of our opponent's voters. >> okay, that makes i'm evil. >> a little bit of traffic trouble. chris christie's staff was involved in literally blocking traffic. the question now, will the scandal block his ambitions for the white house? if you don't like your mobile service and another company said they would pay for you to switch, would you? one company says it will do just that. anthony weiner, on the little screen, no, he's not texting but acting. we'll tell you about the ex-congressman's next move. of course, this is "way too early." good morning, everybody. thursday, january 9th. also on the program, the big win frert people -- winner from the people's

choice awards and controversial coach on fifth job in seven years goes back to where he started. i'll explain it all. right now we have to explain what is going on in new jersey. chris christie this morning, his image as a front runner in 2016 in jeopardy after e-mail link a growing scandal to one of the high ranking staff members. back in september, three lanes on the george washington bridge were closed and backed up traffic for miles. impacted the city of ft. lee, new jersey. you're looking at pictures of it. the bridge is one of the main ways to get if and out of new york city, huge volume of vehicles. since then, there have been accusations that it was political retribution against ft. lee' democratic mayor who refused to back christie's re-election. now new e-mails show in late august christie's deputy chief of staff e-mailed port authority officials, a high school friend of christie's appointed by the governor, "time for traffic problems in for the lee" to

which he responded, "got it" in the days of gridlock that vold, emergency vehicles were delayed in getting to four patients, one of them involving a 91-year-old woman laying unconscious and she later died. the mayor of for the lee explained about getting kids to school for the first day of classes late. his complaint prompted this text exchange between an unknown person and wildsteen. "is it wrong that i'm smiling"? no, he responded. i feel badly about the kids, i guess. they are the children of christie's opponent. of course, fort lee mayor last night spoke about the incident and was asked about some of those e-mails. >> he's not reached out for me. but like i said, don't reach out for me. don't do any favors. don't reach out for me. you need to reach out to the families who were waiting for ambulances taken three times

longer to get there. you need to reach out to the thousands of families that couldn't get their kids to school. >> i have to read this to you and get your response to it. we have david wild stein who said it will be a tough november for this little serbian. you got a response to that? >> david wildstein deserves an ass kicking. sorry, there, i said it. >> there you go. governor christie denies he had any direct involvement in the closures issued a statement, what i've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. i'm outraged and deeply saddened to learned not only i was misled by a member of my staff, but this completely is inproement and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. back in december he was defiant over accusations his office shoe shouldered any blame. >> i was actually the guy out there. i was in overalls and a hat but i actually was the guy working the cones. >> 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. >> wildstein and another port authority official have since resigned. federal officials have received a request to see if any laws have been broken. let's go to other news now. a day after the first passages released, a former defense secretary robert gates new book, staffers are pushing back on the claims and others are not happy about the timing. >> the stories themselves are confusing, matt. not only did he braise him for the bin laden raid, he said he thought he made the right decisions on afghanistan and he was a clear thoughtful decisive decision maker. so his big complaint is that he thinks that he wasn't sufficiently personally as hard committed enough to his own strategy. i don't think that's true. >> this rush to do books by people who leave an administration while the administration is on going, i think is unfortunate.

it's one thing as historians to look back on administration, but in the middle of it, when you're pursuing a war at the same time and one that is very controversial with the american people and is very difficult on our military, i think is just a disservice. >> unfortunately, there is another tragedy involving a u.s. military helicopter, this time here at home. a navy helicopter crashed yesterday morning off the coast of virginia. two sailors are dead and one remains missing. two other crew members were injured. rescue helicopters arrived about 30 minutes after the crash and rushed them to the hospital. that's where the two victims were pronounced dead. >> the sea dragon helicopter was on a training mission at the time. it went down minutes after sending a distress call. authorities are he is scene to determine what went wrong. four members of the air force were killed on tuesday in a crash in england. that record breaking polar vortex having a chilly economic

effect. the cold spell could mean a $5 billion hit for the u.s. economy. nbc news's kevin tibbles as more. >> reporter: we 11,000 flights canceled this week, the airline industry could take a $1.4 billion hit as travel plans were left in ruins and passengers frustrated. and for all the truckers stuck for days in indiana, lost time is lost money. small businesses like this hot dog stand left out in the cold, too. >> we're only doing 20% of what we normally do in sales. >> reporter: demand for hitting fuel hit a new high. >> you have to spend more to heat your home, that's -- those are less dollars to take and spend on places like restaurants and movie theaters. >> reporter: and taxis in some big cities are doing a booming business. >> i did 40% better than i do on a normal day. >> bill karins will join us to look at today's forecast of where it may be warming up. gabby give sordz showed

