he's no longer an impartial arbiter of the facts. he's announced he doesn't believe governor christie. >> this story interestingly enough don't start with republicans. it started with "the wall street journal." >> he shouldn't be on this. it's a partisan witch hunt. >> new details on the investigation of governor christie's office. good sunday afternoon. right now, there are calls for a new investigation into the latest claims of political payback you saw first on msnbc. meanwhile, the governor is busy fund raising in florida. we'll get the latest from one of the investigators. he came there with the

intent to take as much material down as he possibly could. >> there's a reason he ended up in the hands, the loving arps of an fsb agent in moscow. >> was russia responsible for the edward snowden leaks? questions of top lawmakers. live with a member of the house intelligence committee. running the risks on the championship weekend, president obama says nfl players know the danger of head injury. even equating them to smokers who know the risks. we'll talk live with quarterback jim mcman and jim nowiski. it can awaken a sense of impossible. >> entertain and empower. a magician travels the world bringing smiles to forgotten children. but first, new jersey governor chris christie continues the fund raising swing in florida. nbc's kelly o'donnell is joining

us from palm beach, florida. kel kelly? >> reporter: good afternoon. governor christie is flying back to new jersey after a very big weekend in florida. today events to raise cash for the republican party and bring in new do lors, as well. one event hosted by co-founder of home depot ken langone. part of the mission of christie here in florida to support the republican governor of this state in his re-election bid. all of this was scheduled before the trouble that has really engulfed the christie administration back in new jersey related to the bridge scandal and the traffic woes and some new allegations against senior aides in his administration. christie kept the commitments here. was mixing and mingling with donors. we're told he was well received, able to present a check to florida governor rick scott for $2.5 million from republican

governors association funds. that's his new role, the head of the organization, picked by governors in november and the trip that should be on the political schedule. a question going forward is will the scandal and the investigations and all of that attention around his administration dampen what he is able to do politically? will it affect the national stature. some of things will have to be seen as events unfold but we can say he's scheduled to go to texas and illinois next month to continue raising cash for 36 governor's races around the country. a busy weekend for chris christie. he wasn't seen in public with any of the officials and certainly did catch a glimpse of him going in and out of lovely areas where fund-raisers always happen. >> thank you. meanwhile, governor's office firing back against the allegations by hoboken, new jersey, mayor dawn zimmer saying two senior members of the governor's administration warned

her last spring that her city would be starving of hurricane sandy relief money unless she approved a redevelopment plan approved by the governor. the spokesman said the administration helped hoboken get the money they need and adding, quote, the governor and mayor zimmer have had a productive relationship with the mayor saying she's saying she's very xwlad he's their governor. it's clear they come out of the woodwork to get their faces on television. i want to bring in gordon johnson, a member of the select committee on investigation, a panel looking into the george washington bridge closures today. there are calls for new investigation following the allegation that is hoboken mayor -- steve kornacki reported this morning that new jersey senate chairman nick scotari is calling for an investigation of an independent bipartisan panel

to open an investigation into her claims. he released this statement, quote, this latest evidence of government abuse supported by contemporaneous writings of mayor zimer is broader in scope than the george washington bridge lane closing. where does this play in the overall investigation of this. >> i believe -- thank you for having me on today. >> thank you for coming. >> as a member of this panel, we are now in the early stages, of course, and as any investigator will tell you, you go to where the investigation takes you. we're now -- it took us to the governor's office. now, as for the claims made by major zimmer, which are very troubling, and it's abuse of power, but when i look -- when you look at the similarities and these two incidents, lane closures and the money being deprived of the hoboken residents, there are two theme that is kind of come together

here. it's elected officials, the people they represent are being punished because the elected officials didn't do what somebody wanted to do, for the lee and the use of the george washington bridge. redevelopment. there's a large redevelopment project going on in ft. lee, a billion dollar project going on and of course the redevelopment claims made by the mayor zimmer for the section of hoboken. so as i sit on the committee i'm looking to get -- when the information comes back, it's something i'm looking into. i find that fascinating, redevelopment at both locations and also people who are empow empowered are making the -- punishing the people, who the elected officials represent, making them pay the price because they didn't do what they wanted them to do. >> i want to switch gears to the investigation already under way.

