governor chris christie. another member of his inner circle, this time his right-hand woman at the center of scandal. dawn zimmer met with u.s. attorneys yesterday, one day after her appearance on "up with steve kornacki." here's what she said on this channel saturday when she accused lieutenant governor kim guadagno. >> the fact is that the lieutenant governor came to hoboken, she pulled me aside in the parking lot, and she said, i know it's not right, i know these things should not be connected, but they are and if you tell anyone, i'll deny it. and so these -- i mean, the bottom line is, it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the city of hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer. >> on the other side, the governor's office denies any federal money was held from hoboken saying in a statement, "governor christie and his entire administration have been

helping hoboken get the help they need after sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million in federal aid." >> this is not somebody who had an adversarial relationship with the christie administration. on most fronts, dawn zimmer was aligned with and a governing partner with the christie administration, so it's a complex relationship, where it's not like she was sitting there for four years enemies with this guy and waiting for this moment to come forward. >> and fellow republicans defending christie against the allegations leveled against him and guadagno accusing zimmer of playing party politics for the sake of 2016. >> clearly, this is a very, very well orchestrated democratic kind of organizational effort to try to hurt governor christie. the only republican who was beating hillary clinton in any poll at any time. >> so 2016, something chris christie now says is effectively

on hold as he weathers this storm. >> you mentioned other places and it may happen everywhere else, but chris christie's running under a message for hire office than is something different than anybody else. >> michael, obviously, a strong statement from the lieutenant governor in terms of listening to everything, what else did you say or not say that's notable here? >> well, look, she denied the suggestion or allegation from mayor zimmer that she tied sandy funds to support of this project, but first she acknowledges there was a

conversation in may -- sandy, and she put it in very personal terms, and you might want to play what she had to say on that. >> standing in union beach as we are today with some of the mayors whose towns were devastated by sandy and also being a sandy victim myself makes the mayor's allegations particularly offensive to me. >> you know, michael, i want to just point out, zimmer not backing off here. in a statement she said, "i met with the u.s. attorneys office -- and i know you have a comment on this -- and provided

them with my journal and other documents. i will require any documentation and testify under oath about what happened when the lieutenant governor came to hoboken and told me sandy aid would be contingent on moving forward with a private development project." where does that leave us with the she said/she said thing? >> right, right, in some ways, that's the game changer, to have the u.s. attorney open up an investigation into this matter, to meet with the key witness. zimmer has now already given her account to federal agents. it would have been a crime for her last night to go there and lie about what took place, so she's on the hook there. there's no way that paul phishman cannot now pursue this matter, get all the documents relating to sandy funding for hoboken and the way sandy funding decisions were made by the christie administration and

then get the accounts from the lieutenant governor, there's another commissioner out there, richard constable who zimmer says spoke to her about this matter, so it is -- you know, we've gone from what was looking to some as a partisan investigation by the state legislature to a full-blown federal criminal investigation of the christie administration and that is a very significant development. >> yeah, and it's a very significant point to make. michael isikoff, thank you very much. i want to bring in now lisa stender, part of the bipartisan assembly committee addressing the bridge scandal. right now, the stories are on parallel tracks. now the lieutenant governor said at the end of her statement that she believed the truth would come out, and i want you to have a quick listen here and have you react. >> i look forward to the inquiries, i am sure, absolutely sure, all of the facts will come out. >> so what do you think, linda, what is your response to what

you just heard? >> i think that the facts are going to pave the road forward for us, that for us as an investigative authority for the state legislature, that our job was and continues to be to find out what the facts are. this all began over a traffic jam. it's something we know a lot about in new jersey, and our pathway has to be paved by a methodical review of what comes forward and documented facts. >> so, in terms of the specific story about hoboken, you know, zimmer's been attacked a little bit for the timing of coming forward, and you just heard what the lieutenant governor said, in terms of credibility, which one do you think is on a stronger photoing? >> i think that right now we have to wait and see what moves forward. we only know what -- >> based on what you know now, is there any sense you have? it's a she said/she said with possible tentacles that could extend back to the bridge scandal. >> the -- the role that we are

