produced and just put them back on the shelf. >> yes, they're still good. >> tv is finally taking seriously existential threat of sharks and tornadoes. >> stick around, we got chuck todd in new york. good morning from new york city. it's thursday, july 11th, 2013. we've got a mix of a show today. some zimmerman trial. some politics. after 56 witnesses. there is a whole bunch of instructions that have to take place today before the actual closing arguments begin this afternoon. you're looking at live pictures of the courtroom. both sides have rested their case. they're now debating the instructions that will go to the jury. among the issues is the state's rekwecht to include the lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault. the defense is arguing those judges should be excluded. the defense begins its closing

arguments tomorrow morning. case is expected to go to the all female jury by the end of friday. joining me now, msnbc's craig melvin outside the courthouse in sanford, florida, and legal analyst lisa bloom in new york. there's a lot of debate that's taking place today in the courtroom over the jury and instructions but it's really about one issue, will there -- the jury be able to convict on a lesser charge. >> yes, last night mark o'mara held a news conference after the proceedings. he said that if these lesser charges were included, manslaughter, battery, that you mentioned the assault charge, if those charges were included to the jury, he says that would be a compromised verdict or the jury could bring a compromised verdict. he indicated in his opinion that would be -- it's just a verdict that showed sympathy toward trayvon martin's family. so he plans to argue vehemently this morning against including

those lesser charges. also at that news conference yesterday, chuck, mark o'mara guy us some insight into what we saw unfold yesterday. george zimmerman telling judge nelson after consulting with his attorneys he did not want to testify. come to find out, george zimmerman apparently wanted to testify, very much wanted to testify, according to o'mara, sit in that jury box, tell the jury, this is what i did, this is why i did it, and his attorneys essentially had to talk him out of it. >> interesting. lisa, i want to bring in -- you in here. i want to go through exactly the definitions in the state florida on the three different potential ways that george zimmerman could get convicted. second degree murder. death has to be caused by an act imminently dangerous to another. the act is, quote, done from ill will, hatred spite or an evil

intent." it does not have to prove intent to cause death. then there is proving manslaughter. defendant intentionally caused the death or the defendant intentionally procured the death or the death was caused by the culpable negligence of the defendant. and then there's aggravated assault. there's our three definitions. lisa, what is going to be the one you think the jury, if they get all three of these, as a choice, is going to be most comfortable using, if any them? >> first of all, going back to mark o'mara's comment that george zimmer men really wanted to testify, i've been covering high profile trials in america for about 20 years and every single time they don't testify, his lawyer said that. i'm not sure if that's true but that seep seep seems to be th. i'm the lawyer, i'm the bad guy,

i didn't let him. it is the defendant's right. he had to stand up and swear in court under oath. so i'm just saying. with regard to the law and what the facts fit into the best, i think most people looking at this have said manslaughter, if there's a conviction at all, it's most likely manslaughter. i personally feel that the facts do support a second degree murder conviction. and that's because ill will i think is pretty straight forward in this case. george zimmerman minutes before the shooting is on that police dispatch tape using profanity in re rens to trayvon martin, words that i can't repeat on air, but, you know, calling him names. i think that's pretty clear evidence of clear will. i don't thing he got any fonder of trayvon martin when they were physically fighting. even five months later when he's doing an interview with a friendly interviewer, he said he had no regrets about the killing and it was god's plan. i don't know what stronger evidence of ill will you need

than that. the defense put on a very strong case for self-defense. they have one witness who said he saw trayvon martin on top pounding and grinding mma-style george zimmerman who was on the bottom. i think the defense is going to push hard that zimmerman did what anybody would do in that situation. he was carrying a legal gun. he took out that gun and he sayed his life. it's a tragedy, not a crime. i think that's a very strong position for the defense. to overcome that, the prosecution's going to have to go through the evidence methodically and show all of the inconsistencies in george zimmerman's story. i think the prosecution has the hardest case in closing arguments. >> when it comes to how the public's going to react to this trial, interesting to note here that the broward county police down in south florida, and of course this is -- that's a couple hundred miles away from sanford, they released a video urging people to, quote, raise your voice, not your hands. and, you know, you've -- one of

