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-thru. >> welcome to "morning joe."

it is thursday, january 9th. we have mike barnaby on the set and msnbc political analyst back from colorado, john heilemann. the host of "up" steve korake. >> if i could dress like that. that is awesome. i love that. what were you doing in colorado? >> i wasn't in colorado. i'm heading there next week. >> new laws. >> mika was making a joke. not aware of the fact i'm heading to colorado. >> right over your head. >> you disprove my kerry nation rant the past five days. you blow it to pieces. >> i appreciate you saying that. i have been watching the s silliness with alarm.

>> it makes people so mad. >> we are going to have words this evening about this. >> we are going to the neil young concert. >> they are going to tar and feather him. we are going to see neil young and hee haw and tar and feather scarborough over his rants on pot in colorado. they are my people, as you know. >> once neil finds out you're in the audience, he'll stop the concert. >> i love the responses. i just say -- >> you're going to get a contact high tonight. >> a contact high? >> carnegie hall will be a bong. >> you can have a bong with a kick-starter. have you ever seen that? you just -- >> ow! >> i'm sorry. that doesn't usually happen. it's usually the opposite.

>> yes, it usually is. i said a subtle joke but we have a lot of news to get to. >> that was hot heads certainly get mad. >> i bet they do. >> that's about as much fun as i've had. >> i had four or five broken tvs in my house with cursing. >> i bet. this is a biggie. we have to do news. >> this is complicated. >> is it complicated? >> takes a little bit of time. >> is it? >> i don't know. i'd love to hear from chris christie directly about it. governor chris christie's image as a front-runner in 2016 some say is in jeopardy after new e-mails link a growing scandal to at least one of his high ranking staff members. at least one. in september, three lanes on the george washington bridge were closed backing up traffic and impacting the town of ft. lee, new jersey.

since then, there have been accusations that it was political retribution against ft. lee's democratic mayor who refused to back christie's re-election. new e-mails show that christie's deputy of staff anne kelly e-mailed a high school friend of christie's appointed by the governor. quote, time for traffic problems in ft. lee, kelly wrote and rodstein responded, "got it." >> stop one second. i want to go through all of this. a lot to take in here. i want to start, mike, you have run campaigns and you have you ever, ever, in your life, maybe you have, seen such a trite,

such a small ball attempt at retribution that could affect this many people? >> it's unusual at the stage that chris christie is playing on. i mean, especially considering the fact that he was up above 70 points at that point in time. >> you feel the boston mayors you've known, have you ever heard somebody say let's shut down a bridge, one of the busiest bridges in the world? >> in chris christie's sound bites that we will show, it doesn't seem like they understand the gravity of the impact of shutting down a few lanes. >> one of the busiest bridges in the world? >> i don't know. you can listen to the tone when you hear it. >> we will get into this whole thing. i will only say this. if this had happened in my office, or anybody's office that i knew, that i served with, and somebody on our staff had done this, i can say for myself and i

didn't know what happened, i would burn down the office until i found every cockroach inside that was responsible for this. hold on. this is important. because this goes to his knowledge and his intent. if something like this happened in somebody's office that was a public servant, you would be calling for -- he needs to be the one calling for investigations. he needs to be the one doing more than just putting out statements. i tell you what, i would have -- i would stand there with a microphone and say i know nothing. i'll answer your questions and then i'm going to get my attorneys out here because you know what? somebody died. and there may actually be criminal charges here and that is why i'm asking the attorney general to conduct an investigation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. if you are in the dark about this, which i take chris christie at his word because he is our friend and we know him very well, that's how you respond to this. not with a statement. >> i think he is running out of time. he has got to do that now.

there are still lingering questions because people who resigned, i believe, on december 6th. why? so in the days of gridlock that followed, emergency vehicles were reportedly delayed in getting to four patients one of them folveg a 91-year-old woman laying unconscious who later died and the mayor of ft. lee complained about kids getting to school for the first day of classes and his complaint prompted this text exchange between an unknown person and wildstein. is it wrong that i'm smiling? was texted to wildstein. no, he responded. the unknown person wrote, i feel badly about the kids, i guess. they are the children of beuono voters. last night, mark spoke about the incident and was asked about some of those e-mails. >> he has not reached out for me, but like i said don't reach out for me and don't do me any

favors. 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 school. >> i have to read this to you and get your response to it. we have david wildstein who since resigned saying a tough november for this little servant. do you have a response to that? >> david wildstein deserves an ass kicking. sorry. there i said it. >> yes he did. chris christie issued a statement saying, in part, what i've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. i'm outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was i misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctions conduct was made without my knowledge. but, as i was saying in december, he was defiant over accusations his office should have any blame in this. >> everybody, i was actually the

guy out there. i wasn't overain overalls and a but i was the guy working the cones. it's not that big of a deal. just because press runs around and writes about it here and nationally, i know y that is and so do you. let's not pretend that it's the gravity of the issue. >> i think is a grave issue. wildstein and another port authority official have since right hand. the star leather's editorial board writes his attempts to laugh this off appalachian to be dishonest but we can't be sure. either way, christie bears responsibility. if it turns out he did know, he is obviously lying and unfit for office let alone a 2016 presidential run and even if he did not his officials are liars. if christie can't control them, how can we trust him as a potential future leader of our

country? a board writes we know mr. christie doesn't know a test of his own staff but his own credibility. american doesn't need, after a year of revelations that the irs was turned against president obama's opponents, another chief executive willing to condone government attacks on his political adversaries and they don't need a political -- >> john, a lot to talk about here. what are your thoughts? >> boy, a lot to talk about. for such a panoply of problems here, obviously, chris christie and his team misread the situation. the mocking tone and making jokes about this initially. they have obviously misread the political gravity of the situation and they were blindsided yesterday and playing at a high level now. the scrutiny on them is very intense.

they seemed totally blindsided and christie did not come out in public and cancelled his public event and did not come out and face the cameras. >> which explains is questionable since this is a guy whenever is attacked, he loves to go there. >> yes. >> and loves to talk. now that we have something like this where actually somebody died because of political retribution from somebody right by him. >> i don't think someone died. emt delays. i'm not sure somebody died because of it. >> no. wait. i want to get this right. >> a 91-year-old woman was in cardiac arrest. it took a little longer for the emts to get there and she died eventually at the hospital, it definitely can be -- >> but let me say here are the series of problems. one, the obvious thing that christie is a bully and a thug

and magnified that imagine to a large extent. his office clearly knew about it and they collectively lied about it. >> which is part two. >> yes. >> if somebody does something like this in my office, i bear responsibility, especially somebody that high up in the food chain. >> the second thing it undermines the fundamental argument that he is making in a positive way for himself which is that he can work across party lines and he works with the democrats in his state and he is bipartisan. he gets things done for the people in new jersey. instead what he is doing it political retribution on a democrat in a ridiculous political situation. >> when he is up by 40, 50 points. >> right. you have to reinforce the negative stereotype and running count to the positive things he wants to put forward and there are still large questions. most of the national press does not believe that he does not know about this. most people, their gut tells them that he is lying.

i'm not saying he is but i think -- >> or he has been unbelievably -- >> the proof now is on christie. >> as i think "the new york times" said this argument that chris christie was somehow duped. >> yes. >> i have to say one other thing about culture. anybody that is in public office and has a lot of employees will have somebody do something -- >> to use the power of the office. >> get swept away. >> i'll doing get it done. >> that happened to me. i ran four campaigns and that happened. whenever somebody like that would happen, a request would go out. you know what would always happen? mike, you know this. the request would circle to the office and somebody would call my chief of staffer and say does he really want me to do this? the person would look at the phone and say, no, and hang up and tell me and come in. i'd say, go out and kick their ass and if they step out of line again they are fired. that is about culture. this, mika, is about culture. you have somebody to throw in

very quick? this is about culture as well. let's throw to something and then -- >> you talked about his political imagine. "the wall street journal" pointed out he has worked aggressively to portray hi governorship in a time of national polarization. here is what chris christie told "the wall street journal" ceo counsel in washington in november. >> nobody in this city talks to each other any more or if they dough they don't speak to each other civilly and don't develop relationships and don't develop a sense of trust between each other. >> i'll just quickly say three additional things. one is that christie -- you've talked about taking responsibility. there's a real test of this right now, wildstein is supposed to go before a legislative hearing today. rather than going forward and giving his testimony, his lawyer is suing to try to stop -- to quash the subpoena this morning

in trenton. there is a -- judge is going to rule this morning whether or not he is supposed to step forward. rather than christie going out and saying from the interest of full disclosure, mr. wildstein, you should go toward, wildstein is trying to evade going forward. nobody is defending chris christie. democrats are attacking and him and no republicans standing up for christie's defense which is a bad place to be in. we don't know. there is still a lot of questions to answer ens and dominos to fall. a chance this will be the end of chris christie's national political career. a chance. i'm not saying it's for sure and i'm not predicting that but that is the gravity of this, the severity of this is very, very high. is there a chance if they don't handle this well and so far, they have handled it horribly. if they don't handle it well going forward, there is a chance it will be with him forever if he runs for president and there is a chance it's enough to kill any reasonable chance for him to become the republican nominee.

>> i think we should say at 15 after the hour, when he says nobody is out there defending chris kaes it's important for us to say who don't know, i think most everybody does so because we have been accused of being good morning trenton. >> by me. >> because we are such friends of chris christie and champions of chris christie that, you know, mika and i have been talking for weeks, i haven't -- i didn't really see this coming. >> i didn't either. >> but mika has been saying this could be a really big deal if they were responsible, this could be -- so you've been really concerned about it and all i can say there are some people, there are some programs that believe it's their job to defend their friends regardless and in this case, all i can say, today, i give chris, as my good friend, the benefit of the doubt. at the same time, these are issues that are troubling, troubling because, i think, it shows a pettiness in his office.

there are cultural problems about this office why this was allowed to go on and somebody who has served in public office, i know people go crazy, you always talk about when you're a congressman. would you rather i talk about when i was a football coach? no, i can tell you what i know and the people i know' there is that problem too. i would love chris, as a good friend of ours, to come out swinging and explain why he had nothing to do with this but for him to do that, he is going to have to take people down hard that were in his office that betrayed the trust of the people of his state. >> well, listen. i think nobody who knows the show doesn't understand that we're very close friends. i'm personal friends with him. i like him very much. and right now everyone has a job to do, including chris. we invite him to come to a tough place where we will really ask the questions and it doesn't matter that we are friends and he knows that more than anything. chris is a big boy. >> speaking of friends. >> all right. here we go.