playing has to rely on developing a record, and right now we know what has been reported and until that is confirmed, i am as part of this committee, committed to relying on a methodical review of what we can verify and have presented to us. >> i want to ask another follow-up on the same line, but i will say getting directly to bridgegate, former new york mayor rudy giuliani talked about john wisniewski and how he should step back from the investigation because he feels there's a partisan element here. with democrats leadi inin ining investigation, can christie get a fair shake? >> i think so. that's what we're committed to and relying on. the fact we're at this point and have brought in a very reliable, good, strong counsel who's guiding our process, because i think that as we've already seen, that this continues to

change and move in ways that have been unexpected by all of us. >> couple quick questions, when are we going to get more information from what you guys are doing? >> right now we're waiting for subpoenas for information to come back. they'll come back around february 3rd, and at the same time we'll be continuing to consult with our attorney and to meet with our chairman and commit to moving forward in a very real way that will get to the answers and facts of this case. >> so, do you foresee a situation where governor christie gets subpoenaed? >> right now, his office has been subpoenaed, the election fund committee has been subpoenaed and we'll wait and see what that produces and where we'll go from there. >> where you stand now, do you think it's a realistic possibility that he, specifically, could get a subpoena? >> i can't comment. i don't have that yet. i know there is a lot of interest in the speculation of what happens next. and i think we are all

developing, you know, wonderment over how this is unfolding, but in order to really do our jobs and represent our constituents and do the work as a member of the state legislature, until i have those facts -- >> right. as methodically as you choose your words, you will perform your duties. i appreciate that, linda, i really do. new jersey assemblywoman linda stender. chris christie is not staying silent today, sort of. christie tweeted a quote from an interview he did late last week saying, "i'm going to learn from this. i can't tell you yet what it is i'm going to learn, but i'm intent on learning from this." all right. moving on. out of uncle sam's hands. if the government doesn't hold all that meta data raked in by the nsa, then who will? i'll talk about that and more with california congressman adam

schiff coming up. also, president obama addresses pretty progressive vus about states who have legalized marijuana. the agenda panel will jump in. that also leads to today's big question, do you think president obama's comments on marijuana are a tipping point in the fight to legalize it? you can weigh in on twitter or on facebook, and we, of course, will share responses later in the show. sorry we're late. did you run into traffic? 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. ♪ ♪

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leaders of the congressional intelligence committee is pushing back against a key part of president obama's attempt to overall haul surveillance, saying it is unworkable. on friday, president obama says he wants bulk phone data stored outside of the nsa, raising questions about whether private companies should control a

database of electric phone calls. >> i think that's a very difficult thing, because the whole purpose of this program is to provide instantaneous information. >> we know the private phone carriers don't want to handle that now, so that's a real issue in terms of who has a capability other than nsa to handle this information and particularly given the fact the phone carriers don't want this. >> california democrat adam schiff, thank you for joining us on this monday. >> you bet. >> listen, you're deeply involved in this, you proposed several pieces of legislation on this issue, including ending bulk phone record collection entirely. just generally start me with your impressions of what the president proposed. >> look, i think what the president proposed makes a lot of sense. he said that the government shouldn't be holding this vast

amount of data, that it should be held by a third party or the telephone companies. i think we're moving towards a model where the telephone companies hold on to their own data. in my view, it makes sense. they have to hold the data for their own businesses purposes anyway, so those that claim this would make it subject to subpoena by divorce lawyers or the telephone companies can be hacked, that's true, but that's true today. what i think the challenge will be is the intelligence community will need to develop the technology to take information from multiple telephone companies maybe in different formats and get it to talk to each other, but that's not rocket science, and frankly the intelligence community has proved capable of overcoming more difficult technical challenges than that. >> sorry to interrupt, we only have a few minutes. you're assuming they want to do this. from all the things i've read, phone companies do not want this and they want to fight it and you'd have to legislate it. on the other side, people say it's going to be very difficult to legislate this stuff.

