edward snowden's story may hit the big screen soon. in office politics, my conversation with kathie lee gifford, she tells me how she and hoda, the dynamic duo, came to be. hey there, everyone. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." the new jersey state assembly has released thousands of pages of e-mails, text documents, related to the intentional traffic jam on the george washington bridge that developed into the biggest scandal of governor chris christie's tenure. among the revelations, furious e-mails from the port authority, questions about whether or not laws have been broken and warnings not to disclose anything to the public. come tuesday, though, the assembly subpoena power will expire. so joining me now with the details, nbc national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff. michael, good day to you.

i know you have new information to share about an important e-mail chain that brings this traffic jam a lot closer to governor christie. what did you find? >> reporter: right. there is an e-mail chain showing that a woman named regina egio, designated to be christie's next chief of staff, top aide in the governor's office, was forwarded a furious, scathing e-mail from patrick foy that he's the executive director of the port authority, calling these traffic jams abusive, a potential violation of law, a threat to public safety. he wrote that on september 13th. it goes to bill barony, one of christie's top aides at the port authority, who then forwards it to regina egia in the governor's office, marked -- urgent, important priority, high priority. now, there's no indication whether or not she responded or not. what she did after getting that

e-mail. but i did speak to john which is knew ski, who says she is now absolutely a candidate for subpoena. they'll want to see her e-mails, text messages. they want to see a whole slew of top aides to current top aides to christie. they want to see their -- they're going to oh subpoena their e-mail messages and text messages, all documents. and we just got word from the speaker-elect of the assembly saying he was going to call a special session on thursday to renew subpoena power for the committee investigating this. >> michael, you're saying that. i just want to read in detail what exactly you're talking about. the new jersey speaker assembly. the documents related to the george washington bridge situation clearly show the need for a continued thorough investigation by the new jersey assembly. many questions remain unanswered about this threat to public safety and abuse of power. and what you said, michael, he

expects to call the assembly into special session thursday. so the investigation can continue. can i ask you about this e-mail from patrick foy? because here we have the executive director of a major interstate agency worrying aloud we have federal laws that have been broken. does it appear anyone, michael, has followed up on his concerns? >> well, look, we now know that e-mail went directly to christie's office. so i think that's the question that the governor's people are going to have to answer. and regina egia is going to have to answer. one point the assembly democrats are making, the governor said during his press conference he asked every member of his staff a month ago to let him know within the hour what they knew about this. and he was assured that they knew nothing. now when he learns that bridget kelly, deputy chief of staff, from the e-mails obviously was directly implicated in this, he fired her.

he fired her immediately. but now we know that somebody even senior to her also was informed about aspects of this. so one question is, what did regina egia say when she was told to report within an hour what she knew about the origins of this. i mean, there's just a lot of questions here. and one point i should make. look, there is no smoking gun that directly implicates the governor here and shows that he knew about the decision to shut down these traffic closures. but with all the unanswered questions out there, and with some of his top appointees like david wildstein taking the fifth amendment and declining to testify, it is very hard to see how there becomes closure of this issue without a full accounting from everybody involved. and with pending criminal investigations, the likelihood that others who get subpoenaed

like bridget kelly will probably invoke the fifth amendment as well, as any lawyer would tell their client to do under these circumstances, we're going to be left with a situation where key players will not have testified and explained what happened here. and that makes it very difficult for christie to go forward, certainly, on a national level. >> and you know, michael, the fact that the assembly may indeed reauthorize subpoena power here, so we don't any longer have potentially the tuesday deadline, you've got a couple thousand pages worth of e. mails, text messages being pored over. but the fact this can be more open-ended, just the investigation itself, do you expect it to go on for a considerable period of time? >> reporter: right. well, look, i mean, as with the disclosure of these 2,000 pages of new documents, it adds to the candidate list for subpoenas for the committee. and the likelihood that this is going to drag out has increased

dramatically over the last 24 hours. as a result of these new disclosures. it's now, you know -- there are more names added to the list of people who the committee is going to want to hear from. so, yeah. i mean, this becomes a very open-ended investigation. i told you, i talked to wisnewski. he says we have an enemies list, a reference to the jersey city mayor who had meetings cancelled after he refused to endorse christie. so he wants a widening scope of the investigation. there are a lot of ominous signs for the governor right now. and his efforts to put closure to this, you know, seem very far away at the moment. >> yep. michael isikoff, many thanks for your reporting. appreciate that. let's bring in msnbc host steve kornacki and yamesh.

the fact we have an open-ended investigation here looking at a quote, enemies list, how damning is that potentially for chris christie to get past this? is because if it stays open for a period of time, it could bleed into any sort of potential runs for higher office. >> oh, sure. i mean, there's the investigation itself, whatever it turns up. and we say "the investigation" like there is one investigation. this announcement from the assembly speaker. >> just came down. >> this is actually key. and this was actually in dispute. we had john wisnuwski this morning and as of this morning, it was in doubt whether those subpoena powers would be reauthorized. you say it should be a no-brain no-brainer, look at what has come out already. what you have to understand about the new jersey legislature and new jersey politics, there is an aligns between chris christie and a group of democratic power brokers in the state legislature. and so that incoming speaker who is issuing this statement is a product of that alliance. it is pro chris christie, democrats, who have put him in power. the expectation was, and the pressure on him was, not to

extend that subpoena authority. and that was this doubt until this morning. now he has no choice. so that's one piece. you have a state assembly. you have the u.s. attorney in new jersey, who is now looking around and potentially launching an investigation of his own or potentially passing it off to the southern district of new york. they could launch an investigation. you have jay rockefeller, the chairman of the u.s. senate commerce committee. he's now sniffing around. you're talking about three separate tracks right there, and i've got to say, that thing about regina egia, that is so key to me, that revelation. chris christie's designee, his next chief of staff. she runs what is called his authorities unit, authorities division. she has oversight over the -- his appointees of the port authority of new york, all these authorities across the state. she received an e-mail, the context here, that e-mail forwarded to her was marked priority high. it came from the administration at the port authority. it came hours after he had

received an e-mail that said there was potentially state and federal laws broken. that's the e-mail she received on september 13th. so you have to believe that an e-mail marked high that says potential state and federal laws were broken, that she either somehow diplomat see it, somehow didn't get it -- notice it or didn't at any point bring that up in the next four months with chris christie. that is very hard to believe. >> super hard to believe, indeed. yamesha, your latest article is titled "ft. lee traffic jam caused human debacle." couple days offin justing this. what is the reaction you're hearing? >> people really feel violated. that was the word that came up when i was talking to people. we have been focusing on people trying to get over the bridge. obviously that was a big deal. the idea you couldn't get over the bridge for hours, but ft. lee residents that couldn't go to grocery stores, gas stations, museums. this shut down ft. lee in some key ways, so people are really, really mad. one man i talked to said he wants christy to come and have a

town hall meeting. doesn't want him to meet with the mayor. he wants to explain to people who for four days couldn't get to not only their jobs but regular-life things that we do all day. they couldn't do that. so people are really mad and feeling very violated and they feel like they were pawns. they feel like they were really taken advantage. >> yeah. you know, steve, given what you know about the inside workings of politics in new jersey, there is an image about that state. it stems from the sopranos and the rest of that, which is an exaggeration, certainly. but is this an example of politics as usual in this state? or -- are there other states doing the very same thing, we're just not talking about it. >> new jersey is one of those states, i think of rhode island, louisiana, illinois. there is a tradition -- >> images, right. >> political corruption. and well-earned tradition -- image and tradition of political corruption. and there is a certain -- the culture of new jersey politics, i certainly found. i came from massachusetts, a state that has its own sort of tough political tradition. but i remember being shocked by what i saw in new jersey. it's rough. they play for keeps.

