>> thanks, ed. we'll get you a shirt. >> all right. that's ted ed. i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, a major development in the chris christie administration probes there are new allegations of political corruption involving money for hurricane sandy recovery. allegations that have escalated into a federal criminal investigation. dawn zimmer, the mayor of hoboken, new jersey, says she met yesterday for more than two hours with the u.s. attorney. this comes after she made the explosive claim that christie's lieutenant governor threatened to withhold hurricane sandy relief money unless she approved a real estate project favored by the governor. mayor zimmer first told the

story on on "up with steve kornacki." >> the fact is the lieutenant governor came to hoboken. she pulled me aside in the parking lot and said i know it's not right. i know this thing should not be connected. but if you tell anyone, i'll deny it. so these -- 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. >> and mayor zimmer showed what she said, her hand-written entries in her diary as proof of her veracity. these are serious allegations after hurricane sandy, hoboken was submerged, a city in crisis. 80% of hoboken was under water. the state had more than $2 billion to disperse.

mayor zimmer says hoboken asked for $100 million in help and got just 342,000 because she refused to play ball. today the christie administration fought back. the governor's office says hoboken has received $70 million and lieutenant governor kim wardano denied the accusations. >> mayor zimmer's version of our conversation in may of 2013 is not only false, but is illogical, and does not withstand scrutiny when all of the facts are examined. any suggestion, any suggestion that sandy funds were tied to the approval of any project in new jersey is completely false. >> a spokesman for the governor

called mayor zimmer's allegations, quote, categorically false. richard constable, another christie official who mayor zimmer also says made threats over sandy aid said in a quote, quote, mayor zimmer's allegations are patently false a absurd on their face. i welcome a review of her libelous claims. that full and thorough law enforcement review is already under way, including the mayor's diary which she says is a c contemporaneous event. she has shared that diary with investigators. bonnie watson, a member of the new committee investigating the christie administration, and former u.s. attorney kendall coffey. thank you both for being here. >> thank you for having me,

reverend. >> thank you. >> assemblywoman, these are some explosive aches from the mayor of hoboken, and a strong denial from the lieutenant governor. now they both can't be telling the truth. who do you believe? >> i don't have any reason to believe that the mayor had any reason to tell anything other than what she believes to be the truth under the circumstances. >> now, she made the allegations or statements first here on msnbc. msnbc, steve kornacki first reported on the mayor's diaries. he read it, an entry, zimmer was says is right after the alleged threat from kim guadano. >> she says when it happened, she was so shocked that she wrote it down in her personal diary, which she has shared with us. here is how she describes the threat made in an entry in that

diary dated may 17th. quoting from it, at the end of the big tour of shoprite and meeting, she pulls me aside with no one else around and says that i need to move forward with the rockefeller project. it is very important to the governor. the word is that you are against it, and you need to move it forward, or rewith not going to be able to help you. >> now, assemblywoman, there is a project here with a lot of money that she is claiming they wanted her to support. it was also a project in ft. lee. are we looking here that there is a possibility that this is not about all that we thought and with this great reporting by steve kornacki, that we're beginning to see that there is some possible real corruption around developments, something that we've heard before in new jersey, more than just some political retribution? >> as member of the committee, i don't want to prejudge anything. i can simply say that as one

thing unfolds, it seems something else is peeled away. so we're looking into all of it. we're looking at the issue with the bridgegate. we're now just recently being advised or being informed of the issues with hoboken. we will be meeting as a committee to discuss where we go from here. but i think that what we're looking at, what we're seeing is the unfolding of issues ate it relates to how governance has taken place. i don't want to categorize it. i don't want to assume anything. i don't want to presume anything. we're looking at this comprehensively. we serve subpoenas, and we're looking forward to see where does the information take us. >> you know, kendall coffey, you were a u.s. attorney. does the fact that she met with someone in the us u.s. attorney's office for a couple of hours on a sunday, the day before a holiday, am i reading too much into that, or is this significant?