>> no, i'm not saying the telephone companiesmenies want this. they don't. this is a public relations problem for them. they were more than willing to do this when it wasn't a public issue for them and now it is and that's a threat to their business and they don't need it. at the same time, they are holding on to this data anyway. in a criminal case, for example, when someone's murdered and a cell phone is obtained or stolen from the victim, we'll go to the phone company, the fbi will, with a subpoena that says, who has this cell phone been in contact with, because if the killer is still making calls on it, you can track down the killer. so that's the model we use in the criminal justice system, no reason to use a different model in the intelligence community, as well. >> i want to ask you, because the president gave the doj and others until the end of march to come up with some ideas about a committee, there's some pushback on the committee, as well, and in 2015, if nothing's done, this would end anyway, statutorywise. what do we expect to happen over the next few months, or is this

going to be years before we see anything happen? >> well, it won't be years, because the program as you point out is sunseted the middle of next year. this program goes away, and actually i think the default, therefore, is the companies hold on to their own data, because if a year from now we don't have an answer, congress is unable to bridge these differences, the program sunsets, the companies end up holding their own data for their business purposes and we go to the companies when we need information on a number connected to a plot, so that may be where we're headed. there are some very strongly held -- the good news, not partisan differences, but very strongly held differences on this. that's going to make it difficult for the congress. >> i want to get quickly to congressman mike rogers. we talked about edward snowden and what he did, did he have help, did he not have help, nbc news is told no evidence he got help. have a quick listen here.

i want your reaction. >> 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. number two -- >> do you think the russians helped ed snowden? >> i believe there's questions to be answered there. i don't think it was a gee wiz luck event that he ended up in moscow. >> thoughts on that and also what do you think will happen to mr. snowden in the coming year? >> brian, the reality is we simply don't know. we're not going to foreclose any possibility he may have gotten help, but at this point we don't know. one of the facts that makes me a bit suspicious, at least of his motivations, is the fact that so many thousands and thousands of documents were stolen and no bearing on the privacy interest of the american people, but of great interest militarily to the russian military, chinese military, so you have to wonder why snowden would have stolen those documents. in terms of what will happen to him, i think the president made pretty clear in his speech the other day that you can't have a

system where low-ranking or even high-ranking people in the intelligence community decide for themselves unilaterally, i don't like this policy or program, i'm going to disclose classified information. you just can't protect a country that way, so i think that argues pretty strongly against an idea the president is about to give him clemency. >> appreciate the time, have a good one. >> you bet. new claims of responsibility for the twin terror attacks on the russian city. richard engel joins me from moscow coming up next. also ahead, appeal for help. a new request today from north korea and detained american kenneth bae. stay with us on msnbc. it's time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. jim sharndly and his daughter grow fruits and vegetables, but getting national name brand recognition was tough. they broke through when they put everything under the shanley

farms brand, getting their produce into whole foods. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. brought to you by american express open. visit openforum.com for ideas to help you grow your business. th's my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ready? go.

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nuclear? or renewables like solar... and wind? let's find out. this is where america's electricity comes from. a diversity of energy sources helps ensure the electricity we need is reliable. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. purina dog chow light & healthy take the energy quiz. is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy. a new plea for help from an american detained in north korea. speaking in korean to journalists this morning, kenneth bae said he'd like to return home to his family soon and hopes the u.s. government will help.

bae was arrested in november of 2012 while acting as a tour guide accused of using his tourism business to form antigovernment groups. also, new concerns over safety at the olympics with a search now for a suspected female terrorist, nbc news has obtained a document circulating around sochi warning people to be on the lookout for ruza ruzana ibragimova. a new video hit the internet of two men claiming they are the suicide bombers behind the attacks in volgograd last month. joining me from moscow, nbc correspondent richard engel. richard, what do we know about this woman? >> multiple sources have told us russian security forces are not just looking for this one so-called black widow or possible suicide bomber, razana, but as many as four terrorists that may have been dispatched to the sochi area to carry out some sort of olympics-related event.