there's so much money and power at the local level and all these thiefdoms around the state, fighting for jobs, all fighting for money, all fighting for control of different operations, different organizations. and i will say, it can be tough looking at it, and i'm sure being in it. sometimes it can be tough to tell where exactly that line is. but it can also be easy to tell when you're over that line. and this is one of those cases where it is very easy to look at it and say this is way over the line and should have been very easy for anybody who was a part of this to look at this and say, i'm not necessarily sure where the line is, but i'm definitely over it. >> so yamesh, you have the governor having a nearly two-hour -- almost unprecedented news conference on thursday. going forward, how is it he handle all this? because he put so much out there, all of which is being parsed through right now, to see if he, you know, by any minuscule level, isn't saying exactly the way things happened. i mean, what does he do going forward? does he shut up? does he stay as open, you know, mouthed if you will, talking about it or what? >> even after that two-hour press conference, we have

people -- i talked to someone who still wanted to hear more. so i think he actually has to keep talking and he has to really explain why people -- why this happened and he really, i think -- even though he's apologized, i think people in ft. lee i've talked to said they want to hear more, they want to hear a personal apology to them and want to see something done. i can't say what they want to see done, because i don't think they even know what they want yet. but i think he's not going to be able to shut up about this. he's going to have some long press conferences to come and long town hall meetings. >> thanks for spending some time. good to see you both. thank you. this is being called the worst credit and debit card security breach ever. target says as many as 110 million people, half the adult population, were exposed to a massive data hack during the holiday shopping season. and now today we're learning that niemann marcus customers may also be the victim of credit thieves. let's go to kristen dahlgren joining us. millions are nervously watching their credit card statements.

>> reporter: think back to last month when those stores were swarming with holiday shoppers, all of those people may be at risk. let's start with niemann marcus, who just announced customers' credit cards may have been compromised in a security breach. the company still won't say just how many. so far, it has only said it was informed by a credit card processor in mid december of potentially unauthorized activity, and that it's working with the u.s. secret service to notify customers. the company tweeted, the security of our customers' information is always a priority, and we sincerely regret any inconvenience. that comes, though, on the heels of target's revelation that the number of customers affected by its data breach is much larger than originally reported. target now says an additional 70 million customers may have had information stolen, and that information may include phone numbers, e-mails, names and addresses. that, of course, raises fears of complete identity theft. add that to the 40 million already reported and as many as 110 million people may be affected. target is offering free credit monitoring to all customers,

regardless of when you shop. it is probably, alex, a good idea to take it and keep monitoring that report. >> you are absolutely right with that. thank you so much, kristen dahlgren. imagine free college for everyone in the u.s. who wants it. a new report says it could be done with money the government is already spending for college. plus, the change is about to come to the nsa. will the president's announcement be enough to satisfy critics? dn'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. as a police officer, i've helped many people in the last 23 years, but i needed help in quitting smoking.

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want to reiterate breaking news we shared at the top of the hour, into the probe of the george washington bridge scandal that has rocked new jersey chris christie's administration. here is the news that the state assembly's subpoena power, due to expire thursday. however, the speaker-elect, who is a new jersey assembly speaker-elect, vincent prieto, now telling nbc news he will call for a special session on

thursday, because he wants to extend the subpoena power. since wednesday, the subpoena has unearthed thousands of pages of e-mails, text messages, other documents, all of which are being pored over right now. so once again, trying to extend the power to basically get more information to look into the investigation here into what exactly happened in this debacle regarding the george washington bridge and four lane closures. it is still not safe to drink or use water for hundreds of thousands of people in the charleston, west virginia, area, where a state of emergency remains after a chemical spill. let's go to nbc's luke russert, live in charleston with the latest on that. so it was certainly a mess earlier today. any let-up or still a big mess, luke? >> reporter: from where we stand right now, alex, still a big mess. 15% of the state's population still does not have access to to clean, safe tap water. this has caused a lot of hardships for not only local families, but local businesses in the charleston area. this morning, a state of

emergency remains in effect as more than 300,000 residents are being told not to use their tap water for any reason. with hundreds complaining of nausea, vomiting, headaches and skin rashes. >> do not use tap water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing or bathing. >> reporter: for a third day now, residents like jane keefe are getting hydrated at check points and surrounding areas. >> i got like one bottle of water left. so i guess i have to come here like every day. >> i understand boiling water not being able to drink it, but not to put it on your body is outrageous. >> reporter: all this due to a chemical spill at freedom industries. that contaminated water flowing downstream to the west virginia american water treatment facility, which supplies water to nine counties. >> this is a chemical used in the process of cleaning coal. it's definitely an acute hazard. it's an irritant, so it will cause symptoms right away. it's not something that would -- you would want the to breathe or have in your drinking water.

>> reporter: freedom industries has been ordered to cease operations, and with no word on how long the water ban will last, taylor has packed up off to stay with family. >> the unknown is always unsettling. >> i think the long-term effects, things that may occur years from now, are not well understood. so i would say people need to be alert. >> reporter: and alex, virginians are a resilient bunch, not a lot of complaining going on. folks just trying to go on and live their daily lives as best they can. but the longer in which they don't have access to water, the more difficult that becomes. when you think of everything that they are not allowed to do. they can't cook, they can't clean, they can't take showers. so there is a -- not to mention, there is also a huge impact on local business here in the charleston area. a lot of restaurants have had to be closed. a lot of people can't come in for their shifts. i actually was on the phone with a sports bar earlier today, nfl playoff weekend saying they're going to be open. perhaps we go over and shoot a

little bit and they said yeah they'll be open but just alcohol and chips, not going to be able to serve their menu. we're at the beginning of the beginning, which is going to be a very big story, not only for the environmental impact, alex, but also the economic impact. there have already been lawsuits filed on behalf of restaurants and workers who work in charleston against freedom industries for loss of productivity. from where we stand, i think folks would just like to take a shower and have clean water for themselves and their family. >> i'm surprised you're not hearing a lot of clamoring. maybe tomorrow we'll start hearing it more loudly. we'll see. thanks so much, luke russert. appreciate it. the story of nsa leaker edward snowden is headed for the big screen. and a state expected to be the biggest spike in jobs. raise youd that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark?

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the president said we join in honoring his country. and ariel sharon's journey was israel's journey. the dream of israel was the cause of his life and he risked it all to live to dream. a powerful figure who stood at the center of controversy during his time as a leader. let's bring in martin fletcher, live from london. given the fact you have lived in israel for so many years, martin, give me your thoughts on his passing. >> reporter: well, alex, the announcement came as no shock. doctors said for days he was in his final decline. but the fact that ariel sharon hung on to life eight years in a coma is more proof to many admirers he was a true fighter not only in war but in his later years for peace. ariel sharon symbolized israel's iron fist. born in palestine to a farming family, he was a fighter all his life. 1948, wounded in israel's war of independence.

1967, after the six-day war, he suppressed violence by palestinians in occupied gaza. in 1973, war hero turning back egypt's surprise attack. general sharon's military reputation, brutal and brilliant. his nickname, the bulldozer. >> we have to hold the sword in one hand. not because we want it. but to defend ourselves. >> but in 1983, he was banned from ever again being defense minister, after lebanese christians massacred palestinians in lebanon and an israeli inquiry found sharon indirectly responsible. he made a comeback as a champion of jewish settlers and reinvented himself as a farmer, family man and politician. becoming israel's prime minister in 2001, the old war horse later stunned the nation yet again with talk of a deal with the palestinians. >> for real peace, we are ready

to make compromises. >> reporter: to keep some of the west bank, he believed, israel would have to give up most of the occupied territories. that included gaza, where the israe israeli army forced out jewish settlers. sharon abandoned his own party and founded a new one. he was on the verge of leading israel into new political territory. but in 2006, he fell victim to a massive stroke. in a coma, ariel sharon clung to life for years, before finally losing his last battle. sharon was hated as much as he was admired. the palestinian leadership in gaza and hamas reacted by calling him a tyrant whose death made them happy. the spokes mapp said his, quote, hands were smeared with the blood of our people. the palestinian people. there will be a state funeral in israel monday, alex. >> several certainly a controversial leader. thank you, martin fletcher. a new report on making public college education tuition

