you'll love how they help clean. with soft, meaty centers, and teeth cleaning texture, healthy smile snacks help keep a shine on his smile. it's dental that tastes so good. beneful healthy smile food and snacks. reaction on the split verdict. why couldn't the trial come to a decision. is this the last blast? the latest sweep of weather strikes the northeast, but is there more on the way? in sochi, americans collect a few more medals in some high-profile events at the olympics. we're going to get you a live report on that. and mitt romney making headlines again. this time he's weighing in on the 2016 presidential race as well as the prospect of another clinton in the white house.

hey there, everyone. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we are starting in florida, and a partial verdict in the trial of michael dunn. he was accused of killing 17-year-old jordan davis over loud music. the jury found dunn guilty of three counts of attempted murder, but the judge declared a mistrial on the first-degree murder charge. let's get to nbc's kerry sanders. he's joining me to sort this out. okay, kerry, what happened here? >> alex, first of all, none of the jurors on this 12-member jury has commented on why they were deadlocked on that charge of first-degree murder. they had the opportunity to come back with guilty on first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, or not guilty. but after four days of deliberation, they couldn't reach a unanimous consensus, and so the judge declared a

mistrial. >> with protesters gathered outside the court, the 12-member jury couldn't agree if michael dunn was guilty of murder. >> as to count one, i would declare that mistried. >> we are so very happy to have just a little bit of closure. >> reporter: while deliberating, the jury repeatedly asked the court questions and closely reviewed 20 minutes of security videos from where the shooting took place a year and a half ago. dunn said he felt threatened by 17-year-old jordan davis, who he said pointed a gun at him from inside a car. after dunn says he told him to turn down the loud music. deputies never found a weapon. in all, dunn fired ten shots. nine hit the car. >> to expel one bullet, you've got to pull the trigger one time. >> that should give you an idea how much of a panic i was in, that i was able to pull it ten times. >> reporter: inside that vehicle, three of davis's friends, which is why

prosecutors also charged dunn with attempted murder. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of attempted second-degree murder. >> reporter: the jury agreed dunn was guilty on those charges, and on another charge of firing a missile into a car. >> do i like their verdict? absolutely not. do i agree with it? absolutely not. >> he's looking at 60-plus years on attempted murder charges and 15 years on the shooting into a car charge. he's 47 years old, so he will be locked up for the rest of his life. >> reporter: michael dunn has not been officially sentenced yet. michael dunn will be brought back into court here in about a month, and the judge will sentence him then. meantime, the prosecutor angela corey says that she will retry michael dunn on that first-degree murder charge. they'll have to impanel another jury. some of the critics say that they believe the reason the jury was deadlocked is because he was overcharged to begin with in this case, that the difficulty

for the jury was determining whether there was first-degree premeditated murder or whether it was a second-degree murder. a lot of that conclusion is being brought on the fact that they did find him guilty of attempted murder and three cases for firing his weapon into the car. >> okay, thank you very much. kerry sanders there in florida. we appreciate the wrap-up of things from the legal perspective there. joining me now here in the studio with more, the reverend al sharpton, president of the national action network. we're bringing you in really as the latter here, because i know that you have commented on this. tell them what you thought about this. >> i think that it is a very disappointing verdict. yes, he may do the rest of his life in jail depending on the sentencing, but the issue here is a young man was killed, and the verdict doesn't address that at all. and the verdict does not in any way affirm the value of that young man's life.

what is so inconsistent, alex, is how are you guilty of attempted murder? not guilty of murder or manslaughter, so if you're not sure about self-defense on murder and manslaughter, how are you sure it wasn't self-defense with attempted murder? the 800-pound gorilla in the room for us is the stand your ground law. what i think really trips up this jury is a law that says you have the right to use deadly force if you feel threatened. if that law was not on the books, same law that hovered over the zimmerman trial, i think that this jury would have had at least a clearer vision of what to do or not to do. >> what about kerry's point at the end, where he said look, first-degree murder charge, that sets the bar very high. so second-degree murder or manslaughter, either of those, might they have been -- it might have been more easy to find him guilty. >> it might have been, but they had the options of that.

the problem is that stand your ground law, which was cited every element by his defense attorney and by the judge -- the charge by the judge. that is the thing that i think gave them the difficulty in both murder, manslaughter and the lower case, because you are still dealing with the fact that he meticulously said i felt threatened, therefore i could use deadly force because i was threatened. even though he told no one for days. and no gun was found. so this jury didn't agree that the police covered up with the gun. i mean, what is this jury saying? i think that what tripped them up ultimately was the stand your ground law and that's what we must deal with. >> definitely going to take some action on that. with regard to jordan davis's mother, she said look, what this brings, this verdict brings a little bit of closure. but she said something else last night. let's listen to part of that.

>> it's sad for mr. dunn that he will live the rest of his life in that sense of torment. and i will pray for him. and i've asked my family to pray for him. >> wow. >> i thought that was very touching when i saw her say that. you know what has been remarkable to me is both the parents of jordan davis and the participants of trayvon martin have been so strong and so above the rancor and venom that they've had to face with losing a child. america should be grateful to both sets of parents. >> absolutely. so what is the national action network's plan? you're asking your followers and your members to get down in florida? >> i'm asking them in florida,

bishop rudy mckissic was there. our state bishop curry mobilizing around stand your ground. but there's also stand your ground laws. we're going to be dealing on the ground dealing with legislators saying stand your ground is the issue that must be revoked. >> how big of an uphill battle do you anticipate having here? >> it's an uphill battle, but it is not nearly as steep as having children killed and people using their stand your ground as a defense, and we keep seeing verdicts like we saw in trayvon martin. and we don't know what we're going to see when this is retried. >> at least this is going to have a shot at it again with retrial. are you confident that when this is just the singular one charge against michael dunn, that's the only thing he'll be facing, do you think the focus will be able to not be diluted by anything

else? >> it's according to how the prosecution does the case. if the prosecutors go at the case and attack the elements of stand your ground, why what he said does not make sense, they need to bring in the letter where is he called them thugs and all. if they aggressively deal with every element, then i think you have a better chance. if they kind of pull their punches, because a lot of us felt they should have been even more aggressive than they were, then i don't know what will happen in the retrial. >> are you taking from this experience again on the heels of trayvon martin and the george zimmerman case, is there a bigger picture question here for america? >> i think the bigger question is can we have a society where there's equal protection of the law and whether the laws are fair. in the same state that zimmerman was able to use stand your ground inferences and stand your ground but clearly there in this case, we have marisa alexander, a black woman, firing a warning

shot at her husband that didn't hurt anybody, was sentenced to 20 years in jail, and it was only a lot of legal work and protest that has her now facing retrial. how do you have different procedures for different people? >> and that one, her husband was abusive of her for years. >> a record of abuse. she fired a warning shot and gave her 20 years for manslaughter and denied her stand your ground. >> there's no question why we're focusing on florida. of course, you can all watch "politics nation" weeknights at 6:00 p.m. here on msnbc. today, people are digging out from the storm which hit the northeast. new england states saw the bulk of the white stuff with some places getting a foot of snow. dylan dreyer is in chatham,

massachusetts, where the storm hit the area really hard. hi, dylan. >> hey, alex. it was a miserable day yesterday, and especially last night as the snow came down fast and heavy, especially in areas across the western cape where they ended up with about 15 inches of snow on the western edge of cape cod. we are in the eastern edge, where it was extremely windy. we saw wind gusts up near 60 miles per hour. you can see the direction it came in from. look at these polls and this is what we're seeing on poll poles cars. you have all this snow and ice that came in sideways. now it is completely frozen over. all of the rain is frozen solid. windchills are well down into the single digits. areas are starting to run out of salt. so there's the possible with the next storm possible on tuesday that some towns could be paying double or triple what they