form former mayor judy julgiuliani w on "meet the press." let's listen to that. >> okay. >> there's a conclusion of the investigation that he believes the governor is not telling the truth. he should not be handling this investigation. gives it no sense of credibility and it clearly is a partisan witch hunt. >> you're a democrat. the committee's chaired by a democrat. is this investigation politically motivated in any way? >> this is a policy investigation. about the abuse -- we're investigating the abuse of power and a bipartisan committee. both the senate side and the -- on the side of the assembly, lower house. both committees bipartisan. i think mr. giuliani's claims are baseless. >> he's also calling on chairman wisniewski to stand down saying he doesn't believe that the governor is telling the truth and pointed to comments like

this by the chairman. let's listen to that. >> what we do know is that someone senior in his staff sent an e-mail to close the lanes. we know that senior people in his staff were involved? trying to do damage control and come up with a story for it. i have said that with all of his senior people in the midst of a re-election year, it's hard to believe he knew nothing until january 8th. >> do you feel the chairman should step down? >> i do not. i believe he's done a good job up until now and will continue to in this investigation. and i find it hard to believe that all of these senior people and miss kelly who worked in his shadow could initiate or cause or have a four-day traffic -- cause a four-day traffic delay without someone in the senior staff and inner circle knowing about it. she works in his office. >> all right. new jersey assemblyman johnson,

thank you for joining us. >> thank you. president obama got some support for the nsa reforms from key members of the congressional intelligence committees today. dianne feinstein and mike rogers appeared on nbc's "meet the press." feinstein says it won't damage national security. let's listen to that. >> i think that what the president has said is that he wanted to maintain the capability of the program, that as chairman rogers said, it's not been abused or misused and carried out very strictly vetted and professional people. >> let. >> bring in california democrat congressman schiff from the house intelligence committee. welcome aboard. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you, you bet. >> you have introduced legislation to restructure the metadata plan. is it line with what the

president is proposing? >> very much because it would restructure the metadata program, end the government's bulk collection as the president said he wants to. it would also immediately put into effect where they would have to go to the fisa court before querying data in the database and goes beyond what the president said because it specifies that the telephone companies hold on to their data. i think that's where we're headed because government will enact that reform or the program will sunset next year and the effect is the telephone companies hold their own data. >> the fate of edward snow den, the man that exposed the surveillance programs has come again after the -- up again after the president's speech on friday. here's what republican league on the intelligence committee chairman mike rogers had to say. >> let me just say this. i believe there's a reason he

ended up in the hands, the loving arms of an fsb agent in moscow. i don't think that's a coincidence. number one. >> you think the russians helped snowden? >> i don't think it's a gee whiz luck event he ended up in moscow under a the handling of the fsb. >> do you agree with him? >> i think certainly there are questions to be answered. we don't know the answers but there's suspicious facts and for me the most significant is there were thousands and thousands of documents that snowden took that a paramount interest to the russian and chinese military and no implication in terms of american privacy and if he's motivated by protecting privacy at home or even some privacy interests of foreign citizens, there's no reason to take the many thousands of documents so the question is, why would he take them? was he deliberately trying to help foreign services or

unwittingly helped the same foreign services? we don't know the answer but you got to believe we're going to do our best to find out. >> president obama spoke last week to "the new yorker" and the editor wrote this. the president told me, i do not have a yes/no answer on clemency for edward snowden. that is active case where charges have been brought. there could be an argument there's no nsa e view without snowden. what do you think should happen to him given that? >> well, you know, he certainly sparked and kindled a very important debate in the country and true without the disclosures we wouldn't have this vig you public discussion. at the same time, i think the president pretty much put that to rest in his speech the other day pointing out you can't have a system where people that work in the intelligence community make a unilateral decision. i think the program is better off in the public domain and declassify on their own whatever they choose to.

