>> good, joy. how are you? good to see you. >> doing very well. hope you had a merry christmas. >> i did. we did. we spent all day feeding the homeless and the poor and seniors there in harlem. so had a great christmas. good to see you. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live tonight from miami. tonight's lead, republicans reveal their new year's resolution. block all economic solutions. in less than 48 hours unemployment benefits will run out for over a million americans. it's been decades since congress refused to renew long-term jobless benefits. when the unemployment rate was this high. this is not politics as usual. it's the result of a heartless, mean spirited party. and now families across the

country are about to take a major hit. >> if her benefits aren't extended, she said she won't have enough money to go to a job interview. >> you're crippling people that are already crippled emotionally and financially. >> i'm about to run out of my unemployment benefits, and going onto unemployment is better than having no money, but my whole situation has caused me to become homeless for an entire year. >> what are we getting? where are we at? i understand if they have to reconcile the budget in washington, but in the process of hurting people who through no fault of their own lost their jobs in ridiculous. >> this pain can be avoided. it's the result of a right wing ideology that says if you're out of work, you're out of luck. that's why speaker boehner's republican house went on holiday break without fixing this.

and it's why tea party senator rand paul said this. >> does it make sense for a country to borrow money from china to give it to the unemployed in america? that is weakening us as a country. >> it's weakening us as a country to extend unemployment benefits? not only is this cruel, it's flat-out wrong. extending long-term benefits would create 200,000 jobs next year. by boosting consumer demand. but guess what. guess what would weaken the economy. failing to extend benefits. the very thing senator paul wants to do. it would cost the country 300,000 jobs. this fight is just beginning. the today in hawaii president obama signed the new budget into law. it rolls back the worst gop sequester spending cuts and it helps avoid another republican

government shutdown. but it doesn't extend jobless benefits. president obama says congress must take action in the first week of 2014. >> because congress didn't act, more than 1 million of their constituents will lose a vital economic life line at christmas time. leaving a lot of job seekers without any source of income at all. i think we're a better country than that. we don't abandon each other when times are tough. when congress comes back to work. their first order of business should be making this right. >> we are a better country than that. the central battle of 2014 will be the fight for fairness. and it starts with unemployment benefits. joining me now former governor ed rendell and goldie taylor. thank you both for being here. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. >> our pleasure. >> governor rendell, less than

two days away from over 1 million losing benefits, you see the pain. you see what it will cause for families. what will it take for republicans to come around on this, governor? >> i think they have to be forced to vote on it, rev. i think if we can get a vote on the house floor, there are enough republicans in swing districts if the democrats stay solid and i believe they will, to pass it. because it's simple. for all the reasons you say plus one other one, it's very stimulative to the economy. this money that goes into the unemployeds' hands, it's spent on food and rent and clothing. it's not put in savings. it goes right into the economy and stimulates the growth and level of the economy. so it makes sense from -- you know, the republicans always talk about getting the economy back on track. not only are you hurting people

which in my judgment is almost criminal, but you're stunting the growth of the economy as well. and you have to force them to vote. >> goldie, you know, senator rand paul is standing behind his comments that extending jobless benefits does a disservice to the workers. listen to this. >> really when i said it's a disservice, i mean this. i am worried about the workers. not that they become bad people by being unemployed, but the less likely they are ever to get a job again. >> now, goldie, keep in mind in senator paul's home state of kentucky, about 53,000 people will lose benefits if congress fails to act. but this is his position. >> yeah. i've got to agree with governor rendell here. you know, yao got to force them to vote. if they do have to vote, then it will turn to the people in their district. the people receiving s.n.a.p. benefits they want to cut, the

people receiving unemployment benefits, the people who want to sign up for the affordable care act when they refuse to create the exchanges. you know, we need to force them to vote on not extending this unemployment benefits packet so the 53,000 people of kentucky who are going to lose those benefits can see exactly where rand paul stands and all of the rest of them. i heard rand paul say he was using this as part of a mission to attract more african-american voters. african-americans have a higher disproportionate rate of unemployment. this is not who you want to talk to cutting unemployment benefits for people who have lost their jobs by no fault of their own. >> governor rendell, you said let's force them to vote. so let's look at the big picture here while we are trying to say they must vote and vote right away. if you look at the big picture, this saturday december 28th, 1.3 million people will lose