normally would for salt just because it's been such a brutal winter. so here we are possibly going to see another round of snow as we go into monday night, especially on tuesday, so the relentless winter just continues. but for today, it's the ice that is going to be such a huge concern. everything is just so dangerous to walk on, to drive on, and even just scraping off your car is going to be a huge issue today. >> right you are. thank you so much. the metropolitan washington airport authority is investigating a body found inside the wheel well at an airplane at dulles international airport. it was in a remote parking area when the ground crew discovered the body. the south african airways flight arrived from johannesburg earlier this week. kick starter has been hacked. user names, pass words, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, even phone numbers have been

compromised. but the company. hank aaron is recovering from left hip replacement surgery. aaron said he fell on ice and had the procedure later on that same day. he is the senior vice president and the team says they expect aaron to make a full recovery and back to his normal routine around opening day in april. the highest ranked first ladies in this country's history. where does michelle obama rank? plus, back to sochi and more medals with the u.s. and the big name, ending his race in tears. like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. hey there, i just got my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit. good. i hate surprises.

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after an epic win yesterday over russia, the u.s. men's olympic hockey team beat slovenia today 5-1, so the team will advance to the quarterfinals. and it was a big day for team usa in the men's super-g. the pressure was on bode miller, so was he able to make up for it? we'll give you results in just a minute. and after a long back and forth, team usa speed skaters finally switched out their controversial body armor suits. all 39 players took to the ice saturday in the men's 1,500 meters wearing suits from their previous successful world cup season. but how much of a difference did it really make? we'll take a look at that. here we go with your spoiler alert. in the next few minutes, we're going to talk about some of the olympic events that have already happened but haven't been broadcast yet, so turn away or turn down the sound on your tv if you don't want to hear them. maybe you can all watch it tonight on nbc in primetime. let's get more on the games. we're bringing in nbc's anne thompson to do that. anne, with a good day to you, or evening your time. after some disappointing results

in the downhill, bode miller had so much pressure, so much riding on him in the super g. so, give it up, how did he do? >> he really ran an incredible race. as he said, he skied very raw in the super-g today. one spectator described him at the end of the race looking like a wild man. but it was good enough for a third place finish, a bronze medal. when that was announced, bode miller got tears in his eyes and got incredibly emotional because you'll remember that last year, he lost his younger brother who was a snowboarder, who hoped to be at these olympics with bode, and he died of a seizure in mammoth lakes, california. and miller said today that it all sort of just came together for him. he skied very raw. and when he got down there, his emotions just overwhelmed him and he thought of the brother that he lost, alex. >> yeah. well, that was a very poignant moment, no doubt, but he's the number one record-holder, right,

of olympics for men's skiers? he's got the most medals? >> reporter: he's got the most medals of any u.s. alpine skier. he is the oldest alpine skier to win a medal. and he has tied bonnie blair with six olympic medals. >> that's pretty wonderful. team usa not just about bode. some others picked up medals as well. who else came out a winner? >> reporter: andrew weibrect has a story, too. he had surgery on both his soldiers. got demoted to the b team in u.s. skiing. in skeleton, matt antoine picked up a bronze medal. >> that's good news. not so good news for team usa from the women's snowboarding competition. that's just been tough. snowboarding all around. we sort of feel like we own that

sport. but we have our marquee girls, was it fay and lindsay, how did they do? >> reporter: yeah, and this is snowboard cross, which just -- if you've ever watched this event, it's insane. it's all these snowboarders going at once to go down the half pipe. they go over the slope style course. it just looks frightening. and lindsay, she fell during one of the heats, and fay, she finished fourth just out of medal contention. it was a disappointing day for the u.s. there. >> fourth is a tough place to be in. let's just talk quickly about the controversy of the speed skating suits. so the team ends up changing them yesterday. they went to the older suits. but did it make a difference? >> reporter: no. clearly it's not about the suits. we saw that last night when davis raced in the 1,500 meters and finished 11th. tod today, heather anderson raced in the women's version of the 1,500

meters. this is long track speed skating. she finished seventh. clearly it's something more than the suits. the really high-tech suits called the mach 39, they're made by under armor. lo lockheed martin helped with the design. they had a vent that some skaters thought perhaps that was slowing them down creating drag, so they went back to the suits that they wore at the world cup just a month ago when the u.s. team did very, very well and it hasn't made a difference so far. >> well, that's unfortunate. but anyway, we're glad for the report from you, anne thompson. i appreciate it. thanks. >> take care, alex. >> reporter: you, too. we're going to talk to the gold and bronze medal winners in the inaugural slope style final. you'll hear about their wins and their olympic experience in sochi. here's a look at the latest medal count. the netherlands is leading today with 17 total medals. russia and team usa right behind, tied each with 16. norway and canada are pretty close behind as well, each of them with 14.

the highest taxed cities in the country and the lowest. it's in today's number ones. and is it justice? legal analysis breaking down the verdict in florida's loud music murder trial. [announcer] if your dog can dream it, purina pro plan can help him achieve it. ♪ epic classical music stops ♪music resumes music stops ♪music resumes [announcer] purina pro plan's bioavailable formulas deliver optimal nutrient absorption.

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let's go to politics. new today, president barack obama has signed legislation that raises the u.s. debt limit through march 2015. on a long holiday weekend in a desert resort area in southern california, he penned his signature behind closed doors at the sunny lands retreat. meantime this morning on "meet the press", mitt romney criticized how much money russian president putin has spent hosting the sochi olympic games. >> you don't need to spend $50 billion, as russia has, or as china did, to put on an olympic sport. olympic sport can be demonstrated at two or $3 billion, and all that extra money can be used to do very important things in terms of fighting disease and poverty

around the world. that's what we should be using those resources for, as opposed to wasting them to show off a country, or i think more cynically, to show off the politicians in a country. >> and we should remind all of you, mitt romney was the head of the u.s. salt lake winter games, so he has opinions there and she's sharing that for good reason. the filing deadline for taxes about two months away. federal taxes aren't the only ones you have to worry about. a new analysis looked at the tax burden for residents of each state's largest city and found bridgeport, connecticut, to be the most taxed city followed by philadelphia and milwaukee. the least taxed, cheyenne, wyoming, las vegas, and billings, montana. a new pole is out about the nation's best first ladies. in the c-span survey of academics, eleanor roosevelt number one, since she has topped the survey in the previous four polls that have been taken since 1982. abigail adams in second, followed by jackie kennedy,

dolly madison, and our current first lady michelle obama. nice. that is john wall of the washington wizards to win the nba slam dunk contest last night. and the french pole vaulter soared 20 feet and two inches to break the world record that was set 21 years ago. talk about jubilation there, right? and finally, a number one salute to a golden retriever in minnesota now doing okay after swallowing a football. believe it or not. it happened during a super bowl party. logan also managed to eat a bunch of chicken wings before hisers noticed he did not look right. he wound up having surgery, and he's okay now. on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." rescuers are trying to reach more than 200 illegal miners trapped in an underground abandoned gold shaft near