it won't work. it won't protect the national security and no intelligence service run that way. so i think that pretty much answers the question of whether the president intends any kind of clemency. the factors may be mitigating at sentencing but snowden had a powerful case had he not fled to china and russia and stayed here at home and made the case that he was abouting in a civilly disobedient way with the privacy interests at stake. >> all right. adam sniff of the house intelligence committee, thank you very much. >> you bet. coming up, hacked at home. how attackers are hitting your appliances. and developing now, new terror threats against the olympic games. 18 days away. richard engel is live in russia with new information. hall of famer dennis rodman is now in rehab again. with me turning her home into an ice rink. ♪

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new developments this hour out of russia. there's a new terror threat of a group to be behind recent bombings in the country. the group issues threats to the government promising more attacks in the upcoming games. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live in moscow with more on the developing story. what do we know about the new threats and who's behind them? >> reporter: they appear to be the most specific threats against the olympic games and people who made them are actually already dead. they carried out twin suicide bombings over the new year's. and this video which was released today was their final testimonial that martyrdom video and the two suicide bombers speak before the attack and explanation their aintentions and they say that the attack

about to carry out is just the start, the start of a wave of i tacks and that more will follow, specifically targeting the olympic games. they don't say where or if it will be an olympic venue but some kind of attack that could punish vladimir putin to also harm the russian security forces and they specifically mentioned foreign tourists. who this group is and where these threats are coming from, coming from the islamic emirate of the caucuses and that is an islamic militant group operating in chechnya and dagostan primarily. >> putin is visible talking about the games. how extensive are the security measures in sochi? >> reporter: they're very extensive. it would be difficult to get an explosive device anywhere near the opening ceremony, there's airport-like security almost

everywhere you look. you have to wear a very large badge to get into the facility. you go through medical detectors. you go through those specialized detection equipment to see if you have any sharp objects under the clothing like they have at many airports in the united states. bomb sniffing dogs. the problem doesn't seem to be from what i've seen the olympic venues, although nothing is perfect. but this is a very large country. and the militants as they never do didn't say where they might plan to try and attack at least. >> all right. nbc's richard engel live in moscow, thank you very much. a big blow to the nfl. a judge ruled a landmark settlement doesn't go far enough to reward injured players and families. we'll talk live with former pro athletes coming up. plus, out of work and now out of luck. the new federal budget doesn't extend unemployment insurance. what's next for millions of americans trying to find a job?

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as the nfl conference championships get under way, there's a cloud over the league. last week a judge rejected a $765 million settlement between the nfl and more than 4,500 retired players. they sued the league accusing them of hiding the dangers of concussi concussions. the settlement was rejected out of concern it won't provide money for the payouts, medical tests and treatment. joining me now is quarterback jim mcmann and ed nowistski. jim, i went to start with you. in an interview, president obama weighed in on the state of concussions in the nfl saying this. at this point, there's little bit of a caveat emptor. they know what they're doing, buying into. it is no longer a secret. it's sort of a feeling i have about smokers, you know?

what is your reaction to the president equating nfl players to smokers when it comes to understanding the risks? >> well, i don't understand that equation. but all i know is that i agree with the judge this time around. i think she was right. that wasn't enough money and hopefully now it gets resolved shortly so the guys suffering really bad can get the help that they need. >> chris, let's talk about the class-action lawsuit. the judge said it didn't pay enough. can a dollar amount be placed on what the retired players are really experiencing? >> well, at this point, it's just an estimate because we can't yet diagnose chronic tragic enreceive lop think while people are alive. we don't know how many develop it going forward and it is really hard to wrap your arms around it. hopefully that's enough bun the reality is that's enough money, the payouts will be small for the people having this and in

our group, 52 of first 54 players had cte. >> jim, you are part of that lawsuit. can you tell us what kind of medical issues you and your teammates have experienced? >> well, i was going through tremendous pains in my head, loss of memory. and just an overall, you know, i just didn't want to do anything. i can see now why some of my former teammates committed suicide. i was at the brink n.i.c.e. the pain was so bad that you don't know where to turn. >> how many concussions did you have while playing? >> i think there was three to five of them that were documented. i don't really know the exact number. >> well, chris, you've helped build a brain bank as it's called as former athletes and players donate their brains for research about cte. what have you discovered so far? >> well, this disease was basically ignored by the medical community.