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at half past the hour, welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." governor chris christie wants to rebuild trust with new jersey, but the investigation into bridge gate may not be going away any time soon. nbc news has learned that christie's appointee personally showed up to watch the lane closures on the bridge and a statement from the speaker-elect includes the call for a special session thursday to reauthorize subpoena power and continue the current investigation. nbc's kelly o'donnell has the very latest from trenton for us. te kelly, hi to you. >> reporter: state lawmakers and other officials here investigate, journalists look through the documents and the public decides what to make of this whole bridge scandal. governor chris christie is preparing for a second term and that includes a big day of inauguration events coming up in a couple weeks. and all of this happening while his political future appears uncertain. the governor's image problem in

bold face across trenton's front page. and on the upcoming cover of the "new yorker" magazine. >> christie created this atmosphere where people i guess feel okay or think, hey, this is how we do things in the christie administration. you don't mess with us. >> reporter: christie has no public appearances scheduled this weekend, and made none friday. >> i have absolutely nothing to hide. >> reporter: letting reaction to his thursday marathon news conference and his repeated apologies play out. >> this is a bad time for governor christie. but he's going to have an opportunity to show his mettle, to show what he's made of. >> reporter: this bridge traffic scandal put much of the 2016 speculation on pause. >> i am absolutely nowhere near beginning that consideration process. i haven't even been sworn in for my second term yet. >> reporter: christie's political rivals see an opening and want more investigation. >> i think that people of new jersey deserve more answers. there are an awful lot of questions that remain unresolved.

>> reporter: some information may come from examining those 2,000 pages released by a state assembly committee friday. e-mails about the ordered traffic jam. christie denied any knowledge of his appointees' actions. and while four top aides are already gone, christie's leadership may be damaged too. >> he's going to pay a high price for it. at least in the short-term. >> reporter: as more information comes out, governor christie promises that if he needs to take additional action, even if it's personally upsetting to him, he will do that, saying he's working hard to rebuild trust. alex? >> all right, kelly o'donnell, thank you so much from trenton. let's bring in white house reporter for the "washington post," david in that case amora. i want things on the washington perspective and your interpretation of what's happening as you have the assembly speaker-elect saying, look, i want to extend our ability to subpoena documents, subpoena any information we need so we can keep this investigation going. >> reporter: well, alex, that's

a big problem for the governor, because what the state assembly will do with that is not only look at more e-mails about this particular case, maybe go back in time and ask for more documentation, more memos and e-mails from prior times. and if possible, they could find other things, as well. there are some reporters who believe that there's more out there and this was a pattern or a culture of behavior within the administration. something that christie very emphatically denied as part of that culture during his long press conference. this could be very dangerous, because it could be open-ended. we'll have to see. from the washington perspective, obviously people were somewhat surprised by this. the white house certainly has not reacted directly to it. jay carney was asked about it this week. he didn't decline, said it was a statewide matter. of course, president obama has had actually a fairly close relationship considering he's in a different party from the governor, they have gone out there a couple times. so they have had a mutually beneficial alliance, obviously, that's going to be on pause as well for now. >> but with regard to a potential 2016 presidential run by chris christie, david, let's

say this plays out and gets wrapped up by the end of 2014. does that mean it's not going to impact any future run for him? i mean -- do you think -- or if this drags on, then it might just implode the possibility. >> reporter: i think the governor did a two-hour press conference just because he was trying to set a marker and say i answered these questions, let's move forward. obviously the democrats and state legislature and reporters are not going to allow that. i think to answer your question, though, looking forward, if they don't find anymore damaging e-mails, nothing tarnishes christie's story, and that holds up, he could probably move forward, he could probably run. how much money he's going to be able to raise, how much support he has from the base the party, moderate base he has been trying to cultivate remains to be seen. i can he's going to go to florida and continue to raids money as soon as this week for other republican candidates. i think, you know, it's possible, of course he could go forward. and i think, however -- anybody running against him, you know, in the primaries and debates will certainly bring this up. >> yeah, well, not surprisingly, we hear from republicans this morning in different pieces of tape, they're saying yeah, he'll be fine, he can survive this.

democrats, not so much. okay, david. with regard to the president who is set to announce his decision on changes to the nsa surveillance program friday, you, in fact, have written about this in your most recent article, have you heard any details about what the president intends to see? >> reporter: mixed signals. some of the biggest reforms that have been recommended by the outside advisory panel that looked at this and delivered a report in december, probably the biggest was, you know, the nsa collects all phone metadata from all conversations of americans across the country. a wide sweeping swath of this has been a big criticism. they're able to go through it as they see fit. so the advisory board said hey, we want the phone companies to hold this independently and the nsa get a court order for each individual search they would like to do which would be time consuming. nsa said they need this material to keep the country safe. that's probably the biggest thing the president has to look into. but it's wide-ranging and what we wrote oh about this week, so many people at the table. it's taking up a lot of internal time with meetings from defense and, you know --s abo also the

business interests, tech companies concerned about this. the president has a lot on his plate, going to give a speech friday and the challenge for him, i think, alex, not only to set a marker here, but there is going to be more stories. hundreds of thousands, 1.7 million, according to the government, documents that could still be out there. so, you know, the guardian "washington post," more stories. whatever the president says has to hold up. >> how far do you think he's going to have to go to satisfy the critics with the changes? >> i think he's going to have to have to go far. the intelligence community is pushing back strongly against some of these things that require court orders that put limits on looking into this information, spying on nonu.s. citizens. there is other new recommendations to sort of -- significantly curb that. i think he's going to have to do all those things. an advocate who could argue before the secret court that authorizes these materials in this program. there is something -- maybe put a public advocate there no who could argue in front of that court, considered a rubber stamp. i think the president is going to have to adopt a lot of these

46 recommendations if not all to really satisfy those who are really calling for the biggest changes to the program. >> okay. from the "washington post," david nakamora, always good to see you. inside "alpha house." stories behind the anthony weiner cameo. that's from the executive producer coming on in our oh next hour. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you?

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i know. and now it has more clams! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right. ♪ ♪ edward snowden's story was made from the movies from the start and now he's getting a star turn. canadian film makers have nearly a million dollars for a film, expected to trace snowden's life from when he joined the army reserve in 2004 until he released the nsa documents that created an international firestorm. and joining me now is maria coren, covering that story for the national journal. welcome to you, maria. i'm glad you're here. i'm curious. do we have atime line, do we

know when it will start shooting? >> the next few months. and they would like to release the film in september. so they have raised about $850,000, just from over 50 donors through the internet, that's a lot of interest from very few people. >> absolutely. how about casting? i like playing this game, who is going to play him. any word on that? >> reporter: that we're not sure about. they're reassessing their budget because they want to hit the $1 million mark and they've got a little bit to go. >> okay. do they have snowden's permission to use his story? do you know in the filmmakers have been in touch with him? >> reporter: they asked snowden if he is out there and would like to help them, he knows where to find him. they don't have the film rights. the thing about this movie, they don't need them. they're actually going to be releasing the film under a creative commons license, which means it can be viewed and shared freely on the internet. they're not going to run into the same kinds of roadblocks that the 2012 film "zero dark thirty" did, when that subject

matter, u.s. torture tactics prompted questions from the senate. >> yeah, absolutely. you were talking about the money and this crowd sourcing here. as far as i can tell, we certainly have a decent amount of money here, $850,000 or so. 11 people donated $2500. they're going to be named associate producers. two people donated $8,000, makes them executive producers of the project. overall, when you have these crowd-funded movies, how does that compare? >> reporter:el with, it definitely shows there is a lot of interest in getting this movie made. and it shows that people don't want to wait to see the story of edward snowden's life on the big screen. a lot of the hesitation behind the fact that movies haven't been made yet is because the story is not over. and major studios in hollywood need an ending to tell the story. so they're awaiting for that. but smaller companies like this canadian company isn't waiting. >> and you mentioned how it would be able to be put out there. the distribution plan, in fact, is kind of interesting, because they're basically going to give it away for free.