>> david, you know david wildstein, the guy at the center of this? >> my first job in journalism was covering politics in new jersey. a website when this was a novel concept. it was started di david wildstein and he was not in politics again and a site that capitalized on the idea that newspapers in new jersey, you know, hadn't caught up with internet yet and "the new york times" kind of always ignored new jersey until there was an scandal there. he hired me basically fresh out of college to be sort -- they wanted a real reporter and go mainstream and it was anonymously owned and operated and he took the name of a former new jersey governor and my first job was writing about politics and doing a show on news 12 new jersey about new jersey politics.

i remain grateful for him for that. >> tell us about him. >> i got to tell you the three years i worked in new jersey, i didn't know him. he gave me the option. do you know to know who i am? i said the first thing people will ask me who is wally and i'm in the dark as you are. i didn't know him until the end. at the end before i left, he said do you want to meet me? we met at the george washington bridge, oddly enough. he originally started out in politics and the mayor of livingston, new jersey. he had been the mayor in his 20s and started this website and that's when i left. >> was a republican guy? >> he was a republican and worked with congressman bob franks from new jersey. is there a contextion if you look at bill beroni at the port authority with him i think they knew each other and were very

close. >> talk about -- >> what was he like? >> my interactions with him, except for that one dinner and i think two or three other times, 95% of my interactions with him were online. my job interview was online. >> wow. >> an im change in the summer of 2002. i like to joke the suit and tie probably wasn't necessary that day but that's how i got my job. >> you're giving such details. we are not deposing you right now. >> this could be my legacy. >> i'm joking. i'm joking. so what did you nen whknow and did you know it? what do you see as you're looking at this story? so much to absorb. what do you see right now is the question as a guy that worked in new jersey beat for a long time, what are the questions you want answered? >> to make clear, first of all, i haven't spoken with david

wildstein since this broke so i don't have any insider information here. i wonder if there is a line between we are talking about did christie have knowledge, was he in on the planning and lying the while time versus he was duped? i think there might be a gray area in between there of willful ignorance. for all i know he was in on it and that would sink his political career. a timing here when you look inside "morning joe" politics i think might explain the way christie's office handled this and that is this. next tuesday, the current state legislative session expires. whether that happens the subpoena authority of the state legislature disappears. this entire thing until this moment has been driven by the power of the state legislature. they subpoenaed david wildstein to testified and a few legislators who have sort of been pushing this forward. the new speaker who is coming in next tuesday is the product of

an alliance between chris christie and basically pro-chris christie democrats. the expectation until the revelations yesterday was that news speaker would not renew the subpoena authority of the state legislature because he's from this pro-christie democratic wing. now the revelations are out and now have you something in the governor's office that incoming speaker has no choice, subpoena authority has to be renewed. >> mike barnicle, what is your gut? >> a couple of things. one is the idea that given his nature -- we all know chris christie a little. you know him better most of us -- we all know him a little. the idea, given his nature, that no one on his staff during the traffic jams on the gw bridge didn't say, hey, what about that? >> isn't that a shame? >> no one talked about it or laughed over it is preposterous. the second element given his nature, again, in your face, here is who i am he has ducked

this until this point in time disappeared. >> cancelled meetings. >> is kind of disappointing. maybe more than disappointing. maybe a sign at some stage he is not ready for the big stage. the third element, however, though, is the idea, at least in my mind, that a year and a half from now, in new hampshire or out in central iowa, the people are going to be weary and wondering about his behavior over this. i don't buy it. people are going to be worried where their next meal comes from, the job that i lost four or five years ago, things like that. i don't know the impact that it would have on presidential politics but the impact right now is really damaging. >> joe, what he does next and how he does it critical, right? >> no doubt. he has got to go out and go after the people in his office and the people responsible for this with the same ferociousness he went after when she asked

where his kids went to school. >> right. >> and i'm telling you, this chris christie is either nervous because he is in on it, which i don't believe he is, or he has to feel terribly betrayed. if he feels terribly betrayed, he needs to start acting like he feels terribly betrayed and if he does not go after these people aggressively that suggested to onlookers who you said don't believe he didn't know anything, that he is afraid to go after them because they are in on this deal. i don't think that is the case. i am very disappointed in the way his staff had him respond to the events yesterday. >> i would go with his instincts at this point because his staff didn't serve him and talk about how it's on him. and wherever he went wrong, say it now. say it now. >> if he doesn't today, quickly,

if he doesn't, it plays in as the "the wall street journal" suggested is he a bully? bully usually pull back when exposed. >> there was another one from the "the wall street journal" we didn't read. the conservatives are lining up. will ron who used to work with us, will was, you know, saying it just begs the question, it's like nixon in '72. why? you're up by 40 points? that's like running a flea-flicker when your football team is ahead 63-0. why? >> i'll say one point about mike's point about timing. the question is how long does this run? i mean, a year and a half from now in new hampshire. the question is how much of this -- he is not going to end it today. i think that is highly unlikely. >> bring it all out. >> the national and local and

democratic parties now, the democratic party on every level has been driving this story since december and will continue to drive the story. i say that not in a negative way. i think it's a legitimate story. this will not go away in 24 hours unless something that puts it to bed. it will play out over weeks and months and he is trying to become chairman of the rga. all of the rollout of 2016 was supposed to happen over the course of the next six to nine months. if he becomes consumed in this scandal and it plays out over weeks and months, that's where you have the problem of his future ambitions being under mind because he could be tied down with this a long time. >> the counter if he handles this well, this becomes an extraordinary opportunity for him to show what kind of leader he could be. so it's all in his hands right now. you know, as a fan of chris christie, i hope he handles it the right way and handles it aggressively and if he does, it

actually becomes a positive for him in the long run, but, boy, he got off to a very bad start yesterday because of his staff. coming up on "morning joe," arianna huffington will be here and "the new york times" thomas friedman and tennis billie jean king joins the table and one of the funniest women on television, mindy kaling. first, here is bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> better this morning and the general direction for much of the country. a little bit warmer. we have one spot in the country that is still waiting for that warm-up and that is our friends in minnesota, wisconsin, green bay. that is still where we have the negative windchills and it pushes down to detroit and buffalo. the good news it's heading back up into canada today and you will warm up also. so let's track our arctic air. this is that polar vortex we were talking about.

it's heading to the north and no signs of it coming back down to the south the next couple of days. expect a mild trend. watch out for ice in arkansas and missouri but a nice travel day around the country. no problems from the cold and ice like we have had the past several days. i leave with you a shot, of course, after last 25 minutes, it makes sense, george washington. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ [ ship horn blows ] no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement

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♪ sometimes you win sometimes you lose ♪ >> time to a look at the morning papers. virginia-highlight. a u.s. military helicopter here at home, a navy helicopter crash yesterday morning off the coast of virginia.

two sailors are dead and one is still missing. two other crew members were injured. four members of the u.s. air force were also killed on tuesday in a helicopter crash in england. the tucson, arizona daily star gabby give orffords marked two-year anniversary of the shooting by sky diving. she learned to walk and talk again after being shot in the head. she said she feels stronger and she wanted to do something that she loved. >> that is amazing. >> really is. the "chicago tribune." t-mobile shaking up the mobile phone industry and now offering to pay early termination fees for customers to switch from rival carriers. that is a good move. >> it is. >> the termination fees are really -- i don't know. the company says it will pay a total of $650 for up to five phone lines. that includes 300 dollars to trade in an old phone and up to 350 to break an existing

contract. t-mobile added more than 4 million customers in 2013. from the telegraph. the bone chilling cold of what some are calling a polar vortex is having a bitter effect on the united states economy. analysts say the record breaking cold temperatures could cause up to $5 billion a day because as many as 200 million americans were trapped indoors and unable to work or shop. between january 1st and 6th, nearly 95,000 flights were either delayed or cancelled and that could cost airlines and passengers 1.4 billion. >> ouch. joining us with the politico playbook, resident and ceo of politico in new york, jim vandehei. >> happy new year! >> we haven't seen you. >> i know. >> the white house had an entire day yesterday to respond to the bob gates book allegations. have you heard anything how the

administration is fighting back? >> they were given an advanced copy of the book so they had a little bit of a heads-up in respond to go it. the bulk of their response is defending joe biden who comes under attack by gates in the book. the trouble is the book is 600 pages and passages damming for biden and hillary clinton. for the most part, it's a pretty balanced book that gives some praise and criticism. i think what we have have been talking about is the criticism that is pretty juicy but the book in total is not necessarily the tell-all it's being portrayed to be. i think the white house wanted to defend biden and let the rest of t for the most part, stand. >> do they feel betrayed? any word on the president's thoughts? >> i think the feeling from a lot of people, not just in the white house but on capitol hill, its surprise. the guy had such a poker face when he was defense secretary. he never let it show. you read this book and you come away thinking the guy was just

constantly miserable in the job, that he had total contempt for congress in the process, that he certainly had contempt for some actions among top white house officials, and you never saw it. the guy seemed unflappable. he didn't voice this stuff in congressional hearings. he didn't voice it in his public appearances. so a lot of people are taken aback by the fact he had this mild-mannered guy offering such a harsh critique of sort of the entire system. >> except i always -- wasn't it sort of known that he hated the job and that he was begged to not retire and stay over because he was so good? >> right. i guess we always assume when people say that, they want a bigger flirtation. >> oh, no. trust me, he hated the job. >> but to hate it that much really parts in the book he talks about these congressional hearings he is fantasizing about saying what he really wishes he could say and how much disstain he has for the process the questions being asked and the lack of respect he talk for a

lot of officials towards the troops. at the end of the day he says i didn't want the job but i stayed in the job because i care about the troops and the military and he does defend the u.s. military. >> you not only see that in the book, you saw that in his service to the country when he was tearing up many times when he was talking about the troops. even said that he had to leave because his views had been so clouded by his affection for the troops. he is part of this senior sort of foreign policy -- your father certainly served on -- >> on both sides of the aisle, yes. >> but this establishment in washington, d.c. that really had a lot of serious questions not only what george w. bush did but what barack obama did. i'm sure a lot of questions he did have while working this. >> thank you, jim. sorry about the pack. i was cheering for them. >> had you to bring that up?

>> you used to play football. i can hear my dad yelling at me p outside, in, outside, in! you never give them the sidelines! >> it was death. coming up, el magazine under fire. we will talk to comedienne mindy kaling who is at the center of t the. we will get a look in a minute. "morning joe" when we come back. i lost my job about, probably about six or seven months ago. i'm a year short of qualifying for my retirement. they had some cutbacks. i was the most skilled technician and also the highest paid.

for my unemployment to end now, i wouldn't have money to go on an interview. my retirement is going away as a result of this. i do have a husband, thank god, or i would be homeless. tell republicans: restore unemployment benefits now. you stand behind what you say. there's a saying around here, around here you don't make excuses. back cyou make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. anncr vo: introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter. while, it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply, we stand by our word.

