the olympics are four days away, and it's not just security that's concerning russian officials. how might it affect the games? the big game just hours away. one critical part of super bowl weekend is not meeting up to expectations. we've got a live report ahead. new concerns in west virginia. is the drinking water in parts of that state still unsafe? a new report ahead. hello, everyone. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." embattled new jersey governor chris christie is fighting back today. the governor's office has released a memo slamming former port authority official and ally david wildstein. wildstein is would have been the key figures in the george washington bridge scandal. on friday, his lawyer claimed that evidence exists which shows that governor christie has not been honest in his version of the events. joining me now with this story, nbc's kelly o'donnell who's been following it at every turn.

kelly, this memo goes everywhere from criticizing "the new york times" reporter, to bringing up issues from wildstein's issues from high school years. >> this was a different kind of document. it wasn't a wide release sort of a news statement. this was sent to close friends and associates of the governor, a way to get the story out without making it an official release from the office of the governor. what they were trying to do is push back. and the first wave when this letter from wildstein's lawyer came out publicly, and it made these allegations, the initial response from the governor's office was a pretty standard denial. and then they let the evening go by, they slept on it, if you will, and put together a far more forceful, even personal attack on the former port authority official who's been at the center of this scandal, who has certainly been making waves. despite being the host governor -- >> good afternoon, everybody. >> new jersey's chris christie did not appear to get the home field advantage saturday, as

noticeable boos came from a super bowl crowd in new york city's times square. >> and we look forward to hosting everybody. >> late saturday, nbc news obtained a christie office memo being sent to the governor's supporters that aggressively pushes back against both "the new york times," which first reported the allegations made by former port authority official david wildstein, and then takes on wildstein's personal character, concluding that "david wildstein will do and say anything to save david wildstein." a former christie ally, wildstein took the fifth in january -- >> i respectfully assert my right to remain silent. >> dangled hints that christie may know more about the bridge traffic scandal. >> i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution. >> wildstein's attorney wrote, "evidence exists tying mr.

christie to having knowledge of the lane closures during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly." wildstein's central role in the scandal makes his claims intriguing, but he offers no specific evidence. >> while david wildstein claims that evidence exists, but what's left unanswered is what kind of evidence, what has that evidence, and does it say anything about whether christie knew the motivation behind these lane closures. >> so at first blush, it seemed as if wildstein himself possessed this evidence. we don't actually know if that's the case. the lawyers' purpose in this letter is maybe not what people would expect. it was written to the port authority, which was wildstein's former employer. and it was three pages and within that three pages, just these few lines that dangled these hints. the real purpose of the letter was to ask that agency to reverse its previous decision, saying it would not pay for any of wildstein's legal bills. that's a big financial issue for

david wildstein now that he has resigned his job and he's at the center of this. so the letter's purpose was an appeal to financially back him up in all of the legal mess that's going forward. it has been interpreted as perhaps something that contains a secret, and that's what we really don't know. is there more to this than we expected. >> looking ahead to tomorrow, kelly, i know that the documents requested in the latest round of subpoenas are due then. do you expect anything will be released? >> what's interesting about that is february 3rd has been this big, bright date on the calendar for a few weeks since those subpoenas went out, to 20 entities, 17 individuals, three organization. we're told that the lawmakers who are in charge of this have, in fact, granted extensions to a number of people whose lawyers came forward and said they need more time to produce the documents. so they've been given extensions. so we don't expect that tomorrow there will be an immediate availability of new insights in this case. it could take time. one of the hard things about understanding what was behind this, both in terms of the

original traffic operation as well as all of the politics, is it will be dribs and drabs for a long time to come to try to put pieces together. >> i'm so glad you're the case and you can bring those dribs and drabs to us. thank you, kelly o'donnell. joining me for now more is a conservative political columnist in "the new jersey star ledger." paul, welcome. your interpretation of this memo. how do you read it? >> i think christie was basically right in saying it was blown out of proportion. all it was was a statement that evidence exists. "the new york times" at first made it sound like there was proof, not just an assertion of proof. and also, the evidence was merely that christie knew of the closures while they happened. well, 50,000 people were there, drivers, inhabitants. probably another million heard about it on the radio. so in itself, knowing that there was a traffic jam means nothing. now, on the other hand, what christie is trying to do clearly here is he has -- his spin is