johannesburg, south africa. they were trapped beneath the surface by fallen boulders and it is believed heavy rain may have triggered that collapse. illegal mining of abandoned shafts is common in south africa. jamzilla is on schedule. most of the freeway will be shut down at various times as crews pave a six-mile stretch of it. it's expected to be finished on tuesday morning. a standing ovation, that is all-american defensive end michael sam. he was watching missouri's basketball game against tennessee saturday when that happened. sam came out last week , he coud become the first openly gay player in the nfl. now for more on the dunn trial. a jury yesterday convicted michael dunn on three counts of attempted murder but could not reach a verdict on that charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of jordan davis. but short of an appeal, dunn is still facing spending the rest of his life in prison. after the verdict, prosecutors

discussed what's next. >> as far as we're concerned, we intend to retry him for second-degree murder. >> there is a 20-year minimum mandatory for each count. count five, the shooting or throwing deadly missiles is 15 years. joining me now, lisa bloom, and author of "suspicion nation" as well as john burres, a former state prosecutor. i'm glad to have you both with me. we'll go ladies first here, lisa. can you explain in lehmaaymanla terms how a jury would find him guilty of three attempted murder charges but not for murder. and i've read about jury nullification. is that at all in play here? >> i don't think so. i think the jury split up this incident into two parts. the first part is probably the first seven shots which michael dunn shot at jordan davis and at

the car. there's been a pause in the shooting. and the final three shots are into the back of the car. i think this jury found, as any jury would have to find, that shooting at the back of a car is indefensible as that car is driving away. that's clearly attempted murder and the other charge of shooting into an occupied vehicle. they were deadlocked on the top charge of the shooting of jordan davis. at least one person must have thought that was self-defense, and that's why they couldn't reach a decision on that one. >> i'm curious. we've been following this trial together the last couple of weeks. how do you see that this jury may have come to this conclusion? was there a point in this trial when it looked likely? is it rare to come to a mistrial so quickly? >> well, frankly, the mistrial issue, i think the jury deliberated a sufficient amount of time. i think they were polarized in the jury room as to the issue of self-defense. so that's not surprising to me, once people make up their minds, you have the self-defense argument, that people bought into. the other portion i think the lisa makes reference to, that's

an easy decision to make, so the questions that they were asking that gave us some clue about that, the first one was, self-defense for one case, self-defense for them all. that was clearly an occasion where the judge says no, that the jurors were considering the subsequent shots. that was easy. but i thought they really had a hard time, once mr. dunn's statements were made, the prosecution wasn't able to overcome them with clear proof that he had not been "in fear of his life." the prosecution could have done a better job. i don't think they should have charged him with first-degree murder in the first place and i hope they don't do that if they're going to recharge him. >> the in fear of your life part, lisa. this was not a trial about stand your ground specifically, yet it did come up. can you explain the context? >> stand your ground is the part of the standards self-defense jury instruction in florida. so he said that michael dunn had a right to stand his ground in his place where he had a lawful

right to be. the defense argued the words stand your ground in clarlosing arguments. and when these jurors are interviewed and i hope they are, i'm relatively certain they're going to say stand your ground was part of their decision. stand your ground is part of the consciousness of people in the state of florida and the other 26 stand your ground states. people know that they have a right to stand their ground. but they do not have to flee. this is something that's been talked about a lot. and michael dunn himself said after the shooting i know all about the law of self-defense. i'm not worried. very similar to george zimmerman in that way. >> what about sentencing, john? what do you predict there? >> the judges should give him the maximum sentence for each one these counts. i expect he will give significant sentences here. the other question is once those sentences have been given out and the case is going up on appeal, would the prosecution still have the need and feel the need to retri on jordan davis. there will be some that said that should not be done.

but i would think given the nature of this case, that should be a recharge, a refeeling on a murder case. i just don't think about it on first-degree murder. that's an easy one to do because it's about ill will and malice. that's pretty clear. you still have a self-defense argument, but it's a different kind of case if you don't talk about deliberation. >> does it have to be served consecutively but can it be done concurrently? >> it's up to the judge. the judge can decide whether it's consecutive or concurrent. it depends what the maximum is. i think the judge will probably concurrent some of those. it's still a long period of time. there is a minimum involved here, where you've got to do a minimum of 20. and therefore get to a number that he thinks is a fair representation and that could be significant, no matter what. >> lisa, what about the family, jordan davis's family filing a civil lawsuit? what's the likelihood of that happening? >> that could certainly happen. and also the families of the other young men, who thank god

were not hit, although bullets were whizzing by their faces. but they clearly had a lot of pain and suffering as a result of what's happened. he's now been convicted of their attempted murder. i just have to say convicting him of these lesser charges is like getting al capone for tax evasion. sure, he'll be locked up, but true justice is locking up a murderer for murder. and that has yet to happen. >> thank you both so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. here's what we've been asking all of you today. was justice served in the florida loud music split verdict? we have mission midnight who says no, justice in the dunn trial was not served. dunn murdered that young man. unfortunately, justice is obstructed by the stand your ground law in florida. it is time for the doy to challenge. mark thompson writes, first degree murder would have been very hard to prove. they should have gone for second degree. he will and should spend years in jail. connie writes on facebook, he

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drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. a live picture of the olympic flame burning in sochi. tonight in primetime, men's alpine skiing will be a big event to watch. ted ligety is going to take on bode milner the super-g. merle davis and charlie white are going to take their dancing skills back to the ice today. the electrifying duo are looking for a score that qualifies them for the free dance final on monday. and after a 12-year absence from the winter games, the jamaican bobsled team is making their big comeback today. it's a catchy one at that. the team's theme song is a

groovy reggae track called appropriately "the bobsled song" and it's going viral online. it was this team's qualification for the 1988 olympics in alberta that inspired the disney film "cool runnings." lolo jones is reportedly none too happy about the current balmy temperatures in sochi. they completed their last practice runs today ahead of tuesday's women's bobsled competition. upset that she can't sport any of her stylish winter gear, apparently. jones says next time sochi should bid for the summer games. today's high there, 55 degrees. canada came on strong, getting its first nine medals at a furious pace. right now canada is in the top five. two of them came from a brand-new event. it's the women's slopestyle ski competition. joining me now are the two big winners, bronze medalist kim lamar and gold medalist dara howell. what an amazing experience for

you, i've got to bet. how stoked are you? >> i couldn't be happier. it's been quite the journey since i've gotten to sochi. bringing home this medal is very exciting. >> yeah. and you got the bronze. and for you, getting the gold. dara, what's that like? >> yeah, being the first person to ever do it, it's pretty amazing. and standing next to my teammate here, it's pretty awesome. >> yeah, that must be pretty awesome. what does that mean for the two of you? do you guys compete against each other? it's the olympics, you're rooting for each other. but let's face it, it's hard because it's an individual thing to win. and dara, you can answer that one. >> yeah. it's an individual sport. but, you know, we're out there having as much fun as possible. and cheering on each other. so yeah, individual sport, but we're all out there rooting for each other. >> absolutely. kim, i just want to say, you're just a couple years older than

dara and you've been at this for a while. what does this mean to you to bring this home? will you continue doing this sport? >> i'm definitely going to continue doing this sport. i had a couple rough years with injuries, and to come back and actually no one really saw me at the olympics, and getting that medal is quite the reward. a big exclamation point to my return on skis, i would say. >> i want to ask you. i'm a skier, nowhere near as good as you. but the thought of going between boarding and skiing -- i understand that you did both for a long time before you set your sights exclusively on skiing. >> that's correct. i started skiing at 2 1/2 and started snowboarding at 7. to me the mountain was just a playground. i'm friends with a lot of snowboarders. i still enjoy hopping on my snowboard and get a few tricks down. >> dara, was there a point in your run that you just went, i nailed it! i know i did this.