benefits. over the next six months through june, a total of 3.2 million would lose their benefits if it's not extended. and by this time next year in december 2014, 4.9 million people stand to lose benefits. why would people that was given the public trust by an elected and constituency base even flirt with these kinds of numbers and these kind of disasters to american families? >> it's incomprehensible. and it's the reason why i say let's force a vote. let's get a discharge petition. because in the end, you can't back up this vote. you can't justify this vote to people. not only the people you're cutting off, but the good hearted americans. we just came out of christmas, rev. you know at christmastime everyone looks around and in december we're very generous and the salvation army gets more

than half of its money in december. we have a spirit of giving and taking care of each other. and it tears you apart when you see a family that can't buy toys for their kids. think about a family not being able to feed their kids. they want to take $40 billion out of the food stamps program. for what? for what reason? nobody -- i defy any of those congressmen to live on what unemployment benefits give them. to try to live on that for a month. it's not welfare. it's survival. >> goldie, but not only have they come now to the brink of where the benefits will run out and they're talking about the $40 billion in cuts with food stamps, it seems like it's bad enough to be harmed but to be in many ways mocked. when you think of the way they blast people that are not at work, that cannot find jobs and act as though they're dependent

on government. i mean, listen to the kinds of things republicans in congress say. >> we don't want to turn this safety net into a hammock that allows able-bodied people to rely on complacency. >> self-reliance means if anyone will not work, neither should he eat. >> we also eliminated skin in the game for most ordinary everyday americans. people mocked mitt romney for what he said but he's right. >> i mean, to act as though their dependents, as though they're beggars is almost as bad as not extending the benefits. and trying to mess with food stamps. >> this is a party that almost single handedly beat up the economy. it's almost as if they blew it up and dared people to cut to the other side of the canyon on their own. at the end of the day, this is

going to hurt them in 2014. it's going to hurt them in 2016. because you don't know who your next door neighbor might be who happened to receive benefits from the department of labor. that's not something that's public knowledge. those people go into the voting booth. when their families go into the voting booth, they're going to remember who voted to deny them benefits they worked so hard for. if they were truly interested in gaining full employment in this country, they'd be investing in job training, investing in young people to get their geds. they would be investing in jobs out there that for the people who want to stay in the workforce a bit longer, they'd be investing in meaningful wages and jobs for real people. in fact, they tossed the president's jobs act right back at him and didn't even let it up for a vote. >> well, you said may hurt them politically. i'm more concerned about the people that it will hurt on saturday and going forward. that's who i'm concerned about being hurt. governor rendell and goldie

taylor, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, new on the "duck dynasty" star who used homophobic and racially charged comments in a magazine article. now sarah palin, one of the leading defenders of the reality show star, admits she never even read the article. what it reveals about the gop's rush to defend him. plus chris christie denies shutting down a bridge as political punishment. but now we're learning new stories of retribution and bullying. and karl stove is taking on the tea party. the goal from one strategists have no fools on our ticket. well, good luck. and a touching story. beyonce sings and dances with a terminally ill fan making her

wish come true. stay with us. [ sneezes, coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. where does the united states get most of its energy? is it africa? the middle east? canada? or the u.s.? the answer is... the u.s. ♪

most of america's energy comes from right here at home. take the energy quiz. energy lives here.

karl rove's on a mission to take down the tea party. get the popcorn. this one is going to be good. that's next.

the gop created a monster and now they want to get rid of it. for years now the republican party has fueled the tea party,

backed it with big money in primaries, promoted its agenda on fox news, encouraging its far right ideology time after time. but now one of their own is leading the charge against the tea party. the wall street journal reports karl rove and his outside organization are part of a new effort to diminish the clout of the far right. one strategist says, quote, our number one focus is to make sure we have no loser candidates, no fools on our ticket. gee, who could they be talking about? >> it seems to be first of all from what i understand about doctors, if it's a legitimate rape the female body has a way of shutting that whole thing down. >> even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that

it is something god intended to happen. >> well, today's news is just the latest strike against the tea party. a group that speaker boehner is already fed up with. >> frankly i think they're misleading their followers. i think they're pushing our members in places where they don't want to be. and frankly i think they've lost all credibility. are you kidding me? >> so is the tea party fever finally breaking? or does this mean advances in the president's agenda on the minimum wage and immigration reform? one thing's for sure, without the tea party, all of that would be a heck of a lot easier. joining me now are ryan grim and james peterson. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks for having me.

