new multigrain cheerios dark chocolate crunch is breakfast... with benefits. start your day with a delicious new crunch. healthy never tasted so good. king of the mountain makes his bid for the gold. is he the fastest in the world? olympic officials explained what's gone right and what's gone wrong with the games in sochi chi and what about the hotel rooms. the clock is ticking. the u.s. is facing another potential debt ceiling crisis. how soon and what happens if nothing is done. the biggest loser. which country gambles away more money than any o'? that is in today's edition of number ones. hey, there, everyone.

it's high noon in the east, k9d a.m. in the west. we begin in sochi where five-time olympic medalist bode miller took to the slopes in the men's final. after wowing with near perfect runs in training was he able to make history this time? we're going to bring you the moments in just a moment. the teen dancers showed off their dazzling work and spins on the ice but it's what happened when they got off the ice that's creating the biggest buzz. and under immense pressure ashley wagner performed. she performed well in today's team event. okay. now we've got the spoiler alert for you. in the next few minutes we're going to talk about olympic events that just happened but they have not yet been

broadcast. for now on the games hey, to you, kear. ready for the spoil alert upset for bode miller. what happened today? >> yeah, sad news, i'm afraid. real disappointment with bodie co bode coming in eighth. he just was too slow. he said that himself. what he's talking about now is that in the time running up to the final, the conditions were blue skies, bright sunshine, but not today and that made the conditions on -- you know, the conditions on the skis more difficult, particularly for his kind of skiing and he just didn't manage to pull it off. >> yeah. that's true. he says that he slowed down in the middle and then he really slowed down at the end of it. it is what it is. he's got some more races and he can hopefully pick up medals. how about the good news from the women's slope-style?

how did jamie anderson do? >> jamie anderson is such a force that everyone expected her to win gold and she did win gold. the thing about the olympics, alex, despite -- we talked about that with bode, just by all of his previous medals but the thing is the special pressure here, so for ashley, a real victory to pull that off. that means, of course, that team usa win gold in the slope-tile in both the men and the women's slope-style, and when you consider that's a new event at the olympics and for the men it was the beginning of the olympics. that was a really great way to start the olympics for team usa. >> absolutely. we're kind of the most bodacious. how about the figure skater ashley wagner. immense pressure.

what happened with that? huge pressure. the story of how she fell in the run-up and how she almost wasn't here, and you could see the tension on her face before she skated, the nerves. she admitted she was nervous. once she got out onto the ice, it was a really dazzling performance, really terrific. and yet at the same time, she wasn't happy with the points. and when you see her face before after afterward, she's expecting -- she's thinking that she's done really well and then she didn't feel she got the points she had hoped for but overall the good news is team usa in that team figure skaiting event, that they're doing better. this is what she had to say. >> the nerves really hit me and the whole fact of it -- being at the olympics, it started to sink in at that moment, so it was overwhelming but raphael trained me incredibly well the last

couple of weeks and i knew what to do. i felt prepared. if anybody has any doubt about my belonging here, that should be washed away pretty easily. >> i don't want to see, i don't want to hear. >> hold on. >> message for her showing that her confidence is building after it got such a knock in the run-up to the olympics. >> right. can we talk quickly about moguls with hannah kearney? >> reporter: yes, she slipped up after a trick. this is what she had to say. >> it's easy to announce your retirement at the top when everything is going to plan. i think i yelled to my brother when i was standing on the podium, four more years. i feel strong so it makes me want to keep competing. there are other goals so i can say this is my last olympics. >> reporter: incredible

sentiment from her. she got bronze. you talk about this as a setback for her if you like a failure for her. she's on the podium but it doesn't match the gold she got previously. she's disappointed but she's still a medal-quiwinning olympi >> yeah. she's brave, facing the press. i'll be talking with her. oklahoma, okay, kier. we'll be talking with you later. sage captured the snowboarding event. lester holt talked to him about the gold medal run this morning. >> it's not a bad token to come home with. i talked with my brother before the run. i didn't know what tricks i was going do in the last jump. i thought maybe i'll do a 1620 japan. he was like, have you ever tried that before? >> no, not a chance that i tried it before.

i winged it in my run and ended up landing it. >> u.s. with two gold and one bronze. norway with 2 gold, 1 bronze, one bronze, canada and austria are rounding out the top five. and we'll talk with hannah kearney about why the tears flowed. let's get to the weather. trout-stricken north k has seen much needed rain. it's gotten up to 11 inches reported in some areas, but what can you expect for the week ahead? nbc's dylan dreyer always seems to have the's. >> i tree. this is a good pattern to continue to see the rain out in parts of california. elsewhere we have snow moving through the plains. both of those systems won't really amount to all that much. you can see a closer look. some lighter snow moving through

pittsburgh and buffalo. out in california, this is that pineapple express, so another day today of heavy rain and heavy mountain snow as that moisture just streams in. we should get a break on monday. then more heavy rain is likely as we go into tuesday night and wednesday as well. you can see as much as two to three, four, five inches across parts of k and then that translated to feet of mountain snow. we're also looking at some snowy conditions in interior parts of washington state through the rockies and then lighter snow even stretching as far south as northern mississippi and into alabama and even northern georgia. so atlanta will be on alert, especially by the time we go into tuesday. they could end up with another inch or two of some of that snow, if not a little icing as well. temperatures across the country, still cold. 7 in minneapolis, 20 in chicago. again, just about an inch or two to three in boston. that looks fairly minimal at

this point. tomorrow we're still cold in the northeast. 51 in atlanta. then temperatures tropp. that's why we could see some of that snow and ice start to work in especially by tuesday. alex? >> thanks for the heads-up. now to some stories topping the news. hundreds of people gathered in south florida to remember trayvon martin. martin's parents say they chose this weekend because it's close to what would have been their son's 19th birthday. actor jamie foxx spoke at the event about why he's still wearing shirts with trayvon's image. >> people ask me why are you wearing it? that's not in anymore. i said trayvon's still not here and i have a relationship with the parents. 200 people matched to the water facility demanding clean water and payment for their bills. this month after the 10,000 chemical spill of mchm. the water company said it's not responsible for the leak but

added, it's, quote, evaluating fed assistance to address customers' concerns. these residents say they shouldn't have to pay anything until the water is safe. >> i don't trust that they say that the water is safe. >> there's a new level of normal for most families in west virginia. >> i'm afraid to give my own kids bath at home because of the water. >> we've had a conversation of not only changing schools but maybe changing zip codes. >> they say they will stick to bottled water for now. starting tomorrow a new federal policy offering protections for married same-sex couples. and back to sochi where the international olympic dmit kmit tee addresses the hotel horror stories. the unique patch with time release smartcontrol technology that helps prevent the urge to smoke all day long. help prevent your cravings with nicoderm cq.