>> well, of course it's significant. and it's much too early to know how this is going to turn out. this could be a case wre at the end of the day, what you end up with is the mayor's version, perhaps with some diary entries that support it. and other people categorically deny it, as they're saying, and it may be very, very hard to get further documentation. there is one thing we can be confident about. when somebody such as the mayor meets with the federal authorities, there will be fbi agents there, she's got to know going in that if she lies to them, that's a crime. to make a false report isn't a prank. it's a federal felony if you make specific allegations to the fbi when you're being interviewed. >> wouldn't the same be true, kendall, if the lieutenant governor who has denied this and the other party, mr. constable, who has also denied it, wouldn't they have to be interviewed? and wouldn't they be subject to

the same perjury charge if members of the fbi or others were there? >> anybody who makes false statements in interviews with the fbi can be subject to a federal felony. now, so far the lieutenant governor and mr. constable have not met with the fbi. and it's not a crime, like it or not, to lie to the media. so it remains to be seen whether and when they will give statements to federal investigators. but you've got to think that at this point, what the feds want to do is there anything that is going to corroborate the mayor's version or discredit the mayor's version in terms of e-mails, in terms of text messages. >> so it's preliminary now. take us inside. you were in the u.s. attorney's office. what stage would they be at now? >> well, they're not typically looking to interview either the lieutenant governor or the commerce commissioner at this point because they assume when they interview them, they're going to deny the whole thing. so what they're trying to do is find out are there other

witnesses, are there other documents, e-mails or texts that could help decide when what we see at the end of the day may be a she said versus he and she said. how do you get some documentation to carry the balance. remember, that prosecutors have to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt. and i'm not sure you're ever going to see an e-mail in this scenario, reverend, that says something like time for some funding problems in hoboken. >> would that be the lieutenant governor's documents they would be subpoenaing? >> they would be looking for e-mails and text messages from the lieutenant governor, from anyone else that they have reason to believe might have been in communication about it. but be prepared, because this could very well be the situation where no one was e-mailing or texting, that there were some words said, if anything wrong happened. and sometimes even though there is obviously considerable concerns, some particular situations become very, very difficult to prove or disprove. >> assembly woman, governor kri

christie's allies are accusing new jersey democrats of playing politics. here is former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. listen to this. >> it clearly is a partisan witch-hunt. clearly this is a very well orchestrated democratic kind of organizational effort to try to hurt governor christie. >> your response? >> well, just a couple of weeks ago the governor was talking about the bipartisanship in new jersey. and democrats have been talking about working with this governor. we didn't create this problem. we didn't generate that e-mail. we didn't cause any traffic jam. so i think that that is just an unfair statement on the part of the former mayor to suggest that we're on a witch-hunt. we have responsibility here. information has come us to. and as we tried to isolate the information and get some answers on what happens, more stuff opens up. we've got to follow the trail of the information. that's simply what we're doing.

and to suggest that wisniewski has been anything other than fair, even the republicans on the committee have praised him for being fair and for the committee to be judicious in the way it's been carrying out its business. >> mr. coffey, is what mayor zimmer saying, is it illegal? is there a law being broken just on the face of what she has accused the governor and his people of? >> well, if we take her accusations, and there is a presumption of innocence, as we remind ourselves, if her accusation is she was told that funding -- federal funding, hurricane relief is not going to come to your city unless you play ball with a private developer, those allegations, if proven, could certainly lead to a federal crime. the test would be whether or not that kind of demand was done corruptly. and from the standpoint of

prosecutors, there are federal statutes would make those kind of allegations potentially indictable. >> well, assembly woman, it looks like this case is evolving rather than coming to some resolution. assemblywoman bonnie watson, and kendall coffey, thank you both for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> thanks, reverend. coming up, with a federal investigation, we're starting to see real pushback from governor christie's office. and five years ago to the day, our first black president was sworn in. today president obama's candid comments about race and his presidency. and honoring the dream of martin luther king day, martin luther king iii will be my special guest. stay with us. >> and i've seen the promised land. i may not get there with you, but i want you to know tonight

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ahead, the federal government starts to investigate the claims by the mayor of hoboken. and the mystery of bridgegate. the head of the senate investigation joins me, next. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three types of good bacteria. i should probably take this. live the regular life. phillips'. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. [ male announcer ] to truck guys, the truck is everything.