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time for some sports. greg maddux, tom glavine and frank thomas are the newest members of baseball's hall of fame. the trio will be inducted in cooperstown j null 27th along with bobby cox and tony lara rua and frank thomas. it comes a year after zero were inducted. craig biggio almost made it a four. glavine is excited to be inducted with a couple of fellow

atlanta braves. >> it certainly would have been disappointing had i not gotten the call i think what would be disappointing is not to go in with bobby and greg. >> i'm excited. >> he'll get in on the old-timers ballot. >> did you think biggio would make it? >> the biggest shock is that 16 writers failed to include greg maddux on their ballot. >> wait. what? >> 16 writers. >> why? >> there are two writers who put j.t. snow on their ballot. come on. >> the writers feel like they to and the same thing we talked about off camera yesterday. who will not vote for jeter for the hall of fame? >> maddux, i don't know if is there a more remarkable pitcher since bob gibson. >> did you see the tom boswell piece?

unbelievable. fantastic piece making the argument that maddux is the greatest pitcher ever and incredible piece. boswell at the top is for him. incredible. very upset i learned yesterday that vin scully, because of the broadcaster's ban, vin scully has no vote on the hall of fam.r >> are you kidding me? >> i want to start a lobbying campaign to change that rule. in my mind vin scully could be the only. >> thumb's up! >> i would be happy with the hall of fame just composed of vin scully! >> it's exciting also i'm sure for the atlanta braves fans. what we basically had, we had '69 and then where we lost to the mets then hank aaron in '74 and that was it. so fast forward all these years and have a hall of fame day where you have greg maddux, tom glavine, and bobby cox all getting in? this is the city that "sports illustrated" accurately called loserville on that famous cover

with the picture of atlanta fulton county stadium. >> only one title out of that group. >> only got one title. >> they were dominant back in their time. what a staff. >> they were the team in the 1990s. what did they win? ten, 11 divisions in a row. >> next year, the year after, they got john smoltz. >> will smoltz make it. >> my gosh, yes. >> this story, people want to know how great tom glavine's control was, "sports illustrated" did a story where they had him on the mound and then there was glavine, avery, and smoltz in the dugout watching and they would go, inside. he'd throw it inside. outside. they called every single pitch and exactly where he was going to put it. then they would bet on it. then i think smoltz said, double or nothing, he's going to throw it outside. they are going to foul the ball into the dugout. the other guys said, we will take it. the si writer.

the ball was fouled off and went into the dugout. no other pitcher like him. >> when javier lopez first came to the braves as a pitcher, he had a meeting with maddux and glavine about signals and they both told him, don't worry about signals. just hold up the glove. he would hold it here, here. boom, boom, boom! >> it was unbelievable. >> tell you something about the power control. two guys like that never threw the ball over 92 miles an hour in their life and both in the hall of fame. >> no control right over there. up next, michael duffy. >> what are you talking about? i didn't even talk about when s they shut down -- >> not talk about both of you. >> remember bob werner. we are coming up to the plate! ♪ i've never skated. me either.

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joining us now with a first look at the new issue of "time" deputy managing editor michael duffy. good to have you back. >> "time" asks a question they are not asking in peoria. i don't think they are asking what the riot is doing next but we will get to that in a second. are they coming to america 50 years after the beatles invade the riot is coming. >> won't even say the full band name. >> i would rather not. my mom watches. i don't think they put that in the title to talk about. really nice touch here. linda ronstadt writes about the passing of one of the everly brothers. >> and growing up and listening to the radio at the age of 11 and changing her life. a great little piece. >> it is great. passing of phil, of course. talk about janet yellen. why do we care so much about the

16 th 16 trillion dollar woman? >> the size of the economy. having met her husband at the fed cafeteria 36 years ago, kitchen table realism about her that comes from growing newspaper bay ridge and watching unemployed folks and they come to her father's clinic and sometimes not able to pay the bills and that is a somewhat different background than your average monetary policies are and she talks about in a series of interviews. >> what was the most impressive thing janet yellen told "time"? >> she was quite frank how optimistic she was for the u.s. economy and looking for perhaps 3% this year and quite focused on main street and talking in ways that central bankers don't normally about the importance of regulation going forward. >> you've got a big piece in the magazine about spike jones,

maker of the movie "her" which is a masterpiece. incredible movie. what does joel stein have to say about that? >> he talks to spike about loneliness which is interesting coming from spike because he has been so successful in everything he has ever tried. he and joel have this conversation over the space of a couple of days about this being a bigger part of our lives now that we are willing to admit and so the movie was falling in love with his operating system and goes right to that. he is quite moving about it which i wouldn't have expected in this. >> he is an incredible filmmaker. you also have an interesting piece by joe klein talking about poppism as it relates to the new york mayor. >> joe said it's time on to just remind everybody that populism

is a two-edged sword. the theme of this month in politics at least in washington democrats aren't really admitting how ineffective the welfare programs are and republicans refuse to come off their support for folks at the high end of incomes until both sides actually face that, it's not ever going to get fixed. >> chris christie, you also talk about his troubles. how big of a problem is this? >> it's time for traffic problems is going to go down in history as one of the great dumb e-mails ever. he has got to do something today to lose those other folks or he doesn't get restarted, i think. i think you said it in two years it probably won't matter but hoe you handles this and overcomes the perception he is a bully is huge. >> finally, al qaeda returns. "time" magazine tells us about al qaeda's return.

>> in iraq you have a rise of a group which is, at the moment, the most powerful arm of this, you know, funky hydra with a revival over of the laugh few months' the guy that runs that group has a bunch of bad days where groups are coming after him but if you had somebody to watch in the land of terror he is the guy and he is an iraqi and a fighter as opposed to a theorist or a chemist. he is a real battlefield veteran. so this is the faction if you had to pick one to watch and keep your eye on. finally not just in washington but other on places they are focused what they can do to stop him. >> michael, thank you so much. the latest issue of "time" magazine is january yellen, the 16 trillion dollar woman. coming up, we are changing the way we define success. i'm heading on a three-city tour with ar ianna huffington and sh

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economy and middle east and iraq. the latest on the bridge scandal that could threat chris christie tw2016 president hall hopes. we will talk to the reporter who was on the story from day one. we will be back with much more on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] this is the story of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins.

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at the george washington. >> time for traffic problems in ft. lee, he wrote. got it, he said. >> governor christie's team up 24 points in the polls were so spiteful and petty, fine! but it doesn't make them evil. >> later joked about kids who were late to school because of the traffic mess. >> this text message exchange is it wrong i'm smiling? i feel badly about the kids, i guess. then they are the children of buono voters. okay, that makes him evil. welcome back to "morning joe." mike barnicle and john heilemann are still with us. joining the table we have with us the transportation reporter for "the wall street journal" ted mann. thank you for coming in. >> ted is a great place to start but do we want to do a quick read at the top? >> i think so.

>> so let's get it set up really quickly. then we have been -- john and i have been peppering him already. remarkable about the redactions. >> we will set the scene. governor chris christie's image as a front-runner some say in jeopardy this morning after new e-mails link a growing scandal to at least one of his high ranking staff members. in september, three lanes on the george washington bridge were closed backing up traffic and impacting the town of ft. lee, new jersey. since then, there have been accusations that it was political retribution against ft. lease' democratic mayor who refused to bat christie's re-election. now new e-mails show in late august christie's deputy chief of staff bridget anne kelly e-mailed time for traffic problems in ft. lee, kelly wrote and wildstein responded, "got it."

in the days that voled emergency vehicles were reportedly delayed in getting to four patients one of them involving a 91-year-old woman laying unconscious who later died. the mayor of ft. lead, mark sokolich complained about getting kids to school in time for classes. last night, the mayor was asked about some of those e-mails. >> he has not reached out for me, but like i said don't reach out for me. don't do me any favors. 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 school. >> i have to read this to you and get your response to it. we have david wildstein who since resigned saying a tough november for this little servb n

serbian. >> what i've seen today for the first time is unacceptable saying christie. i'm outraged and saddened to learn that i was misled by a member of my staff but this inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. but in december, he was defiant over accusations his office shouldered any blame. >> i was actually the guy out there. i wasn't in overalls and a hat. i was the guy working the cones. it's not that big of 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 that it's because of the gravity of the issue. >> wildstein and another port authority official have since resigned. the star ledger's editorial writes this. his attempt to laugh this out now appear to be dishonest, though, we can't yet be sure that he personally knew about the doings of one of his top aid but he bears responsibility.

if it turns out he did know he is obviously lying and unfit for office and let noon a 2016 presidential run. even if he did not, his officials are liars. if christie can't control them, how can we trust him as a potential future leader of our country? "wall street journal" editorial board writes in part, we trust mr. christie knows this isn't a test of his staff but of his own credibility. america doesn't need after a year of revelations that the irs was turned against president obama's opponents, another chief executive willing to condone government attacks on his political adversaries. republicans don't need a presidential nominee who fulfills the liberal stereotype that he is a political bully. >> ted mann has been covering this story from day one. where did it go from here? >> i think questions the christie folks have to answer he and the biggest one raised by his own statement yesterday how did he just discover this yesterday? people saying for months on the

port authority and granted not his allies on the port authority that the official explanation for this was ridiculous, that this was not an attempt to study traffic by shutting off two lanes without warning anybody about it first that that made no sense. the governor has said that he talked to his entire senior staff and they said we had nothing to do with this that he believed them and had no reason to doubt them. there are at least two people in that group who were in the e-mails that came out yesterday who clearly had some idea of what was going on, in addition to his spokesman. and i think that as the days go on and he finally reemerges in public he'll get a lot of questions whether he really didn't know anything until yesterday about what had actually happened and if he didn't really know, why didn't he? >> the thousands of e-mails still out there, documents still to be seen. john heilemann brought up an interesting question on who redacted the documents. john, i guess you said so many redactions in there you can't sort through them. >> we have seen 22 pages of

thousands, right? >> right. >> the 22 pages we have seen are heavily redacted. we don't know who the sender of the text, the version who said i guess i feel sorry for the kids. >> that was redacted too. >> the sender was redacted. a lot of other things have been redacted. my question to ted was who controls the redactions and he said it was the lawyer for donald wildstein. >> david wildstein. even before they were relieved we were getting rumblings as they were getting the documents produced via the subpoena they were coming in with a lot of redactions and they were grilling wildstein about that when he is scheduled today to testify in trenton, what did you black out here and what are you not telling us? >> why would you redact who one of the senders was? >> >> take a guess. >> i'm not even going to