can you explain how this works? >> reporter: they are. they're not going to have any copy rights on this film. they're going to put it on the internet, and anyone can download it. they want edward snowden's story to be just as free as the documents that he's been releasing since last summer. >> that is extraordinary. so if they make a profit, would snowden get a cut of that? >> reporter: i don't think that he would. he would have to partner with them. and especially with a smaller movie like this, a $1 million budget is not that great. he won't make a profit off this, but if he wanted to sign on as a consultant in hollywood, he could make a pretty penny there. >> that's for sure. you just knew the film had to happen, didn't you? maria cornyn, thanks for joining us. in this week's office politics, my conversation with today's kathie lee gifford. kathie lee and hoda have been the dynamic duo the last six years. i asked how they got together and she told me a great story about their first lunch at the

now shut down legendary rainbow room atop this building here in rockefeller center. >> we closed it down, boy. i think it's our fault. we started around 1:00, and at 5:00 when they're coming in to make up for everything for dinner, we're still sitting there laughing. we laughed, we cried, we talked about our oh divorces, we talked about losing our fathers whom we adored. we talked about her breast cancer, we talked about some of the things i had been through. i sang a song to her, she loved it. i now know she was lying because she hates my music and i hate hers. oh, yeah. but anyway, i remember going to the ladies room with her afterward and she really wanted me to do the show and i said, hoda, thanks, honey. i think if we did our show and we could do it like we just did lunch, we would have a good show. i'm not the surprise in this equation. people kind of knew what i was and who i was and what i did. the surprise is watching "dateline" hoda turn into happy hour hoda before our very eyes. and some of the things she says on the air, she reveals things about herself, have been my favorite moments in our six

years together. she -- once she learned that to get the ifb out of her ear and forget about the notes and just connect with me as a fellow woman, fellow human being, and just trust one another and go with her instincts, there was no going back at that point. she was -- she is a natural. she can go back and do heavy-duty news story any time. she has got those skills and those chops. but she is a terrific talk show host. she and i played ping-pong oh. and now the people come up to me and say the things they used to say to me and reg and the ratings are taking off. we had our best ratings period ever in six years. >> congrats. >> yeah, thank you. so those are the things that the business measures. i measure things differently. i never looked at the ratings. regis always did. hoda is the one that checks the ratings. i don't. i have to find out from other people. congratulations on the new year's eve special. it was the best ratings we have had in seven years. i go, really? i forgot to ask. how did we do? because, you know, i'm always

off to the next thing. i'm so grateful it's working out, though. i just adore her. >> that's obvious. >> i just adore her. and i respect her. and she makes me cry, just thinking about her. she is -- we've -- i'm grateful for our friendship. >> well, i'm sure she feels the same way. >> not really. hates my guts. >> no, no, your books. this most recent one. just when i thought i dropped my last egg, life and other calamitie calamities. >> yes. >> what inspires you? >> i was going through all kinds of menopausal things, peri and post. none of it pretty. and if you don't have a sense of humor and embrace it, it will put you in your grave before you want to be there. so i started to just start writing down sort of erma bombeck kinds of stories. and i had a ball doing it. because if you don't embrace the lunacy a little bit, the lunacy will destroy you. because life isn't fair. it just isn't. and if you're expecting it, you're going to be very, very, very deeply disappointed.

so you know what you can do? you be fair. you know? life isn't kind, so you know what, you be kind. and that's what i tried to talk about in that book. >> and she is the nicest person. can i just say for the record? anyway, we're going to have more of our conversation tomorrow at 12 noon when kathie lee and i take a trip down memory lane talking about regis, as well as her passionate turn as a broadway show producer. let's go now to today's number ones. capital in the capital. a new list of the wealthiest in washington. a center for response in politics study finds for the first time the majority in congress are millionaires. 268 having a net worth of at least $1 million. and the leader of this financial pack, california congressman darrell issa, worth $464 million. but that was back in 2012. the least among congress, david baladeo, his dairy farm losses put him in the red by $12 million. the booming oil and gas business has been a boost for north dakota and means plenty of jobs. moody's analytics says north

dakota this year will see a growth of jobs in more than 3.5%, the biggest increase in the nation. arizona's forecast is a 3% increase. texas, 2 3/4 percent. there's the capital dome. can you make it out? it's getting shell lacked and plastered by the snowfall rate of an inch an hour, near the rain/snow line. >> that was mike seidel's report from snowy indianapolis last sunday and made us yearn for a snowy get-away. palm springs, california, is the best place to go in the u.s. for a winter respite. san i bell and cap teva islands ranked second. and mccallan, texas third-best. those are your number-ones. ght? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪ or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading.

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welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. the latest reports on the cost of higher education show tuition still rising faster than the rate of inflation. according to a college board study, average tuition at public four-year universities costs $99,000 this year, a -- $9,000 this year, a 20% increase.

jordan wiseman suggests a way to make college at public schools tuition-free. too good to be true? let's ask him. jordan, so glad you're here to talk about this. look, somebody has to pay for college. so who is going to be paying the bill under this plan? >> well, so i first want to back up and start with a little bit of arithmetic that people tend to find really surprising. right now, students at public colleges spend about $63 billion in tuition each year, right? >> okay. >> the federal government, in all of its financial aid programs, across all colleges, spends about $70 billion. so if you took the money that the federal government now spends trying to make college inexpensive and affordable. >> give me some of the things that the federal government does so people understand the different programs. >> it's this hodgepodge. a lot of people don't realize how vast it's become. one of the big ones is pell grants for low-income students. and really even working-class students. but then about the same size is this vast array of tax breaks,

which actually, it's not really well-understood, but they disproportionally favor wealthier students and families. and so if you have this kind of quiet, you know, big financial aid system, that isn't really doing its job making college affordable. i think most of us would agree. it's making it a bit cheaper, but you still have this kind of rising student aid problem, student debt problem, and, you know, just -- it's, you know, the $1 trillion in student loans sitting on the economy right now, et cetera, et cetera. >> okay. so the way you break this down, you say $63 billion for all the kids in the country that want -- currently that would be going to public universities. that's how much it would cost for them to go and $70 billion is being put into these different programs. so does that mean that the federal government would make money, essentially, on a plan like this, and i'm also curious how this money would be dispersed. >> well, it gets complicated. i have kind of laid out my -- my dream world, the way it would work. you could try and do it through

the states, et cetera. give the states a certain amount of money, and an agreement about how colleges will be allowed to raise their tuition or not. but i think, you know -- will it make money or not? i think that's up in the air, because one of the things you have to consider, if more people -- public college was made cheaper, you would have to figure out how to deal with the influx. the main point, the system we have right now is sort of mind bendingly complex and not extremely effective. and in the united states we kind of have this allergy to straightforward solutions where you could say let's fund the public sector. you see the same thing in health care, where obamacare is incredibly complicated in part because we don't want a single-payer system. and so i think it's really -- works just to show that there are -- there could be simpler ways to do it if we wanted to. and if it were politically feasible. >> you had a previous column on this whole idea in which you questioned the value of the pell grant we have been talking about for the for-profit alternative

schools. you talk about this, 10/25/50 problem. explain that, okay? >> so this is one of those problems that i wish got more press. there has been this massive explosion at for-profit universities or students attending for-profit universities over the past 10, 15 years. and the thing is, they educate roughly 10% of all students or all undergraduates, all students, in our university systems. they are responsible -- they take about 25% of all student aid from the federal government. right? so 10% of students getting 25% of all aid. and then they -- because they're so, so expensive. and then they lead to about -- they are responsible for half of all student loan defaults. this problem with student debt, so much of it comes from this one predatory industry. and so right now our financial aid system just feeds directly into them, because there is very little the government can do to kind of cut off the spigot of money that goes to these schools. >> yeah.

