speech and hate speech? >> i think online, it's difficult to draw a line. people can go on and say whatever they want to say and that's an expectation. because people are anonymous, they feel more free to say what they want to say. it's an unfornt matter. i think general mills made an important decision in closing

the comments without taking down the video because that allows people in other venues to say what they want to say but they're not attaching it to their brands. >> and people can see the beautiful ad that it is. >> beautiful ad. got across exactly what they wanted to. today's tweet of the day -- hoo ray to cheerios. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused.

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new video this morning shows the strength of the past weekend's tornado outbreak in oklahoma that killed 13 people. a tractor trailer crashed into a storm chaser's vehicle on a highway near el reno and the winds flipped the truck on its side. a few moments later, the se semi gets sucked back toward the

twister. among those kills, tim samaras, his son and their partner. he had been tracking storms 25 years. he shot video for the discovery channel and national geographic and just friday, he spoke to msnbc's the cycle before the toronto hit. >> tornado alley is famous for these types of weather systems coming through. it only happens between two, maybe once, twice, or three times an entire year. we get days like this where the systems and the ingredients come together. so just right that generate these incredible, powerful storms. >> this is believed to be the first known deaths of storm chasers as they were following a tornado and our siympathies are with their families. that's going wrap up this hour. thomas roberts is up next. good morning, thomas. >> good morning to you, good

morning, everybody. several breaking stories. of course, the death of frank lautenberg, the oldest u.s. senator and last surviving world war ii vet in the senate. we're going to have msnbc's steve kornacki talking about new jersey politics, what it means in florida as well. plus, a major rulining from the supreme court. police can take a dna sample without a warrant to do so. plus, the man who secretly recorded mitch mcconnell and his stuff during a campaign strategy session finally breaking his silence. that and much more at the top of the hour. that's not much, yo. except it's 2% every year. go to e-trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert: it's low. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. e-trade. less for us. more for you.

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on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. congestion, for it's smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment. breaking news tops the agenda this hour. frank lautenberg has died at the age of 89. he passed away from viral pneumonia. he was also the longest serving senator in new jersey state history. in february, he announced he

would not be seeking another term in office come 2014. >> i'm not announcing a retirement. i'm announcing today that i will be continuing on my mission to do the right thing where ever i can. >> well, the flag on top of the u.s. capitol building is half-staff in senator lautenberg's honor. it will now be up to chris christie to appoint somebody to serve out the term in office. joining me now on the phone, steve kornacki, host of "up." also senior political writer at salon.com. let's talk first, the reflections, how people are going to remember the senator, his time and service to our country. >> i think of transportation issues might be where he left