hour, the state legislature will release hundreds of pages of new documents at any moment and they include additional e-mails. there's now a state and federal inquiry and a class action suit has been filed by new jersey residents who say they were trapped like rats in that traffic jam on the george washington bridge and lost pay. since the news broke, christie has fired two aides at the center of the investigation and maintains he didn't know what was happening, so how are his fellow republicans responding? >> here's a guy that acted like a chief executive, held a press conference, answered all the questions you had of him, and he actually, something washington could learn from, he actually held people accountable and people close to him, that had to be hard. >> christie's apology tour took him to the town at the center of the scandal, ft. lee, for a meeting with that town's mayor. >> i'm here today to also apologize to the people of ft. lee, and -- terrible thing. we're going to work to regain their trust.

>> he came and we had a very sincere, candid, and productive conversation, so we're glad he came. >> all right, take a look at this, with headlines like these in papers across the country, what is the lesson from this for christie as he contemplates his political future and possible presidential run in 2016? >> can't imagine people doing that in my office over four terms. i just can't. >> i talked to him yesterday for 15 minutes. he's having a hard time. he's really sad. >> joining me now from trenton, new jersey, this morning is msnbc's craig melvin. craig, let's first talk about these new documents that we're getting today. what is everybody expecting to find in them? what is the detail of these documents? >> thomas, we're expecting somewhere north of 900 pages of documents to be released here in trenton. that's why we're here. i was just inside a few moments ago. i asked about those documents. we're told that they are going to be released some time late

morning, so that would mean we should get them within the hour, but they are not saying that's necessarily going to happen. the question of what can we expect to find, we don't really know. what we do know is that all of this sort of started, if you will, because of the initial document dump, and it was in those documents that we saw the e-mails, we saw the text messages that prompted that two-hour apology yesterday. and also, of course, it was in these documents we saw david wildstein, the top port authority executive, who has since resigned, where he referred to the mayor, where he referred to the mayor of ft. lee as a little serbian, so we expect that there will be some additional information in these documents that's going to help shed light on the situation, but we won't know until those things are released. additionally, as you mentioned, the lawsuit that had been filed, so far six folks are suing. these are six folks who were, as a result of that massive traffic

jam, they were late to work, so they were docked pay. they are suing to recoup some of the losses in terms of their pay and also some punitive damages, as well. >> and that remains, as we know, open right now, because they don't have an exact number of members that want to join that lawsuit, so this is still going to grow. it stems from the inconvenience people faced from september 9th to september 13th trying to get on the george washington bridge. craig melvin, thanks so much. keep us posted if within the hour you get those documents. joined now by new jersey democratic state senator barbara buono, who ran for governor against chris christie last year. senator, it's nice to have you with me to talk about this. obviously, there's more to come and we have craig waiting on those documents, he said over 900 or so, maybe more, that could come out. this does make us think back to the race you had to run against chris christie, and as we look at these dates, september the 9th through the 13th, do you have hindsight being 20/20, did

you have an inkling that something like this was going on? >> i knew. this is classic chris christie. he has used the levers of power to promote himself and his political agenda time and time again. what did surprise me is the tone and the tenor of these e-mails. they were almost gleeful when they talked about don't worry about the children, the children of buono voters. i mean, such an arrogance. that, i did find, somewhat shocking. >> if you knew something like this was happening and it was some sort of a retaliatory strike potentially, why not do something more? you had the eyes of the new jersey media on you, running for governor, he did win over you, but how come you didn't try to use the spotlight you had at that time to expose this? >> believe me, i did. there is a culture of fear in trenton and the senate president was working hand-in-hand with the governor. i got very little help with the democratic party, and the senate

president is the lieutenant of one of the unelected political bosses in new jersey, george norcross. >> why didn't you try to approach governor cuomo then? this is a bridge that is shared by both new york and new jersey. governor cuomo is a democrat. the appointment there of patrick foye is the person who lifted the lane closures. >> thank god for patrick foye. >> did you think to contact governor cuomo to bring him up to speed on this, since this is a -- the most popular, most traveled bridge, up of the most traveled bridges in the world. did that don on you to contact governor cuomo? >> we tried all avenues. the fact of the matter is in new jersey, as i said, there is a culture of fear. i tried to contact certain mayors, actually, endorsed this governor, and, you know, one of them, mayor from long branch, had a relationship of sorts, and i remember he called me one day