fascinating articles you're writing on this. i'm glad you came on for the discussion. jordan wiseman from the atlantic. thank you. >> thank you. new revelations from the george washington bridge scandal document dump. what it means for new jersey governor chris christie, next. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups.

plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. fallout today from the release of more than 900 pages of documents in the so-called bridge gate investigation. the target security breach. it gets worse. perhaps more than 100 million americans exposed to hackers. shorter unemployment lines. why is that a sign of economic trouble? and going hollywood. anthony weiner stars as himself in a new political comedy. hello, everybody. good day. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." 1:00 in the east, 10:00 in the west. we have developing details so share in the george washington bridge scandal that rocked

governor chris christie's administration. the subpoena power due to expire tuesday, however the speaker-elect tells nbc he will call for a special session on thursday to consider extending it. since wednesday, the subpoena has unearthed thousands of pages of e-mails and text messages and other documents. and joining me now from trending with all the details is nbc news national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff. michael, take it away with this angle here, the call to extend the subpoena power. what is that telling you about the scope or ambitions of the assembly's investigation? >> reporter: well, first of all, it makes it very clear, this investigation is continuing, it's not going away. and if anything, it's expanding. i spoke a little while ago with john wisniewski, chairman of the panel conducting the probe. and says his investigation is widening in scope. there are more individuals he wants to hear -- he wants to hear, plans to subpoena. more e-mails, text messages. probabyl the most significant to

emerge in the last 24 hours is this e-mail that went to a woman named regina egea, top aide to christie, on september 13th, patrick foy, executive director of the port authority, wrote that scathing e-mail, calling these lane closures abusive, a threat to public safety, a violation of federal and state laws. he wants action on it. that e-mail gets forwarded by bill barony, one of christie's appointees to the port authority, to religion evena egea, staff member on christie's staff, who is assigned to all public authorities, including the port authority. and she has since been designated to be his chief of staff. so which is knew ski's people say this e-mail puts this issue right into the governor's office. and raises the question, what egea did about it, how she responded. there is no indication from the e-mails have that have been disclosed if she did respond in

any way. we now know she is notified about a potential violation of the law from the executive director of the port authority. what action was taken, what was discussed with christie, those are very much the central issues that are emerging right now. >> okay. so we're talking here about the assembly's effectiveness to further the investigation. but what about the federal inquiry, mike? what does that entail at this point? >> reporter: well, look. paul fishman, u.s. attorney in newark, put out a statement the other day saying he's reviewing. he got a referral from the port authority, he's reviewing to determine whether any federal laws are implicated. it was a very general statement. it's not clear whether there's going to be -- how far this goes. but you have that inquiry, you have potential inquiry from the new york attorney general, potential inquiry from the new jersey attorney general, although that post is currently

vacant. and as a result, you saw one of the key players in this, david wildstein, the other day invoke his fifth amendment rights. now, one can expect that other, certainly, former christie aides, including bridget kelly, who wrote that very damning e-mail that kind of caused all this to erupt, saying time for some traffic problems in ft. lee. that when they are called to testify, they will likely take the same route, invoke their fifth amendment rights, because any lawyer would tell them when there is possible criminal prosecutions, you do that. that means we will not get answers from key players in this for some time, which means this whole thing drags on for quite some time. >> okay. miket isikoff from trenton. at the half hour, we look at the key figures in the bridge controversy, and also the big three will weigh in with their thoughts. mean time, we're learning today as many as one in two adults nationwide may have been

exposed to the target credit and debit card breach, the worst data security hack in history. target now says up to 110 million customers may be victims. in addition to credit and debit card numbers, the cyber thugs also stole names, phone numbers and e-mail and home addresses. mean time, luxury retailer, niemann marcus, is also reporting a security breach, but at this point the company says it doesn't know how many customers may have had their information stolen. what should nervous customers do? heatha, people want answers here. you look at the target data breach occurring during one of the busiest shopping months, november 27th and december 15th, all the holiday shopping there. what should people concerned do if they think they may be victims? >> absolutely, alex. according to mint.com, it was the third-most shopped at store during the black friday weekend. $87 million spent during that black friday weekend.

so, of course, people are going to want to know what to do it to try to protect themselves. and one way to go ahead and do that is to scour your statements. it seems obvious, but it's something i think a lot of people in the united states don't do on a daily basis. also, you might want to go to free credit card report.com or look at a credit report to see if any charges have been made to your cards. also, you want to go ahead and look at different types of credit monitoring, as well, to make sure that, you know, again, you're keeping on top of that. >> okay. we've got target, we are also adding niemann marcus to the list. the u.s. seems woefully behind other industrialized countries when it comes to credit card security. do you think these incidents are going to now push us into the 21st century? >> yeah. we hope so. but you're absolutely spot-on there. when it comes to security and retailers in the united states, you know, not to be offensive, but they are very antiquateded when it comes to security and cyber security.

instead of spending a lot of their money, capital expenditures, on security and beefing that up, a lot of these retailers end up spending that money online, you know, to beef up sales online or maybe beef up sales in stores. so as we see these numbers come out, and i can guarantee you, more retailers are probably going to come out with more statistics about how they may have gotten hacked or, you know, down the line this may be an issue. you're going to see a lot more retailers spend that money to try to beef up that security. >> i'm curious about the impact on target. i mean, these kinds of things can further erode the trust of target and other stores. is there a palpable impact there? >> the word is trust. target has spent a long time trying to regain or gain trust in their shoppers. and maintain that trust. and, you know, talk about loss of market share. that basically means if they have a customer and shopper that goes to the store often, they want to make sure that that shopper stays at that store. so when something like this happens, shoppers end up going

to other stores that they are in competition with like walmart, kohls, for example. they'll start going there. so not only are they losing the trust of the shopper, they're also losing sales, and they're losing revenue at a very crucial time for the store. >> absolutely. hitha, thank you for ironing it out for us. a state of emergency is in effect for the third day in parts of west virginia, where a chemical spill has made it unsafe to drink or use the water. nbc's luke russert is live in the capital of charleston. and luke, another day of major hassles, hasn't it? >> reporter: hey there, alex. 15% of the state's population at this time still does not have access to clean, safe tap water. something that, as you can imagine, is very problematic for folks. people not being able to shower, can't really cook, can't really clean anything. can't do so much as carry on with their daily lives. local officials here have been pretty good about having a lot of water distribution centers up over the nine counties that are affected. and folks feel, in conversations

we've had, they have enough water. however, as the days go by, this becomes more and more difficult. it's unclear as to how long the water will be contaminated. there is a rain storm here in charleston earlier, which certainly makes things better, because it furthers along the dilution process. but officials are going to be testing water to see when that will be. another huge thing, though, here is the impact on local businesses. we have spoken to one sports bar, they're actually going to open today for the nfl playoffs, but instead of having their full menu, they'll have chips and alcohol as the gentleman said, and that's about it. he's going to lose some money. that's a lot of hotels and a lot of folks have not gone into work, losing paychecks because of this. expect the outrage against the company responsible. freedom, they're called. there will be a full-on investigation called for by both state and federal officials. it's already ongoing. but as far as how long this will continue, it's anyone's best guess right now.