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weinberg. loretta weinberg chairs the senate committee investigation. senator, thanks for being here tonight. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. >> i want to start by asking you about the latest allegations by the mayor of hoboken. she says relief money to her city was held up because she did not approve a real estate deal with the christie administration and what it wanted. today the attorney general of the state denied the allegations. who do you believe? >> well, since i am on the committee actually chair of the senate committee that will be investigating some of these charges, some of the allegations, we're going to go wherever the evidence leads us. as you correctly pointed out, these are right now allegations. the lieutenant governor. >> i said the lieutenant

governor. >> kim guadagno went on tv earlier today and denied the allegations. mayor zimmer has visited with the u.s. attorney, apparently spent several hours in his office yesterday, has said she would answer these questions in the same way under oath and would be willing to take a lie detector test. we will now see exactly where this evidence leads us. and whether or not it is indication of kind of a pattern we're seeing, or maybe seeing of public money, public infrastructure being used to punish people if they don't do what the administration wants. and i guess it first came to light with the george washington bridge issue. >> does it sound credit to believe you? when you think, senator, this is a mayor coming forward, some say late, but there seems to be no

reason for her to come and put herself in legal jeopardy and make some very serious charges. >> well, she certainly has made very serious charges. as i said, the lieutenant governor has denied them. but it would be difficult for somebody to come forth with a story that they might have just made up. i can't really judge that. but i know mayor zimmer has been a big support over the governors, even though she is a democrat, a known democrat. she supported the governor the last couple of years in many of his endeavors. so i would find it very strange for her to be putting herself out there right now. >> now, you use, and i want to get to your investigation. but you use the term pattern. do you see a pattern with this, governor? >> i think that what i've said from the beginning, and what i've said really from the beginning of my involvement of trying to figure out what went on with the horrendous traffic

jam that was created in the area i represent, it's that the governor has to be responsible. if in fact he has created an environment that make his top appointees, his employees, his chiefs of staff or deputy chief of staff think that this kind of behavior is appropriate. he looked in the camera at one point and said i asked myself what did i do wrong that my staff lied to me. i would say the question should be what did i do wrong to make my staff think this was okay. >> right. you talk about a pattern, but your committee has subpoenaed documents from three people, david samson, who is the chairman of the agency who runs the bridge, william schuber, commissioner of that agency and regina egea, who is christie's incoming chief of staff. what exactly are you hoping to find out from these documents? >> well, that's a beginning for

us. and it reflects my very early involvement with this. i wrote to commissioner schuber on december 19th. he promised me he was going to get to the bottom of it. i chose him because he is a former bergen county executive. he is somebody from the other side of the aisle, by the way, whom i voted for so that he could become a commissioner. and i knew he knew bergen county well. >> so you wrote schuber about the traffic jam. >> yes. on september 19th. with copies to chairman samson and to the governor himself. and when commissioner schuber called and promised he would get to the bottom of this in some of the subpoena documents i've seen, what he did is go to the very same david wildstein to ask him to compose a reply to me. and i want to know what all of these people did from the time it became public, from the time

they found out about it, and i know they found out about it in september, because i was responsible -- >> the letter you wrote shuber in september, you copied the governor? >> i did. >> which means if the governor read the letter or someone in his office, they had to know then about the bridge klotzing problem. >> absolutely. >> which is a complete contradiction to what he has said? >> which -- you are absolutely right, reverend sharpton. and i said maybe i'm on that do not reply list. i wrote a letter, obviously on senate stationary. this created a huge traffic jam in the entire area i represent. and i said i want to know the answer. what happened here? why weren't local officials informed. i have not gotten a reply yet. >> it would be hard to imagine even if you were on the do not reply list, the governor not reading a letter from the

majority leader of the senate in his state. i think that would be irresponsible. >> i would hope that that you're not right. but in fact i know what i did, and i know i didn't get a reply. >> i'm going to leave it there. new jersey state senate majority leader loretta weinberg. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. coming up, why is president obama the target of so many personal attacks? he is getting personal in a new interview. plus, chris christie breaks his silence to the press. what did he say about his anger? plus, rush limbaugh is weighing in on the scandal, and it may surprise you. stay with us.