about ruzana, we know quite a bit. she has had previous run-ins with the security forces. they have investigated her in the past. actually photographed her and it is those photographs that they are using to put up wanted posters in hotels in sochi, at the airport. she's 22 or 23 years old, and her husband was a militant leader from the caucuses, who was killed by the security forces six or seven months ago, hence the term "black widow." militant groups in the north caucuses in the past have used these black widows, women whose husbands have been killed in the ongoing war between russian forces and islamist groups in the caucuses and converted them into inside bomber and sent them on mission. >> i want to talk about the video for a second. talk about its credibility and also we've talked a lot about how the security is so tight around sochi, but are they going to plan anymore changes to what

they are doing in response to something like this? >> that video, which was released yesterday, shows the -- or claims to show the two very young men who carried out the volgograd bombings. these were two attacks that killed several dozens people in the city of volgograd over the new year. in that statement, one you can also see how young they are, that at least one of the men shaved in order to more easily blend into a crowd. he said that the attacks that were coming were just the start, that there would be more attacks targeting russian forces, targeting tourists during the sochi games, then today these wanted posters began to circulate with russian officials specifically looking for this one black widow, and we are told as many as four in total. >> thank you, richard engel, live for us in moscow. let's take a look at some of the stories topping the news now. the u.n. nuclear agency

confirming iran has stopped its most sensitive uranium enrichment work, all part of the landmark deal that was struck back in november. this paves the way for more talks and fewer sanctions on iran. the rosetta spacecraft got a wake-up call after more than two years in a deep sleep. it's coming out of hibernation to chase a comet. it's going to orbit it and land on the comet and probe it. we won't know until later today whether the spacecraft is actually up and running. star of the bachelor, juan pablo galaviss has posted an apology after his antigay comments about why a gay or bisexual man should not be cast as the bachelor. he meant to say gay and bisexuals are too affectionate and intense for television and blames the lack of his english vocabulary for the misunderstanding. the seattle seahawks in the super bowl after beating the san francisco 49ers last night, but

what's getting a lot of attention is seattle seahawks' cornerback richard sherman, he went on a rant of all rants about receiver michael crabtree. >> the final play, take me through it. >> i'm the best cornerback in the game! when you try me with a sorry receiver like crabtree, that's the result you're going to get! don't you ever talk about me! f. it's made with the vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar. get recipes at intheraw.com.

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president obama's frank comments about pot are sparking talk of a tipping point in a growing marijuana movement. that is today's topic for our agenda panel. michael, a special correspondent for the daily beast. serena maxwell, and lee fang, contributing writer at "the nation." i want to get people up to speed. let's start with some of the quotes from the president in "the new yorker." he admitted, i smoked pot as a kid and went on to say, i don't

think it's more dangerous than alcohol, but added it's not something i encourage and told my daughters it's a bad idea, waste of time, not very healthy. michael, i want to start with you. is this a big deal for a sitting president to come out and say? >> sure, sure it is. i mean, when you look at the history of how our political culture has dealt with marijuana, with these just say no campaigns and harsh sentencing laws for relatively small amounts of a drug that most people agree compare to other drugs is comparatively harmless then, yes, it is quite a big deal and i don't think he's necessarily on the leading edge of this. i think public opinion is probably a little bit ahead of him. nevertheless, it's worth noting when a sitting president says something like this, sure, big deal. >> i guess the question is, what kind of change or acceleration in the movement might happen. zarina, he was on "morning joe" today and here's what was said

about the president's reaction to being a change agent. >> the big currents of history are things that you can adjust only slightly. that's the way he is seeing it, and as i was leaving the oval office at one point, we've been discussing the great man theory of history, whether great men and women effect history, or do currents of history effect things more, and he said, you know, i'm glad that the president of the united states cannot completely transform american society. >> what's your reaction to that and whether this is as important to some as other issues but whether we'll have a real and pronounced impact? >> you know, i disagree that it's not an important issue. i think a lot of times when you cover the marijuana debate, you know, people sort of snicker at it as if it's a debate over marijuana, where it's really a debate and i think the president pointed out a debate over the criminal justice system and the disproportionate impact on the people of color and poor people,

when, you know, black people are four times more likely to be incarcerated for it, even though they use it in equal rates as white people. framing it as a criminal justice issue is what i found most important. >> it's interesting, and lee, i'll put it to you, because the president made a key point, and i'll read it, "it's important for a society not to have a situation where a large proportion of people have broken the law and only a select few get punished" and it speaks to zarina's point. in terms of social justice there's something that can be done, as well. >> i think that's right. what's interesting to me about the interview is the language he uses. by emphasizing on the racial disparities, president obama is recognizing this as a social justice issue, as a civil rights issue, that there is a social wrong that's happening that needs to be corrected, and i think that's very important for the public debate when folks go home and talk about this at the dinner table, and as we move forward, this rhetorical shift,

