tomorrow? >> i think the fact that he's fighting this tells me i'm not expecting there to be, you know, if he does testify i'm not expecting there to be any bombshells from his testimony. but again my suspicion is that fighting the subpoena has to do with trying to run that clock out to the end of the session, which that's not going to happen now. . >> steve kornacki, thanks. it's been great having you. it's now for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." thanks for being with us. okay, make sure the kids are gone to bed, all right? because we're going to talk jersey politics chris christie style and, you know, the language can get kind of colorful. >> david wildstein deserves an ass kicking okay? >> it's politics new jersey style. >> e-mails suggest that state

officials actually shut down traffic. >> creating a huge traffic jam. >> in his office. >> newly obtained e-mails sent from governor christie's deputy chief of staff. >> it reads time for some traffic problems in fort lee. >> wildstein applied got it. >> it's criminal investigation. >> four days of gridlock. >> we have families looking for emergency services, to respond to calls. thousands of kids that were late for the first day of school. >> governor christie says his staff had nothing to do with those lane closings. >> this governor has a lot of explaining to do. >> governor christie put out this statement, misled by a member of my staff. made without my knowledge. >> that becomes an indictment of his administration in a different way. >> he has national ambitions. >> if you don't run chris

christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. >> it doesn't bode well for the governor. >> christie is off my list. the "bergen record" released newly obtained e-mails and texts today involving chris christie's deputy chiefs of staff and two of his former top executives a the port authority, all pointing to possible political retribution three weeks before the lane closures on the george washington bridge, bridgette m. kelly one of three tep dis wrote to a port authority official david wildstein, time for some traffic problems in fort lee. wildstein wrote back, got it. wildstein did order lane closures which caused major problems for fort lee residents and as "the bergen record"

reports tonight, emergency responders were delayed in attending to four medical situations, including one in which a 91-year-old woman lay uncongress. that woman later died. the first morning of the lane closures, fort lee mayor made numerous calls inquiring about what was going on. bridgette ann kelley e-mailed david wildstein again. did he call him back? wildstein wrote back, radio silen silence. his name comes after steven fulop who also claims theed a min vags retaliated against him because he also did not endorse the governor for re-election. the fort lee mayor reacted to today's news this way. >> don't do any favors. don't reach out for me. you need to reach out to the families who were waiting for ambulances taking three times longer to get there. you need to reach out to the thousands of families that

couldn't get their kids to sdool a and you need to reach out and figure out how much this cost fort lee to zo we can get a reimbursement check. david wildstein deserves an ass kicking. there i said it. >> i for one have a new favorite mayor. wildstein filed a lawsuit that might stop his testimony from happening. and chris christie canceled his only public event today and the normally talkative christie only issued this of written statement. what i've seen here for the first time is unacceptable and i am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was i misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. one thing is clear. this type of behavior is unacceptable and i will not tolerate it because the people

of new jersey deserve better. this behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way and people will be held responsible for their actions. joining me now, richard wolf, executive editor, new jersey democratic state dart barbara bono who ran against christie for governor last year and hunter walker, national afair balls reporter for talking points memo. just to backtrack here on the story, the theory of the case, and it's the stupidest case i've ever heard, is that they were going to retaliate against the mayor of fort lee, new jersey, a democratic mayor for not endorsing the republican governor, as barbara can tell us, too many democrats got in line with this republican governor's relex. they were going to punish nj nnl driver's cars who use the bridge

who come from all over new jersey, including people who come from pennsylvania and people who were driving from all over -- i mean, it's this -- the idea that you could punish an individual politician in new jersey, local politician by slowing do you think the george washington bridge is insane. but that's what got us here. >> right. and, you know, there's so many damning revelations from the set of documents this morning that it's really hard to settle on just one. but one quote that i find really interesting is, you know, this all ended when one of governor cuomo's appointees on the port authority became aware of the situation. and in an e-mail to one of christie's top aides, the guy who ordered these closures said new york just gave them their lanes back. we're going to go, quote, appropriately nuts. so i love this idea in jersey politics there's a level of going nuts that's somehow appropriate. certainly far from any idea of good government i've heard of.