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pivotal moment for immigration reform. two key lawmakers facing off today on "meet the press" on immigration reform and why progress has apparently stalled in the house once again. new york senator chuck schumer says he has a solution for republicans who say they don't trust the president to enforce an immigration reform law. >> let's enact the law this year but simply not let it actually start till 2017 after president obama's term is other. now, i think the rap against him that he won't enforce the law is false. he's deported more people than any other president, but you could actually have the law start in 2017. >> the concern we have, as you know, is we get back to the 1986 law. the last time we did there where we did provide legalization but did provide enforcement. 3 million were legalized but 3 million came illegally. >> and torn general eric holder has announced new steps the justice department is taking to ensure equal rights to same-sex

spouse. he made the announcement last night here in new york. let's go right to the kwhous. nbc's kristen welker is standing by. what do you know? >> reporter: well, alex, eric holder basically announced yesterday that the ruling applied to the justice department. here are the main takeaways. the attorney general said same-sex spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other, can file for bankruptcy jointly and can have same rights as federal prison inmates in opposite-sex marriages. they'll be eligible for the 9/11 victim compensation fund for example. here's what else he had to say. take a listen. >> this means every courthouse in every proceeding and in every place where a member of the

department of justice stands on behalf of the united states, they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, the same protections, and the same rights as opposite sex marriages under federal law. >> reporter: chad griffin, the president of the human rights campaign praised the announcement by the attorney general. conservatives not surprisingly said they were opposed to it based on the fact that they think same-sex marriage should be a state's issue. here's what was said. quote, this is just the latest in a series of moves by the obama administration and in particular the department of justice to undermine the authority and sovereignty of the states to make their own determinations regulating the institution of marriage. if those polls are to be believed, this is a divisive

issue now but could become less divisive over time. >> with the indication of the youth and there voting it's maybe a cultural change. thank you so much. in a matter of weeks the u.s. will be facing yet again the prospect of defaults on its loans which could bring with it a whole host of economic nightmares. that's the latest from secretary jacob blew. with me now to discuss the looming deadline is maya macguineas. welcome back to the show. good to see you. >> nice to be here? is anything different from last year? >> i do think so and i certainly hope so which is i think we have learned a lesson that these debt ceiling showdowns which have been taken too far have been damaging to the economy.

i don't think we're going to have last-minute brinksman. >> shep: bri brinksmanship. >> unfortunately while a lot of the focus was on the good news and the cbo numbers that just came out which is our short-term deficits are better than projected, the real problem is the national debt and our debt right now is basically two times what it's historically been as a share of the economy and it's projected to keep growing even though the deficits will be coming down temporarily. the concern is debt levels like that leave us very vulnerable if there's another economic crisis or normal business cycle. we need to be taking a tougher measure to get the debt under control, but if yu look at what's going on in washington right now, both parties are really trying to run away from this issue, claim victory, we

made some savings, and we're trying to push it off for the future, which leaves some risk. >> i know your organization has been particularly mindful of the growing debt but as we look back, did some of the austerity measures, did they actually hurt the economy in a palpable way? >> think there's no question that the deficit measures that have been done so far, one, that was never really the focus. it's not the immediate deficit we need to worry about because as you've been pointing out, the company has been growing slowly. it wud take longer to phase in. we raised tax rates instead of overhauling our really disastrous tax code and on the spending side i would argue the sequester which was never intended to go in place, it was

built because it was so dumb, it was put in place and should have been replaced with thoughtful cuts with a look at our problem areas with the budget. so we have made the wrong policy changes. so far the hope is we'll replace them with smarter longer term policy changes. >> you talk about the sequestration and those things that were never meant to be enacted. what happens if the debt ceiling is not raised this time around? >> oh, if we don't raise the debt ceiling, it will create a ripple effect of disastrous economic consequences, not just in our country but around the world. you really can't mess around with threats that the u.s. could default and not pay our bills. and keep in mind the debt ceiling really just limits paying of bills that we have already entered into those obligations. what we should be doing is saying, okay, we have to raise the debt ceiling.

we have to make good on our past obligations. but it's a reminder that if you look forward, our debt is on an up sustainable path. gradual phased instruct real reforms that would help deal with the growing -- dangerously high and growing debt. it should be a palestine der for us to make smart choices. even a threat alone does real damage. >> you know what's real interesting? there's a lot of misconceptions of who owns the majority debt. can you give us a quick rundown on that? >> the debt is held by many in the u.s. what has happened is over time more and more debt is purchased by more central banks and countries abroad. there's a real concern we're now more dependent on lending overseas particularly in asia and oil-rich nations where some of the growth has been. so it's not like a country like japan where they have very high debt leflks but much of it is

financed by debt saver. in the u.s. because we don't save as much, we become more dependent on foreign lenders to finance our deficits. >> we were talking about china and japan in this case. okay, maya macguineas. good to see you. >> thanks. >> you're going to hear what officials are saying about ticket sales and are there a lot of empty seats at those venues. . ...and higher interest rates when you apply for a credit card. it's a problem waiting to happen. check your credit score, check your credit report, at experian.com. america's number one provider of online credit reports and scores. don't take chances. go to experian.com. 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.

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with the tampax radiant collection. hi boys! i've made you campbell's chunky new england clam chowder. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right. begin with a new gallup pole l religions. mississippi is the most religious state in america. 61% say they're very religious. 57% in alabama. on the other hand vermont the least with only 22% calling themselves very religious as do 24% in new hampshire and 27% in maine. as the olympians in sochi battle

for medals, odds-makers are hoping to cash in. odds makers at nevada make norway followed by u.s. and germany. game besler usually wind up losing. the u.s. lost a record $19 billion in gambling. china second with 76 bll, japan with $31 billion. those are your weekends with number ones with weekends with alex witt. f. f. winter olympian ted ligety 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. ♪ ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around, barry

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[ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you?

oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... [ shirley ] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ welcome back the weekends with alex witt. now as we approach the half hour here are your latest headlines. i iran's leader is backing up the headlines. the leader's support is critical to rouhani's success in negotiations with world powers. an investigation is under way after a massive fire broke out in georgia. look at that. the building was storing rubber at savannah's ocean terminal.

thick black smoke could be seen for miles. this will upset activists. they killed a healthy giraffe to stop inbreeding. the zoo's spokesperson said he was taken down with a pistol and will feed the meat to carnivores in the stozoo. olympic officials say the ticket sales are right on target. >> the venues are pretty full and the percentage of ticket sales are very high and there are a lot of totally full venues. >> meanwhile the committee took the time to address the stories of shoddy hotels and bad drinking water. keir, first question to you, how do the venues look like in terms of attendance? what are you picking up there?