>> yeah. i didn't have the best training coming into finals. it wasn't over until the finish line. after i landed my last jump, you know, i was really proud of myself for the run that i did and i think that kind of showed in my reaction. >> absolutely. >> there have been some complaints about the warm weather. any challenges with that? >> well, at the beginning, it was very cold. the day we actually competed, it got really slushy, so they were a bit like holes that made it harder. the slushy snow did make it a bit of an issue. we did see a bit more crashes than you usually would. >> dara, can i ask you about your lucky charm i've read about, that you always have a bracelet in the pocket.

did you have a bracelet as well during your olympic run? >> i actually did. i was really superstitious last year. i'm trying to work on it. trying not to be as superstitious. so i just kind of did my thing and trusted my skiing and didn't rely so much on the superstitions. >> i don't think you have to wear a bracelet ever again in your pocket with that performance you just did. can i ask you girls, though, about the competition between the canadian olympic team and the u.s. olympic team. much has been made about the hockey team and the women, of course. is it a friendly rivalry or is it down and dirty? what's it like? >> definitely friendly. >> yeah, definitely friendly. that's the beauty of slope style. we're all a group of friends up there. >> before i let you go, kim, i

understand poker player. is that how you pass the time? >> i do love playing poker. it's my big injury thing. when i get injured, i get back on my poker game. i love watching it and playing it. >> good. >> i'm all in. >> it's great you're playing poker, but even better that you're doing the kind of skiing that you're doing. congratulations to both of you. i'm incredibly envious, but i love watching you perform. best of luck going forward. thank you. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. the impact of ellen page's statement. when a public figure goes public. the big three's going to take a look at that in our next hour. 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.

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i don't think bill clinton is as relevant as hillary clinton if hillary clinton decides to run for president, and in her case, i think people will look at her record as the secretary of state and say during that period of time, did our relations with nations around the world elevate america and elevate our interests, or

were they receding? and i think her record is what will be judged upon, not the record of her husband. >> that was former presidential candidate mitt romney on "meet the press" this morning discussing hillary clinton's possible 2016 white house bid, and senator rand paul's recent attacks on president bill clinton. joining me now, democratic congressman david siciline. welcome, great to see you as always. >> thanks for having me on. >> if hillary clinton decides to run, do you think it will at all be a referendum on her and her alone, or her husband and as some might say, is senator paul pushing for that? >> well, i think there's no question that hillary clinton, if she decides to run for president, will be judged on her performance. i think these recent attempts to talk about president clinton's relationship with monica lewinsky are an effort to discredit secretary clinton. there will be voters in the

presidential election in 2016 who weren't even born during the monica lewinsky matter. i think voters are tired of that. they're going to look at her record, what she's done, her vision for our country, how she can move america forward and i think they will spend no time talking about president clinton's record 17 years ago. >> i'm sorry we had to even mention that young lady's name. it is what it is. governor romney said that hillary clinton will be judged on whether or not u.s. foreign relations were elevated during her tenure as secretary of state. were they, and if so, specifically how? >> i think there's no question that secretary clinton's record will be an important part of the campaign if she decides to run. i think she performed her work as secretary of state magnificently. i think she certainly managed some very difficult situations around the world and our relationships internationally. but there are world event which is the secretary of state can't be responsible, but our response to them and how the united states builds a stronger

relationsh relationship, a terrific and outstanding job as secretary of state. she's demonstrated leadership ability and i think if she runs, she becomes our next president. >> but look, we are still saying "if." so if she does not run, who are the other democrats you'd like to see in the race? >> well, i think we have a lot of great candidates potentially. obviously vice president biden has expressed intention to consider running for president. he would be an outstanding choice. governor o'malley, the governor of maryland, another star in our party. there's no shortage of great candidates in the democratic party who could run and successfully become president of the united states. i think there's no question that secretary clinton in all of the recent polling is the frontrunner. she's made it clear she hasn't made a decision yet, but there's lots of reason to be excited about her candidacy if she can willing to serve and decides to run. >> there's already money being raised on her behalf, whether or not she's the one that intends

to use it, we'll see. let's talk minimum wage together. you're holding a town hall on tuesday to discuss raising rhode island's minimum. here's the president in this weekend's weekly address. >> most low wage jobs are held by women. and raising the minimum wage wouldn't just raise their wages. its effect would lift wages for about 28 million americans. it would lift millions of americans out of poverty. and help millions more work their way out of poverty. without requiring a single dollar in new taxes or spending. >> so what is the conversation going on in congress right now? and does either side think that they'll raise this issue in an election year? >> well, the president is exactly right. you know, he said it in the state of the union. when women succeed, america succeeds. raising wages for low wage workers is good for the economy. it's good for american families. the minimum wage today has less purchasing power when adjusted for inflation than it did in 1968. millions of americans work full-time, work hard, and still

live in poverty because the minimum wage is too low. so raising the minimum wage will help to create jobs, will increase the buying power of families affected by the minimum wage and will make a real difference in our economy. so i'm a co-sponsor of a bill in the house to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. it's important to do that. it's important to help working families help make ends meet. we've seen a terrific recovery at the top. not so much for the working poor in the middle class. we're doing a town hall meeting center to help increase pressure on congress to raise the minimum wage. i think there's tremendous resistance from some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who don't support raising the minimum wage, but we have to keep pushing hard. because it's important to families in rhode island and across the country. >> i'm curious whether your colleagues on the other side of the aisle will look at this "new york times" interesting article

that's out today that looks at workers who are now commuting, sometimes pretty long distances to other states that have passed higher minimum wage amounts there. do states risk hurting their own pocketbooks from tax revenue, lack thereof, if they don't raise minimum wage? >> no, i think it raises an important point. to an extent, you're competing for workers. if you have a minimum wage which is too low, it creates a disincentive for those workers. so there's certainly that impact. "the new york times" also did a great editorial where it really debunked a lot of myths against raising the minimum wage. there were about 600 economists who called on the president to do it. said it's good for the economy. the economic policy institute said it will create 85,000 new jobs because of the increased demand. so it's important for our economy, but it's also important for families. nobody should work full-time and still live in poverty. we're better than that and raising the minimum wage will

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♪ under the sun... [ female announcer ] fiber and protein. together as one. introducing new fiber one protein cereal. we are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all. >> jordan davis's mother commends the jury, but wished they'd have done more. what's next after the split verdict in the dunn trial. they're snow struck. new englanders digging out from another wintery wallop. united russia. a defeat to the u.s. brings russians together. ups and downs. two of america's richest men. hello, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it's 1:00 here in the east, 10:00 a.m. out west.

