breaking news. four buildings on the harvard campus evacuated after unconfirmed reports of explosives. police are on the scene. in the fight over the health care law, this may be a new low. a north carolina lawmaker comparing obamacare to the nazis in a tweet. could edward snowden get amnesty and come back to the united states? >> this is analogous to a hostage taker taking 50 people

hostage, shooting ten and then say if you give me full amnesty i'll let the other 40 go. what do you do? >> plus a group of new mayors met with the president to talk about income inequality and unemployment. we'll take you inside the room with one of the mayors who was there. good morning, i'm chris jansing and we are following that breaking news. harvard university and cambridge police are sweeping four buildings on campus looking for any possible explosives. they got an unconfirmed report earlier this morning and so they evacuated the buildings out of an abundance of caution so they can investigate. harvard has, however, cancelled all final exams for the day. students go on winter break on saturday. we will keep you posted on any developments. to "politics now" and it's now up to the senate to seal the bipartisan budget deal with 60 votes, although it is far from a sure thing. we've heard yeses from two vulnerable state democrats. >> the struggle is still on in

the united states senate. we will need about eight republicans to come our way. i feel we'll have a good, strong showing from the democratic side but we need bipartisan support to pass it and the problems are twofold. a handful of snats aenate are v for the president in years to come and others are frankly afraid of this new force, the tea party force, the heritage foundation force that is threatening seven out of the 12 republican senators running for re-election. so it's very difficult. >> so they need eight republicans but so far john mccain is the only republican who has said he will vote for the final deal. >> i hope it will pass the senate. i'll do anything -- not anything, but we must not shut down the government again. we can't do that to the people of this country and my state. >> let me bring in our company. joe ann reed, josh barrow is politics editor for business insider. good to see both of you. it feels a little like bizarro

world because usually it's the senate that gets it together and the house is dragging behind. now it's the opposite. >> upside down progress. where the house is reasonable and the senate is unreasonable. it's interesting. but it is a little bit of payback and you do get a sense from people that cover the hill every day that the senators, they took a walk on the plank because of the house last night. the government shutdown was engineered by these outside groups who have this tremendous influence on that small house caucus. that small but very rowdy house caucus that pushes john boehner around. so that whole government shutdown was a product of that outside pressure. you did have some senators like ted cruz who were pushing and let's take this to the limit. but the senate have to be the grownups. this time it's john boehner that's bucking the outside groups an saying you know what, you're bowing unreasonable. huge overwhelming vote. now you have senators that want to prove they're bona fide as far right wing members of the conservative caucus because they have got primaries, they have got issues and now they're the

ones standing in the way. >> at least this morning here on "morning joe" chuck schumer was sounding pretty confident. let me play that. >> i think it's a pretty safe bet it's going to pass. >> really? >> after what happened in the house where so many republicans voted for it, i think mitch mcconnell knows it can't go d n down. we'll try to do unemployment insurance separately and work on it next year. >> it's interesting, josh. you have a number of senators who will vote to cut off debate. people like susan collins, jeff flake, john corker. >> democrats have the majority in the senate. part of the reason you have republicans rallying around it is this was patty murray's deal with paul ryan. paul ryan carries a lot of weight within the republican caucus and it was their job to get the thing passed. i think in the senate republicans say this is in the senate a democratic deal. democrats will provide votes to pass this.

even if i personally want the budget to pass, i don't need to go out and vote for it myself. i certainly think that's what mitch mcconnell is up to. he has a strong primary challenge from the right. he can't afford to associate himself with this budget. i think that's why unlike john boehner he's not voting for it and whipping for it. i'd be shocked if this doesn't pass the senate. >> there is a bigger picture to all of this which is sort of what all the fuss is about, which is this budget deal. here's elijah cummings take on it today. >> people want us to applaud when we do what we're supposed to do, compromise. i mean that's become the standard. ryan said we've got to move to common ground. no, no, no, no, no. we've got to move to higher ground. >> joy-ann, everybody gets hopped up. we've got a budget deal. >> it's the soft bigotry of low expectations. everyone is cheering they did the minimum possible job they could have done. they're raising some fees. if you look at the details of