i think, is very important. >> it also mirrors, obviously, we talked about the sentimentship in this country, you know, a lot more open, if you will, to the possibility of legalizing marijuana. "the l.a. times" talks about it, but state laws are really lagging behind here. 21 and d.c. have medical marijuana laws, two states have now legalized recreational pot. in the south, the article points out organizers gathered more than 1 million signatures in favor of putting a medical marijuana measure before voters in florida. saying this is the next state that really deals with it, is that a good bellweather for this debate and the country, florida? >> florida would be a big deal. brian, i think as more and more states look at the amount of tax revenue that colorado and washington are apparently -- >> hard to avoid it, right? >> yeah, because they are talking about hundreds of millions, maybe even a billion dollars. that's real money for any state in this union, and i think it's, yeah, only a matter of time.

>> i was sort of pointing out when i said it's not as big a deal as other issues, for some reason i had gay marriage in mind. a lot of people, a critical mass of people want to talk about it and effect change, but when it comes to politics, do you see something like this having an impact on the midterms or is this just good conversation for the movement itself? >> i think that, you know, there's not enough evidence for me to say it will have an impact on the midterms. i think it can encourage and engage young people in the political process, because i think younger voters tend to support marijuana legalization. what i do think, though, we can connect it to civil rights issues. voting is a very, very, very important issue right now, particularly with the midterms. if you get incarcerated or convicted of a felony, many times you lose your voting rights. people are getting arrested for smoking pot and you're losing your right to vote. i think if we connect it to these broader issues instead of just thinking about it's a debate about pot, i think that's

where, you know, things can happen in terms of the midterm elections. >> you know, lee, it's still a substance in terms of federal law and beer and alcohol are in there. it's interesting to me at least that the president talked about this when it's still -- and i still get into this thing in colorado, too, it's against federal law but the states are doing it. how do you reconcile this in the long term? >> well, there are a lot of s p steps that president obama can take to meet this kind of social equity goal that he laid out in this interview, while dodging the process along. he can't change the law in these states, but he can change the relationship between law enforcement and how to carry out the drug war. you know, there are a lot of financial incentives for local law enforcement to prioritize marijuana. that doesn't have to be the case. we can look at civil asset forfeitu forfeiture, the federal grant programs that incentivize local

law enforcement to incentivize marijuana. i think it can get us to a better place. >> michael, with all the money you talk about and taxes, are people waiting and seeing on colorado, or do you think there's going to be two and three years from now, we will be double the amount of states that have medical and maybe even more recreational? >> double from two to four in two to three years, yeah, i think probably. now if you're talking about a critical mass of states, 12, 15, 18, something like that, that's going to take a little bit longer, but i think the states where the lure of that tax revenue is greater than any moral disapprobation, yes, ten years a very different scenario. >> strikes me as strange the states and federal government needs to move forward, as well. michael, zarina, lee, thank you for the time today. appreciate it. >> thank you. we asked, you answered. question, do you think president obama's comments on marijuana are a tipping point in the fight to legalize it?

a couple here, russell tweeted, "his comments re gay marriage shifted the debate on that issue, will have the same effect here." nicolas said, "he has the power to take it off the schedule 1 status, all talk no action. typical politician." keep the comments coming.

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but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. developing now on msnbc, a new statement from hoboken mayor dawn zimmer. she is confirming that she met with a u.s. attorney, also responding to the comments made this morning by new jersey's lieutenant governor kim guadagno. zimmer saying in that statement, "i am genuinely disappointed that lieutenant governor guadagno has lived up to her promise that she would deny linking hoboken's funding with expediting a private development project." she went on to say, "i stand by