are there definitely some events that are sold out where you can't get tickets? >> reporter: hi, alex. let me just tell you first of all that president putin is taking up one of the seats in one of the venues here tonight. he's in the iceberg arena which is across the park here where the team figure skating is taking place. it's where the russians are doing very well. so president putin, nothing if not careful and calculating. he's there to watch his nation do very well. i was there yesterday to watch some more of the same event, the team figure skating. i would have to say there were a lot of seating looked free to me. that said, the ioc says it has sold 92% of the tickets. perhaps if that is the case, that people aren't using the tickets they had. from my part, for example, we went to watch for about an hour and half and we had work to do.

it's the nature of this business. we had to leave again. anyone looking would have seen my seat and said that one hasn't been sold. i think it's deceptive necessarily to look at a stadium and say, okay, there are seats free, so therefore tickets haven't been told, however, of course, this is the olympic games. we're seeing some amazing performances, and it would be nice if they were full so that people got the chance to enjoy it, you know, kind of in real life. >> to the envy of those of us not there watching. let's talk about the committee addressing the hotel accommodations. they say they've got a handle on it. here's what they're saying, keir. >> all hotels are new. we had not much time to test all the infrastructure and sometimes some issues happen. we immediately reacted. >> so the fact is sochi was built from the ground up. are some infrastructure problems

to be expected? >> reporter: i think so. think that's right. i mean when you stand here -- we're standing in an olympic park that simply wasn't here a few years ago. all of the things going on including the slightly loud noises in the back ground that you might be able to hear, i certainly can, making it difficult sometimes to hear your questions, all of this is new. they've built all of this from scratch. so in that sense, it is a real achievement. when you look closely at some places there are clearly some things missing. some hotels haven't been ready. people are enjoying themselves. they're not letting that get in the way. >> you're keeping your composure. kevin tible starting dancing because it was so loud. good luck. thanks so much. there is a long list of winter sochi games. the biggest ones will get prime time coverage on nbc including men's downhill skating, women's speed skating, the women's

slope-style finals, team figure skating finals and the men's skiathlon. it sparked a firestorm with mitch mcconnell leading the charge from the right. >> the cbo report is certainly not pretty if you're interesting in creating jobs in america. as we all know, they estimate up to 2 million fewer jobs will be created as a result of obamac e obamacare. >> but the nonpartisans say not so fast. >> the reason we don't use the term "lost jobs" is there's a critical difference between people who would like to work and can't find a job or had a job that is lost for reasons bond yonld their control and people who choose not to work. >> what cbo said is that many americans would have freedom, that's a good word, freedom to do things they couldn't do. joining me now is former

congressman tom davis and former democratic governor ed rendell. good to have you. >> thanks for having me. >> i'll start with you. you heard doug from the cbo. have the republicans misread this report? >> it depends. they had a fact checker in the post say that's correct. and that is basically you have people that will be leaving the work force over this, so you'll have less productivity. that doesn't necessarily measure into net job loss. it's fairly complicated in economicsspeak. the ultimate question is a values question. are we just subsidizing people so they can leave the work force earlier? should we take money from one group so others can leave early? those are the kind of issues this raises. i don't think it's particularly healthy but it was expected. >> i want to go into detail.

one argument republicans have made is they provided incentive for people to scale back their hours, even leave and take a different job because the less they make, the bigger the subsidy. do you see that as being an inherent flaw in the law? >> no, not at all. first let me compliment congressman davis for being an honest man. these are not jobs that were lost. they're working leaving the work force. they'll be jobs taken by someone else. in fact, if you use common sense, if we're adding 30 million people to health care coverage, that's going to add ten million jobs, perhaps more. just use common sense. you're not going to add 30 million people to health care without adding significant and very well paying jobs. that's number one. number two, no one chooses to not work because of these benefits. these benefits aren't sufficient to do all of the things necessary to feed a family, to take care of yourself, to pay

your mortgage, all of those things. it's like saying that someone is going to stay at home for food stamps. food stamps simply aren't enough to make someone have a decent life and be out of poverty. so -- it stretches the credibility. >> congressman, i'd like you to respond to that. that is common sense. >> i think that is basically right but i think some work for basically health care benefits. and as the government takes care of the benefits through the subsidies, their reason for working is through health care, it's not necessarily the salary that goes with that. i think you'll see some drop-off in that. the net effect remains to be seen and the larger problem for democrats is they had a very bad rollout on these exchanges, they repealed three parts of the law. just a bad narrative going into the election. >> in terms of the narrative, congressman, there's something that keeps coming up. they seem to forget about other expenses.

republicans say they're going to quit their jobs for the subsidies. and there was a example of the single mother who can quit her job to spend more time with her children. does this show it's the beltway clarks being out of tur. ? >> i don't think so. there's two narratives, those benefiting from the law and those caught in the transition, who thought they were getting one thing or having to give up their current program go to another plan. there are two different narratives on this. i think each party is talking to their base on that. >> governor, i want to ask you what congressman paul ryan said in a tuesday hearing that the law disproportionately affects low wage workers and makes the poverty gap worse. how do you respond to that? >> of course, he's ignoring the fact that there are 30 million people who are getting health care that didn't have it previously. it's ludicrous. it's the typical rhetoric. one point i want to make on the question you ask the

congressman. take a 60-year-old man who's hanging on in his job because he needs the health care. he wants to start his own business but he's afraid of not having health care for the five years until he gets to med carry. so now he has health care. he goes out and starts a restaurant and the restaurant's successful and it employed 29 people. that's a good thing. that's a real good thing. >> i think there's going to be a lot of -- on both sides it's got to sort itself out. you have these disparate narratives. >> governor, let's talk about chris christie. he's contributed to steve kornacki reporting on the bridgegate scandal. let's listen to what he has to say. >> it seems the staff is blamed for everything that goes wrong and it's not entirely clear to me. not that you have to have the harry truman the buck stops here line. but at some point we have to find out what's going on in the

office and it's always unnamed staff. >> you're a former state executive. what are your thoughts on that? >> well, he's dead right. it stretches credibility again to thank eight members, significant members of the governor's staff, including chief of staff whose desk is down the hall that they could have done this, a, without clearing it with the governor knowing it first, and, b, that the governor wouldn't know it. the traffic jam that involved public safety occurred for four days in his state and he never knew about it? not possible. >> so if it turns out governor chris christie indeed didn't know anything as he says, then is he in your mind still a viable candidate for office? >> i think if his narrative holds he'll be a strong candidate and he'll weather the storm. if it's caught that he's been untruthful about this, then he's got serious problems.

loorks if they cannot prove what he said, we move on and he stays viable. >> all right. nice as always. thanks so much. office politics with dean myers and what it was like to work on the hit show "the west wing," plus comparing reality of russia to what we're seeing on tv. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three types of good bacteria. i should probably take this. live the regular life. phillips'. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms.