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with the exception of his lengthy press conference 11 days ago, chris christie has steered

clear of the media. but he is now giving his first interview to yahoo news. he says, quote, i'm trying to get my arms around an awful situation. when asked if he was ready to be president, he said he was, quote, readier. he also said this about his style. quote, i'm not growing a new personality at 51. he said the -- the reporter reminded him that politicians do it all the time. not me, man, he laughed. this is it. i like who i am. more on governor christie and the growing investigations, next. ♪ we'll come to your door and return them ♪ ♪ gifts you bought but never gave away ♪ ♪ or said you liked but thought were cheesy ♪ ♪ you don't even need to leave your house ♪ ♪ we'll come and take them, easy-peasy ♪

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she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. see how much you could save with allstate. are you in good hands? don't forget, when the lieutenant governor of the state of new jersey pulls you aside in a parking lot and says 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, you remember it.

>> and that bombshell has now launched a federal investigation into the christie administration. the new jersey u.s. attorney is looking into the claim that sandy relief money would be withheld from the city of hoboken, new jersey, unless the mayor there approved a real estate project. and the bridge scandal. 18 people were subpoenaed, including the governor's office itself. and even with all this, governor christie is trying to move forward. he was in florida over the weekend, fundraising for florida governor rick scott. there were no photo ops, no cameras, no press. only small glimpses of him. tomorrow is his inauguration. it was supposed to be a day of celebration, a day to showcase a republican star in the 2016 hopes. instead, he is fighting for his political life.

joining me now is msnbc's krystal ball and salon.com's joan walsh. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having us, reverend. >> you know, joan, this hoboken story is very different -- it's a very different thing altogether. what is your reaction? >> well, if the mayor is making this up, you know, she's got a real problem there is nothing in my gut or there is nothing from the evidence that says to me that she is not telling the truth. she has gone to the u.s. attorney's office. if for some reason this were not true, she is getting herself in a world of trouble. >> why? for what? >> exactly. what does she gain from this? she's got nothing to gain except trying to help her constituents and help her city. and she is obviously been very pained about this, because she was trying to play ball in a difficult situation. >> this is a mayor, krystal, that has said favorable things about him. this is not someone who has ban

vociferous critic of him. in my opinion, the fact that shes has been positive takes away from people saying it is political. >> i totally agree with that. now they're trying to paint this as some sort of partisan hack job where she wanted to take him out when she saw the opening. she even said in that interview with our own steve kornacki, she thinks he is a good governor. >> right. >> she is very disappointed obviously in the corruption and the way he has handled himself. but the tax cuts she said helped hoboken. she listed a few other things that he had done that helped her city. so she has obviously been deeply conflicted about this. and i just i don't understand why she would lie in this situation. what does she possibly have to gain? and this is someone, again, who had a good working relationship with christie. so why would she now turn around if it wasn't true and say these things? >> well, she has talked to federal investigators now. she knows she could be in a lot of trouble if she misled them.

>> right. she would have to be having some kind of break with reality in which she concocted this idea. >> and wrote out the whole journal. >> and went back and wrote out a journal. >> which i'm sure will be tested to make sure with the ink, you can determine if the date is what it says. >> right. >> why would somebody just put themselves in the middle of this? >> also, let's go for it. let's imagine she is making this up. if you're going to fantasize, why not make it about christie himself? >> right. >> it's so -- it has the ring of truth. and the lieutenant governor has denied that. but she also didn't take any questions today. she talked tough in a statement and then she walked away. the u.s. attorney is looking into this. >> she and the other of the gentleman that was named by the mayor also have denied it. and then krystal they said this is politics. they're pushing back hard in the governor's office. one said this station, msnbc.

