lowered to half staff, honoring new jersey senator frank lautenberg who died this morning at the age of 89. the last tworld war ii veteran in the senate. lautenberg was a powerful driving force on domestic issues from smoking an airplanes, the environment and gun control. >> who is who favor gun ownership, put that aside and stand up for the safety and the well-being of our citizens. >> john kerry remembering his former senate colleague today. >> frank was a remarkable legislator and just a tremendous human being. he was someone who fought and won a lot of battles that today people just take for granted. >> $50,000 for line dancing lessons? another embarrassment for the irs. but as oversight chairman darrell issa now gone too far when he goes after jay carney? >> the administration is still,

their paid liar, their spokesperson, picture behind. he's still making up things about what happens and calling this local rogue. this is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of washington headquarters. is eric holder's job on the line? john mccain on "morning joe." >> should eric holder resign? >> i can't tell him to do that. but he ought to ask himself if he's really helping the president of the united states now. but americans will forgive, but they want to move on. but they want to place responsibility and then move on. hold on, hold on. everybody duck, go, go, go. >> and the eye of the storm, terrifying moments for the weather channel's mike bettis. tragically, elsewhere in the state three other storm chasers did not survive.

more on the dangers of the hunt, coming up. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington, lawmakers mourning the loss of a fellow senator who made a major contribution during his time on capitol hill. new jersey senator frank lautenberg passed away after complications from pneumonia. his legislative accomplishments span decades and have impacted nearly every american. joining me to take a closer look at the life and legacy of frank lautenberg, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and nbc capitol hill krort, kelly o'donnell and justice correspondent pete williams with major news coming from the supreme court. that in a moment. first to lautenberg, kelly o'donnell, this is a big loss for people on the hill in both parties. >> not only was he accomplished, but he was well-liked. frank lautenberg has been a real gentleman around here. we were commenting what a kind, friendly person he has been. and when you look at people who have served in the congress for a very long time, some of them have prominence because of their opinions and some of them have

prominence because of some of the things they do in terms of being big personalities. frank lautenberg was a quiet man who actually got a lot done legislatively. which we don't always see. he worked very hard in some areas that matter in people's everyday lives, he dealt with issues like tobacco, he was the one who was behind getting smoking off airplanes. he did a lot in the area of bringing down the legal level for drinking. on the highways. he did a lot in the area of gun control. and i remember being in the chamber not long ago when there was the background checks vote and it was the last time we saw him here in the senate and there was a big stirring of applause and emotion when he came into the chamber, aided by some of his staffers to cast that vote. he was a real voice on issues related to gun control. a democrat from new jersey, the last of the world war ii generation in the senate. there are still members of the house who served in world war ii. he was a quiet man with a big presence and he will certainly be remembered around here. andrea?

>> and chris cillizza, we've gotten a lot of reaction coming in from around the country, from the president, the white house and you heard john kerry. there was also a big political push. we'll play a little bit of "meet the press," cory booker. cory booker has issued a statement today. but on me"meet the press," he w not so patient in pushing lautenberg to announce his retirement. let's play a little bit of that with david gregory not too long ago. >> the idea that you've not worked out with senator lautenberg what his plans are. any missteps in terms of that? >> this is really early. we reached out with him, we had a trip down here to speak with him, but he wasn't able to speak. right now the senator who i support needs to focus on the debt ceiling, focus on funding for sandy. i have two good senators in the senate, we're going to support that. >> chris cillizza, it was an unseemly by many accounts, unseemly push to try to get lautenberg to announce his retirement. >> well cory booker may have not

seen anything there. but we know for a fact because he sort of referenced it publicly, that frank lautenberg did feel in fact that cory booker, the mayor of new york, widely seen as a rising star, he took a pass on running against christie. making clear his intention to running for senate seat. that happened before frank lautenberg announced his plans to retire. was seen by many people, including frank lautenberg as a bridge too far. a little bit of a political misstep. i would add, though, people forget this, frank lautenberg served two different times in congress. elected in 1982, served until 2000. then came back in 2002, remember, he was the guy who replaced bob torcelli, who left that race, bob torcelli, very likely to lose that race as a democrat due to his ethics issues. leaves the race in the fall of 2002. frank lautenberg steps in, wins the race, saves that seat for democrats. and that was a seat that if bob

