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where's the proof, though? also ahead -- >> this problem's been around for at least the last 15 years. it's been turned into a political football. i think it's unfair. >> i genuinely believe that speaker boehner and a number of house republicans, folks like paul ryan, really do want to get a serious immigration reform bill done. >> is there possible common ground over immigration reform? can the president meet them in the middle? sheila jackson lee will join me live. plus, out of prison and out to change the system. what former new york police commissioner bernie carric learned behind bars. and new jersey, the next state to go green? which green are we talking about here? a state senator wants to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. he says the move would clean up the streets and dry up the black market. finally, why wait?

the new app that helps you end the excuses, delays and distractions. how today's big idea can make procrastination a thing of the past. we start with that scandal surrounding new jersey governor chris christie. it's now in high gear. the lawyer for david wildstein, the former port authority official who ordered the closing of the lanes on the george washington bridge now saying the governor knew about the lane closures while they were happening. the lawyer writing in a letter to the port authority, quote, evidence exists as well tying mr. christie to having knowledge of the lane closure during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly, end quote. the governor's office is denying the ak allegations saying, mr. wildstein's lawyer confirms what the governor has said all along.

this is all what the governor stated last month. listen to this. >> i had no knowledge of this, of the planning, the execution or anything about it. and i first found out about it after it was over. >> let me bring in now michael isikoff and host of "up" with steve kornacki. michael, let me start with you. what is this possible evidence? what could we be talking about here? >> good question. the letter does not make it all clear that evidence exists. it does not say that wildstein has this evidence. remember, he was subpoenaed. he turned over hundreds of pages of e-mails and texts, many of which -- most of which we've now seen. there were some redactions which raised a lot of questions by people that have now seen the unredacted versions of those, that there's no smoking gun

there, there's nothing that's going to implicate governor christie in this. so it appears to be evidence that david wildstein does not actually have. so that does raise a question, what it is, who has it -- >> not quite to the smoking gun point. but this letter, is this a case of he's just trying to cover himself legally? should we make much of this letter? >> two possible readings. there's a little bit to both of them. this is officially a letter to the port authority denying his request to pay for his legal bills. he's trying to get them to reconsider that decision. but i also read this as sort of the fourth attempt, public or not so thinly veiled attempt by he and his lawyers to make themselves available for an immunity deal. his lawyer explicitly said that. he said, if you can cloak my client in immunity, he'll have something interesting to say. he repeated the same message to

"the wall street journal." if you look at the redactions, i read the ones where they were trying to create as much suspense as possible to raise all these questions and to position wildstein as the guy who can answer all these. in that context, if you read this letter, the assertions that he makes in here certainly without saying that he personally can prove it, the assertions that he makes are explosive. positioning themselves -- >> but u.s. attorneys don't by pigs in polk. paul fishman wants to see what wildstein has and what he's got to say before -- they want to proffer. they want to test that proffer and make sure he has an airtight case before they consider granting him immunity. i think it's pretty clear, if you are serious about trying to get an immunity deal or you thought you had a good chance of

one, this is probably not the way to go about it. you're trying to deal with the federal prosecutors, not with the public audience and not with the state legislature. >> it's all true, the reputation of david wildstein's attorney, the particular attorney he chose to go with, his reputation as a guy who tries to cut deals for his clients more than some of the other attorneys he could have gone with. the other thing, if you look at the entire range of characters here, david wildstein is the one with the least loyalty going in, to christie. he's the least likely to take the fall for christie. so there's also the possibility that if he does potentially have access to something, i think he's a lot less likely to keep something from public view than some of these other folks. >> there are a lot of players, seems like new players come in every day. the ft. l the fort lee mayor has been a major player. i want to get his response to this whole letter.

>> you have to really read the letter. it's an artfully written lawyer letter. it's what i do for a living as well. the first part of it asks for the port to request their denial for the request of legal fees. and then it concludes with this -- that there was knowledge on the part of the governor. >> he's essentially saying, when this letter came out, we all went nuts. you heard smoking gun a lot. it's not that. even the fort lee mayor saying this is creative lawyering and what lawyers do. but there's another situation which you went in depth with having to do with sandy relief funds. how does that play into it when you have an accusation -- an investigation, essentially, what you all did on your show this morning showing some of those sandy relief funds were directed towards a county and a senior center who had some friends of christie in it. >> what's so interesting is that story came to light earlier this week. $6 million went to a senior center in essex county in new

jersey. everything in new jersey was affected by sandy but not everything was affected the same way. in this part of new jersey was not affected the way the shore was. there's a law in place. it was enacted in march of 2013 by the state legislature and signed by chris christie that was supposed to assign what's call an integrity monitor to every recovery and rebuilding project worth more than $5 million. what we found is that a lot of these firms have been chosen, potentially ready to go since the summer. when we actually called chris christie's treasury department charged with overseeing this program, they basically told us the monitoring did knott begin until the last few weeks. not until january of 2014. the intent of this law when it was enacted in march of 2013 was that we wouldn't suddenly find out ten months later that $6 million went to a senior center complex in bellville. that monitoring only now in all of this controversy is actually beginning. >> that's a new lane many people may not even know about.

but it's worth going back and take a peek at some of the reporting this morning from "up with steve kornacki." thank you both. you can watch steve every weekend at 8:00 a.m. appreciate you sticking around. also this week, house republican leaders unveiled an immigration plan at their annual retreat. t plan that they're working on offers no special path to citizenship for all illegal immigrants. but it would allow some to remain in the u.s. under certain conditions and it would allow children brought here to be eligible for citizenship. but it can't happen until after specific enforcement triggers have gone into effect. but still some are calling this maybe a step in the right direction. sheila jackson lee joins us. always good to talk to you, representative. you tell me, is this a step in the right direction? >> t.j., thank you.

very good to be with you and your viewers. we have a broken immigration system and it's impacting our economy and our national security. but they left out the devastation it's had on families and children, the horror of deportation of people who simply want to work and pay their taxes. that's the missing element of their proposed immigration reform efforts. we are glad that they are beginning to realize that the nation has failed, congress has failed, in not acting. obviously the senate democrats have acted almost a year ago. and one of the downsides of their recommendations is that they indicate that they will not go to conference with the senate bill. that means that they will start from scratch. whether or not we can do anything between now and the end of the year is really a question in their camp because they control the house of representatives. some of the things that they mentioned, if i might, border security. all of us agreed to that. in fact, we passed a bill in the house, a bipartisan bill on my

committee, homeland security, where we worked together to write it and pass it. and so we've made some steps. the question is, how much burden are the republicans going to put on this process before we give relief to families is this. >> let me listen to -- let's all listen to the president. he was speaking out as well. it's an upbeat tone. let's listen to this interview from yesterday. >> here's the good news. number one, there is a desire to get it done. and that particularly in this congress is a huge piece of business because they haven't gotten a lot done over the last couple of years out of house republican caucus. they've been willing to say what they're against, not so much what they're for. the fact that they're for something, i think, is progress. >> will you agree with that sentiment, that this is some progress at least and it seems to be on both sides a willingness to want to get something done? isn't this a good starting point? >> well, i think the president along with those of us who have

worked on immigration issues now for almost two decades certainly do see a light at the end of the tunnel. all of us are cautiously optimistic. but we're looking at the principals and we realize that the triggers of moving forward to what is ul really the lifeline of making this system better, one, providing the opportunity for young people who are trained here, who have great talent, to be able to stay here and invest in this country through he or she h1b visas, and then to make sure these families that have been broken up actually can be reunited. even those on the list accessing legal immigration, been on long lines for a long time. and then of course the dreamers. the problem is -- again, i am optimistic. i want to see the action. i want to see some movement. but the problem is, there is this one elephant in the room, if i might say, that you can do all things, you can learn

english, you can pay fines, you can learn the civics of america, you can pledge loyalty. but right now, you can't be a citizen. that is a hang-up that so many of us have been pressing forward on. 119 people stood with me at a press conference, committed to fasting in houston about a couple of weeks ago, wanting to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. part of that was citizenship. but i am ready to move forward if the republicans will move forward. i'm on the committee where these bills will come forward and i'm ready to move forward. i'd like to find a good place that we can help all the people that need to be helped. >> i think that's good news. and if both sides are at least willing to sit down, we'll take it here in 2014. congresswoman sheila jackson lee of texas, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. it's a broken system. that's according to new york city's former top cop who just happened to get out of prison not too long ago. he calls prison a training ground for criminals.

