for edward snowden. no confirmation if it's on aeroplot or not. that is up for big time debate. this is "way too early." yes, it is. good morning, everybody. i'm brian shackman. it is monday, june 24th. we begin with where in the world is edward snowden. except in this case, not a kid's game. after being formally charged with espionage, snowden has fled hong kong and arrived in moscow. from there he may head to cuba later today then possibly on to ecuador where he has requested asylum. after revoking snowden's passport they requested hong kong arrest him but the government declined. u.s. documents filed for the request did not comply with hong kong law. "the new york times" is

reporting that it was chinese, not hong kong officials who made the final call to let snowden leave the country. the paper also quoted intelligence sources close to the u.s. government that say they believe the chinese government, quote, managed to drain the contents of the four laptops in snowden's possession. the latest twists outraged u.s. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. >> i don't know how anybody can view this person as anything other than a criminal. >> i want to get him caught and brought back for trial. >> they should use every legal avenue we have to bring him back to the united states. if he really believes he did something good, he should get on a plane, come back, and face the consequences. >> senator chuck schumer took aim at vladimir putin for granting snowden safe haven in russia. >> what's infuriorating here is prime minister putin of russia aiding and abetting snowden's

escape. the bottom line is very simple, allies are supposed to treat each other in decent ways and putin always seems almost eager to put a finger in the eye of the united states whether it is syria, iran, and now of course with snowden. >> the guardian new hampshire glenn greenwald who has been the main conduit through which snowden has leaked his information was asked by david gregory about his role in the disclosure. >> to the extent that you have aided and abetted snowden, even in his current movement, why shouldn't you, mr. greenwald, be charged with a crime? >> i think it's pretty extraordinary that anybody who would call themselves a journalist would publicly muse about whether or not other journalists should be charged with felonies. the assumption in your question, david, is completely without evidence. the idea that i've aided and abetted him in any way. if you want to embrace that theory, that means everyone who

works with their sources is a criminal. it's precisely those theories and precisely that climate that has become so menacing in the united states. >> the question of who the journalist may be up for debate with regard to what you're doing. anybody who's watching this understands i was asking a question. that question has been raised by lawmakers as well. i'm not embracing anything but obviously i take your point. >> solid drama on "meet the press" yesterday. by the way, snowden had a birthday. turned 30 over the weekend. move on to some other news and let's get an update on the condition of former south african president, nelson mandela. the country's sitting president, jacob zuma visited him in the hospital where he was listed as critical. the pakistani taliban is claiming responsibility for a deadly attack that killed ten tourists including one american. this weekend more than a dozen government dressed as policemen raided a k5camp site at the bas

of the tallest mountain. they targeted the group of foreign climbers to avenge the death of their deputy leader who was killed in a drone strike last month. this week is shaping up to be an historic week from the supreme court. we could get decisions on 11 cases concerning gay marriage, voting rights act. pete williams has the story. >> reporter: the hot button issue of gay rights dominates an unusually long list of important cases left to decide. >> i can't remember a week that was this higgs torque as the one we're about to see where you have at least three or four decisions that with lead the evening news and will be remembered for decades or even centuries. >> reporter: two gay couples are challenging california's proposition 8 passed in 2008 banning same-sex marriage there. >> we're no different than anyone else. we deserve the same rights. marriage benefits us, doesn't harm you. >> reporter: the court will also rule on the constitutionality of the defense of marriage act passed by congress in 1996.

it blocks the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages in the states where they're legal. in the three months since the court heard the case legislatures in three more states have agreed to permit it bringing the total to 12 states plus washington, d.c. no way to know how that will influence the justices. the court will decide the fate of the most important civil rights law ever passed, the voting rights act. it requires states with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before changing how they conductlabama, south of birmingham, says the law renewed in 2006 is so outdated it's no longer constitutional. >> the america that elected barack obama is not the america of our parents and our grandparents. >> reporter: another racially charged case challenges affirmative action in school admissions. the university of texas says considering race is one factor getting more diversity on campus overall. when the case was arg dwud last

october, a majority, including chief justice john roberts, 150e7 seemed to find that too vague. >> when is the logical end point? >> that was pete williams reporting. opening statements are scheduled for today in the trial of george zimmerman. they will start at 9:00 a.m. this morning. over the weekend the prosecution suffered a potential blow to its case when the judge barred testimony from audio tapes. judge deborah nelson said the methods used to identify the voices on the call are not reliable, however, she will allow the 911 recording to be played during the trial opening the door for witnesses to identify the person crying for help. zimmerman is charged with second degree murder. he has pleaded not guilty claiming he shot martin in self-defense. 11 active fires are burning across colorado right now and the biggest just got bigger. the three week old west fork