torcelli had remained in the race or if they didn't have someone as sort of well-known, well-liked, well-regarded by the public of new jersey ready to go, would have been much more perilous, he did his party a big favor there by coming back into public life two years after he had voluntarily left it. >> we've seen him a number of these pictures going all the way back to the reagan years, with his wife, bonnie and our condolences to her at his side. joining us on the phone is former new jersey governor, tom kaine, a republican, but as a bipartisan political figure. worked closely with frank lautenberg. your thoughts today? >> it's a sad day, obviously, but i miss a friend and i'll miss somebody who was wonderful for new jersey. if i needed something done in the senate, other the congress, he was the one i went to. because he would get it done. love the other senators and congressman talk about it, but you went to frank and he would do it. and he would pester the other senators until he got the bill passed, got the money for the

state or whatever was needed. >> and governor, it didn't matter whether it was something that would help a republican or a democrat. he was really a new jersey partisan first, as well as being a national figure. >> yeah, he was. it was something the state needed, frank was always there. every single time. and he was always in the forefront, when he died, he was working on bill to really get toxic materials out of the food we eat. to redo tosca. and traffic lautenberg, his leadership was out in front and he will be missed on that and so much else. >> governor tom kaine, we'll seen pictures of him with president obama and chris christie. an advocate to ban guns, to get rid of smoking on airplanes and someone who was really well liked as kelly o'donnell has pointed out. now to pete williams. because the supreme court has issued a big ruling today. pete, this involves whether or

not law enforcement, police can go after dna. when someone has been arrested, but not convicted. tell us the implications there. >> all the states take dna from people who are convicted of crimes. and what they want to do is take that dna from known people and check it against the national database of dna samples at scenes of unsolved crimes to see if they can get a hit and solve those cold cases. the case today was whether the police can do that with someone who has merely been arrested, but not convicted. and today, by a 5-4 vote, with an unusual line-up of justices, the court said yes. justice kennedy joined by justice breyer and most of the court's conservatives said normally you need a search warrant, you need probable cause to think someone has committed a crime. but this is different, because number one it's the best way to tell who that person is. people can alter their appearances, they can even try to change their fingerprints. dna has unparalleled accuracy, the court said. and secondly, you want to see if a person has a violent crime in

their background that perhaps should say they should be denied bail and not released pending trial. well, a blistering dissent written by justice scalia and joined by the other court liberals. he said that the court has never before approved a search, which is what this is, for general crime-serving processes and he said, make no mistake about it, even though the court's opinion today had to do with taking the dna for people arrested for serious crimes, he said there's no logical reason that the police can't take the dna from anybody arrested for anything. a traffic stop, anything. and he cites statistics in his opinion, his dissent, saying one-third of all americans will be arrested by the time they're 23 years old. so he said it is a huge affront to liberty. he said he can't believe the founding fathers would have presented their cheeks for swabbing by the king and that's how the dna samples are taken, by swabbing a cheek.

so a very divided court here today, andrea. >> divide and the divisions are not predictable divisions. this still leaves a lot of big cases, we're talking about the affirmative action case, what is else is on the docket? >> the two big cases involving same-sex marriage. the question of the voting rights act. whether states have to get preclearance. and a big case on whether companies can patent human genes, so all of those plus as you mentioned, affirmative action by a public university still to be decided. the next decision day will be next monday. >> we will be there. you'll be there, thank you very much. pete. and the white house standing by, its embattled attorney general. but there are reports the president's political advisers are not 100% behind eric holder's handling of the leak investigations and other issues. "new york times" correspondent peter baker joins us. peter, let's talk about eric holder and what you're hearing, you and your colleagues of the times, from inside the administration, or from former administration officials,