>> thanks, rev. >> ryan, let me start with you. you've covered congress for years. i see this effort getting pretty messy. playing out in the fund raising circle primarily. karl rove has for the last several months trying to coax different moderate -- you can call them moderate but business friendly non-tea party candidates into different races. in iowa, michigan, and other places where they have chances to pick somebody up. recruitment is the key. they wanted latham to run in iowa. that's not going to happen. if they had managed to do that, then that's a sign that, okay, that this chamber of commerce funded, karl rove funded, quote unquote moderate operations are humming. the second part of it, though,

is to knock down tea party candidates. a lot of them make it fairly easy. they can do a lot of opposition research on them. they can leak that to the media and push those folks down. it will be interesting to see who they can put up in georgia against michelle. whether they can put their finger on the scale. the primary has been the place where republican politics has been fought out and the tea party has won it. but with enough money, it looks like the establishment could take over again. >> and they went in the cycles in the primaries, but james, it looks like the tea party is going to fight back against rove. "new york times" reports and i'm quoting, at least a dozen superpacs are setting up back individual republican candidates for the united states senate challenging the strategic financial dominance that karl rove enjoyed. he voiced his displeasure with

the tea party last time. listen to this. >> what the tea party people now realize is that they got two political forces gunning for them. obama and the democrats and the republican establishment. >> i think karl rove's name, i think his organization are poison in conservative and republican circles in many respects. bring it on, karl, baby. bring it on, dough boy. bring on your little white board. we're ready. >> so it seems we're seeing a pending battle between the far right and the republican establishment symbolized in this case by karl rove. republican establishment i should say. >> right. they're all far right. but what they're fighting over and the fissure around this

battle started around the talks of affordable care act. the debt ceiling and those looming -- as we lurch from crisis to crisis, that's terrible for the economy. the business world does not want to go through that again. we talked about the medical device tax. and the tea party split with conservative republicans on that because they weren't interested in protecting the interests of businesses associated with the medical device tax. that was their split when they were to have this united front. this thing has been bubbling over for some time now. and one of the consequences of this kind of battling back and forth is you are going to see folk like boehner and speaking out. and karl rove who has deep pockets. one of the most well resourced organization ts. this is less about polts and making sure that business is insulated from some of the political maneuverings from the tea party.

>> but ryan, how does this affect the president's agenda? how does this affect the fact that already there's huge support for initiatives president obama backs. 69% support raising the minimum wage. 57% say increased income inequality is bad. how does this civil war and the republican party, how could it effect or impact advancing president obama's agenda? >> it certainly opens a window for the parts of his agenda that kind of align with business interests. for instance, the chamber of commerce which is a partisan organization is a big proponent of immigration reform. if you can line up house speaker john boehner, the chamber, and democrats against the tea party on immigration reform, then you could actually at least see some life breathe back into that. and the same is true, perhaps with the minimum wage. you know, there could be enough

moderate republicans who want to show that they're breaking with the tea party. that at least if it doesn't pass it at least becomes live enough in washington for people to debate it and talk about it. once you start talking about it, those poll numbers you showed, they start pushing it forward by their own weight. >> well, we will be watching and covering this very carefully as we see this in-fighting going on in the -- on the far right. it will certainly be something that i wouldn't want to miss, not one bit. james peterson, thank you for your time tonight. and ryan, we'll see you a little later on in the show. >> looking forward to it. coming up, sarah palin rushed to defend the reality tv star who made anti-gay, racially charged comments in a magazine interview. but now we learn she didn't read the article.