speculate. i will just say whoever said that about children of buono voters is in trouble. >> yeah. the quote really kind of speaks for itself. the other thing about the way they were redacted is in some of those exchanges we are seeing little bits of exchange and then giant sections that are removed. one thing i noticed looking through the text which wildstein and bill veroni who had to resign from the port authority they are laying out the connection to bridget kelly not only in the e-mail but also in can i calm this mayor down? he is about to go public. this is the day we were writing our first story. the answer from wildstreet was i had to check with bridget. >> she is the governor's deputy chief of staff. wildstein is citing quash the subpoena that would have him

having in the hearing today at noon. what is your sense he will succeed or fail to quash that subpoena? >> the committee chairman has got a vested interest here but very confident that they will prevail. he says the last time a legislative subpoena, somebody tried to quash it they lost at this exact level of a court challenge. even if it doesn't go forward today, it's likely he'll have to appear. >> was he have with us now host of the "the daily rundown," chuck todd. chime in, chuck. >> the question i have here, i would go to my friend here at the "the wall street journal" is there actually a criminal -- a crime that potentially was committed here because -- and is it more so because it's an interstate bridge or anything like that? is there something beyond a political crime that was met? >> ted, have you heard that? because that is when all of this

obviously gets amped up very quickly when suddenly subpoenas start flying around. >> these right now are to be clear investigative subpoenas. in the original e-mail sent by patrick floyd, the new york official who understood there was going own a clearly angry message he made clear that federal and state laws had been broken. we have talked to sources since then who think that it's unlikely that there is a major criminal charge there. it doesn't rule out the fact there could be some misconduct or misuse of office if they can actually show this was a politically motivated. right now, i think it's a political scandal, not a criminal one. >> yeah. i think we do need to stop right here just for people that don't live in new york, don't come to new york and explain, mike barnicle because, you know, you shut a bridge in a town down and a lot of cities you can figure something out.

we have got 17 million, 18 million people around this area and there are only a couple of ways to get in and out of the city. >> it's the most heavily traveled by this in america. >> you've got -- >> the busiest bridge in the world. >> when you shut down three lanes, you don't just affect ft. lee. you affect people who need to get to hospitals or need to get to work or get to school. not only in new york, but in new jersey. i can tell you i have friends who commute to connecticut and, mika, you know, other people that go north for days. it was traffic like you haven't seen. there's no doubt like this is majorly affects people's lives. >> in addition to that, ted, you can probably bear me out here. in any other city when you shut down a major tributary like that

there are weeks of notice from the port authority and city involved, from the state involved, so travelers, commuters know what is going to happen when it's going to happen. not overnight. >> the port authority does that on this very bridge any time they close a lane for any reason. so this just a complete anomaly in the way they behaved. they didn't tell the chief of police in the town they were about to do this in. >> wow. >> question for joe -- go ahead, chuck. >> joe, what is worse for christie? not knowing that this was taking place in his office. >> or knowing? >> or knowing? >> knowing is absolutely devastating. and i do think that ends a future on the national stage if he knew. if he didn't know, though, it certainly suggests that he's not as strong a leader as we have all believed him to be. i think it's bad either way. but i think -- survival.

>> the second is survival. chuck, you're an msnbc political guy. talk about how discordoneded was with the chris christie we have seen the past five years that immediately comes out and is the most transparent guy, you know, in press conferences, talk about just, what, a chord that struck yesterday. >> i think he is undermining his own brand in so many ways but how he has handled it. let's forget that, obviously, there was some political retribution and looks like it's been completely proven here by these e-mails. the question is did christie know about it? at what point did he know? he implied in that press release yesterday that he only knew of -- only found about all of this yesterday, which that in itself seems hard to believe why wouldn't he have wanted to get all of the facts when this first percolated up over the last few weeks? that is another part of that. >> chuck, that is -- so much of

this just doesn't make sense. >> doesn't add up. >> it doesn't add up, does it? >> no, it doesn't add up. are we really -- would chris christie -- would he believe somebody else who said they just found out yesterday? >> no. >> he wouldn't. >> ted, you brought up that he asked his staff about this. >> in wuveone of the press conferences he was asked about your campaign manager know. >> why did those people resign and how would he not know why they resigned? >> he knew why they resigned but i've asked my campaign manager, my official staff and they have all assured me they had nothing to do with this. >>lylet me go to joe. you have staff working for you in congress. you're a politician. you ask your staff, what is going on here? >> you burn. >> do they actually not tell you at this point? >> i can tell you -- -- come on,

right? i don't know. i don't. >> i just got to say it is so beyond me that this could go on in somebody's office. i can only talk about what happened in my office over, you know, the better part of four terms and my staff just wouldn't have done this. unless -- here is the deal. there are so many members of congress and the second you walk into that office. >> yeah. >> we have all seen this. you see an office that reflects the person that runs that office. it is one of the most remarkable studies. you can walk into one congressional office after another after another. you're in for five minutes. and there is a culture to that office and that culture always reflects the person at the top. i find it hard -- chuck you've seen this too. i love john mccain. i walked into his senate office for the first time it was extraordinarily disorganized.

you sit here and books stacked all over the place. i sat there looking around, okay he is going to run a presidential campaign, i don't know if that is going to work out about but i love the guy. chuck, explain about the culture. it always starts at the top. that's why it's so hard to believe that chris christie was shocked, shocked that there was gambling going on yesterday. >> that's right. the worse so-called scandals that impact a presidential candidate in national politics we know are the ones that reinforce a negative stereotype and that's another problem here for chris. there's so many but that is another problem here for christie, right? which is the negative part of him, he a little bit of a bully and a little bit mean. this is the ultimate bullying tactic, right? this is the ultimate. so you do have to ask yourself was this the culture of his office? maybe he didn't, you know, take him at his word he didn't know, but the culture, as you just pointed out, that's being

represented of the tone that he set potentially and that is something else he has got to answer. >> here is the key too to leadership. you put people around you that tell you no. i add two chief of staffs. the second one was david stafford. one day i jumped up and screamed at him and said why are you always saying no? it's always no this, no that. you know what? in about three months later, something blew up and i was like, thank god he said no. i pat him on the back and said, keep it up, keep it up. but you want people around you that say no and that you respect. >> is there a scenario, joe and john heilemann, where governor chris christie surges to great power and great fame and is a potential presidential frontrunner and he is really sort of come up fast and quick and seen as the best hope for the republican party, and people in the office got too big for their britches? >> it happens.

>> i think when the benefit of the doubt may exist here? no? >> that happens all the time. >> that happens all the time. >> that said, these people, i believe chris but these people are awfully close to chris christie. >> he is now, after his re-election, he's playing on a different field than he has played on before. he is now getting a kind of national scrutiny he has never had before. and their handling of this crisis throughout, from start to finish, has been abysmal so far. the fact she seem totally blindsided yesterday by these revelations and the fact that christie went into hiding and cancelled a public event and didn't do what was expected in line of his brand which is step up and take these things on really suggests that at this moment they are somewhat out of their depth. i want to ask chuck one last thing. chuck, do you know right now as a matter of media and political

anthro anthropogy. do you know anybody who thinks christie is telling the truth about this now? how many politicians do you know that thinks that christie knew much more about this than he is saying publicly right now? >> if history is any guide you sit there and you -- we would be accused of being naive if we sit here and now you take somebody at their word when what he said three weeks ago or about a month ago when he sort of mocked the questions and was sort of almost saying i can't believe you would think this would come all the way into his office. look. everything, by the way, it does sound like this morning there's a lot of speculation that he is going to hold a press conference at some point this morning, that he is going to start firing some staff. i think he's going to have to start somewhere, get in front of a camera and be more christie

like in this and hold somebody accountable like he said in that statement and he has to do it in a hurry. the longer he doesn't, i think more of those questions -- then the other questions are going to be, geez, what did the mayors who did endorse chris christie get? did they get something? if they are punishing people who didn't endorse them, then what happened to the mayors that did? >> a lot of people are asking -- >> this is what -- do you know what i mean? this is just going to unravel. >> a lot of people are asking, chuck, today, alex just said in my ear, you know, if we are now going to follow the sandy money and see who got rewarded in new jersey and who didn't. we will see. a lot of questions. ted, thank you. i hope you'll come back. we really appreciate you coming by. >> i would love to. >> who is coming up later today, chuck? >> i have john mccain so we will talk about the organization of his office. >> i love john mccain too. >> for people to bring up. oh, no. >> i had to say it. >> ask him about historic

furniture. >> i will ask him about the messy office and the historic messy office. >> i loved to go to that office. >> my defense. >> that's my defense too. my office -- >> neat as a pin. coming up, "the new york times" columnist thomas friedman is here and he joins us next. the star of the comedy series "the mindy project" mindy kaling will stop by the set. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. too big.

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♪ joining us now is "the new york times" columnist thomas friedman, he is the author of the book "that used to be us how america fell behind in the world and invented and how we can come back." good to have you back on board this morning. >> we have a lot to talk about and we are going to move on from this bridge episode. you had some fascinating comments in between the break.

>> when i read that quote, joe, about who cares about those kids, they voted for the other guy. the first thing that came to my mind that is exactly how sunnis would talk about shiites or shiites talk about sunnis in baghdad or beirut. the war started in 1975 when a school bus got shot up. sometimes you need to read a quote like that and how deep the polarization have come. these aren't fellow citizens, they had the enemy. that is sick. >> kids of buono voters, that is pretty remarkable. so much to talk about. let's talk about, first of all, fallujah falling in iraq and absolute mess over there. republicans are blaming barack obama, which i'm not exactly sure how long my party expected us to keep troops in iraq, but

is there any hope of turning things around there? not us, but the iraqis people? >> my column yesterday was called, you know, it's not just about us. guess what? everything that happens in the middle east is not just about the presence or absence of american power. believe it or not the people there have agency, okay? we are not just the subjects. they are not just the objects. you can debate about how we turned iraq over whether we should have kept more troops or less troops but the fact is there was an election there and the iraqis elected nuri al maliki and he had a choice how he governed. he could govern as a shiite militia leader or govern as a iraqi mandela and he chose to govern as a shiite militia leader. that has sent this thing on a downward spiral. i think we have got to remember that we are so caught up in what we do and we don't hold them to account to the choices they are

making. i think that is very important. >> so the bob gates book. there is a lot in there. what is your -- what was your first reaction to seeing some of the things that he said about secretary clinton, vice president biden, president obama, the white house team, across the board? >> first reaction, john, was disappointment. on a very simple human level. loyalty is very important to me. not just as a value in my life. the fact is this guy worked for president obama for several very key years, obama honored him with a medal of freedom and surprised him on his retirement. and i think he owed the guy just some -- a basic decent interval before laying into him. that was just my gut personal reaction. >> do you know gates well? >> i know him quite well. >> were you surprised by the tone of the book? >> yes. >> not just the loyalty question but a shock to you or a surprise? i don't think many people expected this kind of book from bob gates. >> it did surprise me and in