alex? >> okay. thank you very much, luke russe russert. to front page politics and president obama is driving home his message of economic equality in his weekly address. >> we've got to keep creating jobs that offer new opportunity. and make sure those jobs offer the wages and benefits that let you rebuild some security. we've got more kids to educate. and families to get covered with health insurance. and an immigration system to fix. and we've got to make sure this recovery leaves no one behind. >> and as the president pushes his populus message, republicans use their weekly address to continue their attack on the affordable care act. >> republicans in the senate think we should repeal or defund the program. because of its cost. and complexity. the law is not living up to the promises made by its supporters. and it is questionable whether the law will meet its fundamental purpose. >> and in washington, d.c., demonstrators holding a rally today, marking 12 years since

the first detainees arrived at the prison at guantanamo bay. activists are demanding the facility's closure. long-time israeli later ariel sharon passed away this morning after eight years in a coma. today the former prime minister is remembered around the world as a powerful figure who stood at the center of controversy at multiple points during his time as a leader. and nbc's grant vincent is joining us from tel aviv. let's talk about the prime minister. he had such a major impact on israeli politics and the perception over multiple deca s decades. tell me more about that. >> reporter:el with, he has such huge significance in israeli society, alex. sometimes over this past week, his -- mr. sharon has been in his final hours, it seems like everybody was remembering their stories about him. one of the best ones i heard is from ariel sharon's time as prime minister when he was chairing a budget meeting of his party members, about some spending cuts that he was implementing.

one of the members said to him, prime minister, these cuts are killing the people. and mr. sharon's response to this was to lean forward and say, listen, i'm the only one in this meeting who has actually killed people. and then he leaned forward again and said, i did it with my bare hands. so he may have had a smile on his face when he said that, but it was that tough guy approach, which made the man. made him a vilified man amongst palestinians because of the often brutal military campaigns that he pursued against them. but crucially, made israelis confident in him when he decided the time had come to make concessions to the palestinians and to withdraw from some of the occupied territory, israelis felt confident he would keep them safe while he did that. and it is, of course, one of the big what-ifs of history in this region. where would the beleaguered peace process be right now if this strong man, if this man of action, had not been cut down. >> indeed. i know you're there in tel aviv, and grablted, the man was in a

coma for eight years, so perhaps the common conversation, the current conversation would die down a bit. but what are people saying today about his passing? >> reporter: well, it is, of course, shabat here, the holy day of jewish week so official reaction is slightly more muted than on a regular day. but there have been written statements from the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, talking about how ariel sharon's memory will be enshrined forever, and the president perez said ariel sharon knew no fear and never feared pursuing a vision. he used his nickname, eric, he said, loved his people and his people loved him. there will be a state funeral for mr. sharon. it will take place on monday. his body will lie in state at the israeli parliament tomorrow and he will be laid to rest at his beloved farm, his ranch in southern israel, alongside his wife. >> and we know our vice president, joe biden, among other dignitaries will be there

to attend. thank you very much. appreciate it. more americans are giving up looking for a job. so what can or will washington do to help them get back to work? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours.

we are learning new details about the controversy surrounding the george washington bridge lane closures and potential impact on new jersey governor, chris christie. >> at the end of the day, chris christie -- >> is still governor. >> is going to win the presidency if he runs and everything goes right. and he stays chris christie. >> let's say there is something else that comes out, politically dead as presidential candidate? >> if it's serious enough. and he has already got a big problem in that department because of the ads that can be made against him on this. >> the new jersey assembly speaker-elect tells nbc news, he is proposing to hold a special session thursday to consider legislation that would now reauthorize the subpoena powers,

which expire tuesday. all that comes after the new jersey legislative committee investigating the incident released thousands of pages of e-mails and text messages. governor christie certainly apologized thursday, saying he didn't know anything about the plan to tie up traffic for four days last september. he did so in a nearly two-hour press conference. joining me now, msnbc.com national reporter, susie kim and elise feebeck. elise, this latest news about the new jersey assembly speaker-elect saying i'm going to hold a special session, we want to extend these investigative powers, the subpoena powers. i mean, do you think that they think there's a whole lot more information out there? >> i think there certainly could be a whole lot more information out there, because we know at this point there are three or four separate investigations, maybe even five, that have yet to produce their full results that have yet to forward thousands of documents to both investigators and the press. so i think there are a lot more tails that could come out here. and certainly new jersey democrats smell blood in the water. i think that we have to remember that many of those lawmakers who

oppose christie also really dislike the guy. and they are going to go after him as much as they can, because in part, they want to ruin his presidential chances. so i think that this story is just beginning, and that people across the country are learning about it for the first time, which i'm sure is a concern to the christie administration as they look toward 2016. >> susie, as we look at new york magazine's jonathan sheaat, he says the scandal will probably destroy christie's 2016 prospects. to the other side, republican consultant mike murphy wrotes, this is all going to blow over by 2016. and you heard the sound bites we offered earlier, joe scarborough and jonathan alter on "the ed show" giving opposing views. so it looks like it's from the perspective of whoever is delivering them. the political perspective there. how about reaction in washington? what's the buzz? >> so what's interesting as the details sort of came out about this is that christie is being attacked not just by democrats, but by his conservative

opponents, those who believe -- who believed already he was too liberal, he wouldn't be a good nominee for the party. so he's really sort of getting battered on all sides. that said, it is awfully early. what we have seen so far in the documents that have come out as damning as they are is that it doesn't appear as of yet that there's concrete evidence that christie did know about this, that it was his idea, sort of directly involved in a way. and i do believe that is what the investigations are setting out to find out more about. >> okay. guys, i'm going to change gears here and talk about the weekly address today, elise, with you. the president having addressed the latest jobs numbers and the economy. he's calling 2014 a year of action. here's part of the address. >> and across our broader economy, there are signs of progress. our manufacturing and housing sectors are rebounding. our energy, technology and auto sectors are booming thanks in part to the reforms in the affordable care act, health care costs now eat up less of our

economy. >> the government reported the economy added 74,000 jobs in december while unemployment dropped to 6.7%. but the speculation is it's largely because a wave of americans have stopped looking for work. how do these numbers then bode for the obama administration, elise? >> it was a really difficult jobs report this week, alex, and certainly disappointing for supporters of president obama, who saw a great jobs report for november, in fact. so there are a lost economists who are puzzled by this. they think the numbers will ultimately be revised. that maybe there was some problem that we'll under later down the road. but certainly president obama, what he's trying to do is set a foundation for democrats to be able to run on economic growth ahead of the midterm elections. i think that that is the single issue that many democrats feel separates this election cycle from ones in the past that have been so disastrous for them. so i think obama is doing everything he can to make a broader argument that he has been able to pull the country out of the recession, and he's hoping that that kind of coat tail effects benefits his allies in congress. >> suze, what about the

president's repeated call for congress to renew that long-term unemployment insurance that expired on the 28th of last month? what are the chances the lawmakers are actually going to do that? >> so unfortunately, for the president, the bill to extend unemployment benefits definitely hit an impasse in the senate this week. earlier in the week, they had passed, voted to advance legislation that had been extended for three months, brought some republican senators over. then basically things started getting very heated again. republicans very angry they were shut out of certain negotiations. and basically there's been no progress made. folks are very skeptical that anything will make its way past the senate, much less the house, a much more difficult climb. so basically democrats, you'll see them using the latest jobs numbers, showing evidence that those unemployed for a long time still need help. it looks like a very tough climb right now for democrats in congress to get any kind of

extension for federal benefits. >> okay. suzy khimm, elise, good to see you. an arbitrator rules on a-rod. will he play? next. no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped 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. ♪ with limited availability in select markets. is a really big deal.u with aches, fever and chills- there's no such thing as a little flu. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so call your doctor right away.