and he said, you know, senator, i have to tell you, i'm going to endorse the governor, and i said, you know, why don't you wait. let's talk about it. no, no, i have to do it this week. and i remember asking him, you know, he sounded a little nervous. i said, are you being pressured? and he said, no. and so people, you know, there was this culture, there are incidents that have happened to underscore, so hopefully, this investigation will reveal if there were other incidents like this across new jersey and calls all of his endorsements into question. >> but as we talk about the key players in this, baroni and bridget anne kelly, who was fired yesterday, david wildstein, who was trying to give testimony, but pleading the fifth almost in concurrent time as the governor was giving his press statement and also bill stepie in n, who was the campaign manager. these four people have been thrown out, and they are

political loose ends to the governor, potentially. do you really believe that it's just in that circle and it didn't rise up higher than that? >> absolutely not. it's absurd to suggest that my chief of staff or bill baroni, former senator, and now the chief appointee at the port authority, very close with governor christie. look, it's one of two things. either the governor's lying or he's incompetent, but my prediction is this, he will be leaving the governor's office before his term is up, but it won't be to run for president. >> barbara buono, thanks for your insights, i appreciate it. christie may be down, but he's certainly not out, at least to his fellow republicans, many of whom have been careful not to judge the popular politico so far. here's house speaker john boehner yesterday on the issue. >> just wondering if you think this response is sufficient, that he could continue to remain a top 2016 republican candidate? >> i think so. i think so. >> does he bear any responsibility even though he said he didn't know anything,

because this happened on his watch? >> you'll have to ask him. >> what is next for chris christie? joining me now, msnbc political analyst and former democratic pennsylvania governor ed rendell and michael steele. roll call has a story that says politicians are largely nervous about getting involved in this story. that can only last for so long, though. they go on to say the longer unanswered questions linger, the more likely it is that senators and representatives will want to get involved or call hearings. so christie has been wildly popular with the voters there. he got re-elected, beating our last guest, barbara buono, however, she says there's this fear in trenton. do you think this opens up governor christie to a complete set of new problems that reaffirms the narrative that he's a bully? >> sure. there's no question. i think you're going to see people coming out of the woodwork, and a lot depends on what's uncovered. if, in fact, there's no other

evidence that the governor knew about this or ordered it, then i think the governor can ride this out. he's certainly suffered damage, but it may not be terminal damage. if it comes out that he knew something about it or he ordered it, and to me that's the more likely result. thomas, i was governor for eight years and was a hands-on governor, like governor christie. my deputy chief of staff, whose desk was 25 feet from mine, would never have done something like this without my clearance, asking me for prior approval, in a month of sundays, would never have contemplated doing something like this and i can't imagine anyone would have done it either. >> he said yesterday i'm not a micromanager. >> he said i can't be responsible for 65,000 people, but this is your deputy chief of staff, arguably, second or third most important in your office. no way this person takes action without some prior approval. >> michael, let me talk to you about this, because christie has garnered some support from

prominent republicans and democrats, as well. here's david axelrod on "morning joe" and sean spicer appearing in the last hour with chris jansing. >> all right. >> if it looks like he was forthright, i thought he looked good in that press conference. if you were uninitiated watching that press conference, you'd say here's a guy standing up, taking responsibility, admitting faults. i think that he can survive this. >> governor christie took responsibility and showed what a leader does, and i think that's refreshing, and i think it's important that you see that that's what happens when republicans deal with situations. >> all right, our nbc news "first read" team writes christie's enemies, democrats and republicans, are ready to pounce. michael, do you think the crisis is going to get worse before it gets better? and i understand what sean spicer is saying, the governor did take responsibility, but that's taking responsibility because he's been exposed, because his top aides have been exposed. this is something that he

laughed off and basically also demeaned reporters when asked about the severity of this issue, and just said, what do you think, i was out there laying down the cones myself? get real. stuff like that. >> well, keep in the right context, because at that time the governor had been told presumably by these same staffers that this was a road closure based on a traffic monitoring program that they were implementing, and that's what was causing the delay, so if that's the information he got, knowing christie as we all do, reporters asking me about a traffic jam, yeah, what do you think i was out here laying the cones? this is part of the natural course of doing business in the state. now the revelations tell us something different, and i think yesterday, to spicer's point and others, that, you know, christie took that responsibility and that burden. i agree with governor rendell that should there be additional revelations that show a deeper set of knowledge or involvement by christie, that becomes a huge