reflecting that the president, michelle obama very strongly in support of their colleague and friend, eric holder. but not so much some of the other people in the white house staff. >> there's not a member of the cabinet for the last four years, who is a member of the, there's an exhaustion factor that comes with that. there's a certain eye-rolling, here we go again quality. to that for the aides in the white house who have to deal with the predictable uproars that come. having said that, they also view what's happening as a partisan campaign against him and so they're torn in this feeling that he may not be the most politically adroit member of the cabinet and the member feeling that they don't want to give in to the people going after him, and reward them by somehow pushing him out. so the dynamics are in conflict to some extent inside the white house. >> peter let's talk about holder

in terms of what he needs to do now to try to get on top of these issues. he wanted to leave or he would have perhaps wanted to leave, but on his own terms. is there a scenario where he can get back into a position where he will be leaving on his own terms? >> it's hard to see in the immediate future, obviously, he did want to leave on his own terms at the end of last year. end of the first term. he thought it was the time to go, but he decided he would stick around for a while longer, maybe a year, try to get some things done, try to get some distance between himself and some of the controversies. so when he did leave, he left on a high note, on his own terms. that obviously doesn't seem to be the case where he's at right now and you can imagine months ahead of discussion about the handling of the leak cases. and other issues that have dogged him along the way. but you know it's possible at some point he gets to move past that. some of the president's advisers remind us that you know, this is washington and these things come

and go and people can, can move on after a number of months when the spotlight has moved someplace else. >> and what about the irs, i mean this is just a continuing, exploding controversy over the irs, because it's not only their targeting now, it's the money that they spent on these conferences. what conceivable purpose would they be teaching line dancing to irs employees? >> that's a good question. obviously -- >> other than the fact that they really need to learn how to dance a little bit better. >> i would not be anyone to give them the lessons myself. but i think that you know in and of itself it could be a tempest in a teapot. but the fact that it's the irs coming on the heels of the controversy involving the tea party scrutiny certainly magn y magnifies it, it suggests an agency that is somehow a little out of control. whether that's fair, that's the impression that's being given and certainly the way people on capitol hill are going to look

at it. as they continue these hearings into what's going on in that agency. >> and finally, we talked earlier about frank lautenberg. but this does become a political issue. because chris christie will get to nominate his replacement. so presumably there will be a republican in that seat for the time being, until, would this be until a special election? i don't know what the new jersey rules are. whether it's a special election or just until the mid term. >> that's a good question, i don't know the rules this he are having a general election this fall in new jersey for governor and other offices, so you can certainly imagine that would be an object opportune time for the state to do it what chris christie himself will want to do is the open question of course. just a week ago he was appearing with president obama on the jersey shore. repliesing their sort of bipartisan bon homie of the hurricane sandy last fall. but his own conservative supporters, if he's going to run for president in 2016 are going to want to see him put a strong

republican in that seat. if he has an opportunity to and this could be a real test for him. >> thank you very much. good to see you. >> frank lautenberg has announced his second retirement from senate back in february at home in patterson, new jersey. he told the crowd about what the experience of being a legislator has meant to him and ultimate generations. >> from these streets i went to the halls of congress. and my message to young people in the room -- this is a country where dreams are possible. you're looking at it. we see it all the time. and we have to continue to provide that incentive. i honest, 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,

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line dancing by the irs employees is only the latest problem with the agency. congresswoman carol maloney joins me and serves on oversight committee as well. thank you very much. what is going on with the irs? >> well right now, we're having so many hearings on the irs, we have six this week on the irs. and in addition, that's just the house. then you have the senate having their hearings and then you have the independent i.g. continuing his investigations and then on top of that. you have the criminal investigation coming up from justice. so i predict by the end of march, everyone will know everything they could possibly want to know and probably be tired of hearing so much information on the irs and the last scandal on the misappropriation of funds and wasteful spending on $4 million on conferences and meetings and these ridiculous videos, they're not even good videos. if it was one thing they were