plus, did chris christie close lanes on a bridge to get back at a political enemy? he says no. but today new stories of bullying and retribution are emerging. so is a letter from three years ago. ♪ [ sneezes, coughs ]

i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is.

i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is!

coming up, more on the "duck dynasty" disaster. days after the star of the show used anti-gay and racially charged remarks, another on the right comes to his defense. this time it's sarah palin. the only problem, she admits she never even read what he said. that's next. ♪ [ male announcer ] what kind of energy is so abundant,

it can help provide the power for all this? natural gas. ♪ more than ever before, america's electricity is generated by it. exxonmobil uses advanced visualization and drilling technologies to produce natural gas... powering our lives... while reducing emissions by up to 60%. energy lives here. ♪ has some very special power.

♪ [ toys chattering ] it's filled with new duracell quantum batteries. [ toy meows ] [ dog whines ] [ toy meows ] these red batteries are so powerful... that this year they'll power all the hasbro toys donated to toys for tots. want to help power some smiles? duracell. trusted everywhere. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. [ male announcer ] your eyes. even at a distance of 10 miles...

the length of 146 football fields... they can see the light of a single candle. your eyes are amazing. look after them with centrum silver. multivitamins with lutein and vitamins a, c, and e to support healthy eyes and packed with key nutrients to support your heart and brain, too. centrum silver. for the most amazing parts of you.

we've heard republicans give lots of reasons for defending the star of "duck dynasty." phil robertson. he's been suspended from his reality tv show for making anti-gay, racially charged comments to a magazine. louisiana governor bobby jindal stood up for him saying they're good friends. >> he is always going to be my friend. he'll be my friend after i'm governor, after his show is done. he's a good man. he wants everybody to be treated we quality and respect. >> i guess we'll have to take governor jindal's word for it. senator shutdown ted cruz and mike huckabee said attacks on robertson are attacks on free speech. but i think the most interesting defense came from former governor sarah palin. she was one of the first to stand up for the "duck dynasty" star.

and was asked about the specific language he used earlier this week. >> there are two ways to say different things, and his -- in the article and i know he's a graphic type guy, but do you have any objection on the manners aspect, how he said it? >> i haven't read the article. i don't know exactly how he said it. >> she went on tv to defend him but didn't read what he said? here's what robertson said was sinful. quote, start with homosexual behavior and then morph out from there. bestiality, sleeping around, don't deceive yourself, it's not right. there were other comments that are too vulgar to repeat on tv. and he also said african-americans were happy in the jim crow south. now, let me be very clear. phil robertson has the right to

say whatever he wants. and his tv channel has the right to take action. but why republicans so eager to defend him? especially if one of their leaders doesn't even know exactly what he said? joining me now are victoria soto and joe madison. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> good evening, rev. >> joe, we keep hearing that the republican party is changing. so why are they defending the star of "duck dynasty"? i mean, do they really not know what he said? >> well, most of them probably don't. in this 24-hour news cycle, you know, the problem is that people want to be first especially to go after folks they think are different or they don't like. you know, one of the things i appreciate and one of the reasons i come on your show so much is you have a staff that the first thing they will ask,

have you read it? have you seen it? have you heard it? and if you haven't, they make sure that i do get it in order to read it. the biggest problem we have, and i think that creates the incivility that we're seeing in the republican party, is that we want to be first to insult. and i think there needs to be more critical thinking. but imagine, you want it to be -- >> but not only the first to insult. i think it's the first to take a party line that is against certain segments in society. >> that you don't like, right. >> that it's just a knee jerk reaction. that we are always going to go against certain groups no matter what. and we don't need the facts, victoria. like, for example, just after sarah palin said she hadn't read "duck dynasty," the interview, listen to what she said. >> he has said over and over again he doesn't hate the person

engaging in a lifestyle he disagrees with, but he -- in response he was quoting the gospel. so people who are so insulted and offended by what he said evidently are offended by what he was quoting in the gospel. >> and how can she say he was quoting the gospel if she doesn't even know what he said? and what chapter, victoria, and verse says that blacks were happy sitting in the back of the bus and not having the right to vote? i mean, what is she talking about? >> you know, i don't think sarah palin is a very avid reader, but i would bet she read that. and what she's doing here is she wants to have her cake and eat it too. she wants to pump up the base and come to phil robertson's support. but at the same time she wants to walk it back and not get that backlash that could come from his very derogatory comments. it's so interesting because i'm seeing glimmers of 2010 here.