since it was first named punch drunk in 1928 and the brain bank with 190 brains of former athletes and diagnosed more cases of this disease than the rest of the world combined and started a research infrastructure to maybe some day have a treatment for this. you know, for example, with the brain bank, the brain tissue is seated research studies at 20 universities around the world trying to understand the basics about this. how's it start and progress and how might we be able to treat it going taurd? do you find more athletes and families participate now? >> it is. families are more willing. partially because people like jim talk about this. he very early on pledged his brain to the brain bank and now we have over a thousand athlete that is pledged that. it's much easier to do the research and funding for it and we are in a much better place than five years ago still debating whether or not this disease was real. >> jim, in that same interview with "the new yorker" president obama said that if he had a son he would not let him play pro

football and a sentiment brett favre shared. knowing what you know now, would you let your sons play? >> knowing what i know now, yes. i think the game is getting safer. i think all sports will be getting safer with the treatment that i have received the last couple of years, i think these doctors are on the breakthrough of something tremendous and hopefully, you know, very soon that all of this stuff will get out into the mainstream. >> can you tell us what kind of treatment you have received? >> what they found causing my probables is my spinal fluid was backing up into my brain and how they found that, they went through an mri and a weight bearing mri and then they showed that the spinal fluid was not getting out because c-1 and 2 were choking off the spinal fluid and backing up into my brain. and they were able to alleviate that by -- i can't remember the

name of the procedure. i was just talking about it in connecticut two nights ago but, see. now you know i do have some brain issues. it get it is fluid flowing on the proper path again and alleviated a lot of my pain. >> chris, what do you think is next for the nfl lawsuit? >> well, you know, from what i understand the nfl -- the lawyers will have to show the work of how they came up with the dollar figure and actually going to be able to cover former nfl players for 65 years and then i guess up to the judge to decide whether or not that is enough. >> well, thanks to both of you. jim, i'm sorry you went through so much pain and glad to hear you're feeling better and wish both of you very good luck going ahead with this. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you both for joining us. we'll be right back. new depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com

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coming from your own home. nbc news reports that hackers broke into more than 100,000 gadgets including tvs, multimedia centers, routers and believe it or not, at least one refrigerator. and used the appliances to send out more than 750,000 malicious e-mails between december 23rd and january 6th. michelle richardson is legislative council for the american civil liberties union. she joins us now. thank you for that. whether it's people hacking you or a camera watching you down the street, what is our expectations of privacy anymore? >> well, people do have different ideas about what privacy means today. but they do really value control over their own information. some people definitely choose to share more about themselves over social media and other things like that but fundamentally we understand that the information should stay within our own control. and that's really the difference between the relationship between a person and let's say a private

company like google and the government. we can choose to share our information with companies but the government can make us turn this information over. >> well "the new york times" reports interesting numbers. number of homes in the united states with private security cameras increased by about 5 million last year to 15 million homes. similar ins crease is expected this year. does this concern you at all? people may be trying to protect their own homes but it puts that much more information about private citizens out there, not j u.s. a person who puts a security camera in their own home but whoever visits that home. does it become more tricky that way? >> it does. people should be aware that cameras are just everywhere these days, ipad or your phone or now in these home monitoring systems and that we can always be on video. but the important thing is that there are laws in place to make sure that that video and other information isn't misused by the government or individuals.