yes, he will join us live with his eye-opening experience. also ahead -- >> we have a plague of human trafficking in new york. we've seen a serious uptick in their activities in anticipation of the super bowl. >> new york, new jersey and the feds spent a year cracking down on sex trafficking ahead of the super bowl. the big game is a huge arena for sex crimes. stay with us. who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours.

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there are new calls for the obama administration for the early release of nonviolent drug offenders from federal prisons. deputy attorney general james colt said thursday failure to do so harms our criminal justice system. but do those reforms so far go far enough in fixing the system?

want to bring in bernard kerik, the former head of new york's corrections department and the former police commissioner and also served time in prison. i've heard you talk about it. it sounds odd you were head of the police in new york city and the head of the prisons and still you weren't enlightened as you are now after being an inmate. should it have taken that for you to become enlightened the way you say you are now? >> i think it does take that. a prison administrator, an executive in law enforcement, you don't see the collateral damage that the system causes. you don't see the economic damage that the system causes. and you really don't know the internal federal system until you're on the inside. >> what do you think you know more so now? what is the main thing you probably know now that you had no idea as you were running the prisons and then the head of the police department -- >> a lot of it has to do with

what jim koemy just announced, the draconian sentencing that's gone on for the last 20 to 30 years. there are young men, now older men, sitting in prison that were sentenced to 20, 30 years for nonviolent and many first-time low-level drug offenses. and there's a lot of them in prison. >> do you think you're a flawed messenger now? you have the experience, no doubt, in your professional life and as an inmate. but do you think people are going to have a hard time sitting here, okay, he had every opportunity while he was the police commissioner and the head of the jails to do something about this. now he's only coming out when you're not so much in the same power to have the same -- >> i may not have the power to make change. but i think to advocate for change, i don't think there is a better messenger because nobody with my experience has ever been on the inside. >> this is something you wrote for your consulting group about the danger, mandatory minimum

sentencing, they have provided prosecutors unprecedented authority to influence sentencing outcomes and the ability to enhance and prolong a defendant's sentence, even for conduct acquitted by a jury. is that the main thing we're talking about, mandatory minimums and the president signaled he'd like to commute more sentencing but that's a trickle. do you see real hope for reform, for congress acting for laws to change? >> i do see more hope today than i did in the past. and in the past, i really didn't pay attention to it. but now, in fact, just over the last few days, they are working congress on both sides of the aisle to address the sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums. it is unsustainable. you cannot keep mass incarcerating people at the rate we're doing. >> do you think it was possible for you to serve your debt to society without going to prison? >> absolutely. the problem is, there are thousands like me.

it didn't take three years and 11 days sitting in prison to learn my lesson or pay my debt to society. i could have been on home confineme confinement, house arrest, on probation, paying taxes -- >> but you wouldn't have been as enlightened -- >> but it didn't take three years and 11 days. >> i want to switch gears a little bit. because of your experience, that professional experience. now we have super bowl about to take place here, big events like that, as you watch the news coverage, a couple of scares here in new york with possible powders. turned out to be nothing. but do you think we are equipped, are you pleased with what you see in terms of security measures around big events like the super bowl we have tomorrow? >> absolutely. i think in a post-9/11 world, we are better equipped than just about anywhere in the world. we are better equipped than anywhere in the world. right now, for the super bowl, you have the fbi, the u.s. secret service, the new jersey state police. i don't think you can get a

better coordination of security for an event like this than there is right now. and my son and daughter will be there tomorrow. i feel absolutely safe they're going to be good. >> we have to ask you as well. you were the head of the new york city police department and we just saw this week that the new mayor has essentially ended stop-and-frisk or saying he's going to go along with the policies that a judge came down on that particular program. are you in favor of getting rid of stop-and-frisk altogether? >> i'm not in favor of getting rid of it altogether. it's a tool. i think the mayor and the new commissioner, bill bratton, will work it out and make it work. i think it's a necessary tool but it has to be monitored. >> how do you make it work without stopping it? monitored for what? you don't know about it until after the fact? >> you have to monitor abuses of it. cops have to -- cops that work in anti-crime areas, high-crime areas, you want to make sure they have the ability to do their job. and a part of stop-and-frisk is

doing that job. it's going to take a little work. but i'm absolutely convinced commissioner bratton can do it. >> we appreciate you coming in. >> thank you. nasa has released video of the longest-ever partial solar eclipse. the celestial event lasted 2 1/2 hours. this was on thursday. nasa says this type of eclipse occurs two to three times a year. you're watching msnbc. ♪epic classical music stops ♪music resumes music stops ♪music resumes [announcer] if your dog can dream it. purina pro plan can help him achieve it. nutrition that performs.

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are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira today. remission is possible. ♪ clovers and blue moons shoes ♪ hourglasses, rainbows ♪ and tasty red balloons let's go! ♪ lucky charms ♪ frosted lucky charms ♪ they're magically delicious chicago has already seen its share of snow this year. the windy city is bracing for more. people have begun hitting grocery stores and gas stations to prepare for the storm. the area is under a winter storm warning until 6:00 p.m. central time tonight. up to 10 inches of snow expected to fall. as we come up on the bottom of the hour, hello, i'm t.j. holmes. craig melvin is off today. here's a look at some of the other stories making headlines. new measures being taken due to

the drought in california. state officials announced emergency water cutbacks yesterday. officials say there's not enough water to go around. an italian appeals court friday reinstated the guilty verdict against american amanda knox and her former boyfriend for the 2007 murder of her roommate. knox's lawyers say they will appeal it to the italian supreme court. a decision to extradite knox to italy will be left up to secretary of state john kerry. and charges filed against two former boy scout leaders accused of knocking over a prehistoric rock formation in utah. happened last year. both men were charged with criminal mischief. up next, when sex crimes and super bowl weekend collide, why a police crackdown on human trafficking is under way this weekend. e. 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.