the budget, there's nothing dramatic here. it's a tiny bargain but at least it's moving forward and avoiding a government shutdown so unfortunately they are getting allowance for cleaning their room. >> i want to switch gears now and there's another topic. we've been talking about this pretty seriously for a year, but again another story. arapahoe high school, the school is closed today. there was a 17-year-old victim. claire davis is in a coma in critical condition. the shooter, karl pierson, killed himself. he was armed with a shotgun, molotov cocktails and machete. it's like here we go again. but you wonder, josh, does it even register anymore when something like this happens? it could have been really much worse. >> yeah, i mean i think that these stories are not having the same impact in the public psyche that they used to because we've just become so accustomed to them. i think also people have come to realize that you have a lot of talk over them and no political action happens as a result of them. i think the efforts of mike

bloomberg's anti-gun group have been basically fizzling. we've actually seen a lot of backlash against efforts to go into states like colorado and impose new stricter gun laws. so i think people are at a loss about what to do about it and, therefore, are not paying as much attention as they used to. >> there's an interesting piece in "the new york times," sheriffs refusing to enforce laws on gun control. 55 out of 62 sheriffs signed on to a federal lawsuit against these new gun laws that include background checks for private gun transfers, no more magazines over 15 rounds. they're claim the law is to vague, it violates the second amendment, so they're just not enforcing it. i mean this really is a fight against a cultural mindset here, isn't it? >> yeah, absolutely. and this idea of guns for all mentality. boy the way, it is not necessarily a majority position, but the nra enforces it with brute political force. you look in colorado, actually popular gun measures when you look at the polls, but you have these recall elections that were engineered by pro-gun groups, by

the nra, and they were able to use off-year elections which are small turnout where they can marshal a very small but impassioned voter base to take down any congressman who would dare to pass gun laws. >> two state senators were recalled and the third one resigned. >> even though the laws are popular. >> but there's an intensity gap here. when you poll people about these sorts of restrictions, most people say that they favor them. but the people who go to the polls an vote because they care about this issue tend to be people strongly in favor of gun rights. it's not enough to have a majority of the people agree with you. you have to get people to really care about it. i think the question is how do you do that. there was a lot more energy behind gun control 20 years ago when violent crime rates were higher. we've had a very favorable social trend where we've had huge declines in murder and other crimes as well but one result of that is that people do not feel as strongly about the importance of gun control as they used to. >> another example, though, just yesterday it was very big

locally. guys coming out of one of the most high-end shopping malls in new jersey, goes to his car, carjacking, he gets shot and killed and there are two suspects on the loose. at some point you do realize that this stuff, if 20 children and 6 teachers being killed didn't change the equation -- >> right. >> what will. >> and the gun industry is only interested in one thing, which is selling more guns. so there isn't a high top level advocacy by gun owners to say, you know what, even gun owners have a position about not having people that are mentally unstable. they're against things like background checks to make sure terrorists aren't getting guns. the gun industry wants to sell guns to anyone, regardless. so they are putting up roadblocks because there's not the political will on the other side to fight them. >> good to have both of you. thank you for coming in. checking the news feed now, senator john mccain is suggest the cia has not been honest with congress about an american who disappeared in 2007 while on a secret mission in iran.

the u.s. has denied robert levinson was working for the cia when he disappeared, but the associated press investigation found he was indeed working for the cia. looking at the iranian government. levinson's family has accused the u.s. of abandoning him, although secretary of state john kerry maintains the government is doing all it can to bring him home. >> there hasn't been progress in the sense that we don't have him back. but to suggest that we've aband onned him or anybody has abandoned him is incorrect and not helpful. the fact is that i have personally raised the issue, not only at the highest level that i have been involved with but also through other intermediaries. >> kerry says right now they are looking for proof of life. the last known images of levinson date back to 2011. the handsome and charismatic peter o'toole passed away at the age of 81. he was best known for his starring roll in "lawrence of

arabia" but over the course of his career earned eight academy award nominations. he did receive an honorary oscar in 2003. china has become the third nation to successfully complete a soft landing on the moon. it's the first spacecraft to land on the moon in 37 years. china hopes to follow in the u.s. footsteps and one day send astronauts to the moon. up next, senator ted cruz and a planeful of house democrats on a 20-hour flight to south africa. congresswoman gwen moore sat next to him. what did she learn about the texas senator who could be plotting a run in 2016? we'll talk to her in just a few. t me to the lovely city of boston. cheers. and seeing as it's such a historic city, i'm sure they'll appreciate that geico's been saving people money for over 75 years. oh... dear, i've dropped my tea into the boston harbor. huhh... i guess this party's over.

geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time. with honest reviews on over 720 local services. keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today.

we have some live pictures for you now, helicopter pictures that you can see from cambridge

where harvard university and cambridge been sweeping four buildings on campus looking for possible explosives. we've seen some students who were evacuated gathering in various areas. there was an unconfirmed report earlier this morning about explosives. those buildings, again, evacuated out of what officials say is an abundance of caution while they investigate. we should note, however, that today is the beginning of week two for finals there. winter break officially starts december 21st. so today would have been another day for final exams. all exams are cancelled for the day. again, students go on winter break on saturday. we'll keep you posted as we get more information. ten days of mourning mixed with reverent celebrations just wrapped up in south africa. nelson mandela was finally laid to rest in his ancestral hometown. the only senator who traveled was ted cruz. he's back in the states now but

for his 40 hours of travel he joined a congressional delegation of almost all democrats. trapped, you might say, at 30,000 feet with his political foes. seated right next to him for much of that trip, democratic congresswoman gwen moore who joins me now. >> great being with you, chris. >> you're a straight tark. what was that like, 40 hours sitting next to ted cruz. >> let me tell you, not only did i sit next to him 40 hours on the trip, but we had dinner together on the ground. we rode on the buses and sat right -- i was in the seat in front of him on the buses. we spent an awful lot of time together. and i do think that one of the benefits of these very close quarters is that you are forced to have conversations outside of the context of your talking points. i think it gets very, very uncomfortable on both sides to just stick to the script.

and you're very much challenged on those things. >> look, he has been on the forefront of the fight against obamacare. the two of you could not be much further apart on what you think about the affordable care act. so i mean i don't know how much you want to divulge of private conversations, but surely that came up? >> oh, absolutely. we talked about the affordable care act, we talked about birth control. >> do you feel any differently about him than you did when you went into this? what was that conversation like? >> you know, i can tell you that at least as far as i was concerned, i, as one other member of the delegation pointed out, you know, i -- you know, i was heart felt even giving him personal experiences to try to break through just sort of the talking point narrative. and i do think that it's really -- i think that he was on the spot because there were many members who were curious, you

know, about why he would want to take this pilgrimage. as you pointed out in your intro, chris, this was a solemn -- it was a hard trip, 40 hours and turning right around. and even the senator had to come right back and vote at 1:00 a.m. when we landed. and so it was -- the congressional black caucus and other democrats, we had jim mcdermott with us, some of our most senior members, john lewis and john conyers, charlie rangel, maxine waters, people who had actually been active in the antiapartheid movement, and so there was a lot of curiosity about that. the affordable care act, he sort of stuck to his guns about it, but i do think that we were able to really break through some of the talking points and really challenge them. >> really? do you think that he's -- look, nobody is expecting him to suddenly say i think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but you felt like he was

listening to you? >> i am sure that i changed his mind at all. as a matter of fact, at the end of the trip he asked me was i ready to become a republican. >> so he was hoping for the opposite. >> right. i said the republican party would have to change a lot. >> would you like to state unequivocally here that you are not switching parties? >> i am definitely not going to switch to today's gop, but just let me say -- >> yeah, go ahead. >> chris, i do think that there was a lot of very candid conversation. we were very, very frank about what we saw as being wrong. and the contradictions that you care about people and want to help people that are down and out and holding positions that the tea party holds. one member even sort of woke

senator cruz up as we were riding along and passed a shanty town to show him the real contradictions in that particular society. so i do think that, you know, while there were very frank, blunt moments and some sparring, that we generally treated him with respect and he in turn treated us with respect. i was glad to have a seatmate that was capable of pulling my bag down for me and getting it back up. so he was very courteous and very much a gentleman. we spent time, he showed me pictures of his beautiful daughters learning to skate, ice skate, and so there was a lot of downtime. there was a lot of downtime just to relax. >> you have to think if more people could just sit down and talk, a greater understanding might be found. maybe more room for compromise. congresswoman gwen moore, great to talk to you. thanks for coming on. >> great to talk to you, chris. we're continuing to follow that breaking news from harvard.