problem for him, but i think he rides this out a lot better than people right now may be looking at it on the face of it, simply because there is no evidence that says he knew more or did more than already been revealed. >> like i said before, there are four political loose ends here, especially with bridget anne kel kelly, once she gets the tire marks rubbed out of herself, maybe she will get immunity, and if she does, that's going to be a big problem. then there's baroni, wildstein, and stepien, who's going to be minted in a king-like fashion there at his side, now he's been thrown off. governor, let me ask you, as you know in pennsylvania, and you were talking about your top aides, do you think that these people are going to have an axe to grind moving forward, and if they know more, they are going to tell more now? >> it's possible. it's also possible there are forces, not governor christie, per se, but forces in the republican hierarchy trying to take care of him for the future. so it will be interesting to see

what happens to them individually in their own lives. that's a possibility, particularly if immunity is granted, that's a real possibility. but i want to quarrel with one thing that mr. spicer said that the governor did well. number one, traffic study is ludicrous. if you want to study traffic flow, you've got the tolls. just figure out how many people went through the tolls in a given period of time. as one of the reporters said, traffic study, strange. secondly, the governor, i think, made a mistake when he was talking about people were fired because they lied to me. people should have been fired because they endangered public safety. that's what he should have been emphasizing. he made it all about himself. >> woman in cardiac arrest did die because they don't know whether or not she made it to the hospital on time. there is a problem there. the study has been wildly disproven, that that was not really the case here. that was an excuse used and there was a cover-up excuse

used. >> brought it up again yesterday. >> it's certainly not going to be something he wants to continue using as a cover story, because it's been wildly disproved. michael, when it comes to christie, though, and, you know, not only wanting to win re-election, but maybe larger potential, although yesterday he said he really has his eye on the job of what he's doing there in new jersey, but trying to get all these democratic endorsements and look like the super governor of a blue state as a republican, that had to be part of the campaign mentality here as he's looking at the future. >> well, i'm sure it was, but i don't think that campaign mentality lent itself in that moment to doing something like this. i think that what has grown out of that is this idea that, you know, we can't be touched, and we got a guy who's, you know, he's a buster, he goes through the door, he knocks things down, he makes waves, and so that

attitude, that culture, if you will, i think, kind of grew up around christie. >> it's time for traffic problems in ft. lee, bridget woke up on the wrong side of the bed? >> well, no. >> where does that come from? >> whatever political machinations they drew from the campaign to impose this on this mayor, who at the end of the day, if he didn't endorse you, no big deal. i mean, you still won by 30 points or 20-some points. you had 60-some other democrats endorsing you across the state, so what was it about this mayor and this particular part of the state that fixated this team? i think that needs to be revealed. our colleague rachel maddow raised that question last night. it's a question that has unfolding to do. >> seems too obvious that it's not the right answer. >> pardon me? >> michael, i'm sorry, go ahead. >> what was the last part you said was not the right answer?

>> almost seems so obvious that it can't be the right answer. >> yeah, yeah. >> it's like saying why would richard nixon authorized a burglary at democratic headquarters at watergate when everyone knew he was going to win 50 states, 48 states, how stupid could a bright man like richard nixon be to do something like that? it's an arrogance of power. >> thanks so much. we're going to have to leave it there. great to see both of you. this leads our discussion to the big question to you today, you heard the press conference, governor christie saying he had no involvement. do you believe him? you can chime in on twitter and facebook. we have breaking news to pass on from west virginia where a chemical spill has led to some 300,000 people not to use their tap water and the spill happened at a storage facility near charleston. water supplies are contaminated for nine counties. people can't bathe, cook, wash clothes. we're going to keep you posted on that story, bring you updates as we get them.