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weekend for the super bowl and all the festivities that surround it. but there's another side to the influx of people. it's a prime opportunity for human trafficking and the sex trade. cindy mccain, the wife of john mccain, is an advocate for victims of human trafficking and she talked about the scope of the problem at a new jersey news conference on wednesday. >> it's not just the super bowl. it's not just a large event. it's every day. so we face the element out there of educating people, making sure that they understand that this is not prostitution. these are victims. and more importantly, making sure that they understand that we have to do something, not only to run the traffickers out, first and foremost, but to take care of our victims in the long run. >> let me turn now to a national reporter for "usa today," jane wells, documentary filmmaker. her new film examines the sex trafficking trade.

and danielle douglas, a former victim of sex trafficking. thank you all for being here. danielle, let me start with you. most of the time we see in film, on the news and people think sex trafficking and they think somewhere overseas, they're thinking young girls don't have anywhere else to go. this was not your case. >> no. >> explain a little bit -- it's fascinating to hear how you ended up trapped in that system. >> i agree, most people when they think of trafficking, they think of the word drug trafficking and has no relation to human trafficking. when i was 17, i met a man who i thought was an interesting person, started to get to know him and after about two weeks, he changed from this person who i originally thought was kind of smart and interesting into a violent, manipulative, coercing me. and i had so much fear that he

put into me because i was physically abused by him and beaten. >> and, again, you were someone who was going to college. you had a family life. people often think of just girls on the streets that don't have another option. that was not you. no, i'd just gone away to college. i was in boston going to northeastern university. i was just trying to meet new people. i was in a new environment. >> yammish, people are arguing over broncos or seahawks and arguing, the super bowl is in new jersey, not really new york -- all these other story lines we see. this isn't one we see, but why is it? new york and the super bowl are such prime targets for this type of activity. >> i should say when i talk to the experts they say the reason why you have this big influx is you have anyplace that you have a large grouping of men -- usually men that are drinking and partying and maybe up to reckless behavior, may be willing to do things that they wouldn't do in their normal,

everyday lives. you have people that will come in and try to capitalize on that. so in some cases, you'll have traffickers come in and bring in these girls trying to capitalize on that. >> is there any way to keep up, any way to really monitor how much of this comes into an area -- we've all heard stories of -- frankly, nba all-star weekend, things like that, hear those stories. but do they have data, do they have information, do they have evidence that this kind of thing is happening or is it just kind of common sense to a lot of -- at least the people who work in law enforcement? >> what you hit on is a really, really big problem. it's a really big issue because i've been covering this for two years. and i have yet to see a real statistic where people can say, this is when it's happening. this is how many people are being trafficked. the same is true when you look at the super bowl. some people say, this is a myth, this is not true. that people say it but we don't have the numbers to produce it. i talked to indianapolis who hosted the super bowl last year.

they said they thought the people were exaggerated when they heard tens of thousands of women may be coming to their city. in new york, there was a woman who was just arrested for bringing her 15-year-old from florida to new york for this super bowl. you have super bowl rings being busted -- >> a woman brought her daughter here -- >> brought her 15-year-old daughter from florida to the super bowl. she said she told the police officers it was because of the super bowl that she brought her 15-year-old daughter. and because of that, she was caught. while we don't have numbers, the anecdotal evidence is scary. >> jane, i want to start with a clip of your film. i'm going to show that and then have you react to it. i'm sure our viewers will have their own reaction. let's listen. >> we have a couple of days that we have this -- we're launching the soap. and we're training volunteers, people that just want to come and learn more about human trafficking and they're going to

then take these thousands of bars of soap out to motels and just offer them free to them. they can place them in their motel rooms during the super bowl. >> that was an earlier film. you have a more recent one as well. what have found in doing your research and putting the films together? people just don't seem to know that this is taking place here in the u.s. and happening to young american girls. >> yeah, it seems however much we think we hear the story again and again in the media that most people still don't believe it's happening to americans in america. and that's really what we tried to show in the film "tricked," that this is an american problem, a purely domestic problem. we only focused on the american tex trade. >> how difficult is it -- i can ask you but still you're doing the documentary, doing the films, difficult to get young ladies to come out -- either come forward -- again, you were being abused. it's hard to go to the police if you think there's going to be

backlash. but how difficult is that to get a young woman not just to go to police but to come to you to ask for that help, to be open about what happened to them and tell their story, which is very important to see a face to it? >> we found that a lot of the girls who were caught up in that world don't self-identify as victims when they're in it. so it's much easier to get someone who's come out of that life to talk and talk to us. but with danielle, she's gone through a long process of recovery. that's what made her a particularly good subject because we could see the whole trajectory of how hard it is to recover from the harm over years. >> when many young women are in it, they don't see themselves as victim. is that true? and do you still find it difficult to talk about publicly? >> yes, when i was under control, i definitely wasn't considering myself a human

trafficking victim. i didn't even know what that was. i didn't learn that i was a human trafficking victim until i was about four or five years out of pimp control. the reason that is is because you're so brainwashed and manipulated and beaten down physically and mentally that you really don't have an opportunity to feel sorry for yourself or even try to escape. >> how did you get out? >> i actually was able to go on a vacation with my mother, which was really odd. but the pimp just let me go i think because he was extremely cocky and pretty much thought that i would come right back. and i went on vacation. i realized the situation and that this was my only chance and i was able to go live with my mother with her support. >> last thing here, maybe you all can answer this. is the focus in the wrong place because it's more likely that the victim in the case, the young girl, prostitute, if you will, is the one that's going to be targeted and arrested by police. it's more likely they'll be arrested than the pimp, as she

said. >> i talked to the head of the new jersey human trafficking task force and they are very clear that they're going to be going after the people that are coercing these women or in some cases these men. if they can figure out what's going on, they will not be prosecuting victims. so they are very aware of what's going on and that that's an issue. >> are police generally treating the young ladies as victims or criminals as well? >> they're beginning to treat them more as victims and less as criminals. but i also wanted to point out that statistically, nine sex workers are arrested for every one john. so that's still a huge imbalance. >> i can't thank you all enough. we've talked so much about super bowl coverage. but this is an important side to what's happening this weekend. i can't thank you enough to be out there telling your story, putting an american face on what's happening on the streets. thank you all so much. >> thank you. it's time for us to take a flashback to this day in 1968

when former congressman and california governor richard m. nixon threw his hat into the presidential ring. the nixon campaign was successful. he was reelected for a second term and you know what happened after that. became the only president to resign from office in disgrace. one of president nixon's lasting legacies was the nation's space shuttle program which he approved in 1972. disaster struck the nation on this day in 2003 when the shuttle "columbia" disintegrated as it reentered earth's atmosphere over texas killing all seven crew members. here's how nbc's tom brokaw described that tragedy. >> a loud boom, a fireball, a catastrophic loss of all on board in a hellish explosion. immediately the questions, what could have caused the shuttle to disintegrate? the first time in the history of the u.s. space flight program that a terrible accident has happened on approach and landing. one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple

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take a look at that. metlife stadium in east rutherford, new jersey. the super bowl is tomorrow night. oh, wait, the super bowl is in new jersey. yes, folks, jersey, not new york. the state's governor, we've been talking about him, it seems every single day something new coming out. he is someone who's looked at as a possibly presidential candidate in 2016. now he's in the middle of a controversy. one of christie's former associates now claiming through his lawyer that he has evidence suggesting the governor knew of the george washington bridge closures last fall as they were happening. that would contradict what the governor has said and the governor is denying the claims in this new letter. my next guest has been part of the legislative panel investigating the incident. he joins me now. does this do much to the investigation? some people want to use smoking gun when we saw this letter. would you go that far? >> it brings even more questions. if he's got evidence, it should have already been turned over to the committee when he was

subpoenaed to provide documents to begin with. my understanding, there was a wide range of documents that were asked of him. but if it doesn't meet within the parameters of the original subpoena he received, there may be new information the committee needs to review. >> what was your reaction to it when it came out? initially we didn't know exactly what to make of it. you have a guy saying the governor knew as the lanes were closed that it was going on, the governor had been saying he didn't find out about it until the whole incident was over. >> well, i think some people found it surprising. i was surprised how quickly this turn of events had come forward. he'd just pleaded the fifth in front of the committee a couple of weeks ago. now his attorney supplies this letter to the port authority looking for reimbursement of his legal defense costs and also giving some speculation that he has additional evidence that would contradict what the governor's previously said in a two-hour press conference. >> wildstein credible to you at this point? he initially put it into place, he got the e-mail from one of the governor's staff members saying, time for lane closures. he was the one with the port

authority who essentially ordered it. but he pled the fifth in front of the legislature, a committee there. now he's coming out there with, looks like he wants to cover himself legally and get his legal fees paid. do you think he's credible? >> that remains to be seen. we have this letter from his attorney. he indicates he has some additional evidence. and that's where the rubber will meet the road, when we see what actual evidence he has, whether it's in writing or some kind of recording or some type of electronic recording of evidence that he believes that the governor knew of the lane closures while they were going on. >> let me switch topics here with you. new jersey wants to do what colorado and washington state have done now. you all have approved medicinal marijuana but you believe it should be okay for people in your state to light up for recreational use. why do you want this to be the case? >> well, i think anyone who is a student of history understands that if we don't review our history and understand that we're destined to repeat itself, we had alcohol which was prohibited for many years.

all it did was create a criminal enterprise. that's exactly what we've done in new jersey and throughout the united states. marijuana has been criminalized since the '20s and '30s. before that, marijuana was legal for a number of reasons. george washington grew marijuana. what we're trying to do here is save this country from what we've been doing over the last 80 years. >> do you think it's a good thing to have more people walking around in your state high? essentially you're telling people -- if you tell them it's okay, do you think that's a good thing to have more people -- >> there's no way we're suggesting that people smoke marijuana. we're coming to the realization that we have an activity that's going on anyway. what i've said is if we make it illegal, it hasn't stopped anyone. we've tried 80 years of prohibiting this behavior. what we should do is regulate it, tax it and make sure people don't drive on it. we're not suggesting people smoke marijuana. just like we don't suggest people smoke more cigarettes or

drink more alcohol. the state should be a part of making sure that this substance is regulated. >> you think -- do you think it's dangerous? >> do i think it's dangerous? under certain circumstances. if you got high and drove a car, that would be dangerous -- >> but other than that -- >> the health effects of marijuana are not as dire as some people might predict. there's certainly no more -- no worse for the human body than alcohol or tobacco. and long-term use of either of those would be a problem. but people should have and have had their freedoms and are making those choices already. >> are you modeling your law -- which i don't think you've drafted it necessarily just yet, is that right? >> just about complete. >> are you modeling it after colorado or will people be able to do things in your state different from what's happening in washington and colorado? >> we've utilized the colorado mod until terms of the drafting but we also want to make sure to know where the tax dollars go. we may direct them into things like women health care issues

and transportation trust funds. >> people could use it in their homes. >> employers aren't going to be obligated to allow people to come into work -- just like they can't come into work drunk. we'll have strict regulations on it. we'll make sure the people in new jersey regulate it and ensure people are getting what they're paying for. >> governor said he doesn't back it. can you only go so far? >> that remains to be seen. if we project the facts, the money that we can make, the safety issues, the fact that we're going to try to take our street corners back from these illegal drug dealers, i think the facts will speak for themselves that this is the way the country needs to use. >> are you a marijuana user? >> i've never used it. but if it becomes legal, who knows? i've never tried it. >> if it becomes legal, you and i will get together again. thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure. up next, procrastination. this organization has an app for that.

meet the teenager who built an app to tackle that to-do list. he's here with the big idea. my mother and my grandmother are very old fashioned. i think we both are clean freaks. i used to scrub the floor on my knees. [ daughter ] i've mastered the art of foot cleaning. oh, boy. oh, boy. oh, boy. [ carmel ] that drives me nuts. it gives me anxiety just thinking about how crazy they get. [ doorbell rings ] [ daughter ] oh, wow. [ carmel ] swiffer wetjet. you guys should try this. it's so easy. oh, my. [ gasps ] i just washed this floor. if i didn't see it i wouldn't believe it. [ carmel ] it did my heart good to see you cleaning. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. [ daughter ] oh, yeah. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. progress-oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons

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if you procrastinate, listen up. what if there was something out there to help us all buckle down to not only get through our to-do list but get tasks done on time? that is today's big idea. it's called the finish app. it's for your iphone. it includes "bother me" alerts that go off every hour until the task is complete. 17-year-old ryan designed this app. he received an apple design award last year for his creation and e-mailed us about his big idea. he joins us now. ryan, good to see you. how did you come up with this thing in the first place? were you a procrastinator? >> i definitely was. thanks for having me. how we came up with finish, it's

me and my friend, michael hansen, he's on the engineering side. i'm the designer. i came up with it it finals week in tenth grade. stress was everywhere then. i used our school planner, a bunch of different apps on my phone. just felt like i really, really liked this time frame concept and i felt like it would be valuable for me. we didn't know how valuable other people would find it. >> is it mainly designed for students or even specifically high school students or can anybody use it? >> anyone can use it. we've seen a lot of adoption in high schools because it does work incredibly well for that. but we've actually heard from -- we have a family friend who brews her own beer who says it's perfect for that. real estate agents, lawyers, doctors, random people. it's been really cool. >> is the key that it keeps reminding you and reminding you to the point of annoyance that

you have to get it done? is that a key to how this thing works? >> that's one little piece of it. you can turn it on if you want. but the main reason finish works is we split your stuff into short, mid and long-term time frames. and you add stuff just based on your due dates. we take over all the management. a few days later, we slide that up to short term, in the background for you. you always have context. you'll get an alert on your phone, hey, this task slid from mid-term to short-term. so you have to start caringn't a it now. >> there are a lot of apps out there. you're a high school student who's gotten a lot of attention about your app. apple recognized it. how many -- this thing costs, i assume. how many people have signed up for it, downloaded it so far? >> finish is 99 cents. on the app store now.

we're approaching 50,000 paid downloads. we've had over 500,000 tasks completed. the app's been opened over a million times by our users. 4.5 or 5 stars on the app store. really positive feedback. >> are you as a 17-year-old high school kid making money off this thing? >> we are. we both have -- the money we've been making from our paid downloads. we also have partnered with a cool company to start doing some rewards. so as you can complete your tasks, you can get free stuff from a bunch of cool brands. >> are your teachers appreciative that you designed this thing? are they finding students are getting things done on time? >> yeah. my mom was telling me a story last week, one of her friends, their son is at my school. whenever you complete a task and finish it, it makes this little noise. >> ryan, i have to leave it there. thank you so much.

congratulations and thanks for sending us the big idea. we'll be looking for you down the road. do you have a big idea? e-mail it to us and you could end up on the air here at msnbc as well. up next, more on the new accusations against governor chris christie and the new claims of evidence from a former ally. stay with us. ou got the bargain? you need a bunch of those to clean this mess. then i'll use a bunch of them. then how is that a bargain? [ sighs ] no, that's too many -- it's not gonna fit! whoa! cascade kitchen and math counselor. here's a solution. one pac of cascade complete cleans tough food better than six pacs of the bargain brand combined. so you can tackle tough messes the first time. that is more like it. how are you with taxes? [ laughs ] [ counselor ] and for even more cleaning power, try cascade platinum.

♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. on the advice of my counsel, i respectfully assert my right to remain silent. >> that was last month. but now, a former christie ally is breaking his silence. hello. i'm t.j. holmes. craig melvin is off today. you are watching msnbc. new allegations against governor chris christie. the lawyer for a former associate claims the governor knew of the lane closures earlier than he has let on. what's the evidence, though? also, blocking the vote. failed tea party candidate sharon angle is looking to put a

name on the ballot. and the bill clinton conference. he will join president obama and senate democrats to try to come up with a strategy to keep control of the senate. this as one republican resurrects clinton's 16-year-old baggage. and we'll take you live to the last day of super bowl boulevard in new york city. the big game on the way tomorrow. the game happening in new jersey. but there's another big story out of new jersey today, new allegations coming to light in the scandal surrounding governor chris christie and the lane closures on the george washington bridge. the lawyer for david wildstein, the former port authority official who ordered the lane closures, sending a letter to port authority officials saying wildstein has evidence that governor christie knew about the lane closures as they were happening. the governor's office has just flat-out denied that claim. we want to bring in michael isikoff. he has the latest. there is some latest. you were here with us last hour. you've been making calls.

we have new info about something that took place yesterday. >> right. this is the meeting that members of that new jersey legislative committee, the joint committee, had with federal prosecutors from the u.s. attorney's office in newark just yesterday. and basically the u.s. attorney's office is concerned that this legislative investigation could interfere with their own criminal probe. so they want to be given a heads-up on any witnesses that might be called, any live testimony that might compromise their probe. they're just asking, please keep us informed, let us know what you're doing. there's not a big surprise here. but it is an indication that they are taking this very seriously. and they, being the u.s. attorney's office in newark. >> all sides point to members of the legislature want to cooperate with the federal investigators. >> right. i don't think there's any desire on the part of the legislators to interfere with that criminal

investigation. in fact, it was something that came up during the legislative debate on this. but they have said, john wisniewski, the assembly co-chair, said it's the documents. the documents will tell us the story. but they may not get the documents as quickly as they had hoped for. the 20 subpoenas they put out a few weeks ago called for return by close of business monday, february 4th. my understanding, i'm told there have been multiple extensions given. the christie reelection committee has gotten a three-week extension. they've just written a letter to the new jersey law enforcement commission -- election commission asking for an advisory opinion on whether campaign funds could be used to retrieve these documents and turn them over. so there's some delaying going on here. and all this means is that the answers to a lot of the questions that people want and which probably governor christie would like to have out there one

way or the other may not be coming anytime soon. >> we know the governor put out two statements yesterday in response to that letter saying absolutely that the letter actually just confirms that the governor didn't know about these beforehand, he did not plan it or have any part of it. it continues. appreciate you hopping back in with us. michael isikoff, investigative correspondent for nbc news. new video coming in of governor christie, alongside other governors here. this was at a super bowl event. super bowl festivities around times square this afternoon. there it is. can't get the shot of the governor in this particular one. but the super bowl happening tomorrow, billed as a new york area event even though it's happening in new jersey. there he is behind the podium. he's making a public appearance there. but we'll keep a close eye on what's happening with the governor if he had something to say or some remarks. you know he's being asked about a lot of this. joining me now is msnbc legal analyst and former

attorney in florida kendall coffey. what did you make of that letter yesterday? we heard the fort lee mayor say it sounded like a lot of lawyering. but the former ally of christie, the port authority guy who essentially closed those lanes, he's trying to cover his tail and cover himself legal and get his legal fees taken care of. what did you make of the letter? >> he's certainly trying to get his legal fees paid because he's had so many and may have a lot more before these investigations are out. but he went beyond that insisting that he contends governor christie had in fact known at the time the lanes were being closed, that there was evidence about it. he didn't need to say anything about that to try to get his legal fees paid. he went beyond that and said that governor christie misled the media in his two-hour press conference. that's pretty unusual. seems apparent he's looking much, much more than attorneys' fees and appears to be trying to

market himself, almost apply for the job of being star witness for the prosecution by drawing attention to what he knows and trying to seek, we assume, some kind of great deal with prosecutors because this is a federal grand jury. it's serious business. and when somebody is thrown overboard, a lot of times they try to swim over to the prosecution's ship. >> do you see this as a good move on his part? there's some maneuvering going on and lawyering going on. but after he pled the fifth and now appears he's trying to take care of himself, do you think it will come to pass that he has some credibility issues? >> well, it's certainly not classic textbook. it's a novel playbook top try to make your case to be a government cooperator in the court of public opinion. and in some ways, it creates some problems with that. now it's almost as if he's diming out christie in order to help him get attorneys' fees.

that doesn't look attractive if he becomes a government cooperator, having a financial motive. but it seems to be that there's a sense that he's got to get in there, got to make a deal because whenever he knows, he sees very difficult forces coming. and everybody gets nervous if not terrified when they know there's a federal grand jury investigation which is serious business. >> let's put up the governor. our last question, we're going to put up the statement the governor put out, too, yesterday saying that mr. wildstein's lawyer confirms what the governor has said all along, he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures beforehand. this was some semantics, if you will. they were careful -- wildstein's lawyer said the governor knew as they were going on, in the span of time. the governor's said that he didn't know about it until after they were over. seems like a fairly small distinction. neither side saying christie knew ahead of time.

is the governor's response good enough, in your opinion? >> well, certainly now you've got in effect confirmation that he knew during the time because even christie's office is not denying that. is that a link that's incriminating? no. so far, we have heard nothing that's criminally implicating. but more pieces are coming together. whatever yesterday's news amounts to, it had to be pretty bad news from the perspective of christie and good news from the standpoint of an aggressive investigation. >> again, as the governor said, he didn't know ahead of time. we are waiting on the evidence. again, they're claiming the governor knew when those lanes were closed but we haven't seen the evidence of that just yet. we appreciate your expertise. have a good rest of your day. >> thanks, t.j. the kickoff of super bowl xlviii just a few hours away. more like 24. security, a pretty big concern. there have already been some false alarms. a number of places around the

stadium in east rutherford, new jersey, received suspicious letters containing an unknown substance yesterday. at least one was found to con stain cornstarch. ron mott is live in times square. you have a crowd there with you. but security for this game -- security is tight around any event in the new york area. now here we are with the super bowl. don't get much bigger. >> reporter: yeah, good afternoon. you can see all these people behind us. tens of thousands of people in times square celebrating the super bowl being in new york/new jersey. yesterday the authorities said it was much ado about nothing. one was sent to the former mayor of this city, rudy giuliani. all these substances that have been tested have been found to be harmless. here in times square, authorities are essentially allowing people to mill about as they will.

they have said all along if there were a credible threat in times square that they would step up the scrutiny of searching people and making sure that everything remains safe here. but for the most part, people are coming around without any harm from searches or police checking bags and things of that nature. and all day i've been asking, who's going to win this big game tomorrow? and i can't tell. so much noise down here. a lot of excitement. >> i imagine so. those folks don't seem to be too concerned about security right now. that's the job of the police. and they are certainly on it. ron mott, we appreciate you. we'll be checking in with you and the other folks down on the boulevard in new york. as we mentioned a little earlier, the governor, chris christie, who has the super bowl in his state. there he is a short time ago. at the super bowl but a lot of controversy following him around. he made an appearance down there on super bowl boulevard here in new york city. making comments there, talking about the big game, not the controversies at this point. but just wanted to bring you the latest video.

this is a short time ago, the governor making a public appearance, about the super bowl as those accusations and the controversy continues to follow him everywhere he goes. 11 minutes past the hour, coming up, the death penalty divide? in a rare move, the u.s. wants to execute the surviving boston bomber. this amid controversy over the drugs used. a new package in the death penalty debate is next. and tsa relaxes an inconvenient rule. what some flyers are now allowed to bring on board. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours.