joining me on the phone is bobby samuels, president of the harvard crimson, the student newspaper. good morning. >> good morning, how are you. >> i'm great. tell us what you first -- when you first heard what was going on and what can you tell us is the latest? >> so what we know is that shortly after 9:00 a.m. this morning students were evacuated from four buildings on campus. the science center, thayer hall, emerson hall and sever hall after unconfirmed reports of explosives in those buildings. now, what's unusual about this time of year as probably has been reported is that it's finals period, and so it's sort of an atypical time. additionally of those four buildings, three often have finals in them, thayer hall being the one to not fall in that classification because it is a freshman dorm. >> so you got, what, a tweet?

how did you find out what was going on? >> so the way that i personally found out, and i'm sure many of the harvard students found out, is that harvard sent out a couple of notifications regarding what's going on. there was one as recently as 9:58, i believe, or if not that, shortly thereafter, from the school basically detailing exactly what was going on. and keeping the university informed. so 23 minutes ago at 10:02 we got an e-mail basically saying that there were unconfirmed reports and that out of an abundance of caution, the buildings have been evacuated while the report is being investigated. >> were you anywhere near any of these places? did you see what was going on? did you go to the scene or what are your reporters telling you, bobby? >> i personally as not at the scene or particularly close to it, but as you probably can tell

from, for example, our twitter page, there are firefighters in harvard yard. harvard yard has been closed off as a result. you have police force in the area. so a lot of presence of that sort as a result of what's going on here this morning. >> is there regular information out there about what to do in emergency situations? i mean unfortunately we've seen a number of schools, from grade schools and high schools to colleges who have had threats, some real, some not. what's the policy on campus there? >> you know, i'm not sure to what extent there's a set policy, but something that harvard has done in past crises is e-mail the community and let folks know exactly what's going on and that's what they have been doing. >> and i don't know how much you're around a lot of other people or if you're in the offices or what's going on, but what's the mood there?

are people shaken up? are they nervous? is it business as usual as long as you're not in that immediate area? >> you know, i think to a certain extent, at least on our end, it's too early to say. obviously we have reporters looking into it and trying to understand what's going on from that perspective. the school is absolutely keeping folks informed both from a high level and also on sort of a more individualized house level as well. but, you know, it's certainly unusual. it's not something that i see in my time in my three and a half years at harvard, buildings being evacuated for finals. it's fairly unusual. >> and have you gotten any indication at all how long this sweep might take as they're looking for these explosives? >> no. it's unclear at this point. >> bobby samuels, who was president of the crimson at harvard, thanks for taking the

time to talk to us. >> thank you. david mcnell, i apologize if i'm getting this name incorrectly. he is on lockdown inside harvard. david, tell us where you are and what's going on. >> i'm currently in elliott house, one of the 12 houses on harvard's campus. this morning around 9:00 a.m. we received e-mails from harvard's system of a reported explosive and then about 15 minutes later we received another alert that cambridge police were on the scene and we were advised not to leave our houses. and then recently, maybe in the past 15 minutes, half hour, they have cancelled all the exams and many students have returned to our house. some happy, some shaken, but it's just a weird feeling during exam week. >> were some of those students who returned to your house, had

they been in those buildings that were evacuated? >> right. they came from the harvard yard, which is the location of the four buildings that are reported to have threats on them. so i have seen maybe 10, 15 students come back in from that area. so they definitely evacuated everything. >> and what are they telling you? what are the stories you're hearing, david? >> they pretty much just said they were in their classrooms and the science center, one of the buildings, a fire alarm went off so they all just left the building for that. and the other building, they just were evacuated like right before the exams started. so a few of them were mad because they spent all these days just continuously studying for their exam and now it's either postponed or just cancelled altogether.

but they did say it was a weird experience going into something, that's stressful enough, and then having a bomb threat on top of that. >> two areas in which there's certainly a sense of unease. one is you don't know how real the threat is. the other is you have a life that revolves around exams and grades and now that's all uncertain, right? so they're really dealing with it on two different levels. >> right, yeah. so hopefully someone just didn't think it would be a good idea to do what they have seen in movies or thought it was funny to issue a bomb threat just so their exam could possibly get cancelled or be postponed, because it is a serious matter. we've seen recently in the past year with the boston bombing that things like this are just not supposed to be taken lightly.