>> given everything that you have just said, how difficult is it becoming to balance rights to privacy and security? >> well, we think that's a false dichotomy. a lot of the reports that have come out over the last several months have proven that the surveillance programs don't keep us any safer. they don't prevent terrorist attacks or crime and they're actually of little value of finding suspects after the fact. so it's really more security theater that makes us feel better but doesn't really work and why often these sorts of things are not worth the tradeoff. >> where in your opinion can american vs an expectation of privacy? >> well, i think we're going through a growing phase right now. we have to remember that social media, online refrigerators, they're very, very new and people are learning to live with these new technologies and realize they need to be very mindful about what information they share. but we also need to recalibrate.

this means going back to the laws after 9/11 and making sure that this information isn't just willie nilly handed over to the government. >> michelle richardson from the aclu, thank you very much. >> thank you. after years of wrangling, congress finally passed a budget but lawmakers failed to approve emergency federal jobless benefits for long-term unemployed americans expiring in december and left more than 1.3 million americans without the additional help. right now it is up to the states, most provide 26 weeks of benefits. two, massachusetts and montana, provided more. with me is la shawn daniels palmer, a mother of four whose benefits were cut off at the end of december. and also, pennsylvania democratic congressman matt cartwright. la shawn, you have been working for a job since the summer. you were on the show last month and talked about how concerned you were about losing those federal benefits. you now that that's happened, how are you getting along?

>> we're struggling. it's difficult. we're making due until something passes. >> describe the reality of what that feels like to people who haven't been through it yet and hopefully will not. >> it's unnerving, unsettling. you don't know what's going to happen. when the next month comes along. you may be all right for the first month but what about the second month? and everyone that is in this situation, people that i know, are concerned. >> congressman, what do you say to people like lashawn struggling to find a job and make ends meet? >> well, it is the same thing, melissa, we have been saying on the floor of the house. since mid december. la shawn -- by the way, i'm coming to you from downtown philadelphia and rabid eagles fans, la shawn and we love people named la shawn. >> thank you. >> but december 28th, melissa,

was when la shawn was cut off and she cut off with 1.3 million other people. that's up to 1.4 million people now. who are being cut off of long-term unemployment. you know, we are coming up on martin luther king day tomorrow. and one of my favorite quotations from dr. king is when he said, our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. and we have not been silent on the democratic side of the aisle in the house of representatives. i was very proud and pleased to be asked by my fellow freshman representatives eric swawell out of california and dan kildee out of michigan to join a protect of the fact that speaker boehner did not bring up the bill to extend long-term unemployment benefits. it is a shame. it is unprecedented. right now, long-term unemployed

constitute 2.6% of those in the workforce. long-term unemployment rate right now. the highest it ever was before since 1959 when they cut off long-term extensions is 1.3% and now double what it ever was before cutting the folks like la shawn off. it's the wrong thing to do. it is unprecedented. and that's why we are raising our voices on the democratic side of the aisle against this. >> la shawn, the congressman obviously does not represent your district but what would you like limb to take back to the house of representatives and explain to them about how you feel about all of this? >> i would like him to take back that there are other individuals like myself that are taking up training, changing careers, looking to relocate in terms of finding work. not within the five boroughs and searching diligently. we're just not sitting back, not looking, not searching, not

trying to advance ourselves with training and workshops. we are but we still need support. >> congressman, at the end of the year, congress promised swift action on the issue and here it is, middle of january. congress is on another recess. why has washington not been able to get this done? >> well, here's the problem, melissa and lasean. we're up against the mind-set that has people believing that folks like lashean are living high on the hog. what do you get, $350 a week, something like that. >> yeah. >> that's ridiculous. they think she is not out there looking for work. she is looking hard every day. and they just -- they think it's a waste of money that they're encouraging people to be unemployed. it is quite the opposite. it is sustaining people who through no fault of their own

are unemployed. this program was started under george w. bush, this long-term relief because of the financial crisis that started in 2008 under his watch. we are not out of the crisis yet. we are not out of the woods. the economy recovery is still shaky at this point. and remember, not extending this costs another 240,000 jobs in our economy because all of that money, you know, lashean doesn't take that $375 and put in it an account. she spends it to keep body and soul together. this is money that goes right back into the economy and it's creating other jobs. it is keeping this recovery which is shaky and unsteady, keeping it going. we need to keep going that and that's why you hear my voice and those of many others on the house floor saying we have got to bring this up. >> to you both, thank you and best of luck in your efforts.