the things you've noted is how little there has been outside that courtroom. protests and -- any which way. >> yeah, there have been virtually no protesters here. the largest number we've seen in front of the courthouse here in sanford, three. so we do not expect that there will be some sort of civil unrest here but again, as you indicated, law enforcement officials wanting to go ahead and put the word out, that that's not something that will be tolerated, that's not something they want to see happen. they're taking some necessary precautions as well we understand. quick note, we were listening in to some of the hearing. don west is up at the charge hearing. we just heard that mark o'mara apparently is not going to be part of this hearing this morning because he is apparently somewhere in an undisclosed location hunkered down, working on his closing arguments. the state set to make their closing arguments starting at

1:00 this afternoon. the defense not scheduled to make their closing arguments till tomorrow morning. it appears mark o'mara will close for the defense instead of don west. mark o'mara will not be scheduled for the charge this morning. >> what's your sense with this judge? i feel like in watching her, she has given a lot more difference to the prosecution than the defense. so does that mean you would be surprised if lesser charges aren't allowed in the jury instructions? >> well, i agree with the first part of that. i think she's been relatively tough on the defense. although mostly outside the presence of the jury so they may not be aware of that. under florida law, i think she's obligated to if there are facts to support it. the fact that the defense is confident enough for this all or nothing approach, second degree murder where george zimmerman would be facing up to life in

prison or an acquittal, boy, the stakes could not be higher if the defense is able to defeat the idea of a manslaughter charge. but they are that confident going into this. i mean, i think that really tell, you something. >> all right, lisa bloom, thank you both. we'll check back in so you guys can get back to listening to the hearing. i want to turn now to egypt. military-led government has issued arrest warrants for members of the muslim brotherhood. nbc is live this morning in cairo. attiyah, the issuing of arrest warrants that doesn't sound like it's a way to calm things down when it companies to protest number one. and then second, has suddenly life gotten back to normal in cairo in the blink of an eye? there's an interesting report, conspiracy theorists are all over the place with this. >> reporter: let's start with the first one.

obviously, this isn't going to be make the pro-morsi camp very happy. warrants out for the arrests of many leaders of the muslim brotherhood, including a man charged for inciting violence monday that led the military to kill about -- at least 53 pro-morsi supporters. but the muslim brotherhood for their part issued a statement today reiterating their call for a peaceful resistance to get former president morsi back into power. they also say that they are willing to negotiate with the coalition that has taken other but only after morsi is back in the seat of the president. going back to your next issue about life coming back to normal, yeah, it has. in the blink of an eye. suddenly, there's no gas lines at the gas stations. about a week before this military overthrow of president morsi, there were lines that lasted for hours. i mean several hours. there were power cuts. then the power would come on.

egyptians were wondering what was going on. and now it seems they have power, that they have unlimited amounts of gas. suddenly the gulf countries are supporting the egyptian government, pledging at least $12 billion to help the collapsing egyptian economy. we have to say though, chuck, there is no physical evidence at all that this was planned by the military, which some pro-morsi supporters are saying, they purposely did not bring gas to the egyptian people that they were behind it. but then the anti-morsi people were saying it was morsi's incompetent, that they couldn't handle the situation in egypt. but neither side has any kind of physical evidence to prove their theories. for the level-minded egyptians, who are living their lives as they have been under the morsi regime and now under the interim government, yes, their lives have significantly improved when