for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, 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 doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work. 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. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good. to launch a startup from your garage. from computers, smartphones and 3d printers, to coffee, snacks, and drinks to fuel the big ideas. yes, staples has everything you need to launch a startup from your garage...

mom! [ male announcer ] except permission to use the garage. thousands of products added online every day... even safety cones. now save big for your business with a $25 staples gift card when you buy a tablet. staples. make more happen. in today's politics, dee dee myers after leaving the white house, dee dee spent seven years as a consultant for the full run of "the west wing." first i asked dee dee about accusations that the white house is the most secretive. >> everyone is sigh kreive. i always laugh. the reporters are in the

briefing room. and i would say i wouldn't be happy unless there was a camera. we need more access. i do think that changes in technology have tilted the balance of power to the white house, right, in terms of managing the press/white house relationship. >> what about the styles of president clinton versus president obama. >> could be different. >> do they have any crossover? >> i think they're both smart and policy focused. i think they're both -- on a personality basis, they couldn't be more of an introvert. the white house always pushes back on this. you don't have to be a rocket scientist or behavioralist to look at him and say he there's a guy who likes to be around people he knows, in circumstances he's familiar with, having a routine and sort of living within that lane. fine, great. kind of an odd choice -- politicians are kind of an odd choice. he's obviously been successful.

president clinton was the opposite. the most extroverted person i ever met. we would travel and he was famous for working the rope line. we were always behind schedule. >> clinton time. >> you guys stood around for hours waiting for him because he met someone who wanted to talk to him who had a sick grandparent. but he got so much out of that. not only did he get a feel per what was going on in people's lives, he was energized. jogging up "air force one" after we had been sitting there for 45 minutes and he was like, whoa, that was great. he was energized by it. >> you hook up with "the west wing." >>. millimete talk about it. >> while i was at the white house, aaron sore kikin was wor on "the west wing." i got to know him a little bit during that period.

had moved back to l.a., recently married, and i got a call from aaron, hey, i've written a pilot for this new show. it wasn't originally called "the west wing" because they couldn't get the name. i helped come up with story ideas. iworked with -- i worked with a lot of them particularly the first time they'd direct an episode and they'd say, so what happens when the president walks through the door. depends on what door. they were fascinated by the little details. what's the pin they waear on their lapel. that's a hard pin and they wanted to see mine. i got to take a lot of stuff that happened to me and change the ending so that came out better. all the lines that you think of when you walk away. i should have said, right. c.j. kind government to say a lot of that stuff. >> i want to know from the pilot when alyson janny is running on the treadmill -- >> the trick is --

>> your beeper's going. >> what? >> i think your beeper's going. >> was that you? >> it certainly could have been. i'm certainly not the world's most graceful person. i don't remember that happening but it certainly could have. >> that's huge. >> actually, c.j. craig was very smart and funny so i think she absolutely -- >> take notice. c.j., dee dee -- just saying. two stages to the olympics. which one is real? we'll ask the expert. i'm randy, and i quit smoking with chantix. as a police officer, i've helped many people in the last 23 years, but i needed help in quitting smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking.

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another day of competition at the sochi winter games is winding down. tonight, tracey gold makes her debut in the free skate. just outside the olympic park exists another sochi of deep

rural poverty and throughout the country, lgbt, they have found their rights trampled upon. where do they stand now? andrew, welcome. nice to talk with you. >> great to be here. thank you for having me. >> we have heard a lot of complaints that accommodations were poorly built, not a lot of clean water, workers are paid poorly, sometimes not even paid and there were corruptions in the building stage is. that a holdover from the soviet era or battle days of the '90s? how do you look at it? >> i think you have to remember russia. they have the third largest currency reserves of any country in the world. so when they decided to stage the olympics in sochi, a place that didn't have any of the infrastructure, anyone who couldn't get the contracts, anyone who couldn't get in the

construction projects seized on the opportunity. so it's surprising how lose things are when it comes to obeying law and a lot of that money ended up being siphoned off. >> how do you think the reality of russia today compares with what we're seeing on tv? >> i think the image of how the games look, the opening ceremonies and all the flashiness, i thank's the image that putin wanted people to focus on. at the same time he's basically lost control of the narrative. everyone in the run-up of the games focused the security, human rights questions that people have and focused on the image of putin himself. the image putin tried to put out that russia is modern, confident, russia's back, that was overwhelmed by the negative coverage that people focused on. >> but i mentioned the situation. let's look at it from two story line perspectives. it's obvious that they accomplished the feat quickly into an olympic city or they left a lot of things unfinished.

which one do you think it is? >> i think any olympic games is always going to face questions about security after the noic 9 attack. we have an image, sort of frozen in time image from the 1990s that russia is this basket case in which there's always these bad things going on and whenever there's something good going on, people say that can't possibly be the case. you know, i think unstated question here is it's amazing they have that kind of money to spend on the olympics. that's not anybody in the field would have felt would have happened ten years ago, 20 years ago. it's money they harvested over the last 20 years. >> that's pretty remarkable. what about the opening ceremony, andrew? it's always idealized how the country sees itself. roy to you think this one is set

how russia views itself? >> i think it shows a russia that has a good sense of pop culture and production values. moment people believe russia is this limping sick man of europe, but in reall there's a lot more. there's huge amounts of dynamism and let that travel around the world that's integrated into the global power structure. there's a lot of downsides, strat fi indication, poor people, but everyone's living standards in the country has basically risen over the last ten years. >> but if this is how the leaders perceive themselves, how do you think the russian people view the country? >> thing the average russian is quite proud and putin has played on that. if you look over the last 10, 15 years he's very much in touch that russia was humiliated in the 1990s and it now needs to show the world you can't be pushed around. the average russian looks with a

lod ott pride. there's a lot of bad things and bad incidents that happened but russia is in its best condition. whether people like it oar not, it's all coincided with putin's rule. >> do you think they shed the soviet era stigma it carried? >> i think you hear people talk about the soviet legacy and how the new putin russia, they slimmed down the soviet union. compared to the soviet union when you had geopolitical conflict with the u.s. contemporary russia is a much less significant player on the international stage. russia itself is a country where people are able to be left alone, pursue their lives, travel, do what they want, so it's a very different country than the soviet union. i think we all make a mistake when we try to conflate those two. >> andrew weiss, thank you so much. >> thank you. what sport do you look

forward to watching the most? >> melissa tweets looking forward to curling. savannah, hockey and figure skating. patrick writes bobsled. wayne says snowboarding, freestyle,n freestyle, and i agree on the curling. >> the story of an athlete who felt heartbreak even though she won a medal. plus the medal count, where does the u.s. stand? let me talk to you about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure.