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give you a look at some of the top headlines this saturday afternoon. the proposed keystone excel oil pipeline has cleared a major hurdle. the state department says it has no major environmental objections to completing the pipeline that would run from canada to nebraska where it

would connect with pipelines carrying more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil to refineries in texas. and people tired of chugging that water bottle before going through the airport security line? the tsa slightly relaxed the rule. some passengers will have no problem taking liquids they buy in duty-free shops back home. the united states seeking the death penalty against dzhokhar tsarnaev. federal executions are rare, there have only been three in the 21st century, all carried out by lethal injections. it is said by proponents to be a more humane method of execution. but there are those who disagree. two weeks ago, dennis mcguire was put to death by lethal injection. took him 25 minutes to die.

the executive director for the national coalition to abolish the death penalty. thank you for being here. should we expect to see this given that so many of the drugs are going to be coming off the market? will we see more executions where it takes a little longer, if you will? >> i think the thing you're going to see is that the death penalty is literally a house of cards falling in on itself. we've had these botched executions. we've had government officials actually sneaking around in secrecy to try and come up with new ways of killing people. what we're going to see is a system that's continuing to fall in on itself. that's what we can expect. and that's why we're seeing a real decline in support for the death penalty. at the same time there's a growing number of people who are opposed. >> opposed -- do you think it helps your cause when we see an execution that has something that seems to go wrong, where the person being put to death seems to gasp or they seem to take 25, 26 minutes -- is that one of the best, i guess, things

for you to make your case? the united states and the citizenry sees that and it sounds inhumane? >> i think the whole system is a problem. i think the fact that these executions are going off in disastrous ways is one example of the way in which the death penalty isn't working. but it's not working because we're not getting the right people. it's not working because we still have a strong evidence of racial bias in the death penalty. the system just isn't doing its job. and that's why people are turning away. and the government behaving in the way that it's behaved recently -- again, sneaking around, more secrecy, not admitting that the thing isn't working, that's the thing that's turning people away from the death penalty. >> what do you mean by the sneaking around? >> well, both in ohio and recently in missouri, one of the claims was that the government wasn't providing any information about what drugs they were using and where they were getting them, the kind of thing that you have to have to evaluate whether the problem is going to happen again and again as it has.

>> do you believe there is a way to humanely kill someone? killing someone in effect is pretty inhumane. >> the focus is in the wrong place. the focus should be on, are we having a system that is actually keeping us safer, that's actually getting the right people? the fact that we can't seem to get it right with killing people is just more evidence of the problem. >> let me bring this up from "the boston globe." some people see this as the rare occasion when it should be used. there we're talking about the boston bomber. do you believe there are some cases where the death penalty is warranted? >> well, when we focus on are there cases where the death penalty is warranted, we miss the point. the point is to keep a system in place that continues to waste our energies and resources and doesn't get it right and ends up with these disastrous executions that you just mentioned. we can't keep a system going on that's clearly failing over and

over again. >> but to that point as well, back to the original question, do you believe there is no case -- you don't like the focus to be on that. but a lot of people in boston certainly might disagree with you, even people who oppose the death penalty might say, in that case with the boston bomber, maybe i'm on board with that. do you not see any situation where you would be okay with the death penalty? >> well, there are a couple of points i would make. first of all, we have to remember that we're talking about a system. so the idea that there might be one person or two people that might justify having an execution doesn't justify keeping a system in place that on a day-to-day basis doesn't work. we're talking about a public policy. i think what's happening is people are seeing the difference between the idea of the death penalty and the reality. the reality is we don't have a system that reasonably and rationally executes the right people. we now apparently don't even have a way of doing it in a way that's not disastrous -- >> is the boston bomber the right person to execute?

>> i would ask bostonians. there was a poll taken just recently. 57% of bostonians felt that life without parole was the appropriate punishment. there's no monolithic view about whether the death penalty is appropriate in this case. i would remind you, we're at the very beginning of this process. there's much more to learn about this case. there's much more to learn about this defendant. and so i think the focus has got to be on, do we have a system of justice that's working? and we're getting signals every day that in the case of the death penalty, it isn't. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. i certainly understand your point. just trying to see if there's anytime you would think that the death penalty was okay. i get where you're coming from, the national coalition to abolish the death penalty, executive director. ma'am, i hope to have you back and continue our conversation down the road. >> thank you. a high point for the olympic torch, organizers just released this video of climbers carrying the flame to the top of europe's

highest peak. the torch reached the more than 18,000-foot summit back in august. the sochi games in just five dags. catch them all right here on the networks of nbc universal. ♪ ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it. (dad vo) i want her to be safe. so, i taught her what i could and got her a subaru. (girl) piece of cake. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. mmm! this is delicious katie. it's not bad for canned soup, right? pfft! [ laughs ] you nearly had us there. canned soup. [ male announcer ] they just might think it's homemade. try campbell's homestyle soup.

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♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good. nevada may be the next stop in the battle over voter id. it's got a high-profile politician leading the charge. you remember sharon angle? she was the tea party-backed challenger to senate majority leader harry reid in 2010. the one who famously avoided talking to the press. now she's pushing for a constitutional amendment on november's ballot for a voter id law. let me bring in the man who's been all over this story, john rolston. good to have you. let me explain what we're talking about. in order to get it on the ballot, sharon angle needs signatures from 100,000 registered nevada voters by mid

june. the law would require people voting to show a government-issued id. how is this being received out there? >> well, the return of sharon angle is always greeted with everyone with joy, of course, t.j. she's been so entertaining over the years here. this just happened last week. i think democrats are both concerned and to some extent excited. they're concerned because they think that sharon angle, like many on the right, wants to try to suppress the minority vote by passing a voter id law. on the other hand, democrats out here in nevada are worried about the november election because they don't really have a strong ticket this time. they have no candidate for governor, no announced candidate for lieutenant governor. turnout is going to be down. so they're a little bit concerned if this gets out there, that the republicans will be excited. but maybe this is a way to excite their base as well.

but with sharon angle, you just never know. you correctly pointed out how many signatures she needs by mid june. we don't know if she has any money to do this. this is not the only constitutional amendment that she's put out there. >> her second one. >> yeah. she's trying to get the state obamacare exchange repealed as well. so she is now capable of multitasking. >> john, what chance does she have there? sounds like we just don't know yet. but remind people of the demographics out in nevada and who something like this law if it happened to go through could affect? >> let's go through some quick history. remember that sharon angle tried to talk about voter fraud after she lost to harry reid. she lost by 41,000 votes. she got crushed in the hispanic community. she talked about some latinos looking asian to her. she caused all kinds of controversy in the minority

community that helped harry reid. she then declared she was going to make a documentary about the epidemic of voter fraud in america, which was going to be a short documentary because there is no epidemic of voter fraud. then she suddenly showed up again in the state after writing her book in which she implied to some extent that voter fraud was responsible for her very decisive loss to harry reid. this is what is motivating her, i believe, to do this. there's a void out here. there is no one really talking about this. so sharon angle jumped into the breach. she's going to get some support on the far right of the republican party. but don't forget, there's a lot of buyer's remorse about sharon angle inside the republican party. they believe that almost anybody else would have beaten harry reid in 2010. so there's not exactly all warm feelings for sharon angle out there. >> sharon angle is back, folks. john rolston, good to have you back with us. i know we'll check in again.