it company, e, to the gas, when comes to power, and when it comes to some security issues. that being said, they're nowhere near to where they need to be. the egyptian people are still suffering. the egyptian pound continues. its rising steadily but it's still seven pounds to the american dollar. and that's not good. that's not a very good situation for the egyptian economy. >> all right. i have to say, a supposed temporary government that's just trying to take over and suddenly everything is returning back to normal. you know why conspiracy theorists are going to be all over these stories. anyway, a quick break. we'll be back with my first political readings of the morning. immigration reform, is it dead on capitol hill? we'll keep watching the courtroom in florida. they just took a 30-minute recess in that hearing. a critical point in the trial. the judge will decide whether jurors will be given the option

to convict zimmerman on a lesser charge. before we go to break, a look at today's politics planner. speaking of immigration. schumer and mccain. in about an hour are going to be with the president talking immigration. you're watching the "daily rundown" on msnbc. a company where over seventy-five percent of store management started as hourly associates. there's opportunity here. i can use walmart's education benefits to get a degree, maybe work in it, or be an engineer, helping walmart conserve energy. even today, when our store does well, i earn quarterly bonuses. when people look at me, i hope they see someone working their way up. vo: opportunity, that's the real walmart.

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so let's get right to my first reads of the morning. immigration reform was supposed to be the signature achievement of the first year of president obama's second term but did it die yesterday in the house? they say it's just a comprehensive approach that is a nonstarter. but the hot rhetoric they're using sounds an awful lot like an attempt to provide cover if nothing gets done. about an hour from now, the president and vice president will hold a private meeting with the architects of the senate

immigration bill. after house republicans huddled for two hours wednesday with questioners lining up more than ten deep to hash out the path forward on immigration, the bottom line is clear. the senate bill backed by mccain, schumer and potential 2016 conservative prospect marco rubio is despised and dead on arrival in the house. >> house republicans want to do this on our term and not on the senate terms and not on the white house terms. >> it was not a well thought out approach in the senate. it's the reason the senate bill has little chance of ever being -- no chance of being considered here. >> i would not agree to citizenship because that is a reward for violation of american law. >> barack obama like trusting my daughter with bill clinton, we just don't trust him. >> that was an extreme way of saying it. it's not just fire starters dishing it out.

the house leaders struck a very defiant tone. saying, the american people are alarmed at the president's ongoing assistance of this bill rather than pursuing a commonsense approach to fix the problem. the president has demonstrated he's willing to ignore significant portions of law he himself has signed. raising concerns among americans this administration cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises to security the border and enforce laws as part of a single massive bill like the one passed by the senate. if president obama can sign it, we won't support it. this isn't even the president's bill, it's the mccain sl mccain/schumer/rubio bill. many of the provisions won't even become law till after he leaves office. the irony is the president took the advice senators gave him to keep quiet on immigration. he kept quiet but they're making

it about him anyway. the reform advocates should be worried about the rantings of obama and the federal government but behind the scenes you also get the impression speaker bainer is looking to do something. house republicans say they plan to go forward with a piecemeal approach. boehner also promised his colleagues he would not take any bill to the floor or to conference negotiations with the senate that did not have the support of a majority of the republican majority. notably, republican members of the houses so-called gang of seven who have been working with democrats on a compromise plan do not even -- did not even brief the party opn any of thei bill. the party will pay a price if it fails to pass some kind of legislation. getting behind a variation of the dream act. which they believe as one gop member told nbc could help them shed the image of, quote, evil white men predisposed to hurting

latino interests. >> there's a discussion about the kids act. i know cantor's putting forward. that would allow children through no fault of their own in this country to apply for a legalization status and perhaps down the road citizenship. i think most republicans walked out thinking we have to be the party of solution. we have to get something done here. we can't just do nothing. >> it's not clear that kind of stripped down immigration bill could get the 218 votes it would need to pass. an anti-immigration steve king caucus would also oppose it. >> you can't separate the dream act kids from those who came across the border with a pack of contra band across their back. it's not their fault. once you start down that line, you're destroying the rule of law. >> democratic leader pelosi sent a letter calling for immigration reform and an earned pathway to citizenship. >> at some point, a bill has to

pass, whatever it may be. and can they even -- can they even pass a bill without path to citizenship? >> one idea offer by idaho republican would be a path to legalization. would be something similar to an h 1 bc visa. visas that allow for constant renewal in an immigrant is employed in a highly specialized field. house republicans are wary of passing any measure at all that could lead to conference know goshatio negotiations with the senate. that might be filled with an earful from constituents. at least the fall to get something done when battles over the funding of government become the real story. have depended on the fact that in the end political self-interest would drive republicans to get reform done. that republicans would wake to the fact they risk being irrepairably damaged with latino voters.