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so big developing news out of washington this morning. it's the jobless numbers that left a lot of people scratching their heads. the economy adding just 74,000 jobs in december. that is the weakness increase in three years. however, the jobless rate, that dropped last month to 6.7%. that's the lowest rate since we've seen since october of 2008. today's report sent stocks down on wall street. here's where the dow stands right now, down by 45 points, still 46 points, excuse me, but well above the 16,000 threshold. makes you wonder about what this really means. moody economist mark zandi has this to say about today's numbers. take a listen. >> i wouldn't pay any attention at all to these numbers. >> really? >> really, dead serious.

they are not consistent with anything, anything, gdp, ism survey. >> how do you make sense of this? >> i'll tell you how i make sense of it, next month, we'll get the bench mark revision and they'll be all revised up. >> jared bernstein, former chief economist for vice president joe biden, former msnbc contributor and fellow at the policy and priorities. do you agree with mark zandi? >> to a point. the underlying trend before this report was 200,000 jobs a month. as you mention, 74,000 for december is way below trend. and there's a lot of noise in the monthly data, and it wouldn't surprise me if, again, the numbers get revised up. however, i wouldn't go as far as my good friend mark in terms of throwing the number out, because, a, it's not entirely inconsistent with an economic recovery that's thrown a lot of head banks, if i can use a basketball term, at the job

market. >> right. >> and secondly, there are other indicators, particularly the decline in labor workforce participation. >> that's baby boomers, or? >> well, first of all, most of that decline came from people leaving the job market, and, yes, some of it is retired people, baby boomers aging out of the job market, but that's the lesser portion of it, and also, you know, some of those people are probably being nudged out before they'd like to because of the underlying weakness. >> jared, i want to get to this. overall for the year as we look at unemployment being down at least 1%, however, as we drill down deeper for african-americans in particular, unemployment is still above 10%. that's one in ten without a job. so, how much recovery can we have when such a large sector of our population is out of work? >> that's exactly the underlying point that i was trying to get at here. there's a feedback mechanism. you know, corporate profitability has been great. the financial marks are soaring

once again, off on a terror. the extent to which that's, quote, trickling down, reaching people in the middle and the lower spheres of the income distribution, really, really is still, i think, quite underwhelming. so you don't really have a kind of robust economy that's helping to reenforce the recovery. >> msnbc contributor jared bernstein. jared, great to see you. thank you, sir. >> my pleasure. breaking news about the target data breach. almost twice as many people may have been affected than previously thought. details coming up from cnbc and the breaking developments with the florida mom who lost her controversial stand your ground case after firing a warning shot at her alleged abusive husband. we're going to go live to florida. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

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people as first thought. aman, fill us in, because originally, they were saying that it was 40 million. now it's almost double, and also the bigger concern is this is not just holiday shoppers who may have been compromised. >> yeah, that's right, thomas. target saying this morning that up to 70 million customers could be affected here, and it's not just necessarily your credit card information, but also things like name, address, e-mail address, phone numbers, other details may have been compromised in this attack, as well. it's not at all clear here what happened or exactly when it happened. initially, they had said it was a late november, early december time frame that would be affected here. now it may be that a broader case, a broader group of people might be affected in this case, so we still have a lot more to do. target says it's investigating and on target's web page they've put up to handle inquiries about this, they have advice for consumers, including this advice, which is a lot of people might be getting follow-up fake

attacks in response to the target hack. that is, they might be getting e-mails that appear to be from target asking for personal information to try to fix the problem. target is warning people not to fall for that trick. that could be another scam on top of the initial scam. they are saying, don't give out your personal information to anybody who sends an e-mail that appears to be from target here. a lot of problems and questions here for consumers. >> cnbc eamon thank you. florida mom awaiting trial, a judge ruled against a motion by florida prosecutors asking alexander's bond be revoked. nbc's cary sanders joins me live from jacksonville. car cary, explain what happened in court. >> the judge said what happened was, quote, a mistake and they happen, and this was not a willful violation. marissa alexander is on home

detention while she's out on bond awaiting a new trial. she asked the sheriff's department whether she could do certain things while she was on home detention. she wanted to go to the grocery store, she was given permission. she wanted to go to the bank, she was given permission. she ran some other errands and the sheriff's department monitored her with the gps and was gone from home for no more than two minutes. according to the prosecution, the sheriff's department didn't have the authority to give her that permission to go run these errands and that the judge's order for home detention was specific, she should remain home. the prosecution asked in court, how do we know she didn't go get a gun, for instance? well, there's no evidence she went to get a gun, but the judge was clearly upset that the sheriff's department had been giving her permission to go back and forth but didn't hold marissa alexander responsible for going out and doing this, and now the sheriff's department has a little bit of an internal review under way. the reason all of this is so interesting is because marissa