terms of the substance, you know, joe biden has been wrong on everything on foreign policy. you can disagree or agree with things on biden but biden kind of got, i would say bosnia right. he was one of the leaders that said we needed to take on the challenge and heart of europe when he was head of the foreign relations issues just to name one issue. when you think about the criticism of obama, he was ambivalent about our afghanistan policy, afghan surge. who wouldn't have been ambivalent? i wish bush had been more ambivalent how he went into iraq disbanding the iraqi arm and industries on iraq and creating an insurgency. who wouldn't have been ambivalent about that? was the right position to be going along with the generals who i felt in the case of afghan surge, were dead wrong. they took what happened in iraq, the surge in iraq which, again, we are so soleptious with what

general petraeus did. the surge started with iraqi and our surge coineded with them. iraqis took ownership of it. the reason i never believed in the afghan surge was because i never saw afghans wanting to take ownership of this. so we were -- we were surging like this but there was no afghan coming up like that. obama was right to be ambivalent about it. i think the military in some ways -- him. you could say i'm not going to do this and may be general criticism of obama. i had some of that criticism at the time. my view on the iraqi surge was it could succeed under three conditions. ckarzai could be a different ma and we could nation build in afghanistan. >> i share your disappointment with gates. a truly admirable public servant for many years and especially

his shot at joe biden. wasn't bob gates just so wrong on one of the most pivotal areas of diplomacy? the collapse of the cold war? wasn't he wrong? >> i'm not really much of a school -- one of the few scoops i had in washington covering the state department when a speech was killed by the deputy national security council executive bob gates that was basically trashing gorbachev and saying this guy is a wool in sheep's clothing. i think he was an diminiadmirab servant. when you lose, say little. when you win, say less. good night and love sports. sometimes public officials should take that -- >> he i love that. >> well, we have new information on the chris christie situation. he is going to be holding a news conference at 11:00 a.m. this

morning. so we will be covering that live so fasten your seat belts. thomas friedman, thank you very much. >> i just learned something. that blows me away. i need lessons in golf, man. >> what did we learn today? we hate tom friedman. >> i said where does he golf? he said i golf at a lot of places. >> i am on the staff of "golf digest." we shut down the devices over the hole danes it wasn't easy. i went through major withdrawals. arianna huffington and sindi leive will join us next on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] what if a small company

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get out. keep that up. arianna, i confess. i was talking on the phone during that half marathon and working. yep. i worked during that morning. >> i've been there. >> i did. i was on speaker. they were like, what?

what? look, we are on "the washington post." joining us is the president and chief of "the washington post" arianna huffing. the author of fourth coming book "thrive." to redefining success and create ago life of well-being and wonder. i've read it. it's amazing. it's actually a matter of necessity. life and death in some cases. i love the book. i can't wait until it comes out. also with you is editor of chief in "glamour" cindi leive. we tried to unplug on family vacations. i wrote a blog about this. i wrote have you ever tried to unplug? try attempting it as i did while on a family vacation with your entire extended family there when you're the main organizer of that vacation. try unplugging when your two teenage girls are addicted to their iphones. try unplugging when for the last decade you have eaten, leapt, shower and exercised with your

iphone in hand. they make a great waterproof case. this is it. you can take pictures underwater and talk on the phone in the shower. addicted doesn't sum it up either. tethered on permit phone i.v. and permanently attached. i had to stop myself but when i put the phone down i field weird and incomplete like he wasn't wearing a bra. at times during vacation i held the phone even though it was off. it was line weaninging the turned off fine was my binky. i had a binky. now stop it, t.j. put that picture down. actually, i'm quite amazed with my ability to do that. in other forms it's not healthy, arianna. you noticed this in me. our conversation is the reason we're here today talking. >> time like this, during the break, i looked at you and i said, are you okay? because you looked so exhausted. it's not just because you have to get up at an ungodly hour

every day. you said in this conversation which is really about how can we support each other as women to actually create breathing spaces in our lives to end this addiction and take care of ourselves to fulfill our obligations and that led to the third metric the three of us coming together and doing our talks and then on to our third metric events that both you and, of course, cindi is a part of. >> absolutely. a lot to talk about going on the road in just a second. because it actually is -- i'm a woman in the process of learning how to live the third metric and i'm having a hard time. you have, i think, gotten to a point where you can speak from experience with it. >> because i had the argument wake-up call. i actually ended up in a pool of blood on the floor of my home office. >> that would do it. >> having fainted and hit my head on my desk and broken my

cheekbone. basically, the process of going from doctor office to doctor office to find out what was wrong with me and finding out it was burn-out and exhaustion made me look around to not only my life but my friend's life and say is that what success is like? it started with cindi and i doing a sleep challenge. >> yeah. i'm off the wagon, by the way. >> and now third metric conferences and having this conversation with thousands of women who begin to realize as you said, mika, this is not just a luxury. this is a necessity. >> cindi, explain why this is for every woman. you unplugged. what was that like? secondly you're taking part in our three-city tour because this is quite, i think, the ultimate question for women in the future. >> i think it really is. if you ask any woman what she wants more of in her life right now she is going to say time. it's usually time to herself.

not just time to do all of those things we do for other people. what we are cheating ourselves out of is time for ourselves and that has a huge impact on our health care. personally i was shamed into doing the digital detox. i never would have done it if you hadn't goted me into it. when i look back on my own family vacation pictures i have picture after picture of us in some glorious fantastic spot and me crouched in the back on my iphone sending some e-mail. of course, now i can't remember what the e-mails were about and probably unimportant. i think having a structure like the third metric that challenges women to say, try to do this. try to unplug. even if it's just for an hour a day. and you will find out that the world does not crumble around you. that's important. >> that is right. >> let me ask the three of you because i appear to be not nearly as addicted to the cell phone you're talking about. when you do the digital detox no matter how long you do it, do any of you or all of you notice

how ridiculous people look around you when you see them with their phones in their hands. >> all the time. >> stumbling down the street. excuse me, i'm on iphone, i have the right of way. >> if you're a sober person at a party where everyone else is drunk. you look around at a red light every driver is head-down into their phone and that is not safe or healthy. >> what arianna writes in her book why it is so important to do this. it affects your brain the way your brain cannot turn off. that affects your sleep. that affects your health. and, quite frankly, why this is for every woman this clutter in our brain affects our overall effectiveness which is what we want to be for our families. >> and our head. we have statistics now that show women's stressful jobs have 40% greater risk of heart disease and 60% greater risk of diabetes because we internalize stress differently. so it's not just as mika said

our effectiveness. it's our health and our ability to make wise decisions. >> right. >> look around. you have all of these politicians, not to mention any names today, making stupid decisions. you wonder if they would have made better decisions if they were more rested and more connected with themselves and what they really value. >> you make better decisions when given time to think. studies show it. >> i have a metric list. we have cool member in our three-city tour. >> it starts april 28th this year in new york, then may 1st in washington and following week may 8th in los angeles. we have a third metric life.com where you can go and buy tickets and be part of this journey. we are all supporting each other. we all have conversations with echl oth each other. >> can you context me about that? >> arianna, i actually urge anybody coming to the conference.

i haven't had a mammogram in two years and getting it done before the conference. i have to go to the eye doctor and i'm legally lined. >> y-- blind. >> you are legally blind? >> yes. i have these contacts on like you wouldn't believe. >> you are? >> a lot of people are. take my contacts out i would not be able to see you right now. maybe i should do that! >> it could be relaxing! >> could be. actually, it is. for more information on the upcoming third metric live three-city tour, visit third metric live.com. thank you both so much. i can't wait to do this! it's going to be so much fun. >> it is. >> join us. still ahead on "morning joe," she was chosen by president obama to represent the united states. billie jean king stops by to

discuss her role as a delegate in sochi. more "morning joe" when we come back. is this the bacon and cheese diet?

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cosmetic injectables. it's not only the haggard female face but potentially our revenue stream. that's why i'm sending the three of you to los angeles to get certified. >> oh, yeah. e entoura entourage, baby. >> yo, bro. yo, bro. >> what's "entourage." i don't know what it is. it's a -- ship. >> please don't hang ut with us when we're in l.a. >> that was a scene from the hit company "the mindy project." joining us at the table writer,

producer and star of the show mindy kaling. congratulations. that looks terrific. >> thank you. >> i loved you in "the office." it seems like you're taking off from there and that was big time. >> yeah. i like how you characterized that transition. >> wonderful. >> thank you. >> mindy, also a product of boston. >> mm-hmm. >> a barnicle fan. >> yes. that's very -- >> that makes you suspect here. but that's okay. >> no. you know, there's so many boston people in the office. steve and john and b.j. and everything. >> how did you slide into that show? how did you get into that? >> i started as a writer. i was -- had an acting clause in my contract because the show everyone is supposed to look real and normal. and so in the second episode i had to slap steve carell because he offended a minority. that was sort of my way into the show. yeah. it was great. i was -- >> you were a writer on "the office." >> yes. >> wow. you're amazing. >> that was the start. talk about what it's like going from that and then making a

transition to your own show that, again, where it's really -- i mean, it's all on -- it's all on you, really. >> yeah. i mean, i had been on "the office." i started there when i was 24. i was there for eight years. so i acted. i got to direct and write and was an executive producer by the time i left. i was ready to do my own show. i was really excited to do it. and it was -- but it is tough. my name is in the title of my show. >> that's no fun, is it. >> comedy's hard. >> i can't hide behind it. >> it's hard. it's not something that, you know, like i always think it's so annoying for comedians when they come on the show or whatever and you expect them to be funny. it's not something you can just turn on. it's really raw and emotional to try and figure out and tap into what humor really is. and make it work. >> yes, it is challenging. i do think that it's a little underrated. i think that when you're a comedian and to make someone

laugh on something is really a difficult skill. you know, i think sometimes people are overlooked. especially oscar time. there's not a lot of comedy movies that are recognized. which is too bad because sometimes i think it's a little bit even harder than drama. >> it is. >> i want to ask about -- >> talk about the challenges of being a woman in comedy in the current comedy milieu. which is really very male dominated. especially at the level of movies. judd apatow, that sort of thing. you've had movie aappearances, too. what's it like to be one of the few girls in this world. >> one of the challenges is actually that you're often asked to talk about -- you know, i'm an indian woman. what's interesting to people is often the trappings of what i'm like rather than my writing or my acting on the show. one of the challenges is that -- is just staying focused. because, you know, it's a competitive field. >> you're saying people like john heilemann is the problem.

right? >> no. it's like you try to do -- i'm doing my job which is to create a show. you write and act in a show. there's another politicized part of my job which my competition doesn't necessarily have to deal with. but i don't want to -- it's important to be a role model. those things are important. i've done something a lot of people want to do. but i'm also, like, i have to, like, speak for a group of people. that i don't -- i didn't necessarily -- >> you didn't sign up for that, right? >> i enjoy it. >> you're in front of the laptop and you're like, okay, i've got to make people laugh. >> i'm a joke writer. i'm an actress. now little girls might look up to me and want to know. that's challenging. because i'm, like, in my heart i'm kind of like an unpeacesy person that wants to say whatever i want to say. >> let's go to un-pc. or pc. i want to ask you about "elle" magazine. did you have a problem with the photo compared to others? i want to make sure i'm characterizing you correct. >> i loved this photo of me.