i know as a preacher, if you preach a bad sermon, blame the microphone. >> it's the messenger. >> this situation is very serious. >> it is very serious. and i think, you know, any one of these stories maybe individually would be survivable. you could say it was an aberrant event. you can say i dealt with the aides. i really apologize and you can move forward. but what you're seeing now what is developing is a picture of an administration that was bent on punishing political enemies in a completely unacceptable way. i thought the quote from the mayor that was in her journal was absolutely devastating where she said that he was cut from the same corrupt cloth as the people that she has been fighting against for four years. >> joan, is it taking a toll? chuck todd was on morning joe this morning, talking what he is hearing from big donors in florida. >> right. >> let me play what he said and get your reaction. >> they say that the guy they met this weekend was the shell of his former self. he was not himself.

if that is the guy that is going to be nationally, his 2016 hopes are done. as for what is going on in new jersey, i think he is finding out that -- he is finding out he made some enemies maybe he didn't know he had made. circumstances it taking its toll do you think, joan? >> oh, i think it's absolutely taken its toll. just that little montage you ran earlier, rev, of him in a town car looking like a suspect, he should be down there. this should be his glory days as the head of the republican governor's association, right? launching this year where he is going to work for all these candidates and where he is going to be a national leader, if not the national leader of this party. instead, he is slipping into town cars and being driven away like there is something wrong. it's not what anyone expected from this coming out party this weekend in florida. >> now, krystal, the governor did talk to yahoo news, and the reporter said christie went out of his way to say he was not an angry person. i'm quoting the governor. >> he is not a bully either.

>> it doesn't mean i don't get angry. everybody gets angry. but they confuse sometimes if you're blunt and you're direct and you just say things the way you see them, that that's anger. more times than not it's not anger with me, it's just my personality. >> well, you know, he and his staff have cultivated this image. they have intentionally recorded his interaction was constituents where he yells at them, he chases them down the boardwalk. if he is not feeling anger, that's what i typically see as an angry response. but more broadly speaking here, i think the question around sandy aid goes to the core of who he has been representing himself as, the truth teller, the person who would put his own state and his citizens above all else, particularly where sandy is concerned. and someone who reaches out with an open hand to people on the other side of the aisle. now we're seeing him in a very,

very different light. >> now, also, another reporter who was in one of the closed door sessions in florida, joan, according to this strategist, he is not a reporter, a strategist said that christie said the answer to any 2016 question come see me next year. >> yeah. that's not what he was saying even a few weeks ago, rev. so he is clearly chasing. and he is also, you know, he and his associates are continuing this strategy of blaming other people, blaming his aides. he said something about 65,000 state employees might have access to his stationary. he is making all -- everything is about him. he has been treated badly. he has been betrayed, rather than getting to the bottom of what really happened in each of these scandals, and how can we make sure nothing like this happens again. >> now, krystal, this extortion allegation is already bringing out some ugly talk on the right wing media. listen to this.

>> i don't know. this is tough trying to figure out which one of these women is lying. one of them has to be. so the lieutenant governor is blond and the mayor is brunette. is that relevant in determining which one of them is telling the truth? i don't know. just asking. the lieutenant governor seems a little bit more at home with makeup than the mayor. is there anything to learn from that? i'm just asking. >> i mean, he is not exactly sticking up for christie. >> no. >> and he is not exactly ingratiating himself with women. >> and that is part of the problem here, right. for christie, he has always had a bit more trouble appealing to women because of his whole bullying attitude. in this case you do have instances where it is women who are make the accusations, and you've seen some ugliness from republicans. you had haley barbour, former

governor calling the mayor of hoboken a, quote, lady mayor. >> the lady mayor. as though it's so weird. >> to have woman be mayor of a city. >> whoever heard of that? >> lady mayor. not mayor, lady mayor. >> they wonder why they have problems with women voters. i don't get it. >> the bottom line is you're dealing with some very, very serious allegations. >> yeah. >> and you're dealing with them from what we can make of it, no one that has a motive, even a political motive to make something like this. and i think that where we thought this was very, very bad is getting worser and worser, at least it appears to be. we're going to see. krystal ball and joan walsh, thank you both for joining us. >> thanks for having us, rev. ahead, honoring the dream on martin luther king day. his son martin luther king iii joins me live on the challenges ahead. and president obama speaking

personally about race in america. stay with us. >> there may be some tear gas ahead. >> yes. >> i say to you this afternoon that i would rather die on the highways of alabama than make a butcher wear my conscience. [ male announcer ] here's a question for you: where does the united states get most of its energy? is it africa? the middle east? canada? or the u.s.? the answer is...