alexander is the one who, back in 2012, fired a shot in the air and when she was brought to court for firing that shot in the air during a domestic dispute, she claimed stand your ground, and she was convicted, got 20 years. that conviction was overturned on appeal, and in light of the george zimmerman case, where he used stand your ground and was found not guilty, there's a lot new attention on this, because this will, again, be a stand your ground defense and will likely get a lot of attention because this is a very different, although interesting, application of the same law. >> nbc's kerry sanders reporting in florida for us, thank you. on a different report, amanda knox told an italian newspaper she'd rather be a fugitive than serve a prison sentence for the murder of her former college roommate.

an italian court can determine whether to reinstate her conviction, although the appeals process could go on for years. knox returned to her home in seattle after her murder conviction was overturned. at's .

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they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. politics ain't bean bag, okay, and everybody in the country who engages in politics knows that. on the other hand, that's very, very different than saying that, you know, someone's a bully. i have very heated discussions and arguments with people in my own party, and on the other side of the aisle. i feel passionately about issues, and i don't hide my emotions from people. i am not a focus-group tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. i am who i am; but i am not a bully. >> i am not a bully, we all heard it there. that was also a really large part of the message from chris christie, apologizing during that nearly two-hour-long press

conference, and that is the topic for our agenda panel today. elizabeth plank, executive social director for policy, serena maxwell, and a reporter "the huffington post." great to have all of you here under one roof as we talk about this, but as we go off that narrative of i am not a bully, we have a lot of different examples of where chris christie has kind of been a little more verbiose and we know mother jones put together a brief clip of some of the more infamous moments. take a look. >> do you want to hear the answer, or don't you? because i'm not going to -- i've heard you. okay. next question. go ahead, yes, sir. and let me tell you something, after you graduate from law school, you conduct yourself like that in a courtroom, your rear end is going to get thrown

in jail, idiot. >> you don't send your children to public schools, you send them to private schools, so i was wondering why you think it's fair to be cutting school funding to public schools. >> what's her name? >> guys, real quick, the governor's talking. what is it? gail, talk to gail. >> first off, it's none of your business. don't bother me about where i send mine. >> depends who you ask whether those are highlights or lowlights, but it resinates and he was reelected, but is it enough to see the governor say i'm not a bully, serve up and eat a lot of humble pie yesterday. does it compare to the chris christie that we know? are people willing to buy it? >> well, i think it may have worked to get him elected in new jersey, but it will not resinate with the american people across the nation. he's already known to be aggressive, as we seen with these clips, it's clear he's an aggressive style of leadership, and what we've seen now with this press conference where he's

still talking about himself, saying i want to answer these questions, i'm not going to answer this question, it sounded more like a filibuster than a press conference. it was about him and still appearing to be quite a bully, and if you have to say you're not a bully, you are addressing the real perception that people think you're a bully. >> one thing, though, he did stand up there and take question after question, and this was after not appearing in front of cameras the day before when the revelations really broke. it's chris christie's style to come out and really kind of take issues by the throat and deal with them, so this was a different style for the governor. you're very familiar with jersey politics. we've had several state lawmakers on various shows over the hours here. here's just a little bit of what they had to say about christie's press conference. >> the fact that the governor never noticed anything about this until yesterday, either there's something wrong with the governor, or he doesn't read newspapers, he doesn't watch tv. >> the bottom line here, it's not poor governor christie, it's

poor residents of ft. lee and the surrounding residents. the apologies, i know that the governor went up to apologize, but it's four months too late. >> chris christie is not a gullible and naive man. it strains credibility for this governor and if you've done any business in trenton, this is a governor who micromanages every detail of his administration. >> then we had this, the freshest sound a while ago with former new jersey governor, she was running for governor, senator barbara buono, and here's what she had to say. >> look, it's one of two things, either the governor's lying or he's incompetent, but my prediction is this, he will be leaving the governor's office before his term is up and it won't be to run for president. >> can he survive? this is a wound politically, but does he survive jersey and beyond? >> i think that is certainly an open question right now. i think a week ago we'd say, or the beginning of the week we'd say perhaps he could survive. now, particularly because of the press conference, it was all about himself, he says i'm not a