that if he didn't know in advance of the traffic jams, which began on september 9th, then he's in the clear. he has set that as kind of a low bar, because there's a lot of things he did that looked like a cover-up and so forth. but he's staking his future pretty much on saying as long as i didn't know in advance, it's okay. and i think he has a fairly good chance of having plausible deniability on knowing in advance or he wouldn't be going out on a limb on this. >> what's interesting is this memo that was sent by christie and says supporters. that one reads like something that would be handed under the table to a tabloid or even a columnist like yourself, perhaps. the tone of that one, does that help or hurt the governor? >> it's just so silly. it's like his high school social studies teacher said something bad. i used to take two cap'n crunch candy bars and give one quarter when i was in high school. you can't bring that up on me. it's so silly.

and then "the washington post" story -- >> that they're going after david wildstein in that one, you mean? >> that they're going after david wildstein because his high school social studies teacher said something about him 35 years ago? >> yeah. but david wildstein is a former ally of his. so what does that say, the tone of this? >> it says that they've decided that wildstein is ready to go with state's evidence and it's going to be his word against christie's, and they want to discredit christie. for example, that famous picture exists of the two of them together on september 11 in new york on this side of the river during the traffic jam. the jam was going on at the gw. they were down at the world trade center site. now, that picture doesn't prove anything of itself, but what wildstein seems to be saying is gee, we had a conversation that day and maybe i'll say that i told him about this and he thought it was really funny and said, you know -- so if it comes to a he said/he said, i think they want to destroy wildstein's

credibility. >> in this memo, a couple of words that were used. untrustworthy and tumultuous. you would think that if you're got someone that high up, an ally, someone that you are putting into a position of authority, you're going to completely vet him before you get him there in the first place, right? so there's a little contradiction here. >> he was pretty trustworthy up until he became untrustworthy. up until september 13th. he was christie's hatchet man at the authority and he just happened to get caught with the hatchet buried in somebody's head. >> from wildstein's perspective, apparently has turned over hundreds of pages of evidence, but has not -- including this new evidence -- >> it's not new evidence. the e-mails were evidence. this is just an assertion. it's no evidence whatsoever. the e pails were evidence of a lie. >> so what "the new york times" printed in the letter from his attorney, that is only going to these e-mails that were previously turned over? you don't think there's anything else out there that he is

holding back? >> it's just evidence exists. it's just a vague broad statement, and there's not the slightest clue who has the evidence, what the evidence is. so i think "the new york times" went way too far with it. >> here's something interesting. i'm going to go from your latest column here in which you ask if the allegations from david wildstein's lawyer are a smoking gun or him blowing smoke. >> right. it's definitely not a smoking gun. what they need is somebody saying that christie was involved in either the planning or knew of it during and cheered it on. if wildstein simply said hey, there's a big traffic jam in ft. lee and christie's going to say i was in the middle of a campaign, i was doing a million things. i don't recall that. but they're going to need to prove that christie knew. if they really want to get to christie, that he knew in advance. that's why christie, like i said, is setting the bar low. i think they should be going after christie's participation in the cover-up, which went for four months until he was caught

red-handed, christie kept putting this line out that it was an actual study. and what he was trying to do, he needed six more days to get to the end of the legislative session when the committee's subpoena power ended. and those e-mails, if it hadn't been for those e-mails, that committee probably would not have gotten its subpoena power and the whole thing would have ended on january 14th. so he was trying to run out the clock when he should have done his apology tour the minute he learned how bad this was. >> there you go. thank you, paul. >> thanks. later in office politics, rachel maddow's take on the early stages of this story and how it suddenly came to prominence. that's later on this hour. let's go now to the weather, where the latest winter storm has left detroit under several inches of heavy snow. chicago dealt with messy roadways yesterday. more snow is on the way. in fact, according to -- today