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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 ♪ there can be no gain saying the fact that the negro has been extremely patient. we have waited for well, now 345

years for our basic constitutional and god-given rights. and we still confront the fact that we are at the bottom of the economic ladder. >> reverend dr. martin luther king jr. just days before his "i have a dream" speech, calling for economic justice. and on this king day, while we come together for service, we remember dr. king's fight to extend the economic ladder to all americans. today over 50 years later, many challenges lie ahead. and while many on both sides of the political aisle rightly celebrate dr. king this day, we should not overlook the policies and positions that are right now keeping his dream from becoming a reality. republicans in congress continue to block an agenda for more fairness at every turn, raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits, protecting food stamps. all of this obstruction comes as

income inequality continues to rise. in the past 50 years, the top 1% has seen its income skyrocket 270% while the vast majority of americans have barely made any gains. it's a national disgrace that president obama's tackling head-on. >> a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility that has jeopardized middle class america's basic bargain, that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead. i believe this is the defining challenge of our time. the idea that a child may never be able to escape that poverty because she lacks a decent education or health care, or a community that views her future as their own, that should offend all of us, and it should compel us to action. we are a better country than this. >> we are a better country than this. and today, as we remember dr.

king, we must dedicate ourselves to keeping his dream alive and his fight moving forward. joining me now is dr. king's elder son martin luther king iii, and congresswoman karen bass. thank you both for being here to honor dr. king with us and his legacy. >> absolutely. >> martin, i don't know anyone that has fought more to keep the policies and philosophies of your father front and center and not just have this as a day with ceremonial things. what is your assessment today? >> well, very quickly, one of the most important issues, we're approaching an election. we have gone all over the world to fight for democracy for other nations. and yet right here at home we are restricting democracy by the new voter laws. >> right. >> so if dad was here, he would

be certainly working with congress, trying to get a adequate voting rights bill. he would be working with congress, just as the president has said about how do we raise up the quality of life. the nation will not do well if we continue to keep creating more and more poor people. there is a better way. dad would call it probably redistributing wealth. and that is probably what got him killed, quite frankly. >> now, when you look at the income inequality that we talked about, and when you look at the attack on voter rights, which you call the march that we all rallied with you last year, a couple 100,000 of us marched on voter id and on the economic inequality, there are many data being hypocritical today, celebrating your father's birthday, but being evasive about what your father stood for. >> that's absolutely correct. i think many try to make martin luther king relevant to themselves. and yet they come to ceremonies

that are birthdays, but they don't actually work with the sacrament and do the work to bring about the change. that can change, but it's a matter of participating in the political process. we got to find a way to get more people to vote than ever before in this upcoming election. >> congresswoman bass, as you listen to martin luther king iii talking about this, is there a mood in congress to deal with this? i know that congressman sensenbrenner and congressman john lewis have proposed a voters bill that would in many ways deal with the supreme court decision. and this is what martin and i hoped for last year, with the march that there be some bill in congress. but there is no guarantee that they would even bring it up to vote, let alone pass. >> you know, that's right, rev. but actually, i am encouraged. and i do think it's going to come up for a vote. i have to tell you they was very skeptical.

but my colleagues who are my elders, mr. conyers, mr. lewis, they told us that they were going to be able to bring republican support, and they've done exactly that. now, it's not the bill we would have written, but it is certainly a start. and i actually am hopeful that it's going to move and it's going to move both in the senate and the house. >> now, martin, a lot of younger people, she talked about her elders and they're ours too. but then we're older than some of younger people that work with all of us. and they don't understand even today, this holiday came about after a fight. your mother had to mobilize all over this country to even get this holiday. and a lot of young people wake up today and think this holiday was automatic. >> well, you're absolutely correct. we know that nothing comes without struggle, work. >> right. >> and the fact that mom, stevie wonder, you so, many others around our nation were working to get this holiday.