remember the role that sarah palin played in pumping up the base by saying racially charged comments toward african-americans, toward latinos. and are we going to see a replay of 2010? that's what i'm really curious about. is she going to be able to pump up that base and is it going to be able to fight over those rove moderate establishment republicans? i don't know. we're going to know in about two months here. but it's classic palin. >> now, joe, you know the "duck dynasty" family has been getting more involved in politics. there was just a special election for congressional seat in louisiana. in the october primary, candidate vance mcallister finished 14 points behind neil riser. but he got a last minute endorsement from members of the "duck dynasty" family and ended up winning by 20 points. now, we can't say how much of an

impact the "duck dynasty" endorsement had, but could this be why republicans wanted to be on the family's good side? that it's good politics in their base voting? >> i don't think it's good politics. i think it's the fact that they're very popular. and that's what's wrong with politics today. it's a popularity race. and once you get elected, the most difficult thing as you know is you have to govern. and look how they're governing. your last segment, your previous segment. look, i bet in louisiana right now there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who are going to be suffering because they won't have food for their children. in louisiana. and so the question is you can get elected but then who do you govern for? here you have really multimillionaires who are very popular but they're willing to kick poor louisianians under the

bus? >> now, you know, victoria, the rnc said earlier this year in their autopsy report, quote, we need to campaign among hispanic, black, asian, and gay americans and demonstrate we care about them too. now, if you have all these big names that are rushing to defend this reality star, why haven't we heard more gop leaders denouncing this kind of homophobia and racially charged statement? >> they're scared, reverend. because we have seen what's happened in the past two electoral cycles. the tea party base will get out there and they will out-primary the incumbent. they will out-primary the moderate republican. just today as you mentioned in the last segment, the wall street journal had a piece saying they want to recast their message. okay. that's fine. you can recast your message that you want to be more moderate and family friendly, but like you said, are you going to play

defense to these crazy folks who are espousing this hateful rhetoric? >> joe, it's not going to go away easily, because even late night comics are having a field day on republicans over the story. listen to this. >> this week we learned you can judge a book by its cover. a large number of conservatives on thursday criticized a&e for suspending phil robertson for his anti-gay comments including glenn beck and bobby jindal. or as they're known, dork dynasty. >> so, i mean, with it now in the late night comedian cycle and all, they're identified with this and any outreach they thought they were going to make has been set back because some of their leading stars have decided to go out and defend this even when they haven't read

what the guy said. >> yeah. and it's indefensible. this goes back again to the incivility of our -- of what they do. the reality is that i think in 2014 most of us who are consumers of 24-hour news have to demand that people be more of a critical thinker instead of trying to be the first at the box. the first to insult people that you have differences with. and that ought to be a new year's resolution to be quite honest. because that's what -- you know, the reality is comedians are telling the truth. and people catch on to that quickly. will rogers did it, johnny carson did it, mark twain did it. and that's exactly what catches the people who live in middle america. they get it. and this is not going to be easy, and i think the tea party quite honestly, they can primary

whoever they want. the bottom line is they're a shrinking group of people. they don't have the influence and all the polls show that, that they had just three years ago. >> yeah. >> well, victoria, joe sets a new year's resolution. i make one i'm going to read it first and then comment. >> that's right. read it first. >> victoria soto and joe madison, thanks for being here and have a happy new year. >> same to you. >> thank you, rev. coming up, chris christie's denied shutting down a bridge as a political payback. but a scathing new report suggests he may have bullied opponents before. plus beyonce makes a dream come true for a terminally ill girl. it's must see. stay with us. [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh! i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something.

[ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. discover card. hey! so i'm looking at my bill, and my fico® credit score's on here. yeah, you've got our discover it card, so you get your fico® score on your monthly statements now, for free! that's nice of you! it's a great way to stay on top of your credit, and make sure things look the way they should. awesomesauce! huh! my twin sister always says that. wait...lisa? julie?! you sound really different on the phone. do i sound pleasant? for once in your life you sound very pleasant. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. free fico® credit score. get the it card at discover.com.

[ ding ] i sense you've overpacked, your stomach. try pepto to-go. it's pepto-bismol that fits in your pocket. relief can be yours, but your peanuts... are mine. ♪ where does the united states get most of its energy? is it africa? the middle east? canada? or the u.s.? the answer is... the u.s. ♪ most of america's energy comes from right here at home. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. (voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness...

from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. with 0-calorie monk fruit in the raw. it's made with the natural, vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar. raw natural sweetness, raw natural success. i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is.

it's not water under the bridge for chris christie. nearly three weeks after the story made national headlines, it's still a jersey mystery. why were two lanes on the busiest bridge in the world shut down for four days in september? was it as political punishment from christie against this democratic mayor of fort lee, new jersey, for failing to

endorse chris tees for re-election. christie's allies controlling the bridge closed two lanes leading into the mayor's town. they said it was traffic study. a claim denied by other agency officials. the closures created a huge traffic jam that paralyzed the town for days. both of christie's allies at the agency have resigned saying they were a distraction. today we learned the mayor wrote to bill baroni one of the allies, in 2010 about the gridlock we experienced and the extraordinary traffic burdens caused by the george washington bridge. earlier this week both allies submitted subpoenaed documents. but last week the governor didn't seem too concerned. >> i know you guys are obsessed with this. i'm not. i'm really not.

it's just -- it's not that big a deal. just because press runs around and writes about it both here and nationally, i know why that is and so do you. let's not pretend it's because of the gravity of the issue. it's because i am a national figure and anything like this will be written about now. >> not that big a deal. but now we're learning more about other stories of petty retribution leading up to a bullying image. the governor has mocked them as preposterous. but democrats in new jersey and privately some republicans too say it would hardly be out of character for mr. christie. i'm not so sure this isn't that big a deal. joining me now, new jersey democratic assemblyman john wozneski, the chairman of the transportation committee. he's heading the investigation into what happened.

and back with us, ryan grim, washington bureau chief for the huffi ing huffington post. thank you both for joining me. assemblyman, the governor says this isn't a big deal. what is your response? >> it is a big deal. it's not about traffic cones. he'd like to say this was traffic cones moved. who cares. but it's a story about power and his judgment. he appointed these men to a high position to the port authority in new jersey. and these men together orchestrated the closure of rains that closed down the borough of fort lee for days. despite the fact that political fact checking organizations have called into question the governor's statements. despite the fact that even though the governor says there's no record of the mayor of fort

lee calling to complain, there's internal port authority e-mails that show one another talking to each other saying who's going to call the mayor back. he keeps calling about these lane closures. so you have to ask the question, if it's not a big deal, why does the governor keep misrepresenting the facts? >> now, you received documents from two of the men who resigned. what can you tell us about what you've seen? >> i can't tell you much yet because we're still in the process of reviewing them to make sure they comply with the subpoenas we issued, but what we see is a lot of volume of e-mail traffic. we've got these documents one of them at 8:30 monday night before the christmas holiday. it's hard to ask staff to spend their holiday going through these. we hope to have a better idea tomorrow. >> will you seek other documents? >> we're going to continue this investigation no matter where it leads. this is really a story about

abuse of power and failure to be accountable. i think that's important not only for the people in this area who pay big sums to travel on this bridge and sit in traffic. but as a national figure people need to know what his judgment is like. in this case i think they have to call into question his judgment, his rampant defense of people who the executive director of the port authority said he'd fire. people accused of breaking the law. it doesn't make sense. it doesn't add up. >> now, this letter from 2010 that surfaced showed the mayor was concerned about bridge traffic. do you believe there's any significance to this? >> well, i think it shows that the story that bill baroni told the transportation committee when he came and testified not under oath was just not believable in any sense. because it shows that in 2010 the mayor of fort lee said we have a traffic problem before there were lane closures. before any of this took place that fort lee had an ongoing