here's what's happening out there. first a guilty verdict for michael dunn, but not for murder. he was accused of the shooting death of jordan davis over loud music. they failed to reach a decision on first-degree murder, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial on that charge. at a press conference last night, davis's mother spoke about what the verdict meant to the family. >> we're so very happy to have just a little bit of closure. we are so grateful for the charges that have been brought against him. we are so grateful for the truth. we are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all. and we will continue to stand and we will continue to wait for justice for jordan. >> joining me now, democratic

congresswoman from florida corrine brown. with a welcome to you, ma'am, listening to that mother be so understanding and gracious in spite of everything that she has suffered, what's you're reaction to that? >> first of all, i went to church today and prayed for the davis family. and today, he would have been 19 years old. so my heart goes out to the family. but the major problem is that we're going to continue to have this problem in florida until we address stand your ground. because stand your ground was a part of the jury instruction. so what that means is you can start a fight, whether it's texting or i don't like your music and then say i feel threatened. well, we need mind your own business laws. and so basically you have to deal with stand your ground, because it is part of the

instructions that the jury gets and someone believed that he felt threatened. >> well, you're echoing the sentiments of reverend al sharpton, who was on with me an hour ago. the national action network, they're going to take some action down there in florida. let's talk about the protests following the verdict. the protesters said they're demanding state attorney angela corey be removed from office. she also was the special prosecutor for the george zimmerman trial. do you agree with them? should she leave office, even though she has said she wants to retry him on this one charge of first-degree murder. after speaking with the jurors and finding out what it was that prevented them from being able to reach agreement. >> well, you know, i don't think that that's confusing the facts. she did a good job in this case. i don't like what she did with melissa alexander, but it goes back to the law. it is too broad. it started out protecting your home. and it is extended to i fire a

warning shot and i can get 20 years. so basically it goes back to stand your ground. there are many things we can look at. the composition of the injury. it was not a black man on the jury. many things you have to look at, and, you know, the elephant in the room, that was -- you know, race played a part. so basically we've got to deal with the problem, stand your ground. it started in 2005, it started in florida, it's like a cancer and it spread throughout the country. we need to stop it. >> for anyone who doesn't know, just so people know in short -- >> she got 20 years. a warning shot of abusive husband. >> didn't beat him. >> that beat her when she was

six months pregnant and was put in the hospital. the baby was 8 days old when the incident happened and she got 20 years. so it's something wrong with the law that you can do a warning shot, no one get hurt, and then you can kill someone and walk. the law shouldn't have that kind of disparity. >> may i ask, do you have a personal connection with the yor dan family? you were right there in the courtroom with them.jordan fami? you were right there in the courtroom with them. >> the personal connection is i've gotten to know the family, it's such a wonderful family. i tell people all the time, i'm like the old lady that lived in the shoe. i have so many children i don't know what to do with. i love children and we need to do all we can, and they're doing such a good job getting their kid to the point where he was getting ready to go to college. you know, his future. and yet it was cut short. we've got to stop this in florida. >> in addition to your wanting to stand down on the stand your ground laws, some are sunlighting that the more

relevant issue here are the gun laws, which gun control advocates might say allowed a simple argument over music to escalate to such a tragic degree. >> absolutely. but it's the same thing, someone texting in the movie and texting his family and he ended up dead. so i think it's more than the law. it's the message that we are sending out in florida. and the message should be, you know, mind your own business. >> so, ma'am, what is going to be the next step for you? >> march 3rd, i am going to tallahassee with reverend sharpton and we're asking people to come and we're going to address the legislature, because that's where the problems start. they need to not wipe out the law. they definitely need to tailor it. it needs to be refined. so that's march 3rd. we're marching to tallahassee. >> that's two weeks from tomorrow. thank you very much. best of luck. appreciate your time. >> thank you.

people in the northeast are digging out today from the second storm that hit them in a week. it dropped another foot of snow on some new england states and caused blizzard conditions in some areas. alex wallace is joining us now with the latest. hi, alex. >> hey there, alex. this winter storm across the northeast, no doubt about it, a big one. brought some big totals to parts of maine, including princeton. one of the big winners, 20 inches of snow. parts of massachusetts, 15 inches. it wasn't just the snow. wind. that was the big issue across massachusetts. nantucket, 55-mile-per-hour wind gusts from this system. we're not done yet. everyone sick and tired of wint winter, but the jet stream is active. they're not very powerful, but they come on in, they bring in a couple of inches of snow here and there. this is the pattern that will be in to next week. so here we are for our sunday, bringing more snow showers across the eastern lakes.

that will linger into the overnight hours. spots like pittsburgh to buffalo, you'll be dealing with that. state college as well. fairly light activity. on the heels of that, we'll be watching the next system. this one's going to be impacting us. as far as president's day, monday, upper midwest, more snow showers to deal with here. with a little bit more warmer air to deal with it won't be all snow. more of a wintery mix. parts of iowa, into illinois as well as into indiana and ohio. st. louis, heads up for you, freezing rain potential. could be a little slick on monday morning. unfortunately for us in the northeast who are tired of winter and the snow, it will be moving in there. we'll be tracking more snow showers into the early week. alex, back to you. >> okay. thank you. well, this past week, snowstorms have had a very high price tag, especially for air travel. the hill newspaper estimate ns that the airlines lost more than $17 million. let's go now to the olympics and

the headlines coming out of sochi. snowboarder lindsay jacobellis, a favorite for the gold, hit the slopes today. the 28-year-old from connecticut had a fall on that treacherous course, which rekindled memories of a similar tumble that she took in turin. it was a good day in the men's super-g. bode miller feeling the pressure to perform. is he taking home a medal? we'll get those results in just a minute. merrill davis and charlie white are they canning their skills back to the ice. the dynamic duo are looking for a score that qualifies them for the free dance finals. those are scheduled tomorrow. so, back to spoiler alert time. you know the music by now. in just the next few minutes, we'll talk about some of the olympic events that have already happened, but have not yet been broadcast. so turn away if you don't want to hear them. you can all watch it on nbc primetime tonight. let's bring in anne thompson as

our spoiler reporter. anne is in sochi for us. it's good to see you again. usa did pretty well. we picked up some medals today. so tell us about that. >> reporter: they did. the big news, alex, is certainly from the men's super g. bode miller skied a very emotional race. he said when he skis he always lets his emotions out. what really caught us is after he crossed the finish line and took a look at his time and he got tears in his eyes as he saw his wife. he later explained he was thinking of the brother that he lost last year. he was a snowboarder who hoped to be in sochi with his big brother. but he died of a seizure in mammoth lakes, california. and as it turned out, body miller got a medal today, a bronze medal. that is his sixth. when he was asked are you disappointed it wasn't gold or silver, he said a medal is a

medal. he is happy. he is the oldest skier to win an alpine medal. he is 36 years old. he is now tied with bonnie blair with six medals apiece. >> congratulations to bode. it's a pretty awesome accomplishment there. what about the women's snowboarding team? they almost brought one home today. it was close. >> yeah, it was just as you mentioned, lindsey jacobellis, she fell during one of the qualifying heats, and then fay came in fourth, so we didn't get the podium there. i forgot the other piece of really big news is that andrew weibrecht, he got a silver medal. he won a bronze in vancouver in 2010, a silver this time in sochi. >> that's very good. i'm glad you updated with that. i meant to do that as well. the u.s. speed skating team, you tell us highway they performed. did it make a difference?