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help marriage rights. >> and a closer look. why they'll get their first look at key documents. hello, everyone. welcome to weekend with alex witt. it's 1:00 in the east, 10:00 a.m. in the west. here's what's happening out there as we begin in sochi with a terrifying scare on the slopes. she took a violent fall. she did not fully rotate coming out of a jump. she fell, is violently cracking her head and cracking her protective helmet. >> meanwhile team dancers showed off their spectacular dance. reports of score fixing may outshine their performance. and bode miller took the slopes in the men's downhill competition. after wowing the ski world with

near perfect runs in the training sessions, he may not have placed quite as well as he hoped. and here's a spoiler's alert. for the next few minutes, everyone, we're going to discuss results that have happened. do turn away if you don't want to hear them. who have been the big winners for team usa? >> just to tell you, by the way, the background you can hear rock mus music. at least i think it's russian rock. the slopestyle, getting a gold in they event, jamie anderson while sage kotsenburg got it for the mens. meanwhile hannah kearney got bronze in the moguls. you know, she was disappointed with that, because, of course,

she has managed to get a gold medal before. but she still was on the podium. >> yeah, absolutely. we're going to talk to hannah. she may be standing right there near you. we've got her hooked up. i want to hear about other memorable examples. sage kotsenburg, let's hear about him? >> reporter: the thing about him, every time he opens his mou mouth, it is memorable. he was chewing gum while he was on the slope in the olympic final and at the same time he says at one point he did a jump that's so high he blacked out and landed and didn't quite know what he'd done and he also said in an interview he phoned his brother, spoke to his brother that he kind of made it up as he went along. >> this is not a bad token to come home with. i talked to my brother right before the run. i didn't really know what tricks i was going to do in the last

jump. i was like maybe i'll do a 1620 japan. he was like, have you ever tried that before? >> no, not a chance have i tried it before. so i winged my run and ended up landing it. >> yeah, i liked that guy. he's got such fun energy. he's a perfect snowboarder. i'm a skier, downhiller. he's one of them. >> reporter: he is. he really is. there's a couple of other memorable moments if you'd like. bode miller not doing as well as he had liked. coming in eighth on the downhill and ashley wagner on the ice, after all the background as to whether or not she'd even be here at all, looking really anxious at first but skating really well and thinking that she'd done very well, but then look at her face of disappointment when she got her place and felt as if she didn't manage to get the point that she hoped to in the teen figure

skating. but all the same, a confident performance from her which bodes well for her skating going forward. >> yeah. and speaking of forward, what should we look forward to tonight for what we're going to see least from tv. >> reporter: excuse me while i just check the list here. we've got the men's downhill, the women's speed skating finals, women's slopestyle finals, men's ski act lon, the team figure skating files happening right now. president putin watching. a big event just tonight. >> no pressure on the russian skaters. okay. keir simmons, thanks so much. usa is in third place with two gold medals and one bronze. norway's in the lead with two gold, one silver and three bronze. and netherlands, two gold, one silver, and one bronze. canada and austria rounding out the top five. so let's go now to the bronze medal performance by u.s. mogul

skier hannah kearney. managing to pull through for a third place finish and she joins me now from sochi, russia. what an honor to have you. we're so proud of you even though you may be a bit disappoi disappointed. i know you were very emotional after the bronze medal place, but now, how do you feel? >> i feel much better. it's cool to see we have one bronze and it's mine. i trilkted to the medal count. i'm not disappointed with the bronze. in fact, i'm very lucky to have won it. it's my performance it's disappointed in. i know i'm capable and i had a costly mistake in the middle section and it's devastating when you have to wait four years for redemption and in my case i can't wait because i'm retiring but the bronze medal, i'm really happy. >> mogul, that takes a toll on your knees. what about the "today" show,

hannah? you told lester holt, it's hard to be the favorite. it's easy to come in as the underdog. how did that pressure affect you? >> well, i think it's hard -- n don't feel like i let the pressure get the best of me. the course got the best of me. i came back from a terrible run and had a much better one and it was one simple mistake that cost me. i have been the underdog. four years ago jen heil was expected to bring home canada's first gold and there's something about having nothing to lose mentality that is relaxing and allows you to perform at potentially a higher level. >> yeah. you said you're going to retire. we have seen people say that before and then they come back because they love it so much and it's such a way of life. so is there a chance of that or are you pretty firm on this decision? >> i'm quite firm on this

decision because i think all the other goals in my life will be neglected if i focus on the moguls for another four years. i'm a very intense person and when i'm in the team mow fwuls, i commit to it and forgo the other portions of my life. i'm so grateful to have been on it for your the last 12 years. i'm easing it by beginning my ed kachlgs i think i'll ski at least one more year, but four more is a large commitment. >> yeah, it absolutely is. we've all become familiar with your teammate heidi kloser who had to deal with the disappointment of not being able to compete after breaking her leg in a practice run. what kind of encouragement has she given you? >> high d is a veeidi is a very individual. she sincerely supports her teammates and wants us to do well. it's odd because we're teammates

but it's an individual sport. when heidi got hurt, i felt sick to my stomach. she can at least call herself an olympian. we walked in the ceremonies. we happen to share the same initials so i call her the little h.k. i blew out my knee and came back to win the medals so her career is quite far from over. >> i'm wondering if you're going to stick arounding go to other competitions. are you going to stay in sochi and attending closing ceremonies as well or are you getting on with things? >> i'm not staying. we have been here for almost two weeks. i have a competition in japan i need to prepare for. however, i have signed up for the usa women's hockey game and figure skating and ski jumping and some of the halfpipe events as well. now that my events are over i'm a spectator and supporter of team usa until i depart on friday. >> do you wear your medal around

your neck when you go to the events? >> i probably will not because it's pretty large. it's kind of like having a backstage pass. maybe i'll try it out. >> can you show that once again? you're the first medalist i've spoken to. tell me how this compares to the one you won in terms of size, weight, and all that, the one you won in vancouver? >> it's a similar size. it's not quite as heavy. vancouver's were the heaviest. i love that every olympian's medal is different and they represent the region and there's always an interesting story about the medals. i actually don't know the full story yet on this one but i look forward to finding out. >> yeah. they're going to look mighty nice next to each other, gold and bronze, complimentary colors. they're going to look beautiful. congratulations. >> thank you. >> i'm so proud of you. well done. >> thank you very much. for the first time in 14 years the president or vice

president and their family will not attend one of the events. critics have seen that as is number by president obama to president putin but homeland security janet napolitano said there's no such intent. >> you tlink was no snub of president putin intended. >> >no, i don't think so. i think he sent a delegation that represents a broad portion of the united states. we're here to represent our team and our country and we're proud to be here. >> in fact, we should say the president said that himself when he was talking with nbc's bob costas that he did on the opening night of the games in our coverage so we're going to take his word for that. let's get to the weather now. dylan is here with the forecast. hello. what's it looking like in sochi? >> much warmer there than here. it should get into 40s, 50. sochi, around 46. the mountain cluster above