>> i want to read you one exchange they found in these texts. it alludes to the problem, the school buss were having trouble getting through the traffic. and this is a text of wildstein. is it wrong that i'm smiling? the recipient of the text message responded to wildstein, no. the person responded, i feel badly about the kids, i guess. meaning the kids on the school buses, to which wildstein said, they are the children of buono voters. your reaction to that? >> what kind of person says that? i have to ask you, lawrence. i'm not surprised. i knew that this was going to lead to chris christie back in september. because this is an administration, it's a paramilitary organization. people don't go to the bathroom without asking his permission. but i have to tell you, those quotes were startling to me. they were horrifying that somebody would talk about

children in that way. it's an abuse of trust of the public. i've been in public office for 21 years. and i spent every day trying to win the people's trust and this has just shattered it. >> it is stun, it is cruelty to children, it is abusive to children. but like everything else in this story, it's stunningly stupid. the idea that you could punish exclusively the children of buono voters on that school bus. that there were no christie voters on that school bus? i haven't been able to get the name of the 91-year-old woman who was delayed medical treatment that day because of thf traffic jam. and eventually died. when we don't know whether she died because of a delay in treatment. but in politics, that's not the way they play this game. in politic, she, when we have

her name, is going to become the willy horton of chris christie's presidential qualm paicampaign. they're going to pin that name on him. this woman is dead because of action taken by the christie administration. >> the plumbers in watergate, that was very -- >> stupidity all the way through. >> in any case, this breaks through. people don't understand about the struggle to lift education standards. they don't understand about state budgets and jobs come and go. but they do understand this kind of story. it breaks through all politics. it breaks through the kind of people who only tune in to this kind of network. and it reaches into the late night comedy shows. it's something that people can have understand at a very visceral level. not because they struggle with bridges but because they understand the importance of emergency vehicles getting through. and remember, crist christie was sailing to re-election. he had his reendorsements lined

up. it was not only stupid, it was unnecessary. >> i want to get a translation from our new jersey experts here of this particular sequence here where wildstein was exchanging messages with the campaign manager about a wall street journal story about local official complaints. he stepped in and said it's fine. the mayor is an idiot, though. win some lose some. wildstein wrote back, this part i don't get. idemty boxes ready to take to work today just in case. it will be a tough november for this little serbian. what's that about? the empty boxes thing? >> well, you know, that was the initial coverage that was going on in this. when you have the mayor of fort lee quoted that he thought this was punitive in nature. that was the canary in the mine that let us know this was a problem. and, you know, it shows that -- is this wildstein saying if

there was going to be a negative article in "the wall street journal," maybe he would have to get fired and fill up those empty boxes and get out of his office? >> exactly. >> i think so. >> it shows h ehad a fairly normal response that his job was in jeopardy. and if chris christie and his administration hadn't supported him, as that exchange from the campaign manager shows he did from the get-go, his job might have. and it probably would have anywhere else. >> senator buono, you ran against one of the most talkative governors in the united states of america. always available to the press about everything. not today. he's done, as far as we know, nothing about this today. i don't see what on the basis of this information prevents him from firing this kelley publicly today. >> and he should. and i'm going to tell you something, if he were u.s. attorney today, he would have conducted an investigation into this already. that's why i called on the u.s. department of justice to do just that. because there is sufficient

evidence to look into the possibility of criminal actsing with committed here. i mean, i think it goes beyond a bridge closing. this is an issue of character. this is a governor that has a reputation for utilizing the levers of power to exact political revenge. and this is something that people, not just of new jersey, but the people of the united states of america need to know about. he's somebody who wants to lead our nation and be the chief executive over the largest, the most powerful military force in the world. and he can't be trusted to manage the busiest bridge in the world. >> i've never seen a smoking gun like ms. kelly's thing that says it looks like we need to close the bridge today. that one. she works for him directly, completely fireable by him. why she is still employed tonight is beyond my wildest dreams. tomorrow, it seems to me chris