the political pressure that brought a number of senators on board doesn't exist for house republicans. just 7 of the 33 house republicans who voted against it come from states with more than 10% population. in the house, a full 70% he represent districts that are less than 10% hispanic. all the intensity when they go home is from constituents who oppose reform be. the reason why house republicans are afraid to go to conference is because they think in conference citizenship comes back and then they're forced to have to vote on a big omnibus bill and allow that to happen. i have some republicans who might support a house bill that once it goes to conference they won't like, and then they'll vote against it. but it will be too late because democrats will provide the majority. we'll have much more. plus, brand-new numbers. the support of same sex marriage in virginia. and spitzer's standing here in

new york city. after the disgraced governor declared his candidacy. keeping an eye on the courtroom in sanford where the court is in recess right now. first, the judge has to decide if jurors should consider the lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault. today's trivia question. which national security adviser held the position twice under the same administration? first person to tweet the correct answer gets the on-air shoutout. my mantra?

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the soft carpets have never been this durable. you know i think we'll take it. get kid-friendly toughness and feet-friendly softness, without walking all over your budget. he didn't tell us it would do this. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, get whole-home installation for just 37 bucks. there's a new way to fight litter box odor. introducing tidy cats with glade tough odor solutions. two trusted names, one amazing product. we're expecting court to resume in the zimmerman trial in about 15 minutes. let's get to some other political stories on my radar. former new york governor eliot spitzer announced his candidacy for comp controller just four days ago but he's already got an early lead in that race. spitzer, who resigned from

office five years ago amid a prostitution scandal is leading manhattan borough president scott stringer. the poll, according to the poll, 60% of democrats believe he deserves a second chance. spitzer must gather nearly 4,000 signatures by tonight in new york state has some of the most arcane ballot access laws in the country. yes, they've made it easier but it is very difficult to have the right amount of petition signatureses s if you're tryin do it just at the number you actually need. change heart in virginia. we didn't do a virginia for lovers metaphor here. new poll. a significant shift from seven years ago when voters passed a state amendment defining marriage between one man and one woman. support jumps to 68%. there is significant opposition.

63% oppose. the nation's largest gay rights advocacy group. was a bipartisan vote. so it's worth taking a look at. meanwhile, three top supporters of san diego mayor bob filner called for him to resign over claims of sexual harassment. the latest in a string of controversies that surround him. he's only been in office a few months but he's been questioned for the use of public funds for a trip to paris and a deal he made with a land developer involving donations in exchange for support. several of his staff have resigned since he took office seven months ago. his fiance announced the couple has broke be off their engagement. reports that i think this is now the third mayor out of the last six that has been mired in some for t form of scandal.

for more go to our website. for the very latest into the investigations that republican's governor and the race to replace him. he said yesterday he is not planning on resigning. that's all at rundown.msnbc.com. up next, more of my first reads of the morning. second term limits. why the dysfunction in washington seems to be getting worse this year. whose to blame? our six month report card on the president's second term. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

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[ herbie ] eh, hold on brent, what's this? mmmm, nice car. there's no doubt, that's definitely gonna throw him off. she's seen it too. oh this could be trouble. [ sentra lock noise ] oh man. gotta think fast, herbie. back pedal, back pedal. [ crowd cheering ] oh, he's down in flames and now the ice-cold shoulder. one last play... no, game over! gps take him to the dog house. [ male announcer ] make a powerful first impression. the all-new nissan sentra. ♪ the faltering immigration reform effort is part of a bigger story. president obama has hit a legislative brick wall. all that rebranding advice gop leaders gave to the party, republicans in office have ignored it.