complex fire is now covering 110 square miles. the images, as you can see, are just unbelievable. the town of south fork, if you don't know it, it's a summer tourist haven. it has been evacuated. dead trees killed by insects and blazes have scorched the area. it's also in arizona, mexico and utah. right now there's 19 separate fires burning. turning to our neighbors to the north in calgary. thousands of people were finally allowed to return home over the weekend. incredible monster floods as you can see from these images here crippling the city. 75,000 people have been forced to flee as two rivers spilled over their banks and homes were destroyed. some of the major tourist attractions in calgary were damaged where the garl ri flames play their hockey games. thousands of army personnel have been called in to help with relief efforts. funeral plans have been

determined for the late james gandolfini. according to a close family friend, the 54-year-old actor arrived last night on a plane from rome. an autopsy confirmed he died of a heart attack. services will be held in manhattan later this week. now to business where general motors is looking to make chevy its great local brand. they hope it will get them there. chevy for your stats, it accounted for 70% of gm's 9.3 million global vehicle sales in 2012. more for that let's go to jeff cut more live in london. good morning, jeff. >> good morning, brian. this is a fascinating story at gm. chevy means different things to different people. in the u.s. it's big cars, the big american brand. if you go to china, russia, or many of the other emerging economies where the brand has a presence it's smaller, compact, subcompa

subcompact. now the company wants to try and i think bring a universal image for chevy to the marketplace. it's all part of the transition from chevy's disparate operations in disparate countries into one holistic brand that will fit under the gm umbrella. they hope it will be good for them to do it that way. i want to talk about hulu. over a billion video streams i guess you would call it. that was a milestone for this business. bids need to be in on friday because the owners, walt disney, nbc and news corps are selling the operation. look out for a little bit of jockeying for position as we go into the final bid as that deadline approaches on friday. one other story that i think is worth spending time on, brian, i don't know how you reckon against this. monsters v zombies v super heroes. that was the weekend at the box office. at the end of the day it was the

monsters that won. "monsters university" topped the u.s. box office, $82 million. that's a lot of people going to see that monsters franchise. >> yeah. of course, that's beating out brad pitt and a zombie movie. listen, again, i get a lot of flak for making these u.s./u.k. compare songs. i don't know. you're a global traveller, seasoned journalist of many, many years. not too many years. have you ever had a twinkie? >> i've never had a twinkie. i must be honest with you, it's not something that i would put on my list. you know what they say, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. i reckon from what i've read about a twinkie, that's exactly where it's going, but what's the story? >> well, the story is that they're going to be back in stores in july here in the states and it's reason for celebration. so the last thing i'll ask you, we're going to ask our viewers what their guilty pleasure is. what's that snack box for you when you have to sort of channel some good energy into food?

>> yeah. that's a tough one. we were discussing a similar topic on set this morning. we figured you're either a can'ty and lollipop kind of person or a chocolate person. i put myself in the lollipop and candy place. i guess it would be a harry bow or something like that to throw out a brand name. back to you. >> little gumy bear. thank you, jeff. see you tomorrow. all right. so twinkies are going back on store shelves. we're pretty excited. we know we had to do something else while they were gone. what did you do? what did you eat? if you don't like them, what are your guilty pleasures? it doesn't have to be in the food department but keep it decent. #waytooearly. creativity always counts. we'll read them later on the show. i'm a little bit on an oreo run, four of them straight up, glass of milk, old school. >> great cookie. >> it is a great cookie. someone said it's vegan. i don't understand how that's possible. it may be the most highly

anticipated tight rope walk. i'm not talking about barnacle navigating the politics on set. we're talking about nik wallenda. he completed it without failure. it took him less than 23 minutes to walk across the little colorado george. not wearing a harness. walked without a safety net. in case you're curious, we have a little bit of insight about what a daredevil thinks when he's walking life. >> praise god. praise jesus. demand it in your name, jesus. authority of god, praise you, praise you, jesus. >> well, he has religion on his side, i guess. he got it done. he says he will like to walk between two skyscrapers in new york city. of course, our own willie geist was there and seeing the festivities. still ahead on "way too early," it's the story that keeps on giving.

i'm talking vladimir putin, his proposed resolution to the super bowl ring fiasco. pretty interesting. speaking of controversy, did you see the winner of the ugliest dog contest. ugly dogs around the world are saying, what's up with this guy? kind of cute. that story and a check on weather when we come back. in washington tonight, the air force says this is it. the last word on a 50-year-old mystery. it claims to have an explanation for what landed in the new mexico desert sometime around the summer of 1947 and it's not aliens. ♪