christie's political laker hangs in the balance tomorrow by what action he takes. people can say it's a traffic jam, it's not a big deal. well, when they see the 30-second commercials about the 91-year-old woman in the presidential campaign, they'll think it's a big deal. but also, it's all entirely now about what does this decisive man do? this tough-talking, quick-acting, decisive man. he couldn't figure out what to do and he had more than 12 hours to figure it out. >> i think the issue is it depends really, people need to know what this governor knew and when he knew it. >> that, too. but at a minimum. let's just for the moment believe or accept for the moment this unbelievably thin read of this defense, which is he's hearing about this for the first time. those are the key words in his written statement today, the first time. which is very hard to believe. but let's accept it for moment but say going forward, what does he do tomorrow? what does he have to do tomorrow and what time does he have to do it? how many hours can he let it go

by? >> it's already too late. you can be shocked there's gambling in casablanca, but if your reputation is you're a great manager, if your reputation is you can reach across the divide and you're out there tun punishing democrats who refuse to endorse you, then your two pillars of your entire reputation has crumbled. reaction to the crisis is one thing, but how do you repair your reputation? that's harder. >> thank you all for joining me tonight. >> coming up, steve schmidt joins me to talk about chris christie and why today was not just a bad day for chris christie. it was also a bad day for rand paul. and in the rewrite tonight, what the washington media is not telling you about the new book about the obama administration by former defense secretary robert gates. and later, a shocking conspiracy by scores of new york city police officers to defraud the government of hundreds of

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former arizona congresswoman gabby gifford went sky diving three years after a mass murderer tried to kill her. vice president joe biden wished her luck. she's gone sky diving before, but hasn't jumped out of a plane since the shooting. you can watch her jump tomorrow morning on "the today show." up next, a bad day for another republican who wants to run for president.

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[ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. >> rand paul woke up top an article calling him unsuitable to be commander-in-chief, calling for leniency for edward snowden. the editorial board wrote, arguing that edward snowden is some kind of national hero shows an unseriousness about national security that would make him unsuitable to be commander-in-chief. rand paul is also getting some backlash from more hawkish

members of congress, including republican congressman peter king who said this earlier this week. >> when we have honest differences where the policies are, rand paul is playing on some sort of libertarian -- >> fear amongering. >> instead of using he's going to the lowest common denominator. >> rand paul responded by saying this -- >> i think when people are so over the top like that and really so bombastic that so people discount it i think it's probably taken for what it's worth. and see, the thing is that's lost on lot of people is that i am in favor of the nsa. i am for spying on terrorists. i just think it needs to discriminate in the sense that you go to a judge and the reason that we separated police power from judicial power is to have some checks and balances.

and people who don't know the importance of separating the judiciary from the police power really i don't think are thoughtful people. >> joining me now is steve schmidt, msnbc political analyst and former senior adviser to the mccain campaign. steve, i don't want to get into the edward snowden issue in particular. what i'm interested in here in terms of a republican presidential cam, how this issue plays. and what we saw today was a very important side of the republican party speaking saying if you're for leniency for snowden, you're unfit for the presidency. what i'm interested in is how this works on a republican debate, primary debate stage. and who will be playing what roles in this debate. >> look, i think that rand paul more and more is assuming the role that his father played, for example, during the 2008 presidential debates where he was an outlier.