truly. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> after the latest episode in north korea, dennis rodman checked himself into rehab. according to his agent, he is at an undisclosed facility to treat the long-time struggle with alcoholism. for cross-country, classical. and for jumps, i need something...special. so i use my citi thankyou visa card for music downloads and earn two times the points... plus a little extra inspiration. [ ♪ music plays ] the citi thankyou preferred visa card. earn two times the points on entertainment and dining out with no annual fee. citi, with you every step of the way. [ male announcer ] wintcannot take a sick day. [ coughs ] [ male announcer ] so when he catches a cold, he's got to power through it. ♪ vicks dayquil. powerful non-drowsy 6 symptom cold and flu relief. winter olympian ted ligety can't take a sick day tomorrow.

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♪ and first ever back-to-back champion. guts. glory. ram. helping poor children through magic. today's big idea. magicians without borders is an organization performed in more than 40 countries. teaching disflynn, self confidence and empowerment by giving them a new skill. >> magic is a universal language. i don't speak burr these and hindy or arabic but i speak magic. all children speak imagimagic. >> ryan bart is with the organization. tell us more about how you got involved. >> hello.

thank you so much for having me. i got involved and always a dream of mine and about a year ago when i was graduating from university, i received a fulbright scholarship to live in colombia. at the moment i received news of the scholarship, i called up tom vernon the founder of magicians without borders and wanted to bring it to colombia and we made it happen. >> tell us how learning magic helps children. >> well, as you just heard tom say, magic, when you learn it you learn valuable skills such as responsibility focus and discipline and there's a serious component of empower when a child can stand up in front of an audience and perform magic. >> well, watching this video, it is amazing. not one child not smiling so that's wonderful. who what are the tricks you teach them and can you show us one? >> i can show you a trick. we teach them basic card tricks,

trick that is are visual such as making pictures appear in a coloring book, a lot of skills that require manual dexterity and abstract thinking that can help them with whatever direction they choose to go in. so would you like to see a trick? >> absolutely, of course. >> wonderful. so i have a rubik's cube here. it's the source of frustration for many. no? >> yes. i personally have never solved it. >> they definitely. are. they're challenging and as much as it looks, is how many of the lives of the people we work with around the world feel. hopeless, chaotic. but with magic, we can change the way in which we confront reality. and our realities can begin to change and if we truly believe in magic, we can extend the helm of possibility. >> no way. >> make the impact possible.

>> that is incredible. you're going to have to teach me that. >> thank you. >> ryan bart -- >> we can go over it. >> all right. ryan bart, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> do you have a big idea that's making a difference? tweet us with #whatsthebigidea. time now to flash back to this day in 1977 when president ford on his final day in office pardoned tokyo rose, the u.s. citizen convicted of treason for broadcasting japanese propaganda in world war ii. >> the very beginning was world war ii when she was one of more than a dozen women known as tokyo rose. she said that her broadcasts were noent entertain allied soldiers, not demoralize them. >> after all these years, it is hard for me to believe it's all over and the pardon is really true. t score.

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the war of words its escalates over governor chris christie's george washington bridge scandal. let's bring in our panel. beth, let's start with you. as we've reported, hoboken new jersey mayor, who's a democrat, claims that two christie administration officials threatened to withhold sandy relief funds unless she backed a redevelopment project supported by the governor. she said those conversations happened last may, and she first revealed them on msnbc yesterday. those officials have disputed the mayor's allegations, calling them completely false. today mayor zimmer was asked on cnn why she waited to long to go public. let's listen to that first. >> i don't think people would have believed me. at that time, they hadn't carried out their threat. i thought if i came out with that we surely wouldn't get the funding. >> do you think her explanation

makes sense? >> well, it has to make sense because there's absolutely nothing good in this for her to go forward by basically jeopardizing, as she said in that sound bite, sandy funds going forward. there's no reason why she would have done this unless it was the truth. that's why she took significant risk bringing it forward. she's been called credible by others in her state. it's a very serious allegation. >> esther, regardless of the timing, the comments will be investigated. let's listen. >> i'm not sure what caused mayor zimmer to wait until now, but clearly the allegation she was asked to support a redevelopment project where there was funding from the port authority, which we're investigating, in turn for her getting money for her municipality raises serious questions. we don't know where it goes. we don't know if there's more to it. but i think it's something the committee has to consider.