>> it's an amazing photo. >> i think i look -- >> you look hot. we can say you look hot. it's awesome. i'd frame that one. >> good. i'm glad to hear that. >> mindy, there are some people criticizing the magazine because they have, i guess, skinny girls, you know, in color and full body. zooey deschanel, amy poehler. why is this an issue do you think? or are you not bothered by this? >> i was not bothered by it. i of course, heard all the controversy about it. i think -- i don't know. i love the photo. i think it's gor joust. as a comedy actress people want me to look whacky in photos or hold a rubber chicken. the fact i could just look beautiful. >> it's a beautiful shot. >> i think the concern was why didn't they show my whole -- >> body. >> body. but i was -- i don't know. people know what i look like. they thought black and white was -- offended some people

because i'm indian. >> you don't think it was a size issue like the girls who wear size 2 show their whole body. you're a size 8. so what? normal? >> i think that bothered some people. i don't feel so huge or anything. i was like -- >> i'm glad i asked you that. the way this was set up it would look like you're horrified. it doesn't seem like you are. >> she's not. >> quickly, what was your dad's reaction when you, his daughter, was named one of "time" magazine's 100 most influential people? >> he was delighted and extremely proud. but then the two of us laughed privately because there's, like, surgeons and scientists on that list as well. and nobel prize winners. so we were, you know, and my dad's an architect. my mom was a surgeon. we -- you know, i think what i do is great and it's important to a lot of people but it's also -- i'm an entertainer. so we were -- we thought that was very funny. and humbling. >> your family said, oh, really?

oh, really? what's the last life you saved? >> thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> it's a lot of fun. >> "the mindy project" which i'm going to start watching airs tuesday nights on fox. mindy kaling, thank you so much. come back. >> i will. thank you. coming up, could a little traffic on the george washington bridge ruin a christie presidential run? we'll discuss what's next for the government in just a moment. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list.

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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. it's not the first time that mayor -- governor chris christie has tied up traffic for hours and days. remember the last traffic jam? here we have footage. take a look. this is the last time he tied up the traffic. arby's. the drive-through. >> good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. as you take a live look at new york city. back with us onset we have mike barnicle, john heilemann and steve kornacki. >> here we go. we got to do news. this is a biggy. >> this is complicated. >> is it complicated? >> i don't know. i would love to hear from chris christie directly about it.

but let's -- let's bring you what we do know. governor chris christie's image as a front-runner in 2016 some say is in jeopardy after new e-mails link a growing scandal to at least one of his high ranking staff members. at least one. in september, three lanes on the george washington bridge were closed, backing up traffic and impacting the town of ft. lee, new jersey. since then, there have been accusations that it was political retribution against ft. lee's 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 official david wildstein, a high school friend of christie's, who was appointed by the governor. quote, time for some traffic problems in ft. lee. to which wildstein reported, got it. >> can i put this up for one second?

i want to get through all of this. but there's a lot to take in here. i want to just start, mike, being somebody that's been in office and you have been surrounded by people who've been in office and you've run campaigns. have you ever, ever, ever in your life -- maybe you have. seen such a trite, like, attempt, such a small ball attempt at retribution? that could affect this many people? >> well, it's -- it's unusual at the stage that chris christie is playing on. especially considering the fact that he was up about 70 points at that point in time. >> yeah. of all the boston mayors you've known, have you ever heard people say, hey, let's shut down a bridge? >> no. it was closing traffic -- honestly, even in chris christie's sound bites that we'll show, it doesn't seem like they understand the gravity of the impact of shutting down a

few lanes on the g.w. bridge. >> one of the busiest bridges in the world? >> i don't know. you can just look at the tone yourself when you hear it. >> i will tell you, that's another thing. tonally. i will only say this. if this had happened in my office or in anybody's office that i knew, that i served with, and somebody in our staff had done this, i can just tell you for myself, and i didn't know what happened, i would burn down the office. until i found every cockroach inside that was responsible for this. hold on. this is important. because this goes to his knowledge and his intent. if something like this happened in somebody's office, that was a public servant, you would be calling for -- he needs to be the one calling for investigations. he needs to be the one doing more than just putting out statements. i tell you what, i would be -- i would have a -- i would stand there with microphones, say i know nothing.

i'm going to answer all your questions. then i'm going to get my attorneys out here. because you know what? somebody died. and there may actually be criminal charges here. that's why i'm asking the attorney general to conduct an investigation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. if you are in the dark about this, which i take chris christie at his word because he's our friend and we know him very well, that's how you respond to this. not with a statement. >> i think he's running out of time. he's got to do that now. there's still lingering questions. because there are people who resigned on, i believe, december 6th. why? in the days of gridlock that followed, emergency vehicles were reportedly delayed in getting to four patients. one involving a 91-year-old woman laying unconscious who later died. the mayor of ft. lee complained about kids getting to school for the first day of classes. his complaint prompted this text exchange between an unknown person and wildstein. is it wrong that i am smiling? was texted to wildstein.

no, he responded. the unknown person wrote, i feel badly about the kids, i guess. they are the children of buono voters, wildstein wrote back. barbara buono, christie's democratic opponent. >> he's not reached out for me. like i said, don't reach out for me. don't do me 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 school. >> i have to read this to you and get your response to it. we have david wildstein who since resigned saying it will be a tough november for this little serbian. got a response to that? >> david wildstein deserves an ass kicking. okay? sorry. there, i said it. >> yes, he did. governor christie who denies he had any involvement in the closures issued a statement saying in part, what i've seen

today for the first time is unacceptable. 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. but as i was saying in december, he was defiant over accusations his office should have any blame in this. >> i was actually the guy out there. i was in overalls in a hat. but i actually was the guy working the cones. >> it's not that big of deal. just because press runs around and writes about it both here and nationally, i know why that is. so do you. let's not pretend it's because of the gravity of the issue. >> that, i just think it is a grave issue. but wildstein and another port authority official have since resigned. and the question is why. the star ledger's editorial board writes, "his attempts to laugh this off now appear to be dishonest, though we can't yet be sure that he personally knew

about the doings of one of his top aides. either way, though, christie bears responsibility. if it turns out he did know, he is obviously lying and unfit for office, let alone a 2016 presidential run." and even if he did not, his officials are liars. if christie can't control them how can we trust him as a potential future leader o f our country." >> "the wall street journal" editorial board writes, "we trust mr. christie knows this isn't a test of his staff but of his own credibility. america doesn't need after a year of revelations that the irs was turned against president obama's opponents another chief executive willing to condone government attacks on his political adversaries. and republicans don't need a presidential nominee who fulfills the liberal stereotype that he's a political bully." >> john, a lot to talk about here. what are you thoughts? >> well, boy. there's a lot to talk about.

obviously chris christie and his team totally misread the situation as mika said initially, the mocking tone. making jokes about this initially. they've obviously also misread the political gravity of the situation. they were blind sided yesterday. they're playing at a very high level now. the juteny on them is very intense. they -- as i said they seemed totally blind sided yesterday. christie canceled his public event. did not come out in public. did not do the normal chris christie thing. did not do what you said, go out and face the cameras. >> which, by the way, is in part questionable since this is a guy that whenever is attacked loves to go there and loves to talk. now that we have something like this where actually somebody died because of political retribution from somebody right by him -- >> i don't think someone died. there were emt delays. i'm not sure someone died because of it. that's not the downplay the scenario.

>> i want to get this right. >> a 91-year-old woman -- >> eventually. later. >> was in cardiac arrest. it took a it wilittle longer fo emts to get there. she died later at the hospital. >> i'm not down playing the severity. here are the series of problems. one, the obvious thing which is that it plays to the stereotype, what everybody thinks the negative frame around christie. which is that he's a bully and a thug. and it magnifies that image to a large extent. whether or not he knew about this, his office clearly knew about it. they clearly also -- they collectively lied about it. >> which, by the way, is part two. if somebody does something like this in my office, i bear responsibility. especially somebody that high up in the food chain. >> the second thing -- >> where is he? >> the second thing is, it undermines the fundamental argument that he's making in a positive way for himself. which is that he can work across party lines, he works with the democrats in his state, he's bipartisan, he gets things done for the people of new jersey. instead what he's doing here is

exactly political retribution on a democrat in an obviously ridiculous political situation. >> perfect you should bring that up because -- >> where he's up by 40 or 50 points. >> reinforcing the negative stereotype. running counter to the positive image he wants to put forward. and there are still large questions. most of the national press does not believe that he does not know about this. most people, their gut tells them that he's lying. i'm not saying he is. but i think -- >> or he's been unbelievably underserved by his staff. >> the burden of proof now is on christie. >> as i think "the new york times" said. this argument that chris christie was somehow duped. >> yes. >> i got to say one other thing about culture. i mean, anybody that's in public office and has a lot of employees will have somebody do something. >> too big for their britchs. using the power of the office. >> exactly. by the way, that happened to me. i ran four campaigns and that happened. whenever something like that would happen, a request would go

out. you know what would always happen? that request, i no e, mike, you know this, it would circle right back to the office. somebody would call my chief of staff and say does congressman really want me to do this? the person would look at the phone and go, tno, hang up and tell me, come in, i'd say go out and kick their ass and tell them if they step out of line again they're fired. that's about culture. and this, mika, is about culture. you have something you wanted to throw in really quickly? this is about culture as well. let's throw to something. then we'll let you keep going. >> you talked about sort of his political image. "the wall street journal" also pointed out that governor christie has worked aggressively to portray his governorship as a model of bipartisan cooperation in a time of national polarization. here's what chris christie told "the wall street journal's" ceo council in washington in november. >> nobody in this city talks to each other anymore. if they do they don't speak to each other civilly. they don't develop relationships. they don't develop any sense of trust between each other.