all the candidates agreed that ron paul was out there on conspiracy theories and basely other issues. rand paul basically had a bad 2013. when you look at the plajism issue, the person who wrote all the outlandish columns working in his office. he's demonstrated, i think, over the course of the last year he has difficulty running a u.s. senate office, let alone any prospects to be commander-in-chi commander-in-chief. and certainly inside the republican party, there's noft a great deal of sympathy for edward snowden, or is there much of a constituency in the republican party who wants to see him get clemency? that being said, i think there are legitimate fourth amendment issues. i'm certainly not a person who supports the untraveled national security state in the name of security that we should have all these invasions of privacy. so there are legitimate issues at stake here, but i think rand

paul has demonstrated himself increasingly as a very flawed messenger. and "the wall street journal" editorial board is a powerful messenger. it's a powerful voice inside the republican party in terms of shaping the debate around a primary process. >> the thing that always interests me about ron paul's events is that he said very brave things to republican audiences that they didn't want to hear. the kind of thing that ronald paul i think would also be willing to say. the big difference it seems to me is no one thought that ron paul had any chance of winning a nomination or winning any real collection of delegates in the process. and so it was easier for ron paul tor brave dauz he was never actu actually running for president. the perception is that rand paul

really balanced budget running for the nominatio -- be running for the nomination. is there any value in the republican primary for voters to look at it and go well,nominati. is there any value in the republican primary for voters to look at it and go well, i don't agree with him, but i admire him to have sticking to his principles on? >> we'll see how he does in the debates. he needs to make his arguments much more coherently than he already has. earlier this year, for example, he got into a tussle with chris christie and chris christie came out on top on that. so when he gets into the combat arena of the republican presidential debate process, we'll see how he does. can he make arguments? can he advance his position? can he draw people in to positions that have typically been outliers inside the republican party. i would have argued, and i dare argued a year ago i thought he

was going to be a very serious candidate for the nomination, one of the top three. and i think he's fallen off that perch over the course of a very bad political 2013. >> chris christie let this story hang out there all day today getting worse by the hour, literally without saying a word. very uncharacteristic reaction by christie. he's got someone on his staff caught in the texting e-mails saying -- >> red handed. >> red handed. it's time to cause problems on that bridge. what should christie have done today? what does he have to do tomorrow? >> he should have fired her today. he needs to clean house with every person involved in this. look, there's exactly zero evidence implicating president obama in the irs abuse of conservative groups. there's no evidence at this point that chris christie knew anything about this. there is substantial evidence that people close to him

committed an outrageous and egregious abuse of power. and so in this situation, there's great opportunity for chris christie. and there's great par rel for chris christie. the brand of chris christie demands that he cleans house. that he hold people accountable. this is what people are sick and tired of, whether we're talk act the people that caused the financial crisis, the people that have mismanaged wars. the people that have caused so much problems in washington. he's got a big day ahead tomorrow. when you run for president, you don't have the option of hiding out for a day when there's a bad news story. >> he can't fire miss kelly until he knows for sure that miss kelly is going to back him up on the public statement that he knew nothing about this before today. steve schmidt, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

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>> this administration today here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in america. >> five decades and trillions of dollars after president johnson first announced the war on

poverty, the results of the big government approach are in. >> in the spotlight tonight, republicans and the war on poverty. 50 years ago tonight, lyndon johnson used his first state of the union address to declare war on poverty and since then, the republicans have used the war on poverty to attack democrats. of course, you won't hear republicans attacking the war on poverty's single biggest big government program. >> we must provide hospital insurance for our older citizens financed by every worker and his employer under social security. >> that's right. that was medicare the president was talking about. that is the war on poverty's most successful and most popular socialist program. republicans don't mention that when they talk about the war on poverty's allegationed failure. the top legislative aide wrote

in the washington monthly in 1999, if there is a prize for the political scam of the 20th century, it should go to the conservatives for propagating as conventional wisdom that the great society programs of the 1960s were misguided and failed social experiment that wasted taxpayers' money. in fact, from 1963 when lyndon johnson took office until 1970, as the impact of his great society programs were felt, the portion of americans living below the poverty line dropped from 22.2% to 12.6%. the most dramatic decline over such a brief period in the 20th semplgry. the current poverty rate in america in the wake of the financial crisis and recession is 15%, thanks in part, it's been held down thanks in part to programs like food stamps. also enacted by lyndon johnson. today in a speech at the capitol, marco rubio announced his anti-poverty program.