teaching them how to understand the 501(c)4 purpose and red lines, but dancing? what is this? they look, they look worse and worse and worse. the country is united in our outrage over their actions and their inappropriate behavior. >> john mccain was talking to savannah guthrie on the "today show" and she asked about the irs scandal. this is what he had to say. >> i think we ought to wait and see how events unfold. it certainly, when you look at the people that were targeted, it might have been something different than accidental. but i think we ought to have hearings and i think that there may be an argument for a special counsel here. but let's, i think wait and see. >> there have been some, including the chairman of your committee, darrell issa, suggesting it had to go higher up and that in fact it did, that there's some indication it is went all the way to washington,

to the white house. what is your take right now? do you think we know enough to know who ordered the targeting? >> we are having a hearing on thursday, in the committee on which i serve and we'll get more information. the he says that it goes to washington, but where in washington? the irs office. he did not say where in washington. and according to the testimony that we've heard in the committee, no one has tied the white house, it's all been within the irs and the cincinnati office. so far. but there are a number of hearings this week on the irs. and i no he that more information will come out. but he said it went to washington, but he wasn't clear where in washington or who in washington. so maybe at the hearing he'll clarify what he's talking about. >> i want to ask you about what you and your fellow women members of congress and the senate, members of the house and senate have been working on so

hard. the sexual assaults in the military. they're going to be hearings tomorrow, hearing from the brass. do you think at this stage, that the normal chain of command has to be circumvented with a different form of prosecution, so that women and men who complain can be assured that their commanding officers are not going to be involved in the decision-making. >> andrea, this has been a persistent problem ever since i've been in congress and every year, the brass comes in and the american military, there is no one more impressive than the american military. they will vow that they've changed it, they have new procedures, don't worry, zero tolerance. and every year it gets worse, the number of sexual assaults are up 35% this year since 2010. so it continues to get worse there have been a number of proposals to remove the chain of command. the military, starting with hagel and everyone else, will fight this like you wouldn't believe. they believe that in times of war, they have to, they have to control the chain of command. but i would, i support the

legislation to do so as i have in the past and i think another approach that might work is to hold the commanding officers responsible for the conduct of people under them. the climate, the attitudes, because this continues to persist. and believe me, i believe if commanders were held responsible for the behavior of sexual assault under their command, you'd start seeing this cleaned up. >> too often what we see is the person in charge of the investigation is often the perpetrator or the person causing the problems and often they excuse, they throw the case out. they look the other way. they sweep it under the rug. and then they come before congress and say, hey, we're going to stop this zero tolerance. we don't believe them. we have a number of proposals before congress, not only to remove the chain of command, but other things that would get at the serious problem. you have to remember andrea, the fbi rates rape second only to

murder in terms of the damage of what it can do to a person. this is a huge crime. it is below the dignity and the respect and the accomplishment of the great american military. they have handled so many huge problems, why can't they handle this one? we need to hold the whole units and the commanders responsible. this is a serious situation. it's a serious crime. it should be treated as one and if they can't solve it, it should be removed from their command. >> it's a sad day for new york and new jersey region, frank lautenberg was a great man and i dearly loved him in the best sense of the word. he was a great champion for women's rights, for 9/11, for gun safety. he came to the floor of the senate and voted in his wheelchair to, for the background checks. he was a remarkable person in so many ways. and our country will deeply miss him. and our condolences to his

equally remarkable wife, bonnie. >> a cancer survivor who fought his way and worked his way through chemo on the senate floor, thank you, congresswoman. >> thank you, andrea. speaking of cancer. angelina jolie made her first public appearance since announcing she underwent a preventive double mastectomy to minimize her risk of developing breast cancer. >> i've been very happy just to see the discussion about women's health expanded and that means the world to me and after losing my mom to these issues i'm very grateful for it and i've been very moved by the kind and support from people. really very grateful for it. i'm feeling fine, thank you. >> she learned a lot going through it and we learned a lot as a family going through it. she thought there was something to share. and that was important to her. that's who she is. 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas. that's how we make our living