my word, remaining willing to testify under oath and i will continue to answer any questions asked of me by the u.s. attorney's office." this morning, guadagno calls zimmer's allegations that sandy relief money was held hostage from hoboken false and illogical. of course, we'll keep you up to date as this story continues to develop. also, a renewed debate after the botched execution in ohio. last thursday, dennis mcguire took nearly 25 minutes to die from a mixture of drugs never before used in executions. meantime, lawmakers in missouri and wyoming want to bring back firing squads to perform executions. we'll get into that in a minute, but we want to bring in douglas berman, a death penalty expert. this dennis mcguire story, apparently, he gasped and choked and clenched his fists while he was unconscious. this cocktail, obviously, didn't work. in terms of the optics, where

does this leave states that have capital punishment, have people on death row that are set to be executed? >> well, you put your finger on it, it's the optics and the question is, how much will the optics effect the debate both in ohio and other states that have plans to go forward with executions. you say it didn't work, but the condemned prisoner was ultimately kill. >> he did die. >> so some people's attitude, and i've heard this echoed more than a few places, at least in debating this in ohio, some people say, well, i hope he suffered, because he made his victims suffer, and i think there is that kind of vengeance, eye for an eye kind of attitude that may lead not only some folks in public opinion, but even some legislators or lawmakers to say, you know, unless and until we know this was truly torturous, it's good enough for government work, so to speak. >> he was convicted of killing a pregnant woman, we should know,

what the crime was. pharmaceutical companies make it pretty difficult for the 32 states that allow the death penalty to acquire some of these drugs, at least some drug companies do. i was always amazed, professor, with the technology we have, why they can't come up with a system that makes it painless, so you've put your finger on it exactly. it can be done painlessly, but understandably as we've tried to turn this into a medical procedure, the medical community, and we've seen this from american medical association, doctors groups, an thesology groups, we don't want you doing this, we don't want our profession that's there to heal to be associated with state killing. the big reason so many states are having such a struggle is the companies that produce anesthetics that clearly could make this go without being so ugly have quite actively resisted having their drugs used in these procedures. >> professor berman, i was shocked when i read that there

was a firing squad execution in utah in 2010. now there's only been a few over the last 40 or so years, but we talked about those proposals in a couple of states. it's unbelievable to me that might actually pass. do these have chance or are they fringe people suggesting this legislation? >> i think it's got a real chance, largely because the supreme court has never categorically declared any particular mode of execution unconstitutional. what they've said is, you can't use a form of execution to create unnecessary or gratuitous pain. some folks have talked about a better version of the gas chamber. the debate is somewhat inevitably going to be about medicine as much as law, because everybody, i think, is interested in coming up with a mainless execution method. >> if we can't do that, will the whole topic of whether we should

have capital punishment, does that re-emerge to the front page of the debate? >> indisputably, that's what has slowed down executions, if we can't do this right or without mounds and mounds of litigation, maybe we shouldn't be doing this at all. >> we appreciate it. douglas berman, professor at ohio state, got to get the basketball team back on track. appreciate the time. >> thank you so much, appreciate it. the new u.s. ambassador to japan expresses concerns about a japanese tradition. time now for the poly side bar. caroline kennedy blasted the annual dolphin hunt. the tradition involves rounding dolphins up in a secluded bay, capturing some, and killing others. kennedy tweeted, "deeply concerned by inhumaneness of dolphin killing, usg opposes drive hunt fisheries." lighter moment as joe biden spoke in d.c. have a listen. >> we all can put this

teleprompter down. i don't need a teleprompter. well, leave it up. make you feel better, leave it up. all right. >> sometimes he should follow the prompter more, some think. wendy davis admits her book about her own life may not be entirely accurate. davis told the dallas morning news the book had errors and missing details. the gubernatorial candidate said to the paper, "my language should be tighter." first lady of france out of the hospital, she was admitted after accusations francois hollande was having an affair with an actress. neither he nor the alleged mistress have denied talk of an affair. ve got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. hmm? [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] no problem. oh...and hair products. aisle 9.