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time for sports and some late-night baseball in st. louis. the best record in baseball. they didn't play like it this weekend. after a long rain delay, first

pitch just after 11:00 eastern time. top of the seventh. ian kinsler, rbi single for the go-ahead run. bottom of the ninth. the liner, adrian beltre snags it. he doubles it up to end a possible rally. the rangers sweep the series winning 2-1. this one, detroit, victor martinez, great play. for a guy not necessarily known for his glove. watch this. boom. he's out. he got jacoby ellsbury who has wheels. detroit takes it 7-5. you might be the most dominant female tennis player in history but she could also use a little bit of help when it comes to her interviewing skills. serena williams said she apologized already to rival maria sharapova for a controversial comment in rolling stones magazine. if she wants to be with the guy with the black heart, go for it. when sharapova heard the comment she pretty much told williams to

mind her own business. wimbledon gets underway today. williams the top seed, sharapova second. may want to call him doc hollywood now. the clippers and the sole particulars agreed to a deal that will allow doc rivers to coach the clippers next season. they traded their coach. he agreed to a new three-year, $21 million deal. basically the same exact deal that he had with the celtics. the clippers send a 2015 first round draft pick to boston. chris ball will resign with the clippers. russian president vladimir putin has an offer on the table to deal with the super bowl ring. kraft says he was showing him the ring in 2005 when putin put it in his pocket. putin says i remember neither mr. kraft nor a ring, but if it's so precious to kraft and the team, i have a proposal. putin says he'll ask a russian

jeweler to, quote, make something really good, noticeable so that it is clear that it is an expensive thing with good metal and a stone. , end quote. i don't know if that makes up for the super bowl title ring, but i think we should make him make it and send it. let's get a check on the weather, todd santos in for bill karins. the moon over the weekend was just -- what defines a super moon, by the way? >> just the fact that it happens to be full on its closest approach. that's really a lot of it. you know, there's a little bit of hype, i have to say that. we're all looking for it to be spectacular and it really was. especially with some of these good shots. i can't say too much bad about the super moon. hopefully you got to see it. if not, there you go. it's a good way to start off your monday. a few areas not seeing the moon earlier. a few others have some cloud cover. we have showers moving in towards chicago. good stretch of the i-95 corridor quiet to start off the day. hot and humid with temperatures

in the 90ed. new york city, heat advisory in place. may see a chance for a few pop up shower activities. when you step out the door this morning, a lot of 70s along the coast line. 74 in d.c. that feels like summer. lots of 90s. wall to wall 80s. back to western pa. >> coming up at the top of the hour, "morning joe," edward snowden is in russia but where is he headed next. joe a me joe and mika will break it down. it could be a game changer in the fast food world. the bun the key. we'll be right back. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. 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.

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you should know by now the united states is seeking the extradition of edward snowden. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends the united states currently holds bilateral extradition treaties with 109 countries including ecuador where snowden is, many believe, headed. let's go to the water cooler now with interesting stories. john stewart is taking time off to direct a movie. that means he has some time for a new show. stewart came on the program, which is the egyptian version of

the daily show, with a black cloth over his head to show his host who's been on "morning joe" he faces an investigation for insulting egypt's president. he took time to poke fun at egyptian authorities. >> i do his job in a country that has carved out already. it is settled law. satire is settled law. governments have realized that jokes -- if your regime is not strong enough to be handle a joke, then you don't have a regime. >> by the way, stewart is giving good shaving advice. little crust on the vacation. if you want to buy an antique coffin, if you're in the market for t who doesn't want one, an iowa man put this beauty up on craig's list. the only problem, there's still bones inside. the owner says the remains have been there for a long time. he doesn't have anything to do with it. they were donated in the 1880ed. it's another thing that's going

to make it sound funny. it's illegal to sell unidentified human remains. there are questions of whether the whole contest was rigged if he's not that ugly. he beat 29 other contenders. take a look at some of the competition here in terms of the other guys. do we have some pictures of the other ugly dogs? i guess -- i thought we were going to see what he beat out, which is a lot ugly err. we've been doing this for 25 years. there we go. that's definitely uglier. just when you thought you saw everything, this is on the wendy's list. it's a pretzel bacon cheese burger. red onions, honey mustard.

i'd hold the onion. all stuffed in a pretzel bun. in a couple of weeks the burger should be sold coast to coast. >> that's disgusting. about the ugly dog, that dog wasn't ugly. joe has a dog with a sunken skull. >> is that a depression in his head? >> two depressions and that dog is adorable. anyhow, we have a big show ahead. former cia director james woolsy is here to help us understand how edward snowden do the away. also, we'll have an exclusive interview with paul ryan on the set. we'll ask him about the nsa leaker, immigration reform and why they couldn't handle small things like passing a farm bill. later senator kirsten gillibrand will join us to respond to some of her colleagues on the sexual assault bill. finally, the murder trial of

george zimmerman kicks off this morning with opening statements made by the prosecution at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. the washington post kathleen parker is here with an interesting take on the all female jury. also, legal analyst lisa bloom will break down the case. brian, back to you. >> thank you, mika. see you in a few minutes. still ahead on "way too early," the national nightmare is over. twinkies are back in july. what is your snack you can't do without. "morning joe" is just moments away. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive?

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i'm glad i asked this question. i got new food ideas. twinkies back in july. we want to know what your guilty pleasures are. >> i think our audience might have eating problems. mark, my guilty pleasure is nutella over more nutella. cereal and stuffed bagel bites and wade, junior's cheese kaik. can't beat new york. and hobby change on twitter that would be blondes. >> take that the way you think it is or blondes, did we decide they're vanilla brownies. >>