and it's wonderful that we have a holiday. but the holiday is different than what we normally do for a holiday. the holiday is about rededicating our lives to finishing or helping to realize the dream. because we've not realized it yet. we just talked about poverty. militaryism and violence and racism still in our nation. >> congresswoman bass, do you think that america has a sense of shifting to deal with this problem of income inequality? >> well, you know, i definitely think the mood is out there. all of the polling certainly says that there is support for raising the minimum wage. and obviously, that's to address income inequality. so i think the mood is there. but i do think we have to constantly educate people, even about what the holiday is about. it's not a holiday to do nothing. it's a holiday to rededicate yourself. it's not a holiday to have a department store sale. it's a holiday to reflect on the history of struggle and to continue to move that forward. >> you know, martin, you have a

daughter, dr. king and mrs. king's only grandchild is your daughter that he never, of course, got to see. how does she deal with king day? i'm getting a little personal. but what does king day mean to dr. king's granddaughter, and what do you hope it will mean to her as she grows up? >> well, i think she is getting more of an understanding. this year for the first time she watched a cartoon called "our friend martin" which is a whole experience teaching. >> you wrote a children's book. >> i wrote a children's book. and i've read the book to her. in fact, i'm speaking at her school tomorrow. i want to get back to atlanta. and of course she is here in new york, she and my wife are here in new york with me as well. so they observed the holiday with me. we're teaching her so that she understands and appreciates who her grandfather. and she does know. >> i remember when the memorial was being dedicated, the monument to your father, the

only one in that area, and you and your wife took your daughter there. and she, for whatever reason looked at her grandfather and said i won't cry. and you were amaze because she was too young to even know and understand what was going on. >> it was the most incredible experience because as we walked up, when we got to the statue, she said, "i'm not going to cry." and i said andrea. she said it again. then she looked up at the statue and said this is awesome. and she is 3 years old. >> it is awesome, and it's an awesome day if we don't forget the dream that the dreamer stood for. thank you so much, martin luther king iii. >> thank you. >> thank you, congresswoman karen bass. >> thank you. >> thank you for joining us. ahead, history was made five years ago today. our first black president was sworn in. today he is opening up about race. that's next. we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters.

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this is the meaning of our liberty and our creed. why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. >> five years ago today,

president obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the united states and the country's first black president. in an interview out today, president obama reflected on several issues, including race in america. quote, there is no doubt that some folks who just really dislike me because they don't like the idea of a black president. now, the flip side is that there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because i'm a black president." so we celebrate how far we've come, but also realize a lot of work still is yet to be done. but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% testosterone gel. the #1 prescribed

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yeah? then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence. are you in good hands? today the first family took part in a community service project at central kitchen in washington, d.c. >> we are noting the 25th anniversary of this outstanding institution.

and very proud to be a part of it. and we just want to thank everybody who is here for all the great work they do. >> this morning, the national action network, my civil rights organization held our annual martin luther king day breakfast. vice president biden was the guest speaker, and he got specific about a challenge we must fight. >> i never thought we'd be fighting the fight again on voting rights. i never believed -- i really didn't. i really didn't. this has been the ultimate fight because our opponents know, they know the single most dangerous thing to give us is the right to vote. they know what that is. >> dr. king day ought to be a day that we commit ourselves to continue to fight. you and i must decide what part we're going to play, not in the struggles that have been fought and won, but in today's

struggle, the fight to keep voting rights, to stop those efforts to suppress voting rights. the dealing with economic and income inequality. let us not act like the civil rights movement was something back then there is still a civil rights movement needed right now, and you and i must help lead it. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. something is broken in hoboken. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. hoboken new jersey. the mayor of that city dawn zimmer has now spoken with federal authorities about a message she said she received last summer from governor christie delivered she said by