>> i'll just quickly say three additional things. one is that -- is that christie is -- is -- you've talked about taking responsibility. there's a real test of this right now. wildstein is supposed to go before a legislative hearing today. rather than going forward and giving his testimony, his lawyer is suing to try to stop -- to try to quash the subpoena this morning in trenton. so there's a special -- a judge is going to rule this morning on whether or not he's supposed to step forward. rather than christie going out and saying in the interest of full disclosure, mr. wildstein, you should go forward, right now wildstein is trying to evade going forward. the second thing i'll say, no one right now is defending chris christie. democrats are obviously attacking him. there are no republicans right now who are standing up in chris christie's defense which is a bad, bad place to be. last thing i'll say is, you know, we don't know. there are still a lot of questions to answer and still a lot of dominos to fall. there is a chance that this will be the end of chris christie's national political career.

there's a chance. i'm not saying it's for sure. i'm not predicting that. but that's the gravity of this. the severity of this is very, very high. and there is a chance that if they don't handle this well, so far they've handled it horribly, if they don't handle it well going forward there's a chance that this will -- it will be with him forever if he runs for president. >> yeah. >> there's a chance it's enough to kill any reasonable chance for him becoming the republican nominee. >> i think at 15 after the hour, mika, you and i should say when he's saying no republican or nobody's out there defending chris christie, it's important for us to say for those who don't know, i think most everybody does know because we've been accused of being good morning trenton -- >> by me. >> by you. because we're such friends of chris christie. and we're champions of chris christie. that, you know, mika and i have been talking for weeks. i haven't -- i didn't really see this coming. >> i didn't either. >> but mika has been saying, this could be a really big deal. if they were responsible, this could be -- so you've been really concerned about it.

all i can say is, there are some people -- there are some programs that believe it's their job to defend their friends, regardless. in this case, all i can say is today, i give chris as my good friend the benefit of the doubt. at the same time, these are issues that are troubling. troubling because i think it shows a pettiness in his office. there are cultural problems about that office. why this was allowed to go on. as somebody who has served in public office, i know people go crazy, oh, you always talk about when you were a congressman. would you rather me talk about when i was a football coach? no. i can tell you what i know and the people that i know. there's that problem, too. chris, i would love chris as a good friend of ours to come out swinging and explain why he had nothing to do with this. but for him to do that, he's going to have to take people down hard that were in his office that betrayed the trust of the people of his state. >> listen, i -- i think --

nobody who knows this show doesn't understand that we're very close friends. i'm personal friends with him. i like him very much. and right now everyone has a job to do. including chris. we invite him to come to a tough place where we'll really ask the questions. and it doesn't matter that we're friends. and he knows that more than anybody. >> i know he does. it's his job. >> chris is a big boy. >> speaking of friends, you -- >> here we go. >> david, you know david wildstein. the guy that's at the center of all this. >> yeah. my first job in journalism was covering politics in new jersey. there's a website back when this was a novel concept, a state specific political news site. politicsnj.com. it was started by david wildstein. not in politics at the time. it capitalized on the idea that newspapers in new jersey hadn't caught up with the internet yet. "new york times" ignored new jersey until there was a scandal. they're only there once every month or so, basically.

the site sort of sprouted up around that idea. he hired me basically fresh out of college to be sort of the -- they wanted a real reporter. they wanted to go mainstream. it was anonymously owned and operated. he went by a pseudonym. my first job was writing about politics and doing a show on news 12 new jersey about new jersey politics. i remain grateful to him for that. >> tell us about him. >> well, i mean, i got to tell you, the three years that i worked in new jersey i didn't know him. he gave me the option when i started. he said do you want to know who i am? i said, well, the first question everybody i meet in new jersey is going to ask me is who is wally edge. i want to be able to tell him with a straight face i'm as in the dark as you are. i didn't know who he was until the very end when i took a job at roll call in washington. he said do you finally want to meet me. we met at a steak house near the george washington bridge, ironically enough. >> come on. >> he told me who he was. he had a background in -- he'd originally started o ut in politics. he was the mayor of the town of livingston, new jersey.

where chris christie is from. had been a mayor in his 20s. left politics. worked in family business. started this website. that's when i left. >> was he a republican guy? >> he's republican. congressman bob franks from new jersey, there's a connection if you look at bill baroni at the port authority with him had been with bob franks. i think the two of them knew each other from that and were very close. when bill baroni got appointed by chris christie as the port authority -- >> what was he like? >> my interactions with him were -- except for that one dinner, and i think, you no e, maybe two or three other times, 95% of my interactions with him were online. my job interview was online. it was an im exchange in the summer of 2002. i was at my cousin's house. he set up aol im. i like to joke the suit and tie probably wasn't necessary that day. >> you're giving us such details. we are not deposing you right now. >> this could be my legacy for the rest of my life. i might as well answer.

>> i'm joking. what did you know and when did you know it? what do you see as you're looking at this story? there's so much to absorb. what do you see right now as the question as a guy that worked in new jersey for a long time? what are the questions that you want answered? >> what i look at is this way. just to make clear, i haven't spoken with david wildstein since this all broke. i don't have any insider information here. i wonder if there is a line between -- we're talking about did christie have foreknowledge? was he in on the planning? has he been lying the whole time? versus was he duped. i think there might be a gray area in between there of sort of willful ignorance. >> coming up on "morning joe" we'll check in with politico's jim vadahi. plus a leap of fath. gabby giffords goes to the extreme to celebrate an important milestone in her recovery. if you're unhappy with your cell phone carrier t-mobile has

an important announcement for you. >> what is this? are we doing commercials now? >> i hope not. >> what is this? what's that tease? >> he's getting free stuff from t-mobile, obviously. >> seriously? >> cashing in again. all right. but first -- >> that's quite a piece. i need to know whether i need to go in and shake t.j. >> stay tuned. >> stay tuned, t.j. says to me. >> first, here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> like a t-mobile blazer on for the next couple months. good morning, everyone. we are watching the coldest wind which i a chills exiting the u.s. this polar vortex, whatever you want to call it, it's leaving. by the way, it didn't even make it into the top 25 of our coldest outbreaks all time in this country. just goes to show you how rare those outbreaks are nowadays. as far as windchill, minus 32 in green bay is the lowest i could find. if you're traveling in arkansas, missouri, portions of kentucky, near st. louis you have a little wintry weather to deal with this morning. careful there. the other big story, heavy rain expected in the pacific northwest as we go friday into saturday. otherwise your travel looks just

fine around the country. just a little bit of rain down there in dallas and san antonio. otherwise it looks like we're finally out of the big arctic chill. you're watching "morning joe" on this thursday. when i first started shopping for a hybrid... i didn't even look at anything else. i just assumed you went and bought a prius. so this time around we were able to do some research and we ended up getting a ford... which we love. it's been a wonderful switch. it has everything that you could want in a car. it's the most fun to drive... because it's the most hi tech inside... i think this c-max can run circles around the prius... the biggest difference would definitely be the acceleration of the car... if you can get someone to test-drive a c-max... they would end up buying this more times than not.

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time now to take a look at the morning papers. from our parade of papers, the

"virginian-pilot." 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 is still missing. two other crew members were injured. four members of the u.s. air force were also killed on tuesday in a helicopter crash in england. the tucson arizona daily star. gabby giffords marked the third anniversary of the tucson shooting rampage by sky diving. the former congresswoman continues to take steps forward in a remarkable recovery. giffords learned to walk and talk again after being shot in the head. she says she feels stronger and she wanted to do something she loved. >> that's amazing. >> it really is. >> "the "chicago tribune"." t-mobile shaking up the mobile phone industry. offering to pay early termination fees for customers to switch from rival carriers. that's a good move. >> that is a good move. >> those termination fees are really -- i don't know. the company says it will pay a total of $650 for up to five

phone lines. that includes $300 to trade in an old phone and up to $350 to break an existing contract. t-mobile added more than 4 million customers in 2013. >> from "the telegraph" the bone chilling cold of what some are calling a polar vortex is having a bitter effect on the united states economy. analysts say the record breaking cold temperatures could cost up to $5 billion a day. that's because as many as 200 million americans were trapped in indoors, unable to work or shop. between january 1st and 6th, nearly 95,000 flights were either delayed or canceled. that could cost airlines and passengers $1.4 billion. >> let's go to politico. joining us now with the politico play book, resident and ceo of political and capital new york, jim vandehyde. >> happy new year. >> that's right. we haven't seen him.

jim, the white house has an entire day yesterday to respond to the bob gates book allegations. have you heard anything about how the administration is fighting back. >> one, they were given an advance copy of the book. they had a little bit of a heads up in responding to it. the bulk of their response has been defending joe biden who comes under attack from secretary gates in the book. the truth is the book is 600 pages. there are definitely passages in there that are pretty damning for the president. a little bit for hillary clinton. certainly a lot for the senate. for the most part, it's a pretty balanced book that gives some praise, gives some criticism. i think what we've been talking about is a lot of the criticism which is pretty juicy. but the book in total is not necessarily a kiss and tell or sort of a tell-all that it's being portrayed to be. i think the white house wanted to defend biden. they're going to probably let the rest of it for the most part stand. >> do they feel betrayed? any word on the president's thoughts? >> i think the feeling from a lot of people, not just in the white house but on capitol hill

is it's surprised. the guy had such a poker face when he was defense secretary. he never let it show. you read this book and you come away thinking the guy was just constantly miserable in the job. that he had total contempt for congress and the process. he certainly had contempt for some actions among top white house officials. and you never saw it. the guy seemed unflappable. he didn't voice this stuff in congressional hearings. he didn't voice it in his public appearances. i think a lot of people are taken aback by the fact that this mild mannered guy offering such a harsh critique of sort of the entire system. >> okay. except i always -- wasn't it sort of known that he hated the job and that he was begged to come -- to not retire? >> to stay over, yeah. >> and to stay over because he was so good. >> right. i guess we always assume when people say that they just want to be -- they want a bigger flirtation. >> no, trust me, he hated the job. >> but to hate it that much, it's really -- there's parts in the book where he just talks about these congressional hearings where he's fantasizing about saying what he really wishes he could say and how much

disdain he has for the process, the questions that are being asked, the lack of respect that he saw from a lot of officials towards the troops. at the end of the day what he says is, yes, i didn't want the job but i stayed in the job because i cared about the troops. i cared about the military. he really does defend the uniformed military. >> by the way you not only see that in the book. you saw that in his service to the country when he was tearing up many times when he was talking about the troops. he even said that he had to leave because his views had been so clouded by his affection for the troops. you know, he's part of this senior sort of foreign policy -- your father certainly served a long time. >> both sides of the aisle, yep. >> this establishment in washington, d.c. that really had a lot of serious questions. not only about what george w. bush did but what barack obama did. so it's a lot of questions, i'm sure, that he did have while he was working there. >> politico's jim vandehei, thank you. still ahead, tennis great

billie jean king is here. >> how exciting. >> she's going to sochi. >> who's not? >> yep. >> everybody but us. you going to sochi? >> will you get me a present? >> just give me one of those little things you open it up and keep opening it up. you get to the bottom. there's got to be joe and mika in there. herb in 30 rock. not us. up next, inside the cia with a man who has seen it all. john rizzo here with his new book, "company men." more "morning joe" when we come back. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

with us now, former cia chief legal officer john rizzo who worked for the ci aira for than 30 years. "company man: thirty years of controversy and crisis in the cia." "l.a. times" said the most influential career lawyer in cia history. i guess that beats being called, like, a worthless gadfly. right? worcester. >> worcester, massachusetts. >> he's got a great shirt on. >> this style i would call

dapper. >> dapper. >> a company man. all right. john, i love the line in here where you talk about how the cia is the president's pop stand. personal pop stand. they're not going to give it up. explain that. >> yeah. the -- this is based on having served under seven different administrations. >> right. >> every president, i served with four during the tail end of ford. beginning with carter. turns to the cia, i found. sooner or later. and the reason they do it is because the cia can operate in secret. it can operate fast. >> you got one client. the president. >> it's got one client. the president, legally. president saying do this covert action. cia salutes and does it. >> you came in at a difficult time. you had the church commission. it was really the cia at its low point in the mid-'70s. talk about how it changed.

