broke, twice canceled by winter weather. up until now, questions have stayed on task and off scandal. but, of course, that could have something to do with the warning christie issued at the outset of this. he called it his rule number four. >> i want to remind all of you of something. with the possible exception of some of the media who is here to cover this today, all of us are from new jersey. and so you know what that means, what that means is, if you get it, you are getting it right back. >> well, the event falls on a week when the bridgegate story took three separate turns in 24 hours. first off, 2,000 pages of documents released that raised more questions about who knew what. also former christie aides refusing once again here to turn over materials to the investigative panel. and we saw a top port authority official apologizing to

commuters, though not taking blame or pointing any fingers at the governor. nbc news national correspondent mikelis sa cough is following it and watching what the governor is staying. rule number four, going to stay away from bridgegate questions. aside from that, we have all the developments that you're reporting on. the 2,000-page document, what did you find? >> actually not anything that shed a whole lot of additional light on the core questions here. these were ambulance reports, police fire reports showing the responses during those traffic jams. the major of course, mayor of ft. lee has said, repeatedly that this created public safety issues. there wasn't a whole lot of backup in the material that was released yesterday but it's inconclusive at this point. look, the key questions are,

clearly there were these lane closures that the e-mails that have been released suggest they're done for other reasons other than a traffic study. time for traffic problems in ft. lee. the key player, bridget kelly, former deputy chief of staff to christie. bill step pan, david wildstein have all taken the fifth. wildstein has turned over documents. what the legislative committee wants is to see the e-mails from bridget kelly and stepien, they're refused, invoking their fifth amendment rights. but they went to court to enforce that subpoena to require them to turn over the documents. this is going to be a very interesting legal battle that's going to test the boundaries of fifth amendment privilege. but it could go on for quite some time. >> where will this end, though, when we talk about the subpoenas? what will the outcome be in court? >> well, that's the point, "a,"

we don't know. >> right. >> because you do get lawyers on all sides of this, number 2, this is going to drag on for a while. so if stepien and bridget kelly are the key players. at least they've been identified so far as the ones, you know, not only are we not going to hear from them testify thanksgiving public while there's this u.s. attorney investigation going on. we're not likely to see those e-mails and documents anytime soon. and so that leaves the ball in the court of the u.s. attorney. how long that investigation goes on. we don't know. but they're rarely concluded rapidly. so what we're left with is outstanding questions about who ordered the lane closures, why they did so. and no clear answers anytime in the foreseeable future. >> a big question mark with what's going to happen with subpoenas and what's behind the information documents. michael isakov.

chris christie, so far, no bridgegate questions have been levied towards the governor. and he laid out that rule. hey, if you're going to ask that question, you better be ready to come back at you. you watched the governor for many years, you wrote the book on him. any surprise here, isn't he really in his element? he's going to come out today, 90 minutes we expect, right, he's going to sis in this town hall, talking to residents, too? the whole idea, getting back on track. he got a lot of traction, he did a very good job, most people think with the whole sandy thing afterwards. the bridgegate thing has become a problem not only in new jersey but naturally what he wants to do is what he does best, talking

about helping people after sandy. that's why there's not going to be any questions about anything else although there have been hecklers about this meeting. >> well, this is new jersey, isn't it? >> well, yes, but he's not used to being heckled. i challenge them, go ahead and ask the question, see what happens. >> there are hecklers out there. new jerseyans are straightforward. they get to the point. >> not to mention, he's talking about sandy funding, but sandy funding in and of itself is going to be a separate problem with the lane closures. >> is this surprising that they're not going for it here on bridge gate? >> well, i guess so. you've got people, they're going to decide what they ask. sandy funding is a big deal in the state. it's not because people are going to forget about that because of lane closures. it's something that a lot of people in the state are going to care about. >> bob, to you, critics of the

scandal here, they describe the governor as a straight guy but he's got a hot temper. listening to him so far, he's not raised his temper yet? >> no a nice, sweeter christie. >> and a small environment. not grandiose. >> also, they chose the place to do this where he has a lot of supporters. this is christie-land where they're doing this. usually the rules are you stick to the subject and these questions are prescreened. so there are no surprises here. >> and he doesn't want it to be too big and fanciful he's trying to go back to his knitting, isn't he? >> right. those pesky reporters ask tough questions, and then they ask follow-up, and it's impossible to get out of it. >> eric, you reported on revelation of documents that tied to bridge gate. i want to play one piece of sound here. of course, we'll continue to watch what chris christie is saying there. but essentially what david