>> thanks, t.j. coming up next, more on the new accusations against governor chris christie and the new evidence of claims from a former ally. we'll talk live with a new jersey insider. you're watching msnbc. increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease. it seems that 80 is the new 18. grannies, bless your heart, you are bringing sexy back! eat up. keep heart-healthy. live long. for a healthy heart, eat the 100% natural whole grain goodness of post shredded wheat. doctors recommend it. [ male announcer ] can't take a sick day tomorrow. [ coughs ] [ male announcer ] so he can't let a cold keep him up tonight. vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6 symptom cold and flu relief. ♪ i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ]

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we need is reliable. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. developing now, our nbc station in chicago is reporting former mayor richard m. daley is in intensive care and is in the hospital. right now, his family is with him as he undergoes testing. daley served as chicago mayor for 22 years and was reelected five times. as we come up to the bottom of the hour, i'm t.j. holmes. craig melvin is off today. here's a quick look at the other stories making headlines. janet yellen will formally take over as federal reserve chair on monday. she succeeds ben bernanke. yellen will be the first woman to head the federal reserve. also, parts of the midwest bracing for another winter storm. chicago residents getting ready filling up their tanks, picking

up last-minute items from the grocery stores. forecasters predict up to 10 inches of snow. also lawyers for amanda knox vow to fight over her conviction. italian appeals court reinstated that verdict. she was found guilty of killing her roommate. the guilty verdict was reached at a retrial of knox and her boyfriend. knox is now in the u.s. a decision to extradite her will be left to secretary of state john kerry. the allegations made by a lawyer for one of the new jersey governor's former top aides that christie knew about the controversial lane closures on the george washington bridge last fall while they were happening. governor christie's office insists the governor found out about the closures after the fact from press reports. let me bring in david cruz of njtv, covering news in new jersey for 20 years. have you seen anything like this before? a lot of people, even jon stewart, he says, this is what

we do in new jersey. and he considered it a smaller scandal. but you've been covering it. what are you making of it? >> what makes it more than just a small scandal is the guy at the center of it. he's a big guy and a big national figure. i think that absent chris christie, this is probably just a new jersey story. but with chris christie in the house, it turns into this, what we're doing now. >> and his colleague, wildstein, who is trying to get his legal fees paid and said the governor now about it while it was going on, sounds like people or him in particular are trying to get his legal fees paid for and also trying to cover himself legally. do we anticipate other players, maybe some that were fired by the governor, others who were dismissed and had something to do with this scandal, might start coming out as well? >> there is a lot yet to come. these documents are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. the anticipation is that a lot of those people who have been subpoenaed to deliver documents and other information tomorrow

are going to seek extension and that those extensions are going to be grantsed. so it could be some time before we actually get into the evidence. but there are a lot of players here. and a lot of moving parts, people who have hired high-powered defense attorneys and people who have switched their high-powered defense attorneys to another high-powered defense attorney, suggesting that people are starting to find a way to protect themselves and not worry so much about protecting chris christie. >> we heard from ari fleischer, former spokesman for former george w. bush. he sweeted, no question, latest charge versus christie is serious but has anyone seen the evidence that supposedly exists? no. don't jump to conclusions. is that what we're to make of this right now. and the governor who made an appearance a little while ago, talking about the super bowl. do we expect to see that type of thing from him? he's a very public guy.

he hasn't been shy about speaking up. is he going to be quiet about this as more things come to light? >> that was a fair tweet, pretty accurate. at this time last year, chris christie's inner circle was thinking january 2014 is going to be great. they're going to have come off a 20-point victory at the polls, they're going to have a state of the state address that's going to attract national attention. he's going to be spending the weekend in florida raising funds for the republican governors association and candidates thereof. and that would just cement his role as a national front-runner in the republican party. but instead today here, the week before the super bowl, he's been pretty quiet. we were with him yesterday morning and he ran away from us and hasn't really spoken to any press. he's done some radio. but those were sports only questions. so you would think that the governor of a state when the super bowl is going to be played would be all over the place and taking advantage of the national media. but quiet this week in camp

christie. >> david cruz, we appreciate you as always. time for us to turn to our "brain trust." let me bring them in. richard writes for "the new yorker." and rebecca is the deputy white house editor for "politico." and peter is the senior editor at "recent" magazine. i want to bring up these pictures. the governor was out last night, doing instagraming. joan rivers tweeted out a picture of the two of them together. is it pretty difficult for him to do business as usual right now? we got reports from some of our producers who were at the event, there was 50/50 in the crowds of cheers versus boo. >> there's a number of different questions. one camp is focused on the legal questions involved here and as ari fleischer tweeted, where is the evidence? the other side of the equation is the political equation. how this plays with republicans and specifically how this is playing with republican donors,

how this is -- the question with christie has always been, he's the front-runner at this moment or one of the front-runners, no doubt. but the question has always been, can he hold onto -- in the face of certain opposition in the primary season, can he hold onto these donors. as the steady drip of allegations continues, that's the question we have moving forward. this certainly doesn't help. >> richard, let me bring you in. we're hearing a lot from -- a lot of local politicians or state officials from new jersey, on the national level, what are we sighing -- seeing from politicians in washington, d.c. are they sitting back to see how it plays out before they pounce and get involved? >> i think it's very much wait and see, right? chris christie's initial explanation of this, given who he is and what we know about him and -- that he's a micro manager, was not credible. he's running out of time.

he's got to come forward and tell now the real story. he's got to come clean and say what he knew and when he knew it. and these explanations in which he tries to thread the needle and say, well, maybe i didn't know when it started but maybe i knew when it was going on. the people are not going to stand for this. time for chris christie is running out if he wants to save himself and maybe even his governorship. >> peter, what do you see right now? do you see a lack -- i think we all see a lack of evidence. but does this letter -- is there anything explosive necessarily in this letter that you're seeing and reading? maybe some more questions but is it necessarily -- certainly not smoking gun material. is it explosive to you? >> this is a potential bombshell. but it's a bombshell that hasn't exploded yet. and like we've said here, we're all in wait-and-see mode. camp christie is in wait-and-see mode. all of the republicans who are potential supporters here, who are potential allies of christie are all in wait-and-see mode. a big part of this is going to be seeing these documents that start coming out tomorrow and

seeing what kind of actual evidence there is. the letter that was released yesterday says that evidence exists. doesn't say what evidence -- doesn't even say who has it. we're just waiting to see if there's anything that will explode. >> you all stand by. "brain trust" coming right back. we're going to turn to president bill clinton. next week, he's going to help senate democrats defend the 21 seats up for reelection. can the party keep control of the senate and is it all up to that guy? that's next. ♪ driving rock music music stops ♪ music resumes ♪ music stops ♪ music resumes ♪ ♪ [announcer] if your dog can dream it, [whistle] purina pro plan can help him achieve it. nutrition that performs. is that true?