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in istanbul and ankara, complicated all of this, erdogan is a critical u.s. nato ally in confrontation with syria's bashar al assad. right next door. today secretary of state john kerry a denounced the excessive use of force against the demonstrators. >> the united states supports full freedom of expression and assembly. including the right of people to peaceful protest because that is fundamental to any democracy. and we are concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police. we obviously hope that there will be a full investigation of those incidents and full restraint. >> joining me now is michelle flornoy a former assistant deputy of defense and co-founder of the center for new american security. good to see you, this is complicated. this is making a very complicated situation even worse because we need erdogan for any action against syria. >> absolutely. erdogan is a critical partner

for us, with regard to syria and the middle east more broadly. this is probably the most serious challenge she's faced domestically in quite some time. so he's, this is going to be distracting some of his attention to his own political standing at home. and how to calm the situation. that said, i don't think it's reached a point yet where it would really undercut his ability to be an important partner and leader on syria as well. >> speaking of syria, john kerry is trying to get together some sort of negotiation with the russians. we still don't have buy-in from the syrian rebel groups. we certainly don't have buy-in from the other side. and it seems as though russia keeps rearming bashar al assad at the same time as perhaps stringing out our engagement diplomatically, are they playing us? >> i think they, they may well be. the situation in syria is reaching a dangerous phase. you have iran, hezbollah coming

in, a shiite militant group. coming in to help the syrian government. you have extremists sunnis gaining more traction on the ground. supported by some, some of the al qaeda affiliate in iraq. you have a potential for this to not only get worse inside syria. but really start to spill over the borders. into the broader region. so the importance of negotiations, it's really more urgent than ever to get the parties to the table. >> so already in lebanon. we're already seeing a proxy war going on between huz blah, hezbollah is deeply invested, and the syrians are only getting stronger. have we reached the stage where, where assad now has a commanding position after all of this time? two years of war, 80,000 plus dead, john mccain said it's approaching 100,000. is he now holding the levers of power in that he's got the leaders of hezbollah.

iran on the ground and russia has his back? >> i certainly think that the momentum is shifting somewhat. which means it's even more important that we do what's necessary to organize, train, equip the moderate rebel forces to help them have advantage on the battlefield. that we pursue these negotiations and that we help the rebels actually meet the needs of the people in the areas that they control. i mean one of the advantages al nusra has gotten is they're able to provide food and water and electricity to the sunni populations that are under their control. we need to make sure that the moderate rebels can actually compete on that basis as well. in terms of really having the confidence of the population. >> senator mccain said that we should use our pair power to bomb the air strips to take out his ability to use his air force. some concern was expressed to me that he could have prepositioned

his chemical weapons on those very air strips and we would be in the position then of exploding the chemical weapons and being responsible for their dispersal. is that a concern. or is air power the easiest shot we have right now? >> well i think it is a concern that we, we do need to get a better handle on those chemical weapon stocks are. because if you do hit them purposefully or inadvertently, you could create more of a problem than you saw. that said, i think the administration has seriously working through all of the options, particularly in light of the different instances of chemical use and i think the president is, is looking at all of, all of the options around the table. >> quickly can i just ask, you since you had so much experience at the pentagon whether you think the fix, if there is a fix to the sexual assaults, is to take it out of the chain of command? and will the, will the brass accept that? >> you know, i think that there's a package of things that need to be done to create a true

zero tolerance culture. too often commanders have looked the other way to try to sustain unit cohesion to try to make the problem go away. i do think leadership, accountability, and things like creating special counsels for sexual assault victims to be able to take their complaints to a lawyer and investigator immediately. i think in some areas, limiting the ability to have commanding officers to overturn or change the results of a court-martial process. but you know, the senior leaders of the military that i know are sick about this. i mean it is, it is offensive to them as it is to all of us. but we now need to see them take the necessary steps to really put an end to this. as the military very much put an end to racism and racial assaults and hate crimes in an earlier era. we need to treat this in the same way and put a stop to this. >> michelle fornai, very good to