serious courage on her third anniversary of the tucson shooting rampage. the former congresswoman went skydiving as she continues to take steps forward in her recovery. pretty amazing. giffords learned to walk and talk again after being shot in the head. said she feels stronger and wanted to do something she loved. today she will anchor savannah guthrie was invited to join giffords on the plane. >> you're such a superstar. >> thank you. >> thank you for inviting me it means a lot to me. >> thank you. >> giffords sent this tweet to vice president joe biden inviting him to join her next time. he called to wish her good luck beforehand. can you catch more of gabby gifford's jump and interview with savannah guthrie on this morning's today show. >> turn attention to the today show now. we get numbers at the weekly unemployment numbers today. yesterday, adp reported companies added 238,000 jobs in the month of december. of course tomorrow we have the monthly government jobs report. mixed day on wall street. dow and s&p 500 were to the down

side. technology heavy nasdaq was up by 12 1/2 points. steve sedgwick live in england for us. t mobile shaking it up. now they want undercut at&t's business. >> this vicious war between the top four players in the states is getting nor intense. now t mobile, the fourth largest is offering customers $650 in credit after trading in their phone. they have to pick up a new phone and also offering five lines per family for consumers who leave the carriers. at&t in response said they would give credit specifically to t mobile customer who's switch to them. elsewhere though, we've got a new phenomenon in credit checking. this is where a lot of the potential lenders are looking at facebook and other social media sites, trolling through looking for information that could judge whether someone is credit worthy or not.

you put different information on your application for loans, what you got on your page or facebook page and they're looking for lists such as that. >> i know you're a big wrestling fan. jimmy super fly, magnificent moma rocco, 24/7 wrestling soon? >> yes, what they're saying at wwe, we have the content and now going to provide the mechanism to market, bypassing a lot of the traditional forms. that's going to stream directly to x fires, kindle fires, it's going to be an android app as well. but i'm very excited. william regal, he is from england. he is a great guy. zach ryan, biggy langster, i can't wait. >> you have all the trading cards, steve. steve sedgwick live for us in london. by the way, streaming, of course, is the way of the future. seems like many americans still

clinging to the past. this is amazing. a new gal lop poll says 58% of americans still own a vcr. for comparison, the poll also says just 45% say they own an ipod or mp 3 player. so we want to know, do you still have your vcr and what is the last thing you watched on it? do you have a dvd player? >> i do have a dvd player. >> yeah. >> you still have the vhs. >> i am mr. now. >> that guy tweets more than i do. >> way too retro is the hash tag. if you have one and what is the last thing you watched on your vcr. keep it pg, folks. we've already seen a few we can't put on cable. still ahead, practical joke or unsportsman like conduct? the fine that the nba handed down to jr smith for untying opponents' shoes. justin timberlake one of the big

winners last night. it was the post show pit stop that has people talking this morning. we'll have that story and a final check on the polar vortex when "way too early" comes right back. >> have not had an impeach. in illinois for 176 years and i hope sincerely that we will not need to have another impeach. process for another 176 years. >> governor, you're hereby impeached. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

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plus you can use up to 4 times less. ♪ nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. time for a little sports. greg maddox, tom glavine, the newest members of baseball's hallest fame. morris didn't get in, barnicle, i'm sorry. he deserves to be in it but he may not get in it for a lock time. >> three years. >> then he can do the ballot? >> old-timers, yeah.

>> the trio will be inducted july 27th along with bobby cox, joe torre and tony la russa, the first time in 15 years that writers selected three players at once and comes a year after no players were inducted. craig biggio almost made it. falling two votes shy. now glavine is excited about being elected with a couple of fellow braves. >> it's certainly disappointing had i not got a call today but what would have been disappointing is not have an opportunity to go in with bobby and greg. >> i'm that 1% that get into the baseball hall of fame. i feel so blessed right now, i really am. >> his emotions were real. he was extremely excited, frank thomas there. >> let's go to college football. johnny manziel the enter the nfl draft. ? his 26-game career, he led the aggies to a 20-6 record and became the first freshman in history to win the heisman trophy. expected to go early in the draft, manziel will relocate to san diego, california.

>> jets to trade. >> no. >> imagine him in new york? >> if he gets hurt, sanchez looked good coming out of college, too. who knows? how about bobby petrino? did you see this story? so he's leaving western kentucky to become louisville's head coach. now he led the louisville cardinals from 2003 to 2006. he left for a brief stint in the nfl which he basically left and left post it notes to the players saying he's leaving pch he went to arkansas and fired in 2008. he had a scandal with a mistress. and he goes to western kentucky and was the head coach and now he's back in louisville. i guess if you're a good coach, you always find a job. he led louisville to the 2006 orange bowl. maybe they want to go back to that. blake griffin continues to make rims around the league dread his presence. >> what a play. >> now it's impressive. i do want to remind you, it's

still only worth two points but he's amazing. they had 29 points. they beat my celtics. the knicks j.r. smith is at it again but this time he's going to pay for his antics. remember this one sunday night? he reached down and untied a shoe opponent's shoelace which we thought was amusing p. he got another one on tuesday night. now it's unclear if he was just joking but the move was enough to get him a $50,000 fine from the nba for reoccurring instances of unsportsman like conduct. i mean i guess you can -- shawn marion could have injured an ankle going up the court if his shoe is untide? >> yeah, first time is funny. second time -- >> you're done with it? >> got your attention. >> are we done with the cold? i walk in today and saw the temperature was 24 and it felt warm. >> yeah, actual lly got accustod