and it's -- yeah, it's just a sense of unease. >> so what happened at the boston marathon has already been a topic of conversation in your house? >> right. it's come up in a few conversations with people. just like why in the past two years has this become an issue. >> i'm looking -- i'm looking at a map of the campus, and i'm seeing where these four buildings are, the science center, thayer, sever, emerson. where are you in relationship? >> i am about a ten-minute walk down towards the river from the yard. that's the location of elliott house so i'm 101 dunster street, the address of elliott. if i walked out of my house and walked straight for about ten minutes, i could be at the scene. so i'm hoping that's far enough away to stay safe. >> did you see or hear anything

at the time, sirens, ambulances, anything like that? >> nothing that i've been aware of. other than like kids coming back have said there were a bunch of police cars, a bunch of officials, cambridge police, just a bunch of authority figures present in the yard. >> well, david bicknell, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us at what is a particularly unsettling time. good luck to you. thanks so much. >> yeah, thank you. >> let's bring in msnbc terrorism analyst, michael leiter, the former director of the national counterterrorism center. so let's talk about when something like this happens, michael. obviously they get these unconfirmed reports. what's likely going on right now? >> yes, chris. the key word here, unconfirmed reports. you're going to have a flurry of activity, both with the harvard

public safety people as well as the cambridge police department because there are explosives involved and also because of what happened in boston earlier this year. you're undoubtedly also getting calls to the fbi and other federal officials. as we see from the video, they're locking down those areas. what i would say from the video that we're all watching, it's a remarkably calm scene and i think that's quite appropriate. as we've seen in event after event over the past several years, first reports are often wrong, so they're going to take precautions. they're going to make sure people are safe. they're going to start sweeping these buildings with explosive detecting dogs and the like and slowly but surely they'll start opening up the campus assuming they don't find anything. >> how long might something like this take? obviously it's impossible for -- i don't know in any case how many floors we're talking about, how many square feet. but give us your best estimate of how long something like this might take before you can actually clear a building. >> it will usually take a couple

of hours. of course it does depend on the size of the building. and usually something like a science center, where there would likely be chemicals stored anywhere, that will take a little bit longer. and with four buildings, that will also lengthen the amount of time it will take to clear these buildings because there are somewhat limited resources to actually find explosives and using the resources the police have. so they're going to look at all the packages, anything which is unattended. they have got to get all the students out. but again, i think the level of calmness that we see in the video reflects that this is a situation that cambridge, harvard, they have trained for this. they had the experience of boston, so they seem to be responding, you know, incredibly professionally here. >> when you think about it, though, if you put yourself in that situation and you're a college student and either in an exam or getting ready for an exam and something like this happens, you can see where stuff like this gets left behind. and if there are backpacks, purses, whatever, that just

lengthens the amount of time they have. would you say, michael, there's sort of a two-pronged investigation going on? one obviously is let's confirm whether or not these unconfirmed reports are true or false, but on the other hand, and we don't know whether this was a phone call or how these reports came in, but also trying to figure out where they came from simultaneously? >> exactly, chris. the first thing is public safety. lock the buildings down, evacuate people as they have to. search those sites and make sure there's there. the second as you describe it, how did this come in. how can the police or fbi follow up to understand who sent this in, who they might be related to. but really these first several hours are focused 99% on securing those spaces, make sure people are safe. make sure that there's nothing that the police or fire officials have to handle immediately. >> and in a situation like this, because they were talking about harvard yard being locked down. and again i'm looking at just a

small map that i was given that seems to be, you know, a few blocks away from a couple of these areas right on -- almost on harvard yard. how wide an area would you generally lock down or evacuate? >> it really depends on the situation. i think in something like this, chris, as you said it's a fairly wide swath. i was in cambridge three years so i know the area pretty well. you're going to lock down the buildings, no access and evacuate. and then you're going to have a next ring of protective areas just to keep people away in case they actually do find something. so the area you're describing largely all of harvard yard, harvard square is going to be inaccessible to people, but you might not actually evacuate everyone from the buildings within that broader perimeter. >> michael leiter, thank you so much for your expertise. again, just to let you know what we're watching, the harvard university police department this morning getting an unconfirmed report of explosives

in four buildings, the science center, thayer, sever and emerson. we'll take a break and be back with more right after this. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years.

humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work.

[ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup

lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® i was in the dining hall and the college came out and made an announcement that the finals, just this morning's finals or the 9:00 finals have been cancelled. i think people overall were elated in a sense because it does take a stressor off but people are concerned because it is a little bit, you know, it causes anxiety when one hears that explosive devices may be in places that you frequent. >> and that is a student at harvard university, where four buildings were evacuated because of unconfirmed reports of explosive devices. and it is during finals and there is some sense of concern. at the same time we are also hearing from the crimson, which is the student newspaper, and they have been tweeting. they said that after the

announcement was made finals for the day had been cancelled. there was spontaneous applause. that was also a different reaction. we are getting also some stuff in from our local boston affiliate, and here's a local reporter on how everything unfolded this morning. >> the word came in to evacuate these buildings because of these unconfirmed reports of bombs being located within them. there have been no explosions on campus, just these unfirmed reports. but the university has to take this seriously so they immediately ordered these buildings evacuated. what that creates is a lot of students just left everything behind firing they were going to be sent outside for 15 or 20 minutes and could come back in and get their bags. clearly that's not the case. so now as investigators comb through these buildings trying to check for anything that might be out of the ordinary, they're coming across a lot of personal belongings that have been left

behind, back packs and such, so that is going to slow erchz down here. >> i'm to once again bring in michael leiter, former director of the national counterterrorism center. michael, again, we've been watching these tweets from the harvard crimson, one of them that two suspicious packages -- actually this is from whdh. two suspicious packages were found by the bomb squad. one is cleared, the other is being examined right now. i would think two might be a small number. they're really going through everything really closely, right? >> they are. and they will also now get a flood of reports, which -- many of which are going to turn out to be false. again, we see this after every event. we especially saw it after the boston marathon bombing where people dropped off their bags when they ran after the explosion. every one of those has to be cleared by police or bomb technicians. that will slow things down. it can also lead to a sense of really a broader event than this might be, so we have to take all

of these earlier reports with a serious grain of salt and walk through each of them in a really methodical way. >> what is sort of the m.o. or what is the standard operating procedure if a threat comes in? do you take every single threat seriously in a situation like this? and would all of them prompt this kind of reaction? >> police actually -- absolutely do take all of these very, very seriously. i think there are some additional pieces here that would make them take it more seriously in these circumstances. first of all, obviously a school, university, you have lots and lots of young people, so there's this extra sense of precaution. second, as a general matter, any time you're dealing with a science building or any sort of building that might have chemicals, that adds an additional sense of nervousness. and finally i don't want to say that there is any association here, but boston, cambridge

particularly struck by what happened earlier this year in the boston marathon bombing. we have no indication that there is an association but that has raised the level of alertness and responsiveness to these issues in the region around boston. >> well, and again, we don't even know if this is a real threat in the sense this is completely unconfirmed. nothing to this point that has been reported has been found. but as you rightly point out, you have not just buildings that have a lot of chemicals this them or things that could be very explosive, but you also have a student body that's very smart about these kinds of things. if somebody was prone to this kind of, i guess you would call it domestic terror. we don't know anything about that. will they be bringing in people from the outside? is this right now likely just state, local officials? >> right now you really have multiple jurisdictions that will be involved. first harvard has its own public

safety division. they have officers who will help lock down the area. the cambridge police department is a sizeable department. they have bomb detection folks. they will largely be in the lead. but because you have four sites, because you have a large area, they will likely be leaning on surrounding communities. the city of boston and also potentially federal authorities. the fbi, the alcohol, tobacco and firearms obviously have very large contingents in the boston area, so all of those will start to fold in. but the first response really is the local authorities with some assistance from state and federal authorities. my guess is the clearing, if this turns out to be some sort of hoax, could be done within two hours or so, and at that point this really will have been done mostly by cambridge, boston and potentially the state police. >> and then how complicated, best case scenario, that this is a hoax, how complicated might it be to track down where it came from? >> well, chris, really tracking these things down, it all