president obama swore his re-election would mean the partisan fever would break, reality would set in among republicans he would never run for office again, end date set on the relentless opposition to his agenda and cooler heads will prevail. six months in, nothing's changed. the house republican base continues to personally have issues with the president. lee leaving congressional republicans believing they will suffer political damage for working with him. implementing health care is turning into a bigger challenge. they're not getting much republican help there. the senate filibustered his gun control efforts. legislative gimmes are mired in blocks. the white house has been mired in controversies. over the irs, benghazi and nsa. the middle east is on fire. putting the white house in constant policy crisis management mode. we really don't understand what

the president's foreign policy is when it comes to the middle east. it's been about four months since the republican national committee released its recommendations. after its two straight presidential defeats. included reach out to latinos and pass immigration reform. focus less on social issues. so what have the republicans done instead? now opposing comprehensib prepr immigration reform. meaning the party could find itself set back with hispanic voters for years to come, maybe decades. conservatives on the supreme court gutted the '65 civil rights act. gop lawmakers on the state level are pursuing restrictions on abortion. mitt romney lost female voters by 20 points in 2012. both thought they'd have a fresh start in 2013 but so far 2013 has turned out to be more of the same. more on the political fallout from the immigration fight. we'll bring in my thursday gagg

gaggle. he's a distinguished senior fellow. and nancy is the deputy managing editor for "time" magazine. and our next guest is the editor for buzz feed. i guess black is the new black. everybody's wearing dark clothes today. immigration, it feels dead. i don't know if it is. maybe this is, you know, everybody says boehner has to play out either one of these angles till he risks his speakership to do it but doesn't sound like it. >> there's been this series of legislative pushes where there's this magical thinking. about all this momentum, you get the senate to do it. then something will happen in the house. and, you know, the numbers don't -- just don't seem to be there. >> i think what's amazing here, that even after the president's off -- he's not running again. the base and, you know, look, i've gone to some republican town halls. you hear it. the base, the personal problems

the base has with the president has made lawmakers even more hesitant to do anything. >> remember, you know, as turnout goes down, which i think is a real issue, these lawmakers don't have anything to fear from not only rejecting the president but rejecting their own party's national leadership. none of them is going to face a primary fight because they're voting against this bill. so i think, you know, the more the base matters, the more turnout goes down, the more you're going to find that it becomes really hard just to do the basic blocking and tackling of legislating. think that's what this breakdown really points to. >> it's interesting, on the immigration, if you took a private poll with the leadership, they all know -- think about where the three house leaders come from. ohio, boehner, virginia, canter, california, mccarthy. i'm sure we've all spent prive time with them. these guys are not dumb. they know what's happening in their own states.

they know they need to do this. yet they're in a box. >> you're right about the leadership. they know what's happening with the party on the national level and in the years and decades to come. i think we make a mistake if we continue to look at the republican party as a whole through sort of the lens of a rational logical behavior. this is a party that has been hostile to minorities for, you know, i can't imagine how long. it's a party that is, in my view, built on the whole idea of obstructing progress. it has been that way for decades. and it is a party that has represented primarily white people for many, many decades. i think to expect, you know, for whatever the reasons for all of that is, to expect some kind of turnaround on an issue as fraught as immigration i just think is a mistake. i never thought immigration

reform, substantive reform, was going to pass the house. >> the way it got almost 70 votes in the senate, i would say they claim that's a big number that was actually a disappointment. he was going for 70. they had rubio, doing everything he could to pass it. paul ryan being expected to play some version of rubio in the house though he clearly wants to be not in front of tv cameras doing it. i'll play this from here and get you to comment on the other side. >> i think we got consensus that the system is broken and needs to be fixed and i feel good where where we are. our conference knows we need to tackle this. it needs to be fixed. we want to do it right. i feel very good about where we are. i think our members are ready to tackle this issue. >> he's trying to be upbeat. he was the most upbeat sounding of anybody there because he's seeing if he can put together a coalition. is he as powerful as rubio was in order to get the 14 he got?