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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. we've got some big news in baseball about alex rodriguez, an arbitrator has suspended the new york yankee for all of next season, including the postseason. a-rod has been under investigation for alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. he released a statement, denying the allegations and calls the rule an injustice. rodriguez says a federal judge will overturn the ruling. a de la rosa testify 3close federal inquiry of the closure of the george washington bridge. and behind the scenes with the executive producer. that's next. if you've got copd like me... ...hey breathing's hard. know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment

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seeking to extend the subpoena power under thousands of pages of e-mails and text messages about the george washington bridge scandal. there's still no smoking gun, but among those documents is a forwarded e-mail that some say could be the key to the probe. joining me now, one reporter far ahead of the pack on this story and that's the "wall street journal's" heather hadden. welcome back. i'm glad you're here. we've been talking about this for a few weeks now. let's talk about what you have put out, an article about this very important e-mail that we have been discussing today. the port authority director sent this furious e-mail questioning the lane closures. that e-mail was then forwarded to regina egea, the governor's incoming chief of staff. explain to the viewers why this is so important. >> reporter: well, it is important, because all along the governor has asserted he only learned about this recently, he questioned his highest-most staff when he did find out about it. and no one said they had any additional details to add, other than this was a traffic study. now, that e-mail from patrick

foy, who was a new york commissioner to the port authority, was absolutely livid over these lane closures, said there was potential state and federal laws that were broken by these closures. he said it could have been a safety risk, people could have been harmed, trapped in ambulances while these lanes were closed and all that traffic bottlenecked. and so this e-mail was sent to bill barony, who was christie's -- governor christie's ally on the port authority. and he sent that directly to regina egea friday. and that is the friday of the week that those lanes were closed. so that is very early. >> that's september, right? >> yeah, september 13th that she was sent. so what we don't know at this point is what she then did with that e-mail. there is no follow-up correspondence. did she -- she didn't remark on it. did she forward to someone else, pick up the phone, text someone? that we don't know. but it does show she was aware. and she is one of the governor's

ten senior-most staff. >> yeah. okay, now, you're telling me all this. especially on the heels of one of your articles on thursday, which called governor christie's administration exceptionally centralized. explain that and how hands-on he is. >> new jersey is known nationally for having a very powerful executive and governor christie is one of the most powerful in new jersey's history. so he's a very small cadre of senior staff, relies on them. he trusts them. he talked about that during the press conference, that he sees this staff like family. and that's why in part this was such a portrayal to him, as he put it, that he was lied to, because he trusts them so much. so, again, we don't know, but we would think that there would be some conversations, at least among the senior staff, if one of them was aware of these troubles with the closures. >> yeah. what about the article you put out last night in which you looked at the federal inquiry into this scandal. what does the u.s. attorney's probe entail at this point? >> so, so far u.s. attorney paul fishman, who replaced governor

christie when he was elected governor, has said he's opened an inquiry. he hasn't said he's taking the case or prosecuting it, but he is just making initial interviews so far. that means he's talking to people involved, talking to attorneys, looking at the case law. so for him to open this inquiry, he needs to show that federal laws were broken. there is, you know, some debate in talking to scholars on this, there might be a stronger case in the state level, that state level laws were broken. but we still have to see. he's expected to -- he's a very disciplined man, and he talks to a lot of people when he's opening one of these inquiries, but he is expected to, i think, decide on this quickly. >> people may remember that governor christie was the u.s. attorney for new jersey. before the election. what kind of relationship does he have with u.s. attorney's office right now? >> well, it's interesting. he was a very powerful u.s. attorney. he really made his name nationally for corruption investigations while he was in the u.s. attorney's office. he brought down many leading

officials, democrats, through prosecution he made there. when he switched over to the government side, he took many of his staff with him. so many of new jersey's senior commissioners, senior staff there, are former prosecutors. from the u.s. attorney's office. now, there are a few holdovers still there. but many of those people did leave when he took over as governor. >> okay. well, there's a lot more to come on this. i'm sure we'll be talking to you again. from the "wall street journal," heather hadden. many were blindsided friday by the december jobs report, falling well below expectations, closer to 200,000 jobs expected. mean time, over 1 million americans just lost their unemployment benefits. michigan congressman dan killedy is joining me to talk about this. i'm glad you're here to talk about the financial services committee on which you serve. do you think this jobs report is evidence that confirms that emergency unemployment insurance needs to be extended?

>> well, i don't think we need the jobs report to make that case. obviously, it's information that's problematic. we'll see if this is an anomaly or if the rate of economic growth oh will continue at the next jobs report. either way, this recovery has not been strong enough for us to eliminate emergency unemployment benefits. and so i mean, in a place like michigan, and this is true across the country, it takes people more than 20 weeks or 26 weeks to find new work. and we need to avoid, you know, creating real serious individual problems and economic problems downstream by making sure people have that support until they get their next job. >> sir, i know you led 49 freshman democrats urging speaker boehner for an immediate up or down vote to extend this insurance. how did that go? >> well, we'll see. obviously, we're a little disappointed the senate has not moved. but i don't think that excuses the house not taking this bill up. you know, we just have to look back a few years ago. before president obama was in

office, when george w. bush was there, the house voted 368-28 for extended unemployment benefits. it was a bipartisan vote, paul ryan voted for it, darrell issa voted for it. this was not really any different situation. except that president bush was in office. >> but what is the difference now then with the tenure? why do you think such the difference now? they cannot come to any sort of agreement here. >> it's hard to believe that things could be more partisan than when president bush was in office, but it's clear that it is. and there are many -- i think this is really an unfortunate commentary on congress. there are many in congress that will do anything to hand president obama a tee defeat. even if that defeat comes in the form of poor economic performance and higher unemployment. you know, it's a sad commentary that people in congress, many of them just don't think about the folks in their own district.

they're more interested in the politics of washington. >> if that assessment is true, sir, it's sad and stunning. what about the income inequality issue the president is touting? do you think that's going to resonate with swing voters this year? >> i think it will. i hear about it when i'm back home. i think one of the things that's important about it, when we talk about income inequality and we think about perhaps a minimum wage increase, i'm co sponsor of the hr 1010 which would lift the minimum wage $10.10. many political folks within the republican party think of economics as being a zero sum game. that if you increase income, then definitely you lose jobs, because there's only so much money to go around. well, that's never been the case. that's not the case when it comes to economic growth. henry ford figured that out 100 years ago, when he decided to pay his workers a wage that was twice what everybody else was getting, because he knew it would create more demand for the products he was creating. so i think this has a real, you know, resonance among voters out

there. and the fact that the economy is struggling is, i think, not just causing greater inequality, you know, in terms of earnings, but is actually caused by growing inequality. if we had stronger household incomes, our economy would be much stronger. >> yeah. makes sense. michigan democratic congressman, dan kilde, thank you for your time. amazon just released the season finale of "alpha house" the comedy about four southerners sharing a big house. there were a lot of big-name cameos, including a few friends of mine from nbc. and one man who is no stranger to drama. >> hey, guys, how are you? >> good, how are you? >> joining me now is the executive producer, jonathan

alter, author and msnbc political analyst. can i just ask you? anthony weiner? seriously? how did that happen? >> well, he told a newspaper the other day that it was because he's a friend of mine. but, you know, i'm not sure i would call him one of my closest personal friends. but i did ask the former congressman to participate. if you saw in that shot, tom brokaw. >> oh, yeah. >> chris jansing. >> jeffrey toobin, grover norquist. and chris jansing. what happened here, jonathan? did you lose my phone number? or what? >> we wanted you. you were busy. you can be in our next season. >> okay. i want to be. oh, my gosh. i love this show. it is hysterical. honestly, john goodman. i love his character. i love all the characters. these four senators all outlined so well. you know exactly -- and they reflect the states. i don't have to tell you, really a great one. >> i'm glad you like it. >> it's fun mu.