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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. back to our "brain trust." richard, rebecca and peter rejoin us. rebecca, former president clinton is going to be out and about on center stage. he's going to be out there talking and trying to help a lot of senate democrats. does he still have it? can you still get that clinton bump? >> it was interesting to see exactly how much of a part of the conversation president clinton has been. in particular this last week,

you saw him, senator rand paul raising president clinton. it was all of a sudden headlines from 1998. we're not talking enough about impeachment and monica lewinsky. he's absolutely someone who energizes democrats and the base. looking ahead as everyone is to later this year, the decision from his wife, hillary clinton, whether or not she's going to run for president. one interesting note is you saw laura bush, if she had any advice for a future first husband. her advice was to stand back and be quiet. tough to see -- >> you mentioned it, rand paul. let's put this up and let people listen. he was on "meet the press" last sunday. some people were taken aback by this. let's listen to what he had to say. we'll bring you in on the other side. >> one of the workplace laws and rules that i think are good is that bosses shouldn't prey on young interns in their office. and i think really the media seems to have given president

clinton a pass on this. he took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. there is no excuse for that. >> richard, is this what maybe a lot of republicans see as a good way to go after hillary clinton? >> i don't think anybody even the republican party sees it as a good way to go after president clinton. i think -- >> an easy way? >> no. rand paul is running for president and testing out some themes. if this is going to be his theme, he'd last about ten minutes -- >> that was a test run? >> he's testing out something. people know what happened with president clinton. he made a mistake. he apologized for it and made a heavy reputational price. but when we say -- when we democrats talk about the republican war against women, we're talking about the republican party pursuing policies that are anti-women, anti-choice, anti-family, anti-minimum wage. if rand paul's biggest defense -- if his only defense against those charges is that

president clinton -- that his party tried to impeach him unsuccessfully, that is ridiculous. bring it on. >> with that phrase, let me bring you in here, peter. politico reporting former president appeared in a couple of videos for the woman challenging senate minority leader in kentucky, mitch mcconnell. he's also going to be doing fund-raiser for democratic senator out of arkansas, mark pryor. and both he and hillary clinton are likely to become far more involved in that race in arkansas. do republicans -- are they concerned -- i don't know if it's should be concerned. but are they actually concerned that clinton is going to come out? >> if they're not, they probably should be, given clinton's popularity. rand paul, i think, made a mistake trying to remind people of clinton's bad private behavior. but what people remember about clinton was that he was incredibly successful as a president economically. and even republicans have had a

kind of nostalgic revisionist look at him recently where they've looked at the fact that he brought deficits down, he did welfare reform, the economy was in a huge boom. he's not just someone who energizes the democratic base but he energizes independent and moderate voters as well. >> we heard from "the washington post" that, yes, hillary clinton may be the one that everybody's looking at as the real possibility. maybe some democrats waiting to see what she does before she decides. but "the washington post" points out her favorability ranking went off a little bit since she stepped down as secretary of state. who is she not? getting to the democratic nomination, what's her problem group or is there any group ton that democratic side not in favor of hillary clinton? >> we're seeing numbers that hillary clinton has more support than every other major candidate running for the democratic nomination combined. three times as much support,

running well, well ahead of the pack. the only potential downside at this moment for her is kind of the memory of 2007. people kind of remembering where she was. this will be a lot further to fall. you're not seeing any kind of potential challenger waiting in the wings the way that senator -- then senator barack obama was at that point. the only risk for her is if the memories of that moment come back and if there's -- that becomes an underlying theme whether people start to get a little tired of the front-runner and start looking for someone else. >> peter, let me bring you back in. does the gop have a candidate out there -- a lot of people talking about chris christie having that appeal. he's having some issues right now. but that has broad appeal, broad cross-party support? do they have that just yet? >> a lot of people thought it was chris christie. that's obviously changed in the last couple of weeks. people are really uncertain right now. the thing that the gop has that the democrats don't have is a very broad -- a big bench. they have a lot of potential contenders, whereas democrats

really only have hillary clinton. there just aren't a lot of other obvious contenders on the democratic side right now. that's going to be the gop's advantage. they have a lot of people who could be the person who has brought appeal. >> do you agree with that on the democratic side? the advantages and disadvantages of hillary clinton. what if she says, i'm not getting in this race? would democrats scrambling saying, where is our person now? >> i think the only potential disadvantage that hillary clinton has is that she is this used front-runner. people continue to go after front-runners. it's a huge advantage but also a huge disadvantage. i think that should she decide not to run, there are plenty of other democrats who could step in. i think we have -- we believe we have a much deeper bench than the republicans. >> a much deeper bench. who else have you got? >> right here in new york, we've got andrew cuomo.

joe biden would be an excellent candidate. a bunch of younger people. kirsten gillibrand might be a good vp choice. i'll predict that i think the top of the democratic ticket will be someone from new york. >> at the top of the ticket? >> yep. >> you have to acknowledge the reality that at this moment, hillary clinton is sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the group when it comes to potential support. >> yes. >> so the clock is ticking. and so every moment that she waits, every moment that she's weighing a potential run but doesn't rule it out is another moment that a potential challenger, contender waiting in the wings is not building up their organization. >> i have to get to a break here. up next from the "brain trust," overshadowed in sochi. could gay protesters divert the spotlight from the winter games? we'll get to our overlooked and underplayed next. who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters.

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the russian authorities understand the stakes here. they understand that there are potential threats that are out there and we are coordinating with them. we've looked at their plans. i think we have a good sense of the security that they're putting in place to protect not only the athletes themselves but also visitors there. so what i would say is that if you want to go to the olympics, you should go to the olympics. >> that was president obama in a cnn interview reassuring the public about security at the winter games. the games again next week. let's bring back our brain trusts, richard, rebecca and peter. a lot of people focused on governor christie. what's your opinion on the olympics? >> the olympics were supposed to be put's introduction into the world of modern russia but i think they'll be overshadowed of this news of the horrific

anti-gay law he has instituted. i think there will be a lot of protests. a lot of the news is going to get sucked up by protests against this law. of course we will cheer on our athletes and be very excited about their success, but this will not be a honeymoon for putin. >> rebecca? >> i'm going to resurrect one of the president reopening its political office, of course closed two years ago -- actually three years ago now, looking at abuses under the bush era but now looking at 20 14, it will b interesting to see what happens and how it plays out, whether it addresses concerns democrats have had about coordination with the white house. >> what do you have for us? >> health insurers are saying roughly one in five people who signed up for insurance haven't

paid their first month's premium. of the 2 million to 3 million people that have signed up so far, perhaps 20% of them won't end up covered. it had a shaky rollout, this could end up being yet another headache for the health law. >> i'll throw in an underlooked and overplayed story, the super bowl. what's been underlooked and overplayed? the fact that it's in new jersey. this a big deal for a city to have a super bowl in your city. every live shot i've scene, every report i've seen, people are live in new york city. the poor folks. they've complained about it a little bit and maybe understandably so but a lot of people around the country may not recognize, realize, that if you don't live here, the super bowl is not in new york, it's across the way in new jersey and they're getting no love at this

point. >> are you from new jersey? >> no, i'm from arkansas. we don't ever get -- we're always overlooked and underplayed. >> arkansas is a fantastic state. >> of course it is. remember, folks, give them some love over there in new jersey, no new york. the metro area, it's happening here. i appreciate having you all this weekend and enjoy your super bowl sundays. folks, that's going to do it for us. we appreciate you watching. we will be right back here tomorrow starting at 3:00 eastern time on your super bowl sunday. that's who is going to be with you tomorrow. that is betty wynn, a dear, dear, friend, former co-anchor of mine. she'll be in this seat tomorrow. right now we definitely need you to check out karen finney, "dit

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