>> what i am proposing today is the most fundamental change to how the federal government fights poverty and encourages upward mobility since president johnson first conceived the war on poverty 50 years ago today. i am proposing that we turn over washington's anti-poverty programs and the trillions that are spent on them to the states. our anti-poverty program should be replaced with a revenue neutral flex fund. we will streamline most of our existing federal anti-poverty fund into a single agency. then each year these flex funds would be transferred to the states so they can design and fund creative initiatives that address the factors behind inequality of opportunity. >> joining me now, jarrod bernstein on budget and policy priorities. they was the chief economist to vice president biden. your reaction to marco rubio's battle against poverty.

>> well, there were aspects of his diagnosis that i thought were pretty strong. he talked about the increase in inequality and he worried about immobility, the difficulty that folks at the bottom end of the income scale have getting higher up on that scale. and often times, republicans won't even engage on those issues. i think they've kind of been pushed in that direction. so i was glad to hear him talk about that in his diagnosis. his prescriptions i felt were way off point and antithetical, really, to the goals he's articulating. by the way, this revenue neutral flex fund stuff, that's a block grant. that means that instead of the federal government being able to ramp up its response to recessions, as we just saw, and was so important, as you mentioned in your introduction, to holding down the poverty rate over the deepest recession since the great depression, that function, that countercyclical

function would be gone in his revenue neutral flex funds. and the idea that you would take that safety net function out of the picture is a huge step backwards. >> let's talk more generally about the federal government's affect on poverty in this country. the social security act of 1935 was, in fact, an anti-poverty program. at that time, the elderly were the most impoverished in our society. and that problem was pretty effectively dealt with through social security. and then the combination of the 1960s with medicare and both of those programs, social security and medicare expanded after they were introduced. we were adding elements to those programs to make that safety net even stronger. and both of those programs are always ignored when we talk about federal government intervention in poverty. >> absolutely. i mean, anyone who wants to use the reagan quip and certainly paul ryan, rubio, they all like

to say this about losing the war on poverty, should consider the following statistics. if you take social security out of the picture, 44% of the elderly would be poor today. 44%. add social security back into the picture, that goes down to 9%. please explain how we lost the war on poverty when we reduce elderly poverty from 44% to 9%. >> and just to be clear on this, those people are not live on the program that fdr introduced. they are living on an extremely expanded program based on what fdr introduced, expanded by liberals in decades after that. >> by the way, including in johnson's great society, there were significant expansions to social security in '64 and '65. if you look today at the extent of poverty reduction through the types of programs that were introduced and expanded in the great society, you'll see very,

very large gains. now, that doesn't mean we're anywhere out of the wood and that nobody is experiencing hardship. of course. the problem now has a lot more to do with inequality, with globalization, with economic trends, wage stagnation, that have beset low income people for a long time. we're actually doing a decent job in helping to offset some of the economic trends. but the economic trends themselves are more poverty inducing. >> what republicans have done with the phrase war on porty is introduce the notion that a war is only successful when it is 100% successful. so if there is one poor person left which is to say in the civil war, if there was one confederate soldier left fighting then the war wasn't over. that's what i think is inspiring their reaction to it. they get to say look, there's still some poor people so the war on poverty failed. >> i think you're right. i think that's why in many ways, this idea of a war on poverty

made sense in 1964, 50 years ago in that building back there, in terms of legislative initiative. i think in evaluating the nuances that you and i have been discussing, it's probably not the best metaphor. >> thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> coming up in "the rewrite" explosive readings from the explosive memoir, written by the former secretary of defense, robert gates. well, explosive is what the white house press corps calls the book. but finding the explosive parts isn't as easy as they think. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic.