freezing at 38 degrees. but by the time we get to thursday, we could be flirting with 60 degrees in sochi, so it is exception amelie mild that way, obviously a resort town. closer to home, this is where we're dealing with the cold and the snow and everything that comes alog with it. we have light snow that comes through. heavy rain through parts of california, an area that certainly needs the rain. the snow is fairly light in nature. we tear not going to see it accumulate all that much, enough to see it through nebraska and kansas and moving into parts of northern missouri right now but it's out west we have the biggest storm systems. portland, oregon, the snow came down and freezing rain on top of it but this rain is very much needed across california and it's this pineapple express. moisture develops down in hawaii. it makes its way like a river of moisture. it will shift a little further to the north over the next couple of days, but we're still going to see inches of rain in

california. feet of snow in the mountains and we could even see about one to three inches in the northeast with that little disturbance. by the time we get into tuesday, we might see another inch of snow with icing possible as well. that's something we'll have to keep an eye on. >> look out, therein potentially. we're going to go back to sochi and talk with veterans expert and alan bra hampson and alleged irregularities in judging in the skating contest. meantime lawmakers meet. what we can expect to happen. that's next. financial services companies in the country? hey. yours? not anymore. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. legs up! legs up! legs up! verizon has free tablets and free phones. get here anyway you can. good job! free tablets. free phones. on the best network. only at verizon. get tablets like the verizon ellipsis 7 free.

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to politics, long term unemployment insurance hangs in

the balance on "meet the press." >> all republicans were saying to me, yes, let's extend unemployment insurance, i'm okay with that. one, let's pay for it. the last thing we want to do is add to the debt and deficit and make the economy worse. and one is let's extend the program. >> our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are telling people what's good for them but the people don't want it. a person looking for a job for six, eight months doesn't want to be told they shouldn't be give unemployment benefits to keep their care and pay for gas to look for a job. attorney general eric holer said he'll apply the same rights. holder spoke last night to the human rights campaign saying same-sex spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other and should be eligible to file for bankruptcy jointly. members of the new jersey legislative committee investigating the george washington bridge scandal are set to meet again tomorrow. it will be the group's first

meeting to review the latest s&ps documents. i spoke to one who's scheduled to review all of the documents tomorrow and i asked her what the committee is looking for. >> it's very difficult to even know what you're looking for. it's really putting together a lot of pieces of various puzzles. documents are coming in piecemeal. we sent out a huge amount of s&ps, most of which people are complying with. some have asked for additional time. >> joining me now, jonathan alter. he's also the author of -- and senior editor beth fooy. i welcome you both. >> what do you think they're looking for and if they don't, will they know when they see it? >> i think they will know when they see it. the problem is because of the more than 20 s&ps that went out, there is a voluminous amount of

evidence to look through to try to look for patterns, but what they're looking for, alex, i think, beyond what everybody's looking for, which would be prior knowledge of the intentional shutting of the lanes of the george washington bridge is evidence of a coverup or evidence that the governor or people close to the governor in a period when they had known about the lane shutdowns took evidence to prevent it from -- took action to prevent it from becoming public or otherwise tried to prevent this story from moving forward. >> so, beth, in terms of the evidence they'd be looking for, what would that look like? >> it would have to just be something that directly connected the governor to the lane closures. that's the one piece of this we haven't seen yet. we obviously know that his staff was heavily involved. he maintains he hasn't been and until they find evidence that he was, they have to take him at his word, and that's what

they're going to be looking for. >> is that an e-mail? what would it have to be? >> there's a ton of i'm go through but certainly if there was a conversation about this and the governor was mentioned and somebody just even dashed off a short note saying, hey, i spoke to chris and he's on board, that's going to be the kind of thing that implicates him. we just don't know. honestly what's left to his career is really the question. we get this story out over the weekend that he wasn't even aware that his staff put out this memo last weekend, hitting his high school chum, david wildstein? either he doesn't know what's going on or he's got this crazy rogue staff. either way it doesn't speak well to his future as a governor or a presidential candidate. >> i think we can speak on that. if you believe or anybody believes that they did not know

about this hit job e-mail on david wildstein, i have a bridge in northern new jersey i want to sell you. at this point there's nothing that happens that involved this case that the governor is not personally involved in. i find it peculiar that his staff would try to distance him from this e-mail. that happened after there was a very negative reaction to the e-mail attacking the character going back to when he was 16 years old with david wildstein. so they've got to get out of this habit of denying an obfuscating and perhaps even lying when they get into trouble. that's just going to make their troubles worse. >> it's interesting. i spoke with dee dee myers, former white house press secretary. she told me in the piece, you know, this is total amateur hour if this is what's happening. he needs to fire all these people because he's not surrounding these kind of people he needs to get out from under this mess. jonathan, that being said, i also asked the assembly woman we spoke with earlier about bridget

ankly and bill stepien about complying with s&ps and here's what she told me about that. >> they have put forth their legal arguments as to why they're not going to provide the document, whether or not it be fougt fourth or fifth amendment. there is certain case law with respect to things such as this. they do have legal argument as to the scope of what's expected. the next step is going to be the involvement of the judge. >> we don't know what we don't know but clearly she was the one who okayed this misbigaden scheme so anything that involves her would be of immediate interest and really vaps and same goes for bill stepien.

clearly the documents they have would be important to the investigation. just to give you a little sense of the kind of thing that i'm looking for, there was a moment after the bridge story came to public attention last fall where there were reports that governor christie called governor cuomo with whom he shares responsibility for the port authority and that on that call they discussed these leaks out of the port authority to "the wall street journal" and other news organizations. and this was, you know, a sign that christie was very concerned not so much about the lane closings as about the political fallout from the lane closings before the election. so christie denied that such a call had been made. so if these documents were to show on the governor's schedule, say, and, again, i'm speculating here, that, yes, at a certain hour governor christie called governor cuomo of new york, that

would be interesting. >> hey, switching gears, guys, beth, i want to talk with you about attorney general eric holder who said the justice department is making changes to recognize same-sex spouses. he said they can't be compelled to testify against each other, they should be eligible the file for bankruptcy jointly and they're entitled to the same as federal prison inmates of opposite sex. here's air holder last night. >> even where same-sex marriages are not recognized the federal government will not use state views as abe sis to object to someone in a same-sex marriage invoking this right. >> beth, how confident are you this is going to take hold across the country? >> what stole this story is the absolute crickets out of the republicans. they put out a statement condemning this action, but you don't hear anything about it from any republicans.