is the first time that ground hog day has ever coincides with the super bowl. let's go to dylan dreyer here with the forecast. we trust you a lot more than the ground hog. >> i just want to point out that there morning there it was foggy. so i don't know how he saw his shadow. i just think we always get stuck with six more weeks of winter. but ironically, some of the nicest weather we've had in new york and new jersey. most of this winter it's going to be 42 degrees by game time. we're still looking at this cold front to move through the area. might give us some clouds later on today. but the clouds actually blanket in the warmer temperatures come evening time. so that's why it is going to be still in the lower 40s after topping out around 50 degrees or so. this is a nasty cold front. we have a couple rain showers in the northeast, but watch what's going on down through the southern plains. icing in dallas. snow through parts of oklahoma. you can see in buffalo, new york, we're seeing some snow. but as it gets closer to new

york, new jersey, eastern pennsylvania, through new england, it is warm enough for mostly rain. and even those rain showers are kind of drying out right now. we have heavier snow through oklahoma city, moving up into springfield, missouri. and that's going to start moving into areas like southern illinois shortly. and it is creating some slippery roadways back through texas. we could end up with about six to 12 inches. but as it moves up into the northeast, just a little strip there through northern kentucky into parts of southern pennsylvania where we could end up with about three to six inches of snow. temperature-wise, we're at 64 in atlanta today, but 21 in kansas city. 11 in minneapolis. finally some showers in san francisco with the temperature at about 52 degrees. and then tomorrow, we should be in the mid 30s. but tomorrow in new york, we'll see maybe about two to four inches of snow, but everything is good for game time later on this etching. alex? >> okay, that's a great way to tee this up, because we're going to go right now to the center of it all there in metlife stadium. hey, what's going on? got a game or something?

>> reporter: hey there, alex. happy super sunday to you. you can see the parking lots are still fairly empty. that's because the gates won't open until 2:00 eastern. so a little under two hours from now, we'll expect to see this super crush of super bowl fans. obviously this game is america's big biggest sporting spectacle. they're expecting the people to jam into metlife stadium and a wee few others will be watching on tv. with countdown to kickoff about ten hours away, the party is in full swing. while there were concerns about the weather for super bowl 48, the league's first outdoor title game in a cold weather city, game time temps are expected to be comfortably in the 40s. >> temperatures will be about ten degrees above average. so it will be a very mild day. >> seattle seahawks and denver broncos fans are aplenty around town, of course, so too are fans of teams who came out short this season, like shaggy's new york giants. so who's going to win tonight?

>> oh, come on. it's going to be seattle. whoo! >> who you pulling for? >> broncos. >> reporter: in times square, even the nfl's commissioner found super bowl boulevard too tempting to pass up. >> now we can start focusing on the football game. i think we have a classic game tomorrow. >> reporter: for those at home, the game will be embraced in all its flavorful glory. perfectly paired with the 1.2 billion pounds of chicken wings and 15,000 tons of chips americans are expected to down today on super sunday. a tv audience of more than 100 million. security for the big game is tight and quite visible. just like those much-anticipated $4 million 30-second commercials. for new york and new jersey businesses hoping to cash in on all the excitement, though, the super bowl may not be the touchdown many are hoping for. interest in the game may be high, but ticket prices aren't soaring as much as once predicted. hotels are sleepier than expected, and the bottom line could be thinner than dreamed. >> we'll get what we can get,

and embrace what's going on. >> reporter: now, the only unfinished business left is to settle the score on the field. on the field indeed. the denver broncos are going after their third super bowl title. last night, peyton manning won his fifth nfl mvp award. that's two better than any other player in the history of the game. for the seattle seahawks, a win and that's the first super bowl crown for that team in that city, alex. >> it's pretty exciting, whoever you're rooting for, there's no doubt. super bowl sunday is fun, ron mott. thank you so much. sunday talk show reaction to the major hurdle cleared for the keystone pipeline. you knew it was bound to happen. the "snl" spoof of a congressman's meltdown on capitol hill. new business ownee one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner.