bully, but we learned yesterday he's also a baby. i'm very sad about this, but he really wasn't sad about the impact on the people of ft. lee. i think that part of the problem for him is that this shows, i mean, one of the questions he did not answer yesterday was that, you know, are there other instances of retaliation, he deflected that question and rachel maddow's excellent reporting last night shows there are probably other things in these e-mails that are soon to be released about other acts of retaliation. >> let's dive into that right now, because rachel suggested the bridge closure wasn't really about major sokolich but was rather political payback for the fact governor christie and the new jersey state democrats had issue and brought up the feud christie had over the state supreme court nominees. here's just a portion of what she had to say last night. take a listen. >> who represents district 37, they have two members of the state assembly, and the leader

of the senate democrats. leader of the senate democrats represents ft. lee. roughly 12 hours after governor christie blows up at the senate democrats and torpedos a career of a supreme court justice who he likes, because he said the senate democrats are animals and he's not going to let that justice loose to those animals, the leader of those animals in the senate sees her district, her district, get the order of destruction from governor christie's deputy chief of staff. >> i want to reenforce this is just a theory, but investigative reporters are all going to be looking at date lines and timelines and where different people were to figure out the true machinations behind all of this. that is an interesting theory, but is that probably more likely there's something less obvious than what people think, that this was just about trying to get the mayor of ft. lee to provide an endorsement? >> it's a possibility, like you said, it's still just a theory, and a lot of that, of course, will be unravelled as the

investigation continues, and that's why it's critical chris christie's story is accurate, that his accounting for his lack of any role in this will be critical in terms of just how politically damaging this might be. i think so far this is troubling for him. it's one of the first major roadblocks he's hit since he's sort of rose to the national stage with his re-election by a landslide and sort of his already been accepted as ininevitable republican nominee for president. this is one of the first controversies he's had to deal with in the last months, so a lot of his story and whether, for example, there might be more to this than he said, that's what has the potential to make this a lasting controversy rather than one roadblock he could put behind him. so far, nothing has linked him directly to this, and again, that's where other theories will be key in toeerms of whether he had more of a role than he said he did. >> chris christie wants to look

as he is the bridge candidate and it's literally a bridge that may take him down. thanks so much, elizabeth plank, nice to see you in person, great to vu you on. we really appreciate all your insights. coming up next on the next hour with alex wagner, much more on chris christie and whether the political retaliation did contribute to this bridge debacle. bob engle will join during the hour to weigh in. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition.

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he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. so can the deep red states turn purple? it really is an interesting question, because in utah, more than 1,300 gay couples got legally married before the supreme court put those marriages in the state on hold. the aclu is now suing and sent a letter to attorney general eric holder asking the federal government to recognize the validity of these marriages for the purpose of government marriages.

joining me now from salt lake city is clifford roscki. he teaches constitutional and family law at the university of utah and is chairman of the group equality utah. then in phoenix, we have attorney shaun aiken. shaun represents four same-sex couples in arizona who's suing the state over the issue of marriage equality. just some 300-plus miles away, so it's great to have you both on. let me start first, the federal government being asked to grant these couples in utah that have been married spousal benefits. does the fed have that authority? >> i think they certainly do. there's no question these 1,000 couples are legally married. they got married pursuant to a federal court order, ministers were authorized by utah law. they were married then and they are married now. really, the federal government would have no basis not to recognize those marriages. >> i want to play for everybody what utah's attorney general had to say when the supreme court suspended those rights. >> this is precisely the uncertainty we were hoping to

avoid by requesting a stay immediately upon the decision of the district court. it's unfortunate that many utah citizens have been put into this legal limbo. >> does he have a point there, that they have been put in this limbo and almost by purpose? >> well, they've certainly been put into the limbo, but it wasn't the judge who did that. the attorney general did not ask for a stay until after the court had issued its order and after same-sex couples had already begun to marry. and at that point, you know, the cat's out of the bag, i mean, sort of you can't put that back. and so the judge said, well, if same-sex couples are already marrying, what's the harm in allowing that to continue while you appeal this case? now the governor is the one who's refusing to recognize these marriages after agreeing to recognize them for about three weeks. >> as we go just 300-plus miles away, mr. aiken, let me talk to you about what you're doing, you're representing these four same-sex couples in arizona, suing over the fact that state