>> reporter: no. the results have been just as miserable without the mach 39 suit. that was the suit that was created by under armor and lockheed martin that was supposed to revolutionize speed skating. it had a vent down the spine that was supposed to release body heat as they skated and in fact the skaters began to suspect that maybe it was creating drag and maybe that explained the poor performances of the u.s. teams, because the u.s. team has some of the best long track speed skaters in the world. but yesterday, they switched suits. they went back to the suits that they wore in the world cup competition. they are under armor suits and it ant made a difference. shani davis finished 8th. heather anderson finished seventh. it's very disappointing. >> can we look ahead to the dynamic duo of meryl davis and charlie white. >> reporter: can't wait to watch

them. >> me, too. if they win a medal, they'll be the first figure skaters in history to bring home two medals, right, for the u.s. in figure skating? >> reporter: they would. and that's because there's this new team competition this year, which happened right at the beginning of the olympiad. the u.s. won bronze in that and won bronze in large part because of the tremendous performance by meryl davis and charlie white. tonight they are skating, they are in the last group to skate. that group is on the ice now. and meryl davis and charlie white are the very last pair to skate. they're frenemies. they're big competition from canada have already skated. and they are in first place. so we'll see what the americans can bring. >> yeah. and i think they have the same trainers, too. they train in the same area. >> reporter: they have the same coaches. yeah. >> that's a little too close for comfort. >> reporter: we see that a lot in skating. you know, in the men's figure skating, the gold and silver

medalists, the skater from japan, the skater from canada, they have the same coach, brian orser. it's not unusual in that world. >> okay. anne thompson, thank you very much from sochi. here's a look at the latest medal count. russia and team usa each with 16. and norway and canada with 14. new information out today about the bridgegate scandal that is raising questions about who knew what and when. those are fond memories, but those things are amazing. once i saw what they did, i actually started to relax. don't touch my things. those little guys clean, brighten and fight stains. so now i can focus on more pressing matters. like your containers. isn't it beautiful? your sweet peppers aren't next to your hot peppers. [ gasps ] [ sarah ] that's my tide. what's yours? but we're not staying in the kitchen. just start the slow cooker, add meat

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let's go to politics. new details today on documents obtained by edward snowden. according to "the new york times," they show the national security agency was spying on an american law firm while it represented a foreign government in trade disputes with the

united states. meantime this morning, republican senator mike leigh and xavier becerra faced off on the decision delaying portions of obamacare. >> this is a shameless act, a shameless power grab that is designed to help the president and his political party achieve a particular outcome in a partisan election. >> if this were against the competition, someone would have been sued by now and the president would have had to stop. >> today on "meet the press," mitt romney talked about hillary clinton's potential presidential run. >> well, i don't think bill clinton is as relevant as hillary clinton if hillary clinton decides to run for president. i think her record is what will be judged upon, not the record of her husband. >> let's bring in lynn sweet and beth fewy. how relevant is former president bill clinton to a hillary

clinton 2016 presidential run? >> well, it's relevant because no matter what mitt romney says, there are political forces out there that might use it, like senator rand paul. but if someone like him goes too far, he risks people putting the jacket that his father wears on him, and if he has to be responsible for everything that his father ron paul said when he was in office, then he's going to be pretty much on the defensive for a long time. so i would just say depending who's throwing the stone, you might want to think twice about it, what your ultimate goal is. >> thinking twice about it. do you think that some people could take that too far? i want to get your reaction to the same question. >> well, i mean, bill clinton is always going to be part of the hillary clinton story. they're the most famous political couple in the world. so you get one, you get the other. there's no question. but for senator rand paul to try to relitigate the '90s, bring up monica lewinsky. it's short-term fun for republicans, but it's not a long-term winning strategy for

republicans. let's all dance the macarenna and talk about 1998. it's not going to work. they want to talk about going forward, not something that happened in the past. everyone remembers the clinton administration as being quite prosperous and that's another problem. it's reminding everybody how well the economy functioned under president clinton. >> good point. let's turn to immigration now. "the washington post" out today with a headline that reads, "it's never been the right time for immigration reform." meantime this morning, senator john mccain made the case that it needs to be addressed. take a listen. >> it's going to have to be addressed and to wait until 2015 when we're now involved in republican primaries, obviously would not be a viable scenario. >> lynn, will it ever be the right time for immigration reform? >> not for a lot of republicans. look at the hesitation of house speaker boehner into bringing up

a bill even on border security in the house. that's what republicans are saying. well, we need to do that first. well, they're not doing it first. they could bring up a separate bill. so there has to just be will on the part of the house republican leadership to even do things their way and see what happens. so i don't think it's going to happen any time soon. >> the president, beth, is set to travel to mexico this wednesday. he's going there for an economic summit. at a time that his own immigration campaign is pretty much stalled in congress. so what do you think the president's options are? might we see him use a power of the pen again on this issue? >> not really. there's not a lot he can do without the support of congress. and it's a really short-term gain again for republicans by trying to block this. everyone knows that until and unless his panic voters come into the republican party, it is not a viable party at the national level. but, you know, house members, they don't really care about that. many of these house republicans are in districts that are very white, they're very republican,

they're not hearing from their constituents that they want immigration reform and they're not sitting there thinking i need to do this for the good of my party. they're thinking what works for me in the next election. so short-term strategy for them. >> okay. i want to get the latest now on governor chris christie. my colleague steve kornacki reported that david wildstein, the man on the scene of those bridge lane closures, was not by himself. he was apparently there with a port authority police officer, chip michaels, who has personal ties to governor christie. here's what john wisniewski, who is co-chairing that special joint committee investigating the lane closures, had to say about the reports. >> chip seemed to have known the night before. other people know when it's happening. other people knowing when it was done, and the cover-up that have some tie to the governor's office or to the governor himself. certainly fuels the skepticism that many have had about the governor's timeline and when he knew.

>> i want to note that steve reported that he specifically reached out to everyone involved, and that would include chip michaels, but he did not get a response. so, lynn, does this change the overall story? >> no. it adds more skepticism to governor christie's kind of claims that he really wasn't all that involved. didn't know much about it until press reports. and that's always the problem for him, until the timeline gets straightened out, and until it's clear what he knew when, there's still a big cloud over him. >> okay, beth, your thoughts? >> it just seems like the circle is narrowing closer and closer and closer to the governor himself. but until and unless the governor is tied directly to this closure, he can probably survive as governor. i still really, really question whether he's viable as a 2016 candidate after all this. he looks too petty. he looks too small. he looks like his staff is too rogue. and he doesn't have the stature to be a bipartisan problem solver in 2016. >> okay.

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say it with milk-bone. "forbes" magazine says mark zuckerberg has a $2 billion increase in net worth. now he's worth about $27.5 billion. meanwhile, amazon's poor earnings report sent shares tumbling and cost ceo jeff bezos about $3.5 billion, but he's still worth about $33 billion or so. it looks like people are getting the message about needing to save more for retirement. the average 401k balance ended at an average of $89,300. andre drummond given the mvp award after the challenge game. this happened.

>> oh, no! oh! >> the trophy broke in two. but no worries. drummond just took it all in stride. and those are your ups and downs here on "weekends with alex witt."