but the message about the state of politics and washington, are you trying to send one, or are you just trying to entertain? >> mostly we're trying to entertain. this is gary true dough, corrector of "doonesbury" is the creator and fellow executive producer of "alpha house." it's amazon's first show, the way netflix does -- >> cool, yeah. >> so mostly it's an entertainment show. but we do have particularly in the second half of the season john goodman at one point, his character explodes against the tea party. and all four of our republican senators who live together in this house on capitol hill, which is based on a house that senators durbin and is schumer live in, except we change it to republicans. they're all kind of squeezed between the tea party and their own instincts to be at least a little bit more moderate s. and in that sense, it's very real. this is where republicans who got to washington before the tea party, this is where they find

themselves. and so this happens to be the only one of these political shows on tv now that is set in a current, real context where obama is president, mcconnell is minority leader, and these senators are dealing with real issues. but we're not up on a soap box. >> yeah. >> it's mostly, you know, to have a good time. and you can binge on them. all 11 available. >> just came out yesterday. the final bit of the season. i'm curious your experience doing this as an executive producer. are you going to give up writing? >> no, not quiting my day job. no. no, i'm not going hollywood. >> have you enjoyed this? >> it's been a really fun change for me. and it's a nice part time thing for me to do, although when we get into our shooting schedule, it can become very, very time consuming to try to do it right. but it's just a great sort of mid career thing for me to do. in addition to writing and talking on msnbc. >> any teases? what you're going to tell us

about next season? >> there is a tease at the very end of the finale. you see a little tease as the credits roll of jane pauley interviewing senator vernon schmidt's. played by bill murray, who those who follow the show might remember was in our pilot. >> he was. >> in the first episode. so he shows up at the very end of the last episode, and that's a bit of a tease about what might be coming. >> thank you very much, jonathan alter. you should be having some hollywood beret. "alpha house" awesomely fun n. e the divide over the same-sex marriage in utah. the tug of war, next. i'm nathan and i quit smoking with chantix.

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featured every monday. susan del persio and morris reid. glad to have you here. thanks for joining me. you first, goldie. where does governor chris christie go from here? >> there are a lot of facts that remain to be seen. but i think the theory that rachel maddow put out the other night that this is more than just an endorsement this may be about court-packing on the new jersey supreme court. which christie had every right to do. but when democrats push back on him, there seems to be a price to pay for that. and so as that theory begins to unspool itself, i think there's more trouble ahead of remember these words. section 5 k departure. that means a deal cut. that if one of these deputy chiefs of staff, one of these port authority directors or employees decides to turn evidence and say that chris christie was directly involved in this and cut a deal, a get out of jail free card, chris

christie's political life is over. >> well, okay. we're going to listen for that. but i guess picking up on that, susan, with you, a liberal coalition oh of unions and nonprofits in new jersey has launched a petition calling for governor christie to resign. should he? >> no, absolutely not. and, you know, until -- unless there is something proven, he can weather this. but when you ask what's next, what's next is actually tuesday is his state of the state speech. and that's the next time he's going in front of the press corps. and it's going to be interesting to see how he chooses to handle that within -- how he gives his plans for the state. following that week, you have his inauguration speech. so that was supposed to be a lot of pomp and circumstance with the statue of liberty in the background. it will be interesting to see if he decides to tone that down quite a bit. >> i'm curious, morris, what you see as being the biggest challenge for the governor in days and weeks ahead. >> i think the biggest challenge for him is to be focused. i think he's handled it already by firing the person. he should call for his own

independent party to look into the investigation and wash his hands of this. but the real question to me, i think, is the democrats may overplay their hands here, and give this guy a platform. if you remember, the storm that happened with sandy, gave him a platform and he performed very well. he tends to perform well under pressure. and so we have a lot of people in the new jersey side who think they're doing hillary clinton a favor. this may be giving him a platform to show that he is actually ready for prime time. because he did handle the storm situation. so i would be very cautious. i think this is a double-edged sword and i think this guy is ready and he'll come away from this thing in good shape. >> okay. we're going to switch gears now and move on to what now. and this is for you first, goldie, as politico writes, the obama administration will recognize the marriages in more than 1,000 same-sex couples married in utah before the u.s. supreme court issued an order monday effectively halting the practice in that state. attorney general eric holder announced friday political calls this something of a rebuff, because utah's governor is

refusing to recognize the same-sex marriages in his state. what do you think is going to happen here? what's next? >> i think the obama administration did the right thing, because those thousand-plus families were really in a bit of a legal limbo. unable to access more than 1,100 rights and things that are available to people who are married. and so i think the obama administration certainly did the right thing. it remains to be seen, however, what the appeals court does and how this trickles itself up to the supreme court. that will mean a lot as a test case for, you know, what's happening in the states around the country. i do believe that same-sex marriage is going to become legal as a national thing sometime in our near future. utah is just one of those places that we thought we were going to get, you know -- have a little more progress a little sooner. >> but morris, okay, this move means the federal government will recognize the marriage, even if the state of utah does not. what kind of confusion does that cause? for example, how do you file state versus federal taxes? that's just one thing. >> well, our government is

pretty good about causing confusion, i can assure you of that. but i think that this president and this administration is trying to be on the right side of history, trying to show some leadership, and there are a lot of politics at work here, as well. so i don't i don't think they're worried about the confusion cost. they're really worried about getting ahead of this and showing some leadership. it's unfortunate -- same-sex marriage will be legal. people need to get on the right side of history. >> to that end, susan, marriage equality clearly is growing in this country. do you think the republican party is going to have to eventually accept this reality, even if they are personally opposed to it and if they're going to do that, how would they go about it? >> they absolutely are going to have to accept it. and this case in utah is a perfect example where the federal government, i believe, rightly recognized these legal marriages. republicans have to start opening up the tent. they're losing their voters as they get older, they die and there are younger people coming who want to come into the party but they accept things like

being pro-choice and accept things like gay marriage. even if it's not going to be the way the entire party goes, they have to be willing to at least welcome people in. >> and goldie, you agree, you think it's going to go federal and how long a period of time -- look how far we have come, how much longer till you think it is a national standard? >> i think we are probably a good decade away from us having a national standard that covers all 50 states. but we're still fighting over roe v. wade, which is settled law from the early '70s. i think it continues on for a couple of more decades. >> america's relations with a nuclear superpower is next.

let's go back to "the big 3" for their best and work of the week. we'll start with you, goldie. best and worst? >> my best of the week is the

bergen county record. it's always been one standout local newspaper. they certainly proved their mettle this week as they broke the chris christie story around bridgegate. in terms of my loser of the week, it is florida state attorney angela corey whose office tried to put marisa alexander into jail because they said she violated the terms of her probation. she clearly did not and marisa is still free. >> tell us who she is. >> she's the young woman in florida convicted of firing a warning shot. was unable to use "stand your ground" as a legal defense as george zimmerman was able to do when clearly she was in a very different and defensive situation. she went to jail. there are so many of us around the country still today fighting to make sure that she stays out of jail. >> particularly interesting in the very same state where all that happened.

susan, best and worst? >> the best goes to wyoming senator mike enzy. probably would have stayed in the news a little longer if it wasn't for the person with the worst week, chris christie. as much as i'm a supporter of his, have to recognize he's having a tough week. it should have been a great week. he signed the state's version of the dream act the day before this broke. and he was going to kick off his tour with the rga next week. this was a really rough week. >> that whole dream act thing got buried ant back page. morris? >> mine was for quantitative easing, extending it. we had very poor job numbers. there was an debate on whether to extent it. we need to create jobs. my loser of the week, the u.s./india relations. this is a problem and we need to fix it and the white house needs to pay attention to this and get this under control. >> and they've taken away

security barriers. it's a mess. thanks so much, goldie, susan and morris. i appreciate it. that is a wrap of "weekends with alex witt." see you right back here tomorrow at noon eastern. up next, try poligrip for partials. poligrip helps minimize stress which may damage supporting teeth by stabilizing your partial. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth. is a really big deal.u with aches, fever and chills- there's no such thing as a little flu. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so call your doctor right away. tamiflu treats the flu in people 2 weeks and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing, have serious health conditions,

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nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. right now on msnbc, unanswered questions. >> do you have plans to subpoena records from anybody else? >> we need their documents first so we can understand what took place and then bring them in and ask them questions under oath. >> who would have thought that you would punish any elected official by closing the george washington bridge? >> good afternoon, i'm milissa rehberger in for craig melvin. in just days, the committee that exposed the chris christie scandal could lose its power to question the major players. will we ever find out who knew about the shutdown of the bridge? steve kornacki joins us with his latest