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defense secretary robert gates. >> these are some explosive statements that he has made about the president. >> okay, here we go. here are some of those explosive statements about president obama. the troop increase that obama boldly approved in late 2009 was the right decision providing sufficient forces to break the stalemate on the ground, rooting the taliban out of their strong holds while training a much larger and more capable afghan army. okay. wait. sorry. that's not one of the explosive ones. that's one of the fan boy statements that gates makes about president obama throughout the book. i know i've got -- okay, here we go. here's one of the explosive statements. president obama's decision to send navy s.e.a.l.s. into osama bin laden's compound was, quote, one of the most courageous decisions i had ever witnessed in the white house. okay. sorry, that's another one of

those fan boy comments from gates. i know i've got explosive stuff here somewhere. all right, here we go. right here. one of the big bomb right here. hillary told the president that her opposition to the 2007 surge in iraq had been political because she was facing him in the iowa primary. the president conceded vaguely that opposition to the iraq surge had been political. to hear the two of them making these admissions and in front of me was as surprising as it was dismaying. okay, to be surprised that a presidential candidate, especially a presidential candidate named clinton would make decisions that were political is one of the many displays of shocking political noo naivete by a secretary defense. but the beltway media is not shocked by the hillary part of the statement. and focusing on the president

admitting that his opposition to the iraq surge was political. here is the right way to refer to that statement. >> can you comment on the inference that secretary gates has in the book that both secretary clinton and president obama admitted their opposition to the iraq surge that politics played a role in the iraq surge. there was an inference there that the president was also engaging in the discussion. >> that's right, he does not come out and say his opposition to the iraq surge was mr. ill. and you know gates would say that if he could. that's what he said about hillary clinton. clinton said her opposition had been political.

gates is very clear when he wants to be in this book. and surely, he would have written the identical sentence about president obama if he could. he would have written the president conceded that his opposition to the iraq surge had been political. instead he writes the president conceded vaguely that opposition, not his opposition, that opposition to the iraq surge had been political. all gates needed was one word to pin this on president obama, the word his. just insert the word his before his opposition. the president conceded that his opposition to the iraq surge had been political. but gates doesn't do that. gates deliberately keeps that sentence very vague. he actually uses the word vaguely in relation to the president in the that sentence. so there is nothing there. except a political observation the president was apparently making about who knows, others

perhaps. there is no doubt that some of the opposition to the iraq surge was political. some politicians are political. you know about everything. the gates book talks about arguments within the administration over policy concerning afghanistan. and the beltway media pretends that it is shocking. like i mean, explosively shocking. there couldn't possibly be arguments within the white house. here is one of the explosive statements that gates makes about that. quote, the continuing fight over afghanistan's strategy in the obah. ma administration led to what? unnecessary casualties on the battlefield? no. the continuing fight over afghanistan strategy in the obama administration led to a helpful, steady narrowing of our objectives and ambitions.

a helpful, steady narrowing of our objectives and ambitions. helpful because clear objectives and achievable ambitions are what the military always wants. and there's robert gates saying that the arguments, the actual arguments within theed a mip strags over afghanistan strategy were helpful. but the beltway media hasn't read that line yet. now, let's go back to that explosive reporter who's all excited about the explosive statements. >> these are some explosive statements that he has made about the president. this is not some outside critic. this was one of his most important, if not most important national security adviser, the guy he chose to keep on to run the pentagon. he says that there was a suspicion and distrust by senior -- of senior military officers by senior white house officials including the president and the vice president. and this became a big problem

for him. >> again, i think i just read to you -- you have to take the full picture here, john. i would say on that matter, i think the american people expect that their commander-in-chief listened to all of his advisers, civilian and military, when it comes to discussions and debates about matters of war and peace and decisions that affect the lives of our men and women in uniform. and that's how it should be. >> that reporter isn't old enough to remember that trusting the generals, trusting senior military officers as he puts it, was the worst mistake that many presidents have made. including, of course, president kennedy. that led to kennedy's disastrous and complete failure of the bay of pigs invasion in cuba. trusting the generals and his secretary of defense was the worst mistake that president johnson made in what was america's worst unnecessary war.