>> so how do you think these allegations could affect the political future of governor christie? >> i think this will come down to an issue of framing and narrative. there are multiple constituencies that chris christie appeals to. on the one hand, there's the one which the media will articulate the very arguments around whether or not this represents the moment that christie's presidential aspirations for 2016 died. that's one potential. the other narrative is there's a difference between who votes in a primary, who votes in presidential elections, how the party deals with it, and how the media deals with it. for chris christie, this could be one of those moments where he talks about weathering the storm beside his people, willing to ride it out. so depending on how this is framed, because we keep hearing we don't know how this is going to play out yet. why did she come so long? there's a framing happening here. in politics, it is not the truth that really matters. it's the perception of that truth, who believes what truth, and how you can frame it to serve your ultimate agenda,

intention, and winning election potential. >> peter, let's turn to you. former new york mayor rudy giuliani said today that the assemblyman is already tainted. let's listen to that. >> when you announce before you even investigate you don't believe the subject of the investigation or the person who's the ultimate focus of the investigation, it seemed to me the assemblyman has an obligation to step down. he's announced he doesn't believe governor christie. >> do you think he should recuse himself? >> well, it certainly seems like there's an awful lot of politics being played here, and that is what is going to be litigated. whether or not he should i think is for others to decide. but this is -- what this shows us is that this really opens up a very big political can of worms that is going to be with us for a long time. this is something that's going to continue to play out over the next couple of years as we get

into the presidential election season with chris christie basically at the top of the rung, top of the ladder already in terms of republican presidential candidates. he's going to be a big target, and people are going to go after him. >> yeah, and you know, i would argue that this in many ways could be worse than the bridge scandal. the only reason governor christie has a national profile is because of his handling of the sandy crisis. generally, very, very well respected in terms of how he handled that and how he stood up for his state. if suddenly his handling of sandy money becomes politicized and some way corrupt, everything the public knows about him is suddenly tainted. they know much more about sandy than the gw bridge. >> i think the challenge will be, again, it depends on whether the people believe in who mayor zimmer is. there's a way in which the narrative, as credible as she is, could be a tact so it becomes about democrats versus republicans as opposed to corruption versus the truth. and depending on which of those

two the people believe, whilst the staff of christie may not survive, he may survive. >> there's also the question of the inquiry. which leaves you to ask, is there such a thing as an impartial political inquiry? >> no. as far as the people are concerned. in this moment in politics, there is such a bitterness and partisanship as far as people are concerned that there's going to be the feeling that -- well, people are just coming after christie because they don't like him, because of what happened with romny, because this is the nature of the politics and the climate right now. so the truth suffers because of those circumstances. >> i want to quickly ask peter what he thinks on that same subject. >> i think the narrative is hugely important here. the narrative is what's going to matter. and the problem with beth of these scandals is they play into the pre-existing narrative that chris christie is a bully. even if we find out chris christie himself had no direct involvement in either of these instances, they suggest that he

allowed a kind of bullying culture in his office. >> unfortunately, we have to leave it there. thank you very much. and thank you for watching this sunday afternoon. we will will be back next saturday at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. first, "disrupt" with karen finney. have a great evening. is that true? says here that cheerios has whole grain oats that can help remove some cholesterol, and that's heart healthy. ♪ [ dad ] jan? ♪ legs, for crossing. ♪ feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well.

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i'm karen finney. new questions emerge about security at the sochi olympics and erin brokovich will join us to talk about safe drinking water. we'll also talk about the legacy of dr. martin luther king. it's all coming up. >> governor response. >> governor chris christie's camp is pushing back hard. >> new allegations of strong arming by his administration from a new jersey mayor. >> it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the c