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the controversial keystone xl pipeline cleared a major hurdle with the new state department report that put increased pressure on obama to approve it. in a new interview today, new jersey governor bobby jindal weighed in. >> the president, he's been ambiguous on fracking, they've sent mixed messages on that. i know he takes credit for the domestic energy boom, but the reality is a lot of that's happening on private lands, not federal lands. this decision should have been made a long time ago. the canadians are going to get this oil. the question is whether they sell it to us or chinese. i'd rather it come here to america. >> joining me now, democratic congressman jim hines. representative hines, welcome, good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> so governor jindal is calling this one a no-brainer. should the pipeline be approved? >> well, it's not a no-brainer. anybody who's thoughtful on these issues knows that this is very, very dirty, carbon

intensive fuel. you kind of hope that we're moving away from that. the fact of the matter is i think the governor at heart is right. this very dirty oil is being extracted one way or another. it's going into a pipeline, into rail cars. one way or another, it's getting out there, which is why the state department said what they did in their report. but it's not a no-brainer. whether we're talking about fracking or pipelines. we want to make sure that they are carefully thought through, that we're not damaging aquifers and reservoirs and that we're doing these things -- that we do these things in a way that doesn't damage drinking water or the overall environment. >> one of the big arguments of those who oppose the pipeline is it would not create that many jobs. however, there's a study from the cornell global labor institute which says it will create about 4,000 construction jobs, which should we as a nation prioritize right now? should it be the jobs or the environment, and are the two always opposed?

>> hopefully we're not building major pipelines that are there to last for a very long time because they do or don't create a lot or a few jobs. you build the pipeline because you have to or you don't. if we're going to talk about jobs, we should be talking about things like education. and by the way, infrastructure. those jobs that unquestionably get created when you rebuild a bridge or a highway or anything like that. bottom line on keystone, shame on us for not as a country being in a place where we don't still need to use very, very heavy and dirty carbon. the reality is that we are. and so, you know, i think for those -- i've got a very good record with the league of conservation voters, but i recognize if this stuff is going to get burned one way or another, better that it gets used here and creates jobs in the united states than creating jobs elsewhere. >> do you have any sense which way the president is leaning and what kind of a tough position he's in on this? >> no sense at all where he's leading. obviously this has been a very controversial topic for a long period of time. you know, look, the state department is saying that this is not going to -- one way or another affect the environment that much, is a pretty big deal.

the environmentalists, those who oppose keystone, that has been their primary line of attack, i think that blunts it. but obviously we've got to hear from secretary kerry and ultimately the president needs to make a decision. this never should have been as political as it was. this became what the republicans would use to beat up the president. as the governor said, it should have been approved a long time ago. guess what, putting dirty fuel through the single source of water for midwestern agriculture is probably something you shouldn't hurry. you make sure you do it right if you're going to do it. >> i want to switch gears here. there was testimony that the alnusra front is right now training european and american fighters. have you seen intelligence backing that up? >> look, i've got to be a little circumspect on these issues. but the answer is, of course.

there are any number of groups in iraq, in afghanistan, in syria who are drawing into the chaos in which they live and operate, drawing people who have ambitions well beyond what they may be seeking to achieve in damascus or in baghdad, that they want to go international. so no question that whenever you have chaos like you do in syria, and these areas become magnets for people from all over the arab world, from people from europe to train and learn. some of them have transnational ambitions and it's something that we need to keep a very close eye on. >> and are you concerned? i mean, just directly, does the war in syria, does this pose a threat to the u.s. homeland? >> well, you know, look, if it weren't syria, it would be somewhere else. there are chaotic areas all over the world, whether it's libya or afghanistan or parts of iraq, parts of yemen where people who would seek to do us harm can find refuge. so i wouldn't overfocus on syria, but of course, where you have ungoverned areas and you've got plenty of ungoverned areas