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maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend. wheeeee! whoo! later ted! online claims appointments. just a click away on geico.com. anybody out there who is listening. if you're struggling, seek help. >> thank you, mr. president. >> you're welcome. >> president obama held a national conference on mental health today. an effort to follow up on his post sandy hook promise to fix the nation's broken mental health system. and glenn close spoke about her sister's bipolar disorder. >> the fact is we're lucky that she's still here. she definitely fell through the cracks of our family. and so i decided, i helped her,

we got her help, and she started on her journey of recovery. the most powerful thing the way to change somebody's attitude and that can lead to a change of behavior is to actually meet people and hear their story. >> joining me now is glenn close from the white house north lawn. glenn, great to see you again. thank you for what you're doing here and standing up and you know reaching out across america about the need to do something about these silent disorders which are killers really for people and for their families. >> well it's amazing for me to be here. highly honored to be part of this conference today, never when my sister and nephew asked me to mep, never did i think we would end up in a national dialogue about mental illness. it's been needed for so, so long. and it's thrilling to be here. and to realize that it's one of the agendas now.

one of the major agendas now on for the administration and hopefully our government. >> are they going to put money behind this. because i remember, truth be told, rosalyn carter making an issue of it at the cabinet level during the carter administration of mental health, but doing it persistently over the years. but again, it fell through the cracks. >> i think we have to. i think the, the voices are going to get too loud. what's hopeful or exciting is all the people, all the organizations, all the nonprofit organizations, that are really working to reach a tipping point. talking about mental illness. realizing what a huge cost it is to this country to not deal with it. i think thousands of vets, veterans coming back from wars, wrecking you know, the havoc

that ptsd and tbi has wrecked in those families. we're a nation that's behind our vets. >> i think we now starting to learn it. and through that, we will go into the population at large. where one in four of us is touched by mental illness. it's part of the human condition. i think it's a human rights issue. it's an issue that has to be backed up by laws. and i think the time has come for absolute shift in the thinking of this country, about mental illness. >> the president gave a shout-out to former congressman, patrick kennedy who was in the east room today. he is one of the people trying to bring public awareness to it one of the issue he is raised today is health insurance. here's what he had to say. >> what will be essential in the final role, is the public disclosure requirements so that

we know when a health insurance company is making medical necessity decisions, they treat the brain just as the president so eloquently said, like we would treat the heart. if there was a heart attack. like we would treat cancer. if someone had cancer. >> isn't this just another type of illness, and we need to treat it equally with other ailments. >> absolutely. we need to talk about it as freely without shame and without fear. that will affect our jobs or how people perceive our families. i think that is a huge step. what we have learned as a family is that a family as a whole, you know, the healing begins when you're able to talk about it. and i know that for jessie and kaelin, my family, that they are totally different people today because they have become advocates, were able to talk about it freely. they have shared the fact that

they live with mental illness nationally. and it's been a huge healing factor in our family. >> well, blessings for that and congratulations to you, thank you for what you're doing with your family is doing, bringing us all into this circle of awareness. thank you, glenn. >> well hopefully it will be hundreds of other families joining us. >> exactly. thank you again and we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today.

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we were holding on, trying to get past the tornado. trying to get out of the path of it and got caught in the front end of it. >> mike's team wasn't the only team facing the extreme weather. this is footage from the weather channel's storm riders. the undercarriage was ripped from their vehicle, the crew barely made it to a nearby shelter. today the entire storm-chasing community is mourning the loss of tim samaras, tim, his son paul and their colleague, carl young, could not evade a powerful tornado while documenting the storms on friday. with me now, justsimon brewer a justin blake. simon, you knew tim, i think you were in norman? >> yeah, he was an innovative person and contributed a lot to meteorologist and to the safety of most people in the country that have to deal with tornadoes. >> did they, obviously they got too close, but what are the, the