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." it is now 31 minutes past the hour. here are your fast five headlines. in south africa, rescue crews have begun freeing more than 200 illegal miners trapped in an abandoned gold shaft. emergency workers had to remove fallen boulders that were blocking the entrance. at this point, fortunately, no reports of injuries. an explosion on a bus carrying tourists in a border crossing between israel and egypt killed four people today. three korean and the egyptian driver died in the blast believed to have been caused by a bomb. and for the second time in a week, a snowstorm has dumped heavy snow near tokyo and killed at least a dozen people. hundreds have been hurt in car accidents. back state side. heavy rain caused a small landslide near portland, oregon,

that kazzed this car to flip over. the motorist was driving about 60 miles an hour or so when he hit all the debris. he survived with just minor injuries. lady luck failed to come through for power ballplayers hoping to win the jackpot. those are your fast five headlines. there it is. your spoiler alert music. in the next few minutes, we're going to talk about some olympic events that have already happened, but not yet aired. so go ahead and turn down your tv if you don't want to hear them. you can always watch the nbc olympics coverage in primetime tonight. let's bring in chris jansing for more now on the games. we miss you around here, but i know you got to speak to bode miller, which is pretty awesome. how did he feel about his medal today? >> reporter: look, he's happy. he's relieved. he was under a lot of pressure. this guy was on the cover of spo"sports illustrated," one ofe big stars of these games. but we also saw him get really emotional because his younger

brother died of an apparent seizure last year. he talked to me about the hope that he had had that his brother the snowboarder might be at these games with him as he had been a spectator previously. having said that, his wife is here. she was in the studio with us. she's been a tremendous support to him. here's what else he said about winning bronze. >> it took some luck today. i don't know if you saw how close that finish order was, but a tie for third, it doesn't get any closer than that, and then .02 back, and six guys within a tenth of a second. to be on the right side of the hundred hundredths there, i feel very lucky. >> he's 36, that makes him the oldest skier ever to win a medal in alpine. so a lot of that is on his mind. i guess it's very likely his last olympics, but it's not over. he still has a couple of runs to ski. he could win another medal.

he is actually feeling very positive about that, alex. >> i'm glad to hear that. he puts it in perspective. .02 of a second, and within half a second behind him another ten guys. i mean, half a second. it's amazing. >> reporter: and on these kind of course conditions, because he talked about this is the kind of course where you make very short sharp turns as opposed to more sweeping turns. it favors his kind of skier. having said that, anything can happen when you have this kind of course. >> yeah. let's get to men's hockey. it's an exciting time for them, beating slovenia 5-1. it's really yesterday's win over russia that has everyone still talking, right? >> well, here for sure because you have to understand that this is the national pastime. this is the national sport. in fact, the president of the hockey team here has said this is the $51 billion gold medal, meaning that vladimir putin's cost for these olympics are all tied up on whether or not they win gold, and of course yesterday they lost to the usa. there was a disputed call on a

goal that was called back for russia because the net was off its moorings. now, that would have been a good goal in the nhl, and these players all play for the nhl. but not so under international hockey rules, and boy, are the tweets going out, even from people who never agree on anything in russia. from a member of the pro-putin parliament, the puck was in the goal. what an abomination. cheating before the whole world, disgusting. and from a prominent gay activist, there's a huge scandal in the hockey tournament. the american referee didn't allow the russian goal. damn. there is an expectation and a hope that they will meet again and maybe even in the final. if that happens, i can tell you from the electricity that was here yesterday, if that happens, all bets are off. >> yeah, absolutely. you mentioned the weather with bode and the way he had to adjust his style. we've heard so much about the warm weather and the committee says it's not affecting anything in the games. but what about men's biathalon?

>> reporter: today it did. they postponed it for an hour and then they had to put it off to tomorrow. it's getting a little bit foggy and it was really foggy up in the mountains. for people who don't know, you ski and you stop to shoot. the target is like 160 feet away. they couldn't see the target. so they had to call that off. and it is raining here. it's been drizzling pretty much all day. so we'll see if it has any impact on any of the events that are scheduled for tomorrow. right now, the only event that's been delayed in these entire games in spite of of this unseasonably warm weather is the biathalon. >> good to know. good to see you. tonight in primetime on nbc, you can look out for men's super-g, the women's snowboarding and the short dance figure skating, the two-man bobsled as well as women's speed skating. new jersey's venture into online gambling is reportedly not yet producing the tax wind fall that had been promised.

the "bergen record" said it amounted to $1.4 million in january, its second month in operations. it is on pace to total $10 million by the end of the fiscal year in june, far from the income of $160 million. let's go now to tennessee and the future implications after a big loss for labor in that state. the employees of volkswagen's chattanooga plant have voted against unionization. the vote became highly politicized with fierce opposition from republican lawmakers and lobbyists. joining me now, lydia covering this story for "the washington post." this was a very close vote. it was about 89% participation. what do you think it came down to in the end? >> it's hard to say because lots of people have different reasons for voting against the union. a lot of it was just suspicion about the uaw. a lot was satisfaction with the benefits they already have. lots of people didn't see the

need to bring in outside representation. >> so what does this mean for the workers now? >> things will go along as they always have. it probably means it will be a long time before the uaw is able to make another run at volkswagen. but what it really means is for the rest of the workers in the south, at the foreign auto makers who have settled there the last couple decades, it's going to make it much more difficult for them to ever get any kind of union representation. >> a very interesting thing in your article was a vote, a quote here about the vote, and it was from a republican plant worker who supported unionization. he felt like he was being picked on by the very same lawmakers that he voted for. what did he say? >> that's right. so that was the guy named john, he was very confused to see senator corker take time out of his d.c. schedule to come back to tennessee and say that he really hoped that all the workers at the volkswagen plant voted against unionization. and for him, he was confused that there was lots of attention

paid to banks when they were in trouble, but there was so much resentment towards the workers when the auto companies were bailed out back in 2009. so for those who are conservative in the south, they feel a little bit persecuted because there doesn't seem to be any need for republican politicians to oppose a worker's right to organize, if that's what they want. >> also interesting here, a pretty rare case. the management actually supported some unionization. you report that the plant ceo wanted a german style works council. so how did corporate volkswagen address what became such a political debate? >> that's right. volkswagen is a little bit different from most american companies. for its entire history had these things called works councils, which are ways of managing day-to-day operations in the plant, from scheduling to stuff that might come up, if a layoff

needs to happen, for example. it can be done less painfully. they found that to be a come pet -- competitive advantage. the way they can set one up is by allowing workers to vote for union representation, because that's just legally the only way to do it. >> so what do you think this all says about the uaw's influence and any future prospects? >> i think it says that the uaw still is struggling against some really serious stigma in the south. they were dogged by this perception that they were the root of the problems in detroit. there are billboards all over town showing the city and how depressed it had become. there's many reasons for that. union is maybe one small part of it. but it's going to be very difficult now for them to gain any traction, i think, in those foreign auto makers that have set up around the south. and so it doesn't look good for them right now. >> okay.

lydia, thanks so much. >> thank you. actress ellen page on the reason she felt compelled to come out. you're going to hear part of her emotional statement and reaction from the big three next. kles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renters insurance. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables for as low as $4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 866-906-8500 now. what are you doing? we're switching car insurance. why? because these guys are the cheapest. why? good question. because a cut-rate price could mean cut-rate protection. you should listen to this guy. [ female announcer ] with allstate you get great protection and a great price, plus an agent! drivers who switched saved an average of $498 a year. call now and see how much you can save.