problem. so bill baroni knew that when those lanes were closed, it would only make a bad decision worse. yet he continued to insist it was a study when his own boss the executive director said there was no such study. and what it does show is that the stories aren't matching up with the facts. when we have one person saying this is done for a traffic study to see whether the lanes made sense, his boss saying the traffic study doesn't exist. we knew it was a traffic problem yet he makes it worse. this doesn't add up. i don't understand the full scale level of defense being waged for two people who have resigned their posts because they did things improperly by this governor. clearly there's more to the story than we know. that's why we'll continue to look at it. it is again about accountability and abuse of power. it's about people paying very large sums of money, $8 to $13 to cross this bridge and they sit in traffic for the privilege. it's just not right.

>> you know, ryan, "the new york times" piece i mentioned in the lead revealed stories of bullying from the governor. bill lavin, an officer with state fighters union says unions and the governor needed to start talking to one another. a republican state senator called mr. lavin with a message from the governor and then used an obscene phrase to describe what the governor thought he should do. that call was made by bill baroni one of the appointees that resigned from the bridge controversy. here we have baroni making this call. could this go into a pattern here, ryan? >> i think certainly because whether or not chris christie actually picked up the phone and called these fellows and said, hey, i want you to shut down this bridge so that it jams up traffic in this town as retaliation, whether or not he

actually did that, he created the climate in which they thought this was the kind of thing that chris christie wanted done. it's sort of strange to hear him protest at this point that there's this image of him being projected as a bully when that's what launched him to the stage. so, you know, where there's smoke, there's fire. in this case a lot of the fire has been started by christie himself. >> but if we're dealing with 2016, it's one thing to have a guy in your face that's candid and blunt. it's another -- is it not, that if you have a guy that you think would engage in retribution and revenge using public funds and resources to pay back political enemies or guys that won't support you politically. do you want that in a president? >> i don't think people do. and i think in d.c. and in new york and new jersey, we kind of overestimate how much the rest of the country appreciates this

kind of tough guy, wise guy attitude towards politics. i don't think it actually plays as well in iowa or minnesota and places like that as we think it does. and look at the polling of christie in iowa. he's near the bottom. >> all right. let's hold it there. assemblyman john wiseneski and ryan grim, thank you for your time tonight. we'll be watching this one. >> thank you. coming up, we'll tell you about this 10-year-old's surprise visit from president obama in hawaii. and a story that will hit all of your emotions. beyonce makes a terminally ill fan's wish come true. it was beautiful. that's next.

beyonce made a dream come true this holiday season. in a video posted to her youtube page on christmas eve, beyonce teamed up with the make a wish foundation. to help make a terminally ill girl's wish come true. tailin who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor wanted to dance with beyonce. >> i found out that i was coming

to this concert a couple days ago, i believe. i am having so much fun. i can't wait to see beyonce. ♪ ♪ i'm a survivor ♪ i'm not gone give up ♪ i will survive ♪ keep on surviving >> that special moment brought taylon to tears. tears of joy. it's a moment and a wish that taylon and her family will never forget. all thanks to beyonce and the amazing work from the make a wish foundation. our prays are with taylon and her family. [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums!

the energy in one gallon of gas is also enough to keep your smartphone running for how long? 30 days? 300 days? 3,000 days? the answer is... 3,000 days. because of gasoline's high energy density, your car doesn't have to carry as much fuel compared to other energy sources. take the energy quiz. energy lives here.

to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious. i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! finally tonight, the first family's hawaiian vacation and a

surprise from the president. 10-year-old christian lavelle was a at a marine base when the president showed up for a morning workout. he signed an autograph for her. she wrote christian, dream by dreams. signed barack obama. nice move, mr. president, and what a memory for her. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. will the new year bring new and improved fortunes for president obama? let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, 2013 was one hell of a year for president obama. when the country turned the page on 2012, there was an expectation that the president's