practices, the best practices for not getting yourself trapped that way? >> well this was an extreme circumstance, to put it in perspective, the environment the storm was in, is an environment that probably only shows up maybe once or twice every 10 to 20 years. twas an environment that was conducive for the storm to explode and pretty much almost become almost like a black hole. it was sucking everything into it. >> justin drake also on the phone. i think you were in moore, justin. has this made you rethink the way you handled these and how close you're going to get? >> definitely for circumstances like on friday when you had so much instability and the sheer was so great. that you had a storm that pretty much became its own vacuum and started sucking everything in. it definitely makes you re-evaluate how close you want to get to a tornado and those

type of circumstances because the tornado itself and those conditions can rapidly expand like it did and become a huge wedge tornado and if you get too close to it, you could get hit by it. >> and simon, i know michael bettis, mike bettis also talked today on "morning joe" about rethinking this and said, when bill karins asked him, you know he said i'm going to talk to my family. if my family wants me to wrap it up, that's what i'll do. your thoughts? >> well, i mean every person, every chaser has to make that decision on their own. really, like the tornado that we encountered on friday, wasn't necessarily, i mean it was a very intense tornado, capable of probably causing ef-4, ef-5 damage. but it like we could be dmeer that tornado and other circumstances and the storm itself would not be as dangerous as the storm was on friday. what made friday very dangerous

for all chasers and everyone else living in the area, was the storm environment. that storm became a death trap for anyone near it. >> well, simon and justin, thank you so much.juston, thank you very much. please stay safe. you can catch new episodes of "storm chase rs" -- "storm riders," i should say, tuesdays on the weather channel. it's de. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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♪ boy the way glenn miller played songs that made the hit parade and you knew who you were then ♪ >> a few words about jean stapleton, the character actress who immortalized edith bunker as the heart and soul of "all in the family." edith was dim witted and beleagued but became the core of this norman lear show.

still managed to communicate a decency and humanity that bridge ed all divides, archie's out and out racism were difficult to take, then and today. it's hard to say the impact she had on our lives. edith was both an affirmation and -- jean stapleton, who died this weekend. chris cillizza is here to clear up the confusion i created, i think. what next for new jersey? is there a special election? >> i will do my best to clear it up, though there is some confusion about state law. there are two laws about what chris christie can do. what will be best for

republicans, what would be best for democrats. this happens honestly, andrea, when these things happen. state laws often are written, rewritten, people don't realize there are dueling standards. we, ourselves, at the washington post, are trying to get to the bottom of this. i would expect chris christie to make an appointment, whether it's a caretaker or someone who will run for the seat in the long term, an election to be held some time either later this year or early next year. we shall see. it's certainly going to be a more interesting 2013 and potentially 2013 new jersey than we thought with chris christie rolling toward re-election. this race will be more competitive. >> chris cillizza, as we say, we offer condolences to bonnie and the rest of the family on the death of frank lautenberg. >> thank you. >> that's it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." claire mccaskill and walter

pinkus from the washington post. plus robert gibbs, my colleague. tamron hall has a look at what's next on news nation. hi, tamron. >> reporter: hi there, andrea. we'll have the latest reaction on the passing of senator lautenberg. news of a wildfire burning near los angeles, forcing thousands people right now to evacuate. a change of weather is helping crews gain some ground. plus, have you heard this controversy? cheerios makes a decision on an ad featuring a mixed race family that has sparked racist comments online. what is cheerios or the makers of cheerios saying today about this modern family depicted? ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge.

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flags are flying at half-staff this afternoon in memory of the 89-year-old, the senate's most senior member. past hour, president obama released a statement calling senator lautenberg a proud new jerseyan who lived america's promise as a citizen, and fought to keep that promise alive as a senator, improved the lives of countless americans with his commitment to our nation's health and safety. banned smoke iing on airplanes, authorizing a law that prevents domestic abusers from having guns and landmark drunk driving laws that set .08 as the standard blood alcohol limit and 21 as the legal drinking age. we'll have live pictures from the senate floor where we are expecting lawmakers to take to the floor to honor senator lautenberg. joining me now live from capitol hill, kelly o'donnell. we've been hearing of the tributes from across the aisle. that is, perhaps, why senator lautenberg will be so missed in this day