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it is time now for today's big three. our topics, mistrial, coming out, and this week's must-reads. so let's bring in my big three panel. jason johnson. politics editor at the source. jimmy williams, an msnbc contributor. and robert trainham. good to see you all. jason, i'll begin with you here. was michael dunn's mistrial on the murder charge just a failure of the prosecution to get a conviction, or do you see a bigger societal issue at play here? >> it's both. it's an absolute failure by angela corey, and it's racism, plain and simple. if a group of college kids drove next to me playing one direction much louder than i wanted to see it and i shot at them, i.'d be n

jail right now. a belief that young black men are inherently dangerous. i think on the one hand, we need to evaluate whether angela corey needs to get re-elected. and on the other hand, you have to look at racism and how that plays a role in our justice system. >> are you at all going to give angela corey a break because she's going to retry this case for first-degree murder, talk to the jurors and figure out what prevented them from being able to come to an agreement? >> you don't get a second chance to make a bad first impression. she screwed up in the zimmerman trial and this trial. i think she should be removed in 2016. >> the protesters outside the courthouse were calling for her removal. she was special prosecutor for george zimmerman. how has the state mishandled these highly sensitive cases, or do you need to focus on the word "sensitive"? >> well, i mean, listen, this is a tricky issue. i agree with everything that he just said, which is this is purely about race. there's no one that can

legitimately argue that a jury gets hung up and you have to declare a mistrial when someone shoots someone else to death. so this is a state law. it means we're having a conversation on a national political stage about varying state laws. that's the problem here. if, in fact, stand your ground in some of these other weird things that are being pushed by the nra weren't on the books in florida and other states, then that guy would have been convicted of murder and he would have gone to jail for the rest of his life. he probably is anyway, but i can't tell you about florida's laws per se, except that they give people an easy opt-out, and that's what's happened now twice in the state of florida. >> so, robert, let's take a situation where if michael dunn had not had a gun, it might have only escalated to some sort of a fistfight, but he did have a gun. and now someone is dead. so those facts are not debated at all. what do you say to those who argue that this is a clear example of why we need much stricter gun laws? >> well, you know, that's an

interesting point. i think the missing link here -- i agree with everything that jimmy and the other guests said. i think it's a bigger issue about what the jury thinks. i think it's very telling that they have not communicated to the public in terms of what their thinking really is. and it seems like that mr. dunn actually had the gun legally, at least that's what i read. i don't know if that's actually true or not. i don't know if this is a question about gun control per se and more about what jimmy mentioned a few minutes ago and the context of state law. >> bigger picture here, i had reverend al sharpton, and he said what this does speak to is what jason was saying, is that this is very much an issue of race in this society. how do we take this lesson, how do we move the ball forward and do something good from all this? jimmy, do you have an idea on that? >> well, listen. we need to have a serious conversation about race. the president has addressed this issue. congress has done nothing on this issue. and so all this is left to the states to sort of have their varying laws on the books.

but at the end of the day, another white guy shot another black kid. that's what's happened here. and killed him, by the way. and what was the kid doing? he was playing loud music. so what? if you don't like it, roll your windows up. and what was trayvon martin doing? walking down the street. in his own neighborhood. these are kids that are just doing -- they're not breaking any laws, per se. and when you have a society, whether it's a white society or a black society or a latino society that thinks that it can play the law itself, then you have a bigger problem, and that's why -- we have to have a conversation, again, a serious conversation about how race does play into these laws. >> and jason, you wanted to chime in here? >> yeah, it's really simple. we need to look at jury selection. this is not -- this is the second time, we're not looking at a jury of his peers here. i think we need to look at the demographics of jury selection. i think we need to look at the people who are actually prosecuting this case. we also have to look at gun laws. there are so many different examples where this should not only have never happened, but

this is an absolute failure on the part of the state. i think we need to have a top to bottom reevaluation just like we did after o.j., just like after zimmerman. any time justice hasn't been served, we need to look at the system that we're all living under. >> let's move on to the next topic, and that is coming out. ellen page gave a speech at a human rights campaign in which she announced that she is gay. let's all take a listen. >> and i am here today because i am gay. and because -- [ cheers and applause ] and because maybe i can make a difference. to help others have an easier and more hopeful time, regardless for me, i feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. >> you know, robert, what's interesting is this obligation that she mentioned. do prominent people have a social responsibility to come out? >> a social responsibility, that's an interesting question.

i really think it depends on their own compass and where they are in their life. i can tell you as a gay american, when i heard that ellen degeneres came out in the mid 1990s, that was a huge deal deal and said, listen. if this woman has the courage to come out of the closet, maybe i can, too. from a personal perspective i will say that prominent individuals, whether on the tv screen, whether on the football field, whether they're in the business room or whatever the case they be, when they do come out, it makes it just that much easier nor that kid in the urban areas and the inner city, for that kid in the rural areas, grew up in a conservative household, lower kc, it's easier for that person to come to terms if their sexuality which is a wonderful, wonderful thing. >> and talking about missouri's michael sams, a hopeful nfl player. and jimmy, he announced that he is gay and received a standing ovation at the basketball game. let's take a listen to that.

look at that. michael sam on the way of the announcement received, does it signify a shift in the country, jim jimmy? >> sure. it is a long time coming or a long time coming out, per se. when you have someone that's prominent and in the sports area, the soon to be in the nfl, this is a very big deal. the country has, if you look at the trend lines on marriage equality, on workplace discrimination, et cetera, the numbers increased dramatically in the last decade and continues to happen. ellen comes out. michael sam comes out. et cetera, et cetera. when you watch "will & grace" on tv week and ellen's show, gay people are in your home. it makes you more comfortable. it's assimilation, per se. we are not unusual people. i might be unusual but that's because i'm me. right? but the bottom line is we are not freaks of nature.

we are just like everybody else. everybody knows somebody gay and that's the whole key to making the whole thing a reality of having an open and closed society. >> jason, you're a political scientist. are we at a watershed moment in this country? >> no. i don't think we can separate the issue of homosexuality from race and class. while the face of the lgbt community has been people like ellen page and people like ellen degeneres, we have to deal with the trans community, the poor latino workers being discriminated against. it is not just a matter of saying it is okay for people to be gay but they don't have the resources, television and money to back them up, as well. this is still a question of how someone's class affects whether or not people accept them. >> okay. we are going to must through the must reads after the break. opened some credit cards in her name. checking her experian credit report and score allowed her to better address the issue...and move right in.

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we are back with the must reads. you have 20 seconds to make your case.

jason, we'll start with you because you dug into the archives for this one. >> yes, yes. this is an article from "discovery" magazine and play it in time for valentine's day. a mathematical formula to determine if your marriage will last. they determined that you can tell if marriages will work. it is not about love or finances, about culture and believe it or not effort. if both people are trying, you have a better chance of it workiwork ing whether or not they love each other or not. >> jimmy? >> thank god i'm single. >> i'm taking this not for marriage but relationships. okay. let's go. >> exactly. "the washington post" dana mill bank did a piece this past week on senator rand paul. sued the president over the nsa stuff. he had a guy who's a constitutional scholar and very interesting.

>> robert, five seconds? >> this year is the 50th anniversary of lbj and must reads in "the new york times." >> nice. thanks. this is a wrap up. thank you to all three of you. up next, "meet the press" and then t.j. hole ms. [announcer] help him keep those muscles while he loses a few pounds with beneful healthy weight. made with wholesome rice,real chicken,soy, even accents of vitamin rich veggies. it's calorie-smart and tastes so good. beneful healthy weight...from purina. i didn't think i could buy them their own, let alone for under $300. but this asus with windows is lightweight and has everything they need -- not like chromebooks that can't install office or have to be connected to the internet to get much done. with this they can do homework, chat, play games -- on their own laptop, and their own time.

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from nbc news in washington, the world's longest running television program, this is "meet the press" with david gregory. >> and good sunday morning. a live picture from sochi, russia, and the winter olympics where the temperature hit 64 degrees on friday. these games could end up being the warmest winter olympics ever. i call them the spring olympics. just to be clearer. quite a different story here, of course. even more snow in the northeast overnight, if you can believe it. as much of the country struggles to cope with one of the worst winters in recent memory. power outages, flights canceled, deadly road conditions to go along with all of it. today, we're talking about the politics of weather. are the paralyzing storms in the east, the dr