in syria, and where you have very bad, very extremist people learning to use weaponry, it's of profound concern to the united states. >> also of concern, with just a few days to go now until the start of the olympics in sochi, we know the president said last week that sochi is safe. however, security experts that i've spoken with, people on the ground, they themselves say they wouldn't even go. so what does the intelligence you're seeing indicate? >> well, you know, you very rarely get intelligence on a specific attack before that attack happens. and, of course, you know, both the russians and of course there's been a lot of international cooperation, have really done their best to lock down sochi, to install all sorts of security measures just as is happening as we speak for the super bowl. i have no reason to believe that those measures aren't quite solid. but again, it's always as they say. it's the bullet you don't see that kills you. there are people, whether out of check nia or dagestan in russia who would get an awful lot of publicity if they were able to

achieve something and cause an act of terrorism in sochi. i'm not going. would i go? yes, i would. meaning that it's not clear to me that there's going to be a problem. far from it. but unfortunately, whether it's the boston marathon or the super bowl, there will be bad people who will think that they can get a lot of publicity if they create a problem. >> okay. represent jim himes, thank you for appearing on the show. >> thanks for having me. the final preparations on sochi, russia, for the olympic games. why there's a last-minute scramble. but first, everyone, the folks of "saturday night live" couldn't help but to take on the confrontation between congressman michael grimm and a reporter this week. here's the spoof with guest host melissa mccarthy. >> and what about claims made by your ex-campaign manager. >> i'm here to talk about the planning committee and nothing else. >> but your constituents have a right to know. >> we're done here. >> so as you can see, the congresswoman is not interesting in answering to these documenting -- >> have you ever been thrown out

of a window? when i do it, i don't open it first. you get that? >> i was just -- >> you're not a man. you're a little baby. you're a little baby and i'm going to put you in a stroller and buckle you up and throw you down a flight of stairs. this isn't "the untouchables." ♪ 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. and five simple whole grains, new multigrain cheerios dark chocolate crunch is breakfast... with benefits. start your day with a delicious new crunch. healthy never tasted so good. i have a big meeting when we land,

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." now for headlines as we approach the half. election officials have started counting votes in thailand's highly contested general election. results are not expected for several weeks. demonstrators accused the current prime minister for corruption and have called for resignation. police in west virginia say three people were killed when two cell phone towers collapsed. a firefighter later died when a second tower fell minutes later. an faa investigation is under way after a mysterious pipe fell through the roof of a northern virginia home. the owner says she found the pipe and a hole in her ceiling friday morning. she lives in the dulles airport flight path. investigators are trying to find

out if that pipe came from a plane. to politics, and new today, the white house chief of staff is revealing new details about the president's year of action, including an upcoming announcement from the president. >> later this week, you'll hear the president talk about connect ed. this is an opportunity where several private american companies are going to commit over a half billion dollars to ensure that our schools across the country have the kind of technology so our kids can compete in this kind of economy. fcc says it's going to wire 15,000 schools, get 20 million kids online. >> also today, new reaction from republican congressman paul ryan to the president and his executive order powers. >> we have an increasingly lawless presidency where he is actually doing the job of congress, writing new policies and new laws without going through congress. presidents don't write laws. congress does. and when he does things like he did in health care, delaying mandates that the law said was supposed to occur when they were supposed to occur, that's not

his job. >> kristen welker is at her job at the white house. kristen, with a hey to you. a lot of back and forth today. what else are both sides saying? >> reporter: absolutely. i think you heard a robust defense from white house chief of staff dennis mcdonagh of the president's strategy to use his executive orders to pass some of these initiatives like increasing the minimum wage for federal workers, like setting up a requirement account for some workers. the education program that you just mentioned. david gregory, asking him if the president was playing small ball. dennis mcdonagh not surprisingly pushed back against that. he said look, these are important initiatives. important policies that the president wants to get accomplished. but the white house doesn't deny the fact that there is an acknowledgement, that there's only so much this president can get accomplished with this harply divided congress. the republican led house. here's a little bit more of the debate. take a listen. >> what the president does is spend a lot of time looking at