depends on how it came in, whether or not it was a phone call, an e-mail. i have to say that without knowing more about how this came in and what the circumstances are, it's really impossible for me to say how likely it was that they might be able to find out who was behind this. >> michael, i know you'll be standing by for us. i want to bring in on the phone another student, kelly gwenn. tell us where you are and what you've been told. >> i'm in vander house, which is an upper classmen house, so student housing. probably a six-minute walk from the yard. they're not letting anybody into the yard. they're advising students to stay in their dorms. they're trying to evacuate the yard, but a lot of people are choosing to stay there, i think, to see what's up. but they're allowing people to go to annenburg, which is the freshman dining hall just right outside of the yard but mostly they're just trying to tell people to stay put until they figure out if the explosives

actually are there. >> are there a lot of people in your dorm right now, kelly, and what are the conversations like? >> i mean people -- it's a sensitive subject, after this past spring's bombings. i think most people are just trying to remain calm since the explosives are still unconfirmed. but for the most part everyone is texting their friends, trying to make sure they're out of the yard, telling people to stay safe. people are getting lots of calls from loved ones from home. so it is stressful but everyone is trying to stay calm for the most part. >> have you been able to speak with your family? >> yes, i've spoken with my grandmother and my mom, so -- >> how are they doing? sometimes -- >> everything is totally fine. >> your mom and your grandmom are doing okay? i'm sure it's a little unsettling, to say the least, for them. >> oh, definitely, especially after last spring. it's a lot to deal with probably

as a parent. but, you know, i'm safe in upper classmen housing, so -- >> and do you feel confident about the kind of information that you're getting and the way this is being handled? >> i'm very confident. i think that the harvard police department is definitely, you know, really well trained. i mean we've been getting alerts continuously from the police department and the dean and we've been really informed throughout the entire process. i trust that the information is definitely correct. >> and i'm guessing there are a few conversations as well about what this means for your finals. how many finals do you have left, kelly? >> i have a final wednesday, so i think that it's probably unaffected by this. i've got some friends who were supposed to be taking exams this morning and they were cancelled or at least postponed. there's still some speculation about our afternoon exams at 2:00. i definitely have some friends that are wondering whether or not they're going to have to

take them. a lot of my friends have exams at 2:00 in the buildings that have been evacuated, so -- >> well, good luck to you and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. a sophomore at the mather house dorm right now where a lot of folks are staying put while the investigation continues into these unconfirmed reports at four separate buildings at harvard, around harvard yard of explosives. we'll keep you posted. take a quick break and be back with more. 009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. we are coming up on almost two hours now since the first reports came that there were reports of explosives, unconfirmed reports from harvard. four separate buildings, science buildings around harvard yard. when you look at the harvard emergency page, there is a statement from police, and i think a couple of things are worth noting. they said that they evacuated the science center, thayer, sever and emerson halls out of an abundance of caution while an investigation is taking place.

there is some restricted access to harvard yard, but students with an i.d. can still move around and get to their buildings. and again, they want to emphasize that the message that this is an unconfirmed report needs to get out there, because there is nothing to suggest that this actually is a threat. they're doing what they're doing out of an abundance of caution. joining me is former fbi profiler and msnbc analyst, clint van zandt. you've got a lot of experience on these things, what are your thoughts. >> it's interesting. i've worked real bombings and bomb threats, chris. one thing i've seen in the past is when you have threats, many times you'll get multiple locations called in. you know, we're using the term "abundance of caution" and i think after the marathon bombing, obviously we have to do that. but the statistical probability of somebody being able to get into four different locations,

set four different explosive devices and get out, when you see that many threats of that many devices from a profiling standpoint, you have to start thinking more on the side of a hoax as opposed to a real type of threat. and, chris, when you look at the four targets that have been named, two admin buildings, a dorm and a classroom building where final exams are going on, again, you have to think the primary target is likely that classroom building. the other three may very well be red herrings that are thrown in to try to make the situation sounding more serious. a quick example, chris, in new york city when i was an fbi agent, we had a bank that kept getting bomb threats in the morning. they came to us in a behavioral science unit and we said, you know what, this is likely somebody who's coming into work

late every day. do you have such a person? the answer is well, yeah, we told this guy if he kept coming in late he was going to get fired. i said okay, next bomb threat, let's take a head count. what we found out was the guy was coming in late. he would call the bomb threat in and then he would slide in with the other members that he worked with and then walk back into the bank again as if he had already been there. so these are the type of things law enforcement has to think about. again, the abundance of caution, it's a dangerous thing, but when you put together the time of the year, the final exam, a college campus. and, chris, the bigger threat now is once, let's say hypothetically we find out there are no explosive devices on this campus, this is something that could catch on and happen at other campuses too. usually when we see one, we'll see two, three or four. so i think law enforcement across the country has to somewhat brace themselves if

this is a hoax for the potential of other hoaxes. >> let me talk to you in a minute about the copycat syndrome because i think that's important. but we're just getting two reports that the atf investigators have arrived on scene, clint, as well as massachusetts state police. talk a little bit about who's doing what right now and sort of the division of power as they're trying to make sure that everything there is safe. >> well, you know, you have a lot of law enforcement officers in that area. of course we saw the response that took place after the marathon bombing. part of the challenge though, chris, was the number of bomb dogs, the number of individuals trained to search for bombs is really somewhat limited. they're going to have to be calling in people from various areas. chris, you've got to imagine, use the analogy if you and i are part of that search apparatus, you think of a large classroom building and you're looking for

something that could be as small explosive device as something like a hand grenade with some sort of timing device. well, you have to look in desks, you have to look in heat ducts. there are a lot of places. that's why you need the bomb dogs. but again, you know, bomb dogs aren't perfect. they could miss something. explosive devices could be, in the worst case scenario, a booby trap attached to them. so this is a tremendous undertaking that they have to do. they have to bring in all of these outside resources to assist in this type of search. and, chris, if we go back to the threat itself, i've heard some reports suggesting the threat came in by e-mail. that makes it, unfortunately, a little more challenging to try to identify who did it because we know people can go into an internet cafe, make up a phony name, sign in, send a message and sign out again. so law enforcement will be trying to pin down if in fact it

came in by e-mail, where did it come from, what security cameras do we have that will help us identify this person. the best way to stop these things is to make an arrest and a prosecution. >> we have just about 30 seconds left, but again from your profiling perspective and that extensive experience, is it likely that somebody who would do this, again, working under the assumption that this may be a hoax, is somebody that wants to get caught or wants to be found? >> no. by and large realize it took place at harvard. you've got a lot of bright people at colleges in this country but you likely have someone who is criminally unsophisticated who really doesn't understand what law enforcement can bring to an investigation. just like in the boston bombing, the ability to identify the tsarnaev brothers. so i believe this may be in our best case scenario a student who

simply wasn't prepared to take an exam. chris, there was also an article in a local newspaper yesterday about the tsarnaev brothers. that could have been some type of a stimulus for somebody to make a threat like this too. so there's a number of things investigators are going to have to consider when they try to figure out the who and the why of this situation. >> as always, clint, your experience invaluable to helping us understand what might be going on right now. thank you, clint, i know you'll be with us as this situation continues to unfold. once again, the continuing investigation on the campus of harvard university in cambridge, massachusetts. unconfirmed reports a little after fi9:00 this morning that caused the evacuation of four buildings. unconfirmed reports of explosives. there are parts of the university that are essentially in lockdown. we have federal, state and local officials on scene right now. we're going to continue to follow this on msnbc. i'm chris jansing. that does it for "jansing & co."

thomas roberts will be up next. hands for holding. feet, kicking. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start taking xeljanz if you have any kind of infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests, including certain liver tests, before you start and while you are taking xeljanz. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections.

tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant, or plan to be. taken twice daily, xeljanz can reduce the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. ask if xeljanz is right for you.

good morning ervgsd. we continue our coverage of that breaking news in boston. at least four different buildings on harvard university's campus have been evacuated. cambridge police saying there have been unconfirmed reports of explosives placed on the campus. here's what one student told chris jansing just a short time ago. >> i was in the dining hall and the college made an announcement that the finals -- just this morning's finals, the 9:00 finals have been cancelled. i think people overall were elated in a sense because it does take a stressor off, but as i said people are confirmed because it is a little bit, you know, it causes anxiety when one hears that explosive devices may be in places that you frequent. >> again, some of the first initial reports came out this morning at 9:00 a.m. about this. rehema ellis joins me with what's happening. i was following different tweets coming out and i noted