it's clear that they know that this irv no longer holds any political traction for them whatsoever. they're out there accusing the president of all sorts of lawless behavior. you would think this would fall into that but they didn't say anything. i realize this train has left the station and they're not in a position to jump in front of it. >> okay. beth fouhy and jonathan alter, thank you so much. there's a new finding on how much people will spend on valentine's day and there's one finding that may surprise you. has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. we're gonna be late. ♪

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guts. glory. ram. welcome back to weekends with alex witt. they impressed the judges with their outstanding performance but it's what happened when they got off the ice that created the biggest buzz. bode miller took the men's downhill after wowing them with near perfect runs in training, was he able to make history this time? we'll have the results in just a moment. and pope francis gives his blessing to the sochi olympics. he said, quote, i'd like to extend my greetings to the organizers and all the athletes with a wish that the games will be a true sports and friendship feast. and now, everyone, another spoiler alert. in the next few minutes we're going to talk about some of the

olympic events that have already happened but not broadcast. turn away if you don't want to hear them. you can watch it all tonight. let's bring in nbc sports columnist, alan abrahamson. bodie mill eric he failed to medal. what happened? >> reporter: to coin a phrase, he done overthunked it. the top of the course was bode's specialty and the numbers just don't lie. he raced that part of the course 0.6 slower than he did the day before. that was the cushion he needed to make up the time at the bottom where he was slower. the course conditions were undeniable slower today and he missed his cushion. that's what happened and known knows why. like b like bode with many things it's

an enigma wrapped in other things. who knows. >> how is he looking for those? >> reporter: boed is the best ski racer the united states has ever produced. every time he goes down the hill, he could win or he could crash, so we never know, but we always tune in to see because nobody ever skis the way bode miller skis. it's just fantastic to watch. >> you know what the difference is between winning and he came in eighth place? i think it was like .52 of a second. half a second. >> .52 of a second. if he skied like he did yesterday, it would be that simple. >> the difference is that, not even. anyway, let's talk about jamie anderson. she's had some success at the women's slopestyle competition. how did she do? >> reporter: she won gold and like sage kotsenburg did a few

days ago -- remember you had me on a couple of weeks ago and i said the action would be up in the action clouds? like a broken clock i'm right every now and then. the americans are really good at these things and now they're 2 for 2 in slopestyle snowboarding. and sage had 326 degrees. imagine the imagination to dream this up. it's incredible. >> it is incredible. what about the controversy surrounding the judges with the ice dancers? what's that all about? >> reporter: it's probably nothing. the isc says it's gossip without foundation. everyone remember the ice-skating controversy in 2002 that led to a double gold medal for the canadians and the russians? this is probably not that. right now it's gossip without foundation. let's see. >> okay. what about u.s. figure skater

ashley wagner. she was under so much pressure to perform. she's pretty happy with her performance, isn't she? with the way she skated is at least? >> she is but she made a face. she gets off the ice, is all giddy and looks at her score and is not so giddy anymore. ashley is under tremendous pressure to produce because she came in basically fourth with the de facto trials and she got put on the team anyway. then she changed her program and she was like do i belong here, do i not belong here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. >> alan. >> go ahead. >> the score that she got, was it warranted? was it a fair score? >> reporter: well, the score that she got -- the most important thing about that score is it's ten points lower than julia lavrentieva of russia.

that's what matters, alex. >> you're looking forward to tuesday, you say. what's going on then? >> a really big day for two important reasons. women are going to make ski jumping for the first time. that's big. second of all, shaun white goes down and flies at the halfpipe. don't miss it. >> okay. that sounds good. can i say one thing too. i've been reading all your artic articles. you write about picabo street and my producers are like what are you writing? >> i can't believe she's got four little boys and lives in alabama? >> 10, 9, 4, 3. say her and they said, hi, mrs. rieser. and she played it off. >> she's there, isn't she? >> she is. >> she's awesome. >> she is totally awesome. >> alan abrahamson, good to see you. thank you. >> reporter: thank you, alex. >> by the way, you have no excuse to miss any event because for the first time ever for

either event there's going to be television doing it or streaming live on nbcolympics.com. it is 37 minutes past the hour and time for your headlines. a gunman opened fire killing two people including a nun and a worshipper. the suspect described as a security guard was taken into custody. it happened thousands of miles from sew child. there is no report of any connection to the olympic. in sydney, australia, demonstrators urged athletes and fans to hold the hand of a person of the same sex. the japan times is reporting three people dead, at least 500 also injured from a snowstorm that's dropped ten inches in tokyo. and back here in the states, a winter storm in western, oregon, is making driving downright dangerous. some 600 car accidents are blamed on the weather. snow and ice have brought down

trees and limbs in the area, and they're causing lots of damage. and the crews have whittled down passengers without electricity to around 5,000. originally more than 850,000 had power knocked out mostly in the philadelphia area. let's go to jackson, florida, where the trial of michael dunn is continuing. he killed a boy over the car volume. his fiancee took the stand and was asked. >> what did the defendant say? >> i hate that thug music. >> and what was your response to the defendant? >> i said, yes, i know. >> let's bring in american civil rights attorney. how important is that testimony to the case? >> it goes to the state of mind

of mr. dunn that he already has this feeling that he dislikes what the kids are doing, he doesn't like the music and that sort of prompted him ultimately to how he reacts. >> that was du dunn's fiancee. she was making a purchase when the shots were heard being fired outside. here's what she said she saw. >> as you got back on the passenger side of the car, did you see a firearm at that point of time? >> yes. michael was putting it into the glove box. >> what does that do to the defense's case? >> that's a very important case, certainly for the prosecution. to the defense it demonstrates he had the gun but more importantly for the prosecution, as he put the gun away and then he drove off. that's sort of a consciousness of guilt. it was flight. if he felt his life was threatened he should have stayed there and given his testimony to the police. she corroborates the existence

of the gun and then he hides the gun and drives off. >> john, when you look ahead at the case who's got the more difficult task? the prosecution who has to prove that the teenager did not have a weapon or the defense who must convince the jury that the teenager did have a weapon even though nothing was found? >> well, the defense doesn't have to prove he has a weapon. he has to create the impression that it was reasonable for the defendant to believe that there was a weapon because he's the one that offered it. but the prosecution has the burden, of course, of proving all this, and what he has -- the prosecution has to prove is demonstrate clearly that there's no corroboration of the gun by any other witnesses. obviously the kids in the car, they didn't see the weapon. there was another witness coming out of the store. they didn't see a weapon. from the prosecution's point of view, they have to prove up. they have to prove there's no testimony to corroborate what they're saying. the defense is trying to indicate there was plenty of enough time for the gun --

weapon to be hid. they were not interviewed at the time. the prosecution's work was not ft. lauderdale. given the fact did it come about as a consequence of loud music which is not abe sis to shoot and kill someone they have the burden to demonstrate reasonable is . >> in the two years since the trayvon martin trial, does that apply at all here? >> well, the defense has the burden of raising that and the defense has not raised that. what's interesting is that is a defense you raise before trial, that you ultimately get the judge to decide that there was this evidence that shows defense of stand your grown but they didn't do that. what they're basically going to do is do a standard stand your self. it creates some confusion because it really doesn't apply

factually but if the defense wants it at a later point they may make it on the argument that they believed there was a weapon involve and therefore he reacted to that, the defendant did. so even though it's not front and center now, i believe it would be like in the trayvon martin case which i think can create confusion. >> okay. john burris. thank you very much. i appreciate it. good to see you. >> they're city saying don't drink the water in west virginia. that's a month after the chemical spill. what gives? ucts treat all your symptoms. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ready? go. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure.