what families across the country want. they want clear, discernible, concrete actions that he can take so that he can move this thing forward, not wait for congress. >> the white house continues to really thumb its nose up, if you will, at the congress. the president in his state of the union address did it flat-out. he said, when congress doesn't work with me, i'll just go do it myself. and again, that's part of the problem in this town. >> reporter: congressman paul ryan was asked on abc if he would actually move to impeach given that republicans are accusing the president of not abiding by the constitution. he sort of laughed and said no, they're not going to take it that far, but they will continue their very public disagreement with him about this strategy of circumventing congress. i think the other big headline today, alex, was on health care. you didn't hear republicans using the word repeal today. instead, they talked about presenting alternative legislation. eric cantor saying that the

house was going to present an alternative sometime this year when pressed on the details in the exact timeline, he wouldn't get specific. but i do think it's notable, you sort of hear republicans getting rid of that word repeal, which certainly took up so much time and energy last year. they are shifting their strategy. it's an acknowledgement on their part that the president's health care law is not going anywhere at this point. alex? >> interesting assessment. okay, thank you very much. kristen welker at the white house. making money off of flipping houses begins today's number one realty track. the average profit from buying fixer uppers and selling them after a makeover was just over $15,000. the state that yielded the best highest average profit was massachusetts. on average, house flippers there made $103,000 off flipping homes. california came in second with $100,000. maryland third with a profit just above $98,000. denver broncos quarterback peyton manning goes into today's super bowl as a big winner. yesterday he was named the nfl's

most valuable player for a record fifth time. >> yes, i had to get it in once again. that is budweiser's puppy love commercial. it has created a ton of buzz. it's been viewed more than 32 million times since wednesday. and the type of dog chosen for spot is likely a popular choice, considering the mernl kennel club has named the lab dor retriever the most popular breed of dog in america for the 20th straight year. the goerman shepherd and golden retriever second and third. you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind.

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the winter olympics kick off this coming friday with a highly anticipated opening ceremony. organizers lit up the sochi sky with fireworks and light displays, just a taste of what to expect from the official russian ceremony. meantime, sochi's subtropical

climate is posing a challenge for sporting events that will lead snow. organizers have had to keep stockpiles of it just in case mother nature doesn't bring enough. in fact, yesterday the seaside olympic park saw a high of 45 degrees and a low that didn't etch drop below freezing. the organizers are still struggling to get everything ready in time. let's go to keir simmons. he's live with more. is it true there are palm trees there in sochi? >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. it is absolutely true. when you go up into the mountains, it is colder. there is plenty of snow, as you say, because they've been stockpiling it. one issue, alex, if you walk around the olympic park, you do see construction workers still apparently working with just days to go. the international olympic committee says that only six of the nine media hotels in the mountains are fully operational.

prayers this morning for a safe and successful olympics. the organizers need all the help they can get. with just days to go and $50 billion spent, parts of sochi don't quite look prepared for primetime. some hotels were just this weekend loading in furniture. but the mountains are ready, and members of the american team can't wait to get going. >> oh, it's awesome. there's a lot of snow. we rode powder this morning and it was amazing. >> i would put the mountains here up against anywhere in the world. >> reporter: off the mountain, team usa short track speed skater jr selsky was testing the ice. >> feeling really good about this. loving the atmosphere and the energy. >> reporter: the countdown is really under way. the hundreds of volunteers arriving. but one fan has just left sochi. a football fan. >> we're going to the super bowl!