>> you know, rubio -- i think rubio had this symbolic power. he's the most prominent hispanic republican in the country. he also -- he went on talk radio, which is sort of driving a lot of the opposition. and in his very deliberate, very thoughtful, in some ways kind of courageous, went and confronted a lot of the voices against it. if he didn't persuade them, persuaded them he was a serious person and to tone down attacks. so his colleagues said, okay, you can get away with this. paul ryan isn't doing media tours. >> ryan could have that some saturday of influence if he wanted to use it. he's been hesitant to use his political influence. >> the one who's been hesitant was george w. bush, who won 44% of the hispanic vote versus mitt romney's 29%. he is a symbol of the existential problem the party faces nationally. he cape out yesterday and this is the first time since leaving

office that he really cape out front of the cameras on a national issue, urging his party to move and giving them the language that this is the sign of a healthy strong confident nation, that it embraces the energy, the power and the talents immigrants. it was as though he's trying to write a script for them they could embrace. and of course, you know, the impact is -- very likely to be little. >> it's interesting, i always felt border state republicans in general, particularly governors, they have a different mind-set on this. we saw rick perry. nobody would mistake him for a moderate republican. he's a tea party guy on a lot of things. on immigration, we saw where he was. i want to go to what president, what you think he should do now going forward. he took chuck's advice. help sa barely did any events on immigration. the advice he was give be, and they sort of internalized, if this becomes obama's immigration bill, forget it, republicans won't sign on. he said, okay, let it be

schumer, let it be mccain, those guys. look at this week. the most prominent president speaking is bush. not obama. >> you look at it two ways. politically, what he should do is lay back, because i don't think there's a -- >> you think he should lay back even more? >> yes. i think if he put himself on the line before the american people and said we really have to do this and then, you know, it loses, it looks like a big political defeat for him. that's one approach. >> that's how beguns we guns we >> if you look at it as a moral or ethical issue, something you really believe in, something you stand for, then you put yourself out there, whether the issue goes up or down. so it becomes a calculus, you know, something important because of the substance or important because of the politics. >> it's going to be interesting. i'd love to be eavesdropping on this one. schumer and mccain love to play

political adviser. you guys are sticking around. we're talking more on the uphill battles on washington it pl. plus, i can't come to new york and not talk about these guys who decided they should run for office. both weiner and spitzer trying to make a comeback. making new york city the shining city upon america's hill. the zimmerman trial, the judge will decide whether the jury will be able to consider convicting zimmerman of a lesser charge than second degree murder. in miami, coca-cola is coming together with latino leaders to support hispanicize, and the adelante movement. teaching tools for success, and fostering creativity. these programs are empowering people to lead positive change, and helping them discover how great a little balance can feel. through initiatives like these, our goal is to inspire more than three million people to rediscover the joy of being active this summer.

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of course we're keeping an eye on the courtroom. we're expecting court to get under way any minute now. after a 30-minute recess. first, judge else in be has to decide in jurors should consider the lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault. let's bring back in nbc legal

analyst lisa bloom in new york. craig, let me start with you. what was the recess for? >> the recess is for the attorneys to be able to gather some additional information for this particular hearing over whether the lesser charges are going to be allowed. so once judge nelson gavels court back to order, they will begin to make their arguments about whether to include those lesser charges you talked about at the top of the broadcast here, manslaughter and/or assault. we should note here, we found out who's going to be doing the closing arguments. bernie de li riondo will be doing the closing arguments. he was not in court this morning. we don't know whether he's going to be back for these arguments. we don't expect he will be. as we talked about, mark o'mara also not going to be in court this morning because he is preparing for his closing arguments which are set to begin