>> i was actually a beneficiary of the church committee. frank church's investigation mid-'70s. i think i was the 18th hire. some perspective when i retired four years ago as chief legal officer, we had 120. i think there are probably 250 now. >> right. >> lawyers, one of the reasons i decided to write the book, people don't usually associate lawyers and cia. the fact of the matter is that lawyers are increasingly, during my career, heavily ingrained in the fabric of the agency. sounds counterintuitive. but it's true. >> to the extent that you can, a lawyer, you're a lawyer. cia. you're the legal counsel for the cia. the findings that come across your desk that you have to sign off on, basically can you kill a person or can you not kill a person, stuff like that, what do you do? >> well, it's not a lot that you can draw in your law school academics to -- to apply.

i tell you, the world of a cia lawyer in my experience is, during my whole career i was mostly advising on the clandestine activities, the spooky stuff. it's not so much -- you can't say you're violating 18 usc 644. there aren't many laws actually when you get down to it that govern cia activities, per se. you can't commit assassinations. really there's not much more. it's a job that as a lawyer, it's fascinating. it's also daunting. you're a counsel. >> i guess that's the question. you play by your own rums? >> here's a question, right? how would you like to answer this question? is waterboarding torture? that's the type of question. you, as a lawyer, you've got -- in the cia you've got to answer, right? >> yeah. that was where i was. i was approached by cia people just a few months after 9/11.

everyone was scared to death we were about to get hit again. they came up with these techniques for a detainee. they described waterboarding to me. i had no idea what waterboarding was. >> what did you say? >> i said, we're going to the department of justice and find out. >> exactly. >> that is a correct answer. >> i don't know how correct it was. it ultimately bit me. you know, that's what you do. i had never dealt with a torture statute in my career. >> that's a great challenge, right? there are no easy answers to the questions that you're asked in that position. >> it's fascinating. >> what do you do about this one? same sort of deal as joe just mentioned. you're approached. someone says, "we have mr. x. he lives in apartment 3-c in milan. we want to scoop him, put a bag over his head and put him on a rendition plane to egypt.

can we do that?" >> hypothetically. >> hypothetically. >> yeah. you review that, how you're going to do it. are you sure mr. x is who you think mr. x. >> it's really counsel. it's not legal advice. none of this stuff falls on any -- >> except for the fact that there are going to be legal implications when the very congressmen in senators who in 2001 and 2002 were saying, do everything you can to keep america safe, and then in 2005 "the washington post" writes an article and they start saying, we never said that. that's when you need to bring in the lawyers. there's so many people in the cia that did exactly what they were told to do and that they believed in doing in 2001 and 2002 and 2003. when america had been under attack. and the same congressmen and congresswomen and senators that thought it was a grand idea then turned on them. they're the ones now that are having to go out and get lawyers. >> yeah. no, you know, it's in the book

in detail. it was frustrating. because by 2009, members of congress we had briefed in 2002 when this waterboarding and all the other was first approved, 2009 amnesia. >> complete amnesia. can we go through the presidents really quickly? you've worked for seven presidents. who's the best president for the cia? >> probably a tie between ronald reagan and george w. bush. >> who was the worst? >> i knew you were going to ask that. i -- >> the book, it sounds like bill clinton. you think bill clinton was the worst for the cia. >> yeah. i mean, worst not in terms of hostility, but worst in terms he didn't really care. i mean, it wasn't -- he didn't pay much attention to cia. and for a president for cia to be ignored is worse than to be mistrusted. >> how is barack obama doing? >> barack obama, i mean, i

stayed there. i don't know how. but i was allowed to stay through the first year of the obama administration. so i got to watch. he -- from the beginning, i mean, i've said this before. you know, he came into the office after campaigning -- >> against. >> leaving aside waterboard and those other, you know, aggressive techniques, i mean, he came in, went through all the programs, and either endorsed some outright or actually doubled down on a lot of them. >> all right. thank you so much, john. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> this has been fun. the book is "company man: thirty years of controversy and crisis in the cia." read this book. it is absolutely fascinating. john rizzo, thanks so much. more "morning joe" straight ahead. [ bottle ] okay, listen up!

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but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. i think the statement is already being made by us being on the delegation, billie jean and kate lynn. >> i'm going over there. obviously i am openly guy. that's dpoing to be a big part of what people perceive my role to be. he's also a woman. for a long time women weren't allowed to compete in these sorts of competitions. there are a lot of questions about women's ability to compete in the athletic arena. i'm going over there as a woman, too. we all wear a lot of hats. i think olympic athletes a t that level, you wear a lot more hats than most. >> former olympians caitlin

cahow and brian botano. billie jean king joins us next. ♪ should not all those presents make the cut ♪ ♪ no need to chuck, donate or burn them ♪ ♪ just pack them in our flat rate box ♪ ♪ we'll come to your door and return them ♪ ♪ gifts you bought but never gave away ♪ ♪ or said you liked but thought were cheesy ♪ ♪ you don't even need to leave your house ♪ ♪ we'll come and take them, easy-peasy ♪ [ female announcer ] no one returns the holidays like the u.s. postal service. with improved priority mail flat rate, just print a label, schedule a pickup, and return those gifts at a same low flat rate.

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now, that's progressive. 51 past the hour. joining us now, tennis legend

billie jean king. good to see you again. >> great to see you. great to be back. >> yeah. you're going -- after being back here, you're going to sochi. >> yes, i am. soon. it's going to be here before we know it. >> we have this running joke on the show. because joe and i are the only ones not going. >> barnicle is not going either. >> nbc kind of owns the olympics, you know. hello. >> it took you about ten seconds to decide to be a part of the delegation. tell us about why it was so important to you to go. >> first of all, think any time you're asked to represent your country, even when i played tennis for the country, for the u.s., it's an amazing feeling. just to be able to go over there as part of the delegation with brian for the opening ceremonies and then caitlin will come for the closing ceremonies is my understanding. to have the president ask you to do something, it's -- it's a no-brainer, really. i'm very proud to go.

as an athlete and also as an openly gay person. i think it's important. i think just visually that we're going to send a very strong message just by being there. like brian said, caitlin, the three of us are there. it's just we are -- we're part of america. i think president obama, also because he's been so, so wonderful about diversity and inclusion, i think it's very important to support him. because i think he's done more than any other president in the past. and i appreciate him standing up for me and helping us move forward. >> do you ever get tired as being described as openly gay? an openly gay athlete? >> yeah. people don't say openly straight, do they? i think they should start doing that. >> also don't say working father. >> or openly one of the world's greatest athletes ever. do you ever get tired of that? that description? >> yeah, i get tired of it.

yeah, i get tired of it. it's just -- it's like they'll say tennis player, or gay tennis player. they don't say straight quarterback or straight tennis player or straight gymnast. >> there's been a lot of progress made in the country. i guess, you know, on the spectrum, we're not there yet, but we've moved farther down the road. 25 years ago is this where you thought we'd be as a country. >> i was hoping we'd be at least here. i just want it to be a nonissue eventually. i won't be around when that happens. because there's many countries where you're put in prison. and some countries you're actually put to death. >> but the demographics here in this country are amazing. people under the age of 35. >> oh, they don't care. >> they don't care. >> look at ashley wagner. have you read her, our figure skater? she's going for it. she's talking. she's already out talking it's not right. she's straight, by the way. she's got gay relatives. she's got gay friends. >> not that there's anything wrong with that. >> she said this is ridiculous. also bode miller has been very outspoken already. everyone's pushing it. you know, the olympics and

paralympics are really first and foremost about the athletes. i don't want us to lose focus that this is about the athlete. because i was thinking about how much work it takes. and there's only this one moment. you know, it's only once every four years. it's not every year. you hope you hit your peak right at that moment. like, lindsay vonn, for instance, got injured. she can't go now. another four years shot. as you get older, it really becomes a lot of pressure. >> all right. we're glad you're going. the olympic games begin on february 6th in sochi. you can catch all the action right here on the nbc family of americas. billie jean king, great to see you once again. >> thanks for having me. great to see everybody. up next, what if anything did we learn today? [ male announcer ] start the engine... and shift through all eight speeds of a transmission connected to more standard horsepower

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bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire.

but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. mika, what did you learn? >> mindy kaling has no problem with her magazine cover. we don't either. it's hot. >> what did you learn? >> tom friedman a 4 handicap? >> it's ridiculous. >> chris christie doing a new -- >> he's going to be doing a news conference. >> 11:00. i learned i was going to be taken out like what do you think?

tarred, feathered and ridden out on a rail for the neil young concert tonight. but it's acoustic. i'm so psyched. >> i'm going to have to protect you from the angry pot heads including me. >> have fun. >> if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." stick around. a lot of news today. again, moving towards that chris christie press conference two hours from now. right now stick around for chuck. was it a bridge too far? chris christie's team finds itself in a big time e-mail and text message traffic jam over accusations of a political plot to back up a major manhattan bridge. the governor himself finally faces cameras later this morning. also in today's show, senator john mccain is here. we'll talk to him about al qaeda's attacks in iraq, syria, what's going on in afghanistan and, of course, the bob gates book. and, oh, by the way, whether there's any hope for some senate solutions to our gridlocked government. by the way, did harry reid break the