>> reporter: she was in sochi for a day because of her job as a flight attendant, but she was desperate to get home. >> should catch the second quarter. may miss the first, but my husband's going to record it. >> reporter: plenty of excitement here, alex, about the game. it's not just about the football tonight, but also those worries, because what will they do if thousands of media turn up here and some of them don't have hotel rooms. the president of the ioc has been saying that these are just problems they have before every olympics. >> all right. well, they're certainly cutting it close. may i ask you about security, keir? your sense is what? do you feel safe? do you think that ring of steel is in effect and it's good to go? >> you do feel safe here, alex. there's no doubt about that. there is a lot of security here. a lot of bag checks. they talk about a ring of steel. clearly it is not infallible in every place.

but by the time you get here to the games, there is a lot of security. what the real concern i think has been for many experts is there might be some kind of attack somewhere else in russia, timed to coincide with the games. in terms of the athletes here themselves, people are saying that they do feel safe. >> okay. i'm absolutely green with envy that you're there. thank you. rachel maddow and how chris christie could survive the bridge scandal. that's in office politics now. but first, more highlights from "saturday night live." seth meyers signed off last night. a bit later this month, he'll start hosting the new "late night with seth meyers" after jimmy fallon goes to "the tonight show." former cast members amy poehler and bill hader came on for a heartfelt goodbye. and then andy samburg showed up and sealed the moment in song. ♪ it's so hard

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of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. ask if xeljanz is right for you. 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. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation.

get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ take a look at the week on wall street. the federal reserve gets a new chairman, janet yellen. she is the first woman to lead the bank in its 100-year history and she starts monday. on tuesday, target executives are set to testify about the massive credit card data breach. and on friday, we'll get the january jobs report and find out if the disappointing december numbers were just a one off. in today's office politics, my conversation with my msnbc colleague rachel maddow. we'll get to our resident mixologist's favorite spirits, and mine, too. but first, i want to note that our interview took place wednesday morning before the new back and forth in the new george

washington bridge scandal. here rachel takes us back to the first inkling of trouble for chris christie. >> that doesn't seem like a normal traffic jam. port authority's explanation for there having been a traffic study that gridlocked this town doesn't make any sense. it happened the first week of school. new jersey press had been on that something was wrong from the very beginning. from the week that it happened. we've been monitoring because it's interesting. but then all of a sudden in december, two high level port authority appointees quit. oh. well, maybe there's something else going on here. and chris christie's reaction still at that point was how dare you ask me about this. are you freaking kidding me? yeah, i was out there moving the cones myself. this is crazy for you to ask me about this. there was a traffic study. well, then why are your appointees resigning over the traffic study if there was an explanation? so that the match between what seemed to be happening on the ground and the political reaction to it was weird from

the very beginning. but then the breakthrough came when the "bergen record" paper in bergen county was the first to print in, but we saw this e-mail from the governor's deputy chief of staff, time for some traffic problems in ft. lee. one of the appointees said got it, and then he enacted this whole fake study thing in order to cover up what they were really doing. it's interesting to see chris christie crisis manage this. he did come out and apologize, but he since returned to attacking people for asking him about it. that's interesting. it's also interesting to see the follow-up reporting on the tr s transactional way. you don't endorse me, you're going to pay. >> but is that the norm in new jersey? >> no, it's not legally. you can't make federal funds contingent on something other than your worthiness of the funds. it can't be about whether you provide a political favor. but i remain fascinated. what did ft. lee do to deserve this? we still do not know why they

shut down those bridge lanes. >> do you think with the new jersey legislature subpoenaing all these e-mails, do you think we're going to find a smoking gun in all this? >> yes. i mean, if the people who are close to this decision are dumb enough to e-mail "time for some traffic problems in ft. lee, is it wrong that i'm smiling, i feel bad for the kids, don't feel bad, they're the children of buono voters," then someone else is dumb enough. >> do you think there's any plausible chance that these aides acted on their own independent of telling their boss? >> absolutely. it would be a weird chain of command for the deputy chief of staff to be the person who was in charge of this, if bridget kelly is as high as it goes, that would be a weird chain of command and that would be something i would love to hear the governor explain, but yeah. >> what does all this do to christie's 2016 presidential aspirati aspirations, and might he benefit from this happening at the beginning of 2014? >> depends on where it goes.