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smoke? nah, i'm good. [ male announcer ] celebrate every win with nicoderm cq, the unique patch with time release smartcontrol technology that helps prevent the urge to smoke all day long. help prevent your cravings with nicoderm cq. it's time tr the big three. let's bring in my panel. msnbc contributor and former bush-cheney adviser, and jason johnson. good to see you all. so thanks for joining me. >> good to see you. >> good afternoon. >> let's go to on second

thought. just today the editorial board of the new jersey "star-ledger" says it regrets its endorsement of governor chris christie last year. we'll update our reporting with any response we get. rebecca, is this premature since not all the facts are out or does the mismanagement of this whole incident warrant this reconsideration? >> well, you know, it's an interesting editorial if you read it further, of course, authored by the ed tortial board talking about, look, if we knew then we might not have made the same decision. it's an interesting kind of thing they're saying, pointing to the drawbacks, acknowledging the drachbacks saying they would make a different decision saying

aet the same time you would have to take a sum of all the candidate before you make that call. >> to that point, jason, at the very same time, this editorial board in the same piece says, look, christie has made good progress on education, pension and health care. have you ever heard of something like this? >> yeah. it reminds me of the "detroit free press" and their slamdorsement of john conyers when they say we're endorsing him but we hope he retires soon. i thought what was most compelling about the editorial is them saying we knew he was a bully. we knew he was a bully at the time. think it's integrity on the part of the newspaper. it's a realization. and i think this will be the last time chris christie gets any endorsement on the paper. >> you know, robert. some new details are trickling out. what you do think is the best approach for governor chris christie at this point to handle

this? >> let me just step back for a second and say, look, newspapers make endorsements in the moment. this was an incumbent governor who was 50, 40 points ahead. he had mom and dad democrats saying, i'm going to vote for you, governor. this was a governor we all knew who was a bully and he spoke the truth and he was very, very direct. let's put this in context. however, i would also say, to answer your question specifically alex, that the governor's office has not handled this well at all. one could make an argument he handled his press conference that was two hours long a month ago. but think we need to put this in context and take a deep breath and take a step back and put this in context. let's move on to don't drink the water. it was a month ago the chemical spill impacted over 300,000

residents that resulted in a ban on the water. officials are handing out the bottled water again and there's still no official word on the status of the water, they have water on the state's behalf many times and it's come back okay. residents are the saying we don't want to drink this water. here's west virginia's secretary of state. >> first off, we hear it's one chemical. then we hear it's two chemicals. first we hear it's 7,500 gallons and then 10,000 gallons. we are told the water is safe. next day pregnant women should not dink rink it. it doesn't add up. >> jason, what is your reaction? >> i think this is terrible and it has to do with the lack of science that we have to see if the water is safe. has to do with the weaknesses of the epa. the reason they were telling local residents the water was safe is because it has nondet t

nondetect. that doesn't mean the water is clean. so i think this is a real indicator to put more money and research into making sure that water is safe not just in west virginia but in other states because if the only standard that this water is safe is we can't find anything wrong that is not something i feel safe enough bathing myself or anyone i care about in my family. >> this is america in the 21st century. is this failure of government? >> even as if you have some of the experts coming out saying that the chemicals in the water pulled back to nondetectable levels or levels acceptable, you have senator rockefeller coming out saying, look, i don't trust the experts on this necessarily. this is a month after the spill or first reported and you have united states senator saying, look, don't necessarily trust what the experts have to say here. and a lot of people in west virginia feeling the exact same way right now. >> yeah. robert, let's look what it all is. a private company. this leak happened on its watch. they've been not particularly forthcoming with taking responsibility for it really in

any way that people feel is honest and really caters to what they're looking to hear so give your thoughts on that. it's just a private company gone bad? >> well, of course. it is a perfect storm. a private company gone bad. it is a -- my understanding a weak local legislature with private individuals on the bankroll there and so what you have is a perfect storm here and unfortunately yet again what you have is the average american, the average west virginian literally raring the public official saying i don't have confidence in the expert and the experts saying i don't know. what do i do? living paycheck to paycheck and bottled water is expensive to drink and bathe and so forth. what do i do? the question bombs, alex, what do we do as a society to help those not in need and cannot fend for themselves screaming for help? >> hey, guys, thanks for that. we'll fly through our must reads after the break.

that's a hint. you have to talk quick. we'll have a female buffalo ahead. ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. ♪ [ 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. there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

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we are back with the big three's must reads. less an a minute. rebecca, that rebecca, what is yours? >> ken vogel in politico, they were rushing to distance themselves from mitt romney. he's a man in demand as candidates on up to 2016 contenders looking to tap into the network of donors, deep pocket donors and -- >> okay. >> fund raising list. >> reinvented. there you go. robert, how about you? >> "the new york times" has a great story on republicans in sweat pants try to bring back the digital war and bridge that gap between now and 2016. a must read. >> jason, yours? >> my book is a story of cathy williams who pretended to be a man to fight with the buffalo soldiers.

a fantastic life full of adventure serving her country and she was denied health care ben felts and died. >> sounds good. all of you, thanks so much. i appreciate that. i've got about five seconds to say good-bye. thank you for watching. have a good one. more olympics coming your way. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. when my son was born, i remember, you know, picking him up and holding him against me. it wasn't just about me anymore. i had to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. chantix didn't have nicotine in it, and that was important to me.

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begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ from nbc news in washington, from nbc news in washington, the world's longest running television program, this is "meet the press" with david gregory. >> and good sunday morning. there it is. you're looking live at the olympic compound in sochi, russia, on the first weekend of these winter games. from the opening ceremonies to the competition as excited as we all are about our athletes, we have to say a cloud does hang over the olympics as there's still real concern over the prospects of terrorism, an attempted hijacking raised those fears as a ukrainian man allegedly tried to divert a passenger plane to sochi on friday and the politics of these olympics is raising a key question, as well.