has had a longstanding, i believe, it's a 17-year ban on marriage equality. so how do you feel that's going to move forward? >> we filed a class action lawsuit on monday to do exactly what you've described, and that is to overturn that ban on same-sex marriage. we'll move forward in the federal district court in the same way the utah case moved forward. >> jan brewer, the governor there, has been against marriage equality. certainly not a fan of it, however, and we know arizona has a reputation of being a conservative red state, a poll conducted in arizona back in may found a 55% majority favor marriage equality. only 35% oppose it. so how does that public will help the couples, the four couples that you are representing, i guess, have the courage to move forward and the strength needed to see this play out in the courts? >> they are four courageous

couples, you're right. they decided that waiting for the legislature to take action or waiting for a change at the ballot box perhaps in 2016 may or may not happen, and so decided to file the lawsuit, but the support has been warm, wide, and enthusiastic. >> well, we certainly wish you the best and we'll follow your stories. clifford roski and shaun aiken. thank you so much. and we'll be back with much more. stick around. by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪

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so hopefully you have heard the news but starting on monday i'm asking you to wake up way too early as i host the 5:30 a.m. show here on msnbc. [ applause ] as this is my official last 11:00 a.m. show. my team cobbled together the favorite moments and i'm trusting them because i have not seen what they put together. enjoy.

>> getting nar rmarried in the was something personal and inkrid ebl. i highly remt it. >> two of us are married at this table. >> not me. >> i think i see chad griffin talking on the telephone, which i believe is with president obama. chad is right there. >> mr. president, this is chris perry. >> we thank you so much for your support. >> i'm proud of you guys. >> welcome back to moore, oklahoma, you can see up close the devastation and just how bad it is. >> the thing about it is the budget is sequestration levels -- by republicans, they agree on what the money neenz -- john boehner -- was the speaker. >> the aca has been to the supreme court through both houses of congress. >> what are you hearing from those on the forefront of the fight against vladimir putin's anti-gay stances?

>> reporter: craig, it is a t taboo subject to bring up the fact that the laws even exist. >> 86 women around the globe will be vying for this title. and the theater, beautiful. it's totally russia, all red seats and down here is where it matters. ♪ >> really? what are you doing? >> i'm doing you. >> you handsome fellow. >> my dream is made today. >> can we get a shot of this good looking cake. happy birthday, harvey. >> look at that. lavender. >> you union won't let me make you candles so i have an app on my phone. >> should we not even acknowledge it? >> is there a problem? >> it it's thursday, thomas

roberts foam medusa. >> i'm chris jansing, thomas roberts is up next. >> i see smart people. get it. get it. >> i'm very upset i was not a part of your sound of music conversation. >> go ahead. what do you want to say? >> i was vonn trap in the eighth grade. >> sing a lot? ♪ so long farewell >> my voice was so much better then when i was 12. >> is it me or is that the weirdest thing you've ever heard? ♪ ♪ so long so that was awesome. thanks to the producer and kimberly mayhorn for putting that together and thanks to super wom thompson who held out mean and lean team to success. this crew, i'll see most of you

in the morning. thanks to you the viewers. police follow me as i walk in the footsteps of cronkite and geist at 5:30 and join the gaj of "morning joe" too. i'll be the sleepy guy with bags. "now" comes up next. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen,

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christie culture under the microscope. it's friday, january 10th and this is "now." i'm joy reed in for alex wagner. we have breaking news on pt same-sex marriage dispute in utah. let's go right to pete williams. what have you learned? >> this is a bit of a surprise. there's been a question about the legal status of those

marriages and now the attorney general, eric holder, says the federal government will recognize the marriages that were performed during the 17-day period in utah after a federal judge declared the state's ban unconstitutional and the u.s. supreme court put a hold on that judge's ruling. what the attorney general says in a statement that's just out, he says, these families, referring to those who got marriage licenses during that 17-day period, these families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their status as the litigation unfolds. he says in the days ahead, we will continue to coordinate across the federal government to ensure the timely provision of every federal benefit to which utah couples and couples throughout the country are entitled regardless of whether they are in same sex or opposite sex marriages. it was just monday that the supreme court said put a hold on the judge's order and after that, the state governor's chief of staff put