i mean, if this is it, if there's lots of questions raised but nothing ever resolved, then yeah, this is great timing for him because it's far enough in advance. my expectation is that this is not a story that's going dormant, though. seems like it's a story that's still expanding, especially with the u.s. attorney investigating. so we'll see. i mean, ultimately, what you want is for the president -- anybody's presidential hopes pinned on this to be about fixing this. not about just evading responsibility for it. so maybe it will turn out that this all happened in chris christie's new jersey, but he had no idea he's going to be the guy who cleans it up and makes sure it never happens again, in which case he should be president. >> everyone knows you're famous for your alcohol. it's a wonderful thing to be famous for, right? do you ever before the show go oh, just boom! throw one back? >> no. >> oh, come on. we all want to believe that you would. because it's cool. >> i'm an alcohol enthusiast, but i know my limits, and my

rule is no spirits on school nights. >> people give you presents related to this. >> it's true. if you tell people that there's a thing you like, so when occasions come around, that's what they'll give you. say yeah, i like drinking. >> i like tequila. i'm announcing it to the world. >> i'm rachel maddow and i like anything in a small bottle from the manhattan rye whiskey. >> that is pretty much all we have to say about that. next week my interview with didi myers. the latest revelation about head injuries in football. plus, a new poll about whether parents will let their kids play the game. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn.

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as millions of people get ready to watch the super bowl, one former winning quarterback is speaking out about the effect that football has had on his body. joe namath claims he has health problems from concussions he got while playing the game, and his

revelation comes as a new nbc news "wall street journal" poll finds a large number of parents would steer their kids away from playing the game. we're going to get more on this story from kristen dahlgren, what's the latest on this? >> hi there, alex. seemingly everyone is caught up in the hype around tonight's big game. some parents are hoping their kids don't become inspired by the players they see. questions about the safety of the sport are coming into focus again as former players open up about the serious injuries they've sustained playing the game. long-retired super bowl mvp joe namath is adding his voice to those warning about the dangers of football. >> there were areas in my brain that the cells had ceased or quieted down tremendously, and we were concerned a bit. so i have had some treatment and i feel great. >> namath follows former packers quarterback brett favre, who spoke to matt lauer on "today" late last year. >> to me, the wake-up call was

that deanna and i were talking recently and she was talking about our youngest playing soccer. i don't remember playi inhim playing soccer. >> even president obama has said if i had a son, i would not let him play football. now a new poll finds many agree. 40% of americans say they'd encourage their children to play a sport other than football because of concerns about concussions. when broken down further, the number is closer to 50% among wealthier americans, and near 60% among the most highly educated. >> any time you play a sport, there's a risk of getting hurt. >> young players are learning the dangers firsthand. >> all the pads we're wearing, it's very safe. >> there are efforts to make the game safer. redesigned thicker helmets and taking a closer look at the players themselves. >> we require them to be matched by age and weight. they don't generate nearly as much force.

>> but this weekend, when tens of millions will be watching fooshlg it seems many are beginning to see the game differently. namath said no part of the body is made for playing football. it will be interesting, though, to see how those poll numbers, if they translate into less kids signing up for football, alex. >> i can tell you there are a lot of people who i'm sure contributed to that survey who are saying just that. okay, thanks so much. who can the public trust in the he said/he said back and forth over the new jersey bridge saga? analysis and reaction next. you e 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.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ firing back, new jersey governor chris christie responds to former allies's bridgegate allegation. it's supersunday with super security. what screening measures will fans face when they arrive for the game? water worries weeks after that chemical in west virginia spill. why are people there still afraid to drink the water? and water lows. southern california's drastic measures for a disastrous drought.

hello, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." just about 1:00 p.m. here in the east, 10:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening right now out there. consider it a shot across the bow. chris christie's office has sent out a memo slamming former port authority official david wildstein, who is right at the center of the scandal. this memo criticized wildstein's character and counters his claim that there is evidence that christie knew about the lane closures as they were happening. joining me now, kelly o'donnell. with a welcome to you, this is not your usual memo really from an elected official. >> there was a release right after the story broke on the official letter head was sent out widely, was a more traditional statement. this has more of a feeling of a campaign memo, where it is more personal. where it also goes after "the new york times" claiming they engaged in sloppy