tomorrow. so you had john guy make the opening arguments for the state. you had don west of course making those unforgettable opening arguments for the defense. we will not be seeing either one of those attorneys making the closings. >> guess we'll have to get our bleep button back for the closing argument. i got to ask you, so what is the defense? if you were in the defense's shoes, and i saw savannah was making you do this too, you were in the defense's shoe, how do you make the case to the judge to say no lesser charges, all or nothing? what's the best case to try to convince this judge say, it should be one charge, that's it? >> first, you have to get the client's consent for that because this is very high stakes for george zimmerman. what the defense is trying to do is say, look, if the jury is going to acquit hi, great. if not, the only option they have is second degree murder. which carries a maximum of life in prison. and so you're really rolling the dice on your client's future. i don't know if i'm that high

risk of an attorney to advise that frankly. that's what this defense team is going to do. that's the position they're taking. and the argument for the judge is there are no facts to support manslaughter or aggravated assault. the only facts argued by the prosecution throughout the case is second degree murder, that ill will, spiteful, depraved mind type of intentional killing. that's what the prosecution has argued all along. i would argue for the defense. that the fact, jus just aren't e for the lesser charges. >> thank you both. we'll be back to the trial when it begins. first, trivia time. we asked which national security adviser helped position twice under the same administration. the answer is robert cutler. he was the first person to hold the post when it was created under ieisenhower in 1953. he came back in 1957 for one last stint at the job. congratulations to today's

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. let's bring back or gaggle. i come to you there washington, d.c., so maybe i shouldn't be throwing stones. but are the voters actually going to send weiner and spitzer to run your fair city? let's start with you. you've had some incredible run. new york city is back. it's had this great run. really? >> the problem is that we're this danger of becoming if we haven't already become a laughing stock. so you have anthony weiner with the unfortunately named anthony states have behaved as bad or worse. their judgment was terrible and you want people in high public office to have really terrific judgment. better than the average voter. and the other thing is the corny thing. that's the idea of whether somebody is a role model. and i know the trend has been for decades to say i'm not a role model, i just have to -- >> can somebody be one? you evolve, you move on. i guess my point is you're right about the role model thing. can somebody be one is this w? t

you don't want a the sports figure to be a role model, although they will be. but if spitzer really cared about new york city finances, why not apply for a job in the comptroller's office. why not simply apply for a job. he wants to win office. >> how it happens that four days before -- today is the day that the signatures are due. and the fact that he announces this four days before really does make me wonder where this came from. and he wants to expand the office of comptroller, make it bigger and more powerful. i do take your point. >> that's what new york wants, a more powerful comptroller office. >> he's an impulsive guy. >> shameless plugs besides your wonderful son industries ittvis today. >> i think that's all i can

really plug. >> if you're not watching zimmerman all the time, what's going on in egypt and why it matters. >> this documentary has been out for a while, but the invisible war, about the sexual assault and sex abuse problem of women in the military.powerful. you can purchase the invisible war. sdl. >> thank you all. we'll have continuing coverage of the zimmerman trial the rest of the day. prosecution delivers closing arguments this afternoon 1:00. and tomorrow at 9:00, we'll bring you the closing arguments. coming up, chris jansing takes over.

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closi closing arguments today in the george zimmerman trial. the last 24 hours have been really dramatic. also a big day in politics. from washington, d.c. where the president is meeting with two top democrats to try to reignite momentum on immigration, and house republicans will try again, yet again, to repeal obamacare. also texas, where another big day of protests are expected in the abortion bill. we'll get you caught up on the politics, but first let's talk about the trial of george zimmerman. it is coming up on decision time for zimmerman in sanford, florida. right now judge nelson is meeting with lawyers on the final instructions to theclosin. the judge will rule on whether the jury could consider manslaughter and aggravated assault. yesterday after 12 days of testimony from a combined 56 witnesses on