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i always love the chance to talk sports. the seahawks and broncos are getting ready for the super bowl and president obama reiterating his concerns over the dangers of the sport. president obama said i would not

let my son play pro football. yesterday on msnbc former chicago bears quarterback tim mcmahon talked about injuries he received. >> i was going through tremendous pains in my head, loss of memory, and just an overall, i just didn't want to do anything. i can see now why some of my former teammates have committed suicide. >> assisting managing editor at quts sports illustrated joins us. the nfl is the most popular prosport league in the country but people screaming there's a problem with the sport. is that true? >> i think it is true. we're a little ways away from really seeing it, but we've seen enrollment go down and what president obama said, i wouldn't let my son play, that's not a uncommon thing for parents to

say. anybody who has been on the sideline let alone play of an nfl or major college football game, you're aware of how violent it is. >> so increasing number -- listen, we only know where we live and what happens around us. i know of many suburban moms and dads who say, no, you're not -- my kid is not going to play and 25 years ago that kid probably or his dad probably did play. what does that do to the sport over the long term? does it change the demographics and culture of the sport? >> that's a great question. obama also alleged, drew parallel to boxing. we say don't tell us the story about a boxer who was poor and fought his way up and made it as a boxer. that's every boxer. tell us about the boxer with a college educated and decided to come a boxer. it's people who don't have a lot of choice. the question will be now, there are people of every socioeconomic class who love to play football and want to play football and hope to make it. at what point will that shift so

people who are playing it are people with fewer options. aren't people who went to an ivy league school and deciding to play footballs. >> you don't want to make cultural assumptions and this is just a conversation about it but they've had a real spike in criminal problems in the nfl. people are familiar with aaron hernandez and his murder charge. is the assumption that that would get worse or is that too big of a leap? >> i don't know if we necessarily see a connection there. it's really just the violence and concussion and what you pay for to play the sport. and the return for very, very small percentage of people is wonderful. you get to be in the nfl and make a good living and you stardom and all of that. that's a tiny percentage of people going into it. >> in the same interview he said he wouldn't let his son play football. at this point there's a little bit of caveat em tore, they know what they are doing and buying into and it is no longer a

secret. it's sort of the feeling i have about smokers. what do you make of him -- this gets to the lawsuit side of it. they know that there are dangers and they are going to have brain injuries that could affect them the rest of their life. shouldn't they sign a waiver and then there's no more legal liability for the league? >> it gets back to my point earlier. if you know where you're going and you have options to not do it, that's great. if this is your ticket out of a class, it doesn't matter. you know about it but you don't really have a choice so you have to do it. i don't think it's a fair -- the people are more or less educated -- >> but the $700 million lawsuit that might have to be increased, is this somehow a way tore the league to reduce their liability, you know what you're getting into. do you think -- some people say that lawsuit and legal sent. will be like big tobacco. do you think that will grow as a problem in terms of legal?

>> i think the the problem will grow, that's a great way to put it. the football is different than say boxing there's a union. the whole college football system where to some kid you can go and get an education and play and that works out great. that's not the majority of the big schools but i think there is a system in place to safety in place, but even so, it's going to be a big legal question. >> do you think it will be the most popular sport in the country in 20 years? >> that's the $7 million question. i'll say no. i think when you watch -- anybody watched football yesterday or sunday, the people getting carted off every play, remember it's the most popular sport in the country because of gambling and fantasy football. >> there's a huge argument for them to go harder into drug testing because if they made people slower and smaller, right and not as strong there wouldn't be as violent -- >> good luck with that. >> if they can do that -- good

to see you. thank you very much. that wraps things up from here. i'll see you back here tomorrow. my colleague, craig melvin picks things up after the break. they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt.

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one week? this one's a keeper. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®. governor christie's lieutenant governor speaks out about the new allegations from the mayor of hoboken, she claims the governor's office tried using sandy relief money to leverage political favors. >> i'm very surprised by the mayor's allegations and i deny wholeheartedly those allegations. >> also today, 17 days and counting, a new security threat raises concerns ahead of the olympic games in russia and gets the attention of lawmakers here. >> they've now moved from 30,000 armed troops down to the region.

that tells you that their level of concern is great. but we don't seem to be getting all of the information we need to protect our athletes. >> honoring the treem, the legacy of martin luther king jr. and the challenges we face today. >> somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls on the wheels of inhe have itability. >> one day before chris christie is sworn in for his second term as new jersey governor, his administration is fighting new allegations involving political retribution in hurricane sandy relief money. earlier today his lieutenant governor came out and unequivocally denied allegations made first on msnbc and since taken to the u.s. attorneys office. she says mayor