to it. >> yeah, boca raton. >> you are still wearing socks. >> i quit untying my shoes. >> we'll get you the velcro shoes there's an old joke in there somewhere. >> it's in there somewhere? it's everywhere. >> oh, good morning, everyone. still one spot that is frigid and that is in green bay. minus 29. they'll even warm up considerably during the day to day. much of the eastern seaboard, southern half of the country, this is what is a typical normal morning for midwinter. temperatures below freezing or nothing that freezes your face as you go outside. the only travel trouble spot, a wintry mix, northern arkansas and jap girardo up to st. louis. so there could be some minor slick spots out there. but that's about it. otherwise, it's an easy travel day. we'll see some rain developing in texas. that's the story over the next three days. warmer and wet.

i mean significant rains. up to an inch of rain possible on thursday and friday as we go through the middle of the country. and that heads to the east. it looks like friday, little bit of rain towards atlanta. but then as we go through saturday, soaking rain moves across the eastern seaboard. we may see thunderstorms in the southeast. look at boston, up to 53 this weekend. so it's kind of a wild winter. we go cold and warm and -- >> when it gets warmest is when we get the precipitation. instead of snow, we're getting rain. >> it makes it dangerous going to the lakes and ponds. they freeze and then thaw. >> right. unless you're swimming, barnicle. coming up at the top of the hour, "morning joe," the controversy surrounding chris christie. is this just a bump in the road on the way to the white house or will this be a major hurdle for the chances in 2016? they're all going to weigh in at the top of the hour. when we come back here, we're huddled around the cooler where we're talking about anthony weiner, the tv series where you may see the former congressman make an appearance. "way too early" will be right

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at the top of the show we talked about the scandal which ties at least one of chris christie's top aides to lane closures on the george washington bridge. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends in 2012, nearly 50 million new york

bound vehicles crossed the bridge. in addition to port authorities of new jersey and new york, a company which operates the bridge, has a budget. get this, that is larger than 26 states in this country. let's go to lewis and the cooler. >> hey, brian. there are a couple big winners at the people's choice awards. sandra bullock won for awards. ellen degeneres was named favorite day time tv host for the 14th time. >> just yesterday i was talking to this lovely african-american woman and she told me she was single and she works 80 hours a week to get by. and she looks forward to coming home every single night and watching me. and that woman's name is oprah winfrey. and i think i'm doing something right. >> nice shoutout to oprah there. >> justin tim letter lake claimed the top prize for

favorite album for the 2020 experience. he also won the favorite male artist and favorite r&b artist. it was the post awards pit stop that started all the buzz. he stopped at taco bell right after the show and posted a couple pictures up on insta gram. what else? where else would you go after you win a huge award? you have to go to tacobell and get tacos. we're not sure if he actually took the statues, but we'll get our "way too early" investigators on that right away. now carlos stranger is returning to the world of politics, sort of. >> ready when you are, amigo? >> i thought you quit. >> yeah, me, too. >> i know what this looks like. >> and what would that be? >> like i'm bringing my mistress to check out the new crib. the truth, is we just met. >> although i've been backing him for years. >> yes, and i've been fronting

for her. >> that's a clip from the amazon web series, "alpha house," a comedy about four senators who live together in washington, d.c. anthony weiner will make a camo as himself on the season finale. i'm excited to see that. amazon will release this tomorrow and, of course, our very own tom brokaw and morning joe regular former rnc chairman michael steel also have cameos on the show. let's head over to the late nights. stephen colbert is tracking a medical breakthrough in nano technology. >> recently researchers made a major breakthrough in their ability to control these mini mds by creating the first sperm remote controlled using magnets. scientists were able to accomplish this by getting individual term to enter tiny magnetized nano tubes. the obvious down side of magnetized sperm is the danger of watching porn and

accidentally erasing your hard drive. kit deliver anxiety medication to your brain which you'll need after learning there is sperm in your brain. >> i don't know what to say to that. >> just leave it alone. >> lewis, thank you very much. we're tight on time. we'll take a look at your best tweets. do you still have a vcr and when is the last tape you watched? and "morning joe" just moments away. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

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we spla had more responses than any other twitter question. do you still have a vcr and if so, what is the last vhs tape you watched? we did have a few porn submissions and we won't get into details on that but we have more of the acceptable responses. >> brandon says i have a vcr, i stole it from the smithsonian along with my eight track. >> i have two of them. >> lisa says, vhs? no way. last movie, "e.t." i dusted it in and watched it in a dustier

vcr. carolyn says, still have one, watched lion king on it with the kids. a lot of people said they watch the disney movies. >> and wedding videos that haven't been turned over and wild and weird movies that people still have that they lik. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ chris christie was having a feud, he's the governor of new jersey, and he was having the feud with the mayor of ft. lee, new jersey. so he closed down the george washington bridge. not the first time he has tied up traffic for hours and days. remember the last traffic jam? here we have footage. here is the last time he tied up traffic. arby's in the drive-th