president nixon continued to make that same mistake in vietnam after president johnson. trusting the generals in that hopeless war, wasted. 58,220 american lives in vietnam. we lost that war that the generals always told us we were winning. week after week. they told us we were winning. we achieved nothing inform vietnam. and we were driven out after the generals told us we were winning. we do not elect presidents to trust generals. we do not elect presidents to trust anyone. we elect presidents to challenge everyone working in government to find the best available solutions to the problems presidents face on a daily basis. some of their advisers will be right one day and very wrong the next. this president knows that. everyone working in the white house knows that.

except some of the people whose only mission in the white house is to try to figure out how to ask explosive questions when the cameras are rolling and the white house press briefing room. [ male announcer ] winter olympian ted ligety can't take a sick day tomorrow. house press briefing room. the house press briefing room. the house press briefing room. i the house press briefing room. n thee house press briefing room. vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6 symptom cold and flu relief. ♪ [ bell dings ] [ coughs ] hi. yo. cold? nasty cold. dayquil severe. nyquil severe. thanks, dude. [ female announcer ] walgreens. get in. get out. feel better. new dayquil severe and nyquil severe $11.99 at walgreens.

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♪ >> 80 members of the police department and fire department were among the 106 arrested tuesday for allegedly faking mental illness in a $400 million disability scandal. the new york post presented the story this way on its front page with a picture of former new york city police officer glen lieberman accused of defrauding the government of over $175,000 by claiming that he suffers from depression and panic attacks after working at ground zero on 9/1 1. but according to the new york post, he was never actually at ground zero. the prosecution, of course, probably intends to use this photograph of glen lieberman riding a jet ski to prove he is not disabled by mental illness. but i don't know. his defense lawyer might just use that very same photograph to

prove that he really is completely mentally ill. joining me now, the chief investigative reporter for wnbc new york who has been following this story. this is a -- i mean, we've seen small versions of this. this is a gigantic version of this type of fraud. >> this is just the beginning. the 106 people charged in just the last 24 hours. there could be as many as 900 others involved in in allegationed scheme. so this is just the beginning. all former police officers, firefighters, you name it. all allegedly went to the same, two lawyers, two former cops, teaching them, showing them how to fill out forms according to prosecutors and claim that they were totally mentally ill, unable to walk around the corner, face crowds, do any sort of job. and yet collect $30,000 to $50,000 a year. and you have some of these former officers collecting as much as $200,000, $300,000

before the scam was allegedly. >> what the new york post is filled with today is photographs of these guys doing all sorts of active things, one of them piloting a helicopter, this guy on the jet ski. all sorts of stuff that they put up on facebook telling the story of their own lives. >> we have these picture, we have video of a martial arts instructor. >> totally disabled martial arts instructor. >> he claimed both. he was getting disabilities for both. and he's there on stage on youtube videos attacks three guys. and it's extraordinary. and other guys, fear of crowds, fear of people. couldn't leave his home. and he's selling canolis at the festival on video. he's done interviews in the media according to prosecutors. >> and these are cops who, you know, would think about how do i get away with this. it's amazing. and, you know, it's easy to laugh about, but these guys ruined the system for everybody. there were legitimate disability

claims out there that now become questioned because of these goos. >> this has been going on since 1988. if prosecutors are to be believed. and also what is most troubling according to the district attorney is that they took advantage of 9/11. so many of these guys allegedly said i was there when the planes hit. and according to district attorney vance there were nowhere near ground zero. >> just unbelievable. thank you, jonathan. >> chris hayes is up next. good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. stunning developments today in the unfolding scandal surrounding new jersey governor chris christie, as documents obtained by the press show the governor's top deputies ordered lanes of traffic on the world's busiest bridge to be closed off in the new jersey town of ft.