sampson said a top port authority official, he spoke yesterday, right? >> uh-huh. >> he said i cannot allow this agency to be mischaracterized. >> i cannot allow this agency to be miss characterized by the actions of a few individuals when the date-to-day work of so many including this board is so important. on on behalf of the board of commissioners we are deeply sorry for inconvenience caused to our travelers. >> we're hearing from the port authority. >> right. >> we're getting information and we have that information from mr. sampson. there's also questions about texts, right? >> right. >> in the ft. lee there was a text message explaininged between the chief of police and the port authority police officer, chip michaels who has now come understandese he's

being investigated for basically his communication and his role on the first day of the closures. he allegedly so fared david wildstein, the former executive who orchestrated around that. and they've got this text message explaining where the port authority cop suggests rerouting traffic around ft. lee. the chief of police responds and says, can't reroute it that way. there's gridlock. but what it shows you've got this cop within the port authority, this agency cop, talking about traffic. the topic of conversation isn't the traffic study. but it's the traffic going on. that's what everybody is talk itting about that morning. >> all right. thank you, we have to leave it there. thank you so much for your perspective today. appreciate your time. bob engle as well as eric latch. coming up the situation in the ukraine grows. deadlier still.

presidents obama and putin are weighing in on that crisis. we'll discuss it with the former ambassador to russia next. 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. ♪

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we're watching developments out of ukraine where talk of a cease-fire has dissolved into running street battles. police opening fire on protesters who are calling for ukraine president viktor yanukovych to step down. the government of the ministry reports more than 60 people captured by the opposition. violence seeming here to spiral further out of control today as protesters threw molotov cocktails into riot police who shot into the crowds just about an hour ago, 6:00 p.m. local time, the white house issuing a

statement urging yanukovych to withdraw forces from kiev, the capital. and president olympic warned the ukrainian government not to escalate the situation. >> we'll be monitoring very carefully, the situation, recognizing along with the european partners in the international community there will be consequences if people step over the line. that includes making sure the ukrainian military does not step on what should be a set of issues resolved by civilians. >> foreign ministers france, gem mane and poland meeting with president yanukovych. and russia sending an envoy to mediate talks and the opposition there. nbc's amen is there following the story. also a big concern here, as the president has noted. the concern of the military becoming involved here. here are some live pictures.

in the evening around 7:13 p.m. it looks a little gift quieter right now. what what have you heard? >> well it's certainly something that a lot of people are watching closely. keep in mind, the minister of defense has come out and said, some of the deployments takes place over the last few days have been only to secure military bases, military installments, storage facilities. he knows people are watching the troops of the ukrainian military very closely. he wanted to ensure that people are not getting involved in trying to suppress the protests but at the same time there are those saying that police are not capable of getting the job done. yesterday, a lot of political and security movements have people concerned that the government may still use even more of an iron fist to try to break up these protests. >> now, directly to the west,

the european union as a look at the conflict and the protests there in kiev, some of the criticism has been not enough move from the e.u. on the other side, justify the right amount? >> well there's not much that the european union can do right now. and there's two reasons for it. they can issue strong condemnation statements. they're certainly considering sanctions against some parts of the ukrainian government. in terms of affecting a change on the ground, there's a little bit of a disconnect. the ukrainian opposition meeting with e.u. leaders does not have traction with all the street protesters so they may not necessarily abide bit political opposition once they do reach an agreement with the union and with president yanukovych. what they're trying to do is leverage their appeal to the ukrainians to actually shift away from this very kind of deadly confrontation. no one is expecting president

yanukovych to suddenly change the position he adopted which is very close to russia and suddenly become close to europe. we're well beyond that point. that's not the issue on the table. >> thank you very much for the latest coming out of ukraine caught in a larger gee go political showdown between the west and russia's vladimir putin standing behind president yanukovych. now, president obama acknowledged the struggle, but said the focus right now must be on how to stop the fighting. >> our approach of the united states is not to see these as some cold war chest board in which we're in competition with russia. our goal is to make sure that the people of ukraine are able to make decisions for themselves about their future. >> james collins served as the u.s. ambassador to russia under president clinton. he's currently with the carnegie endowment for international peace.

ambassador, thank you for being with us here. the president saying this is not a proxy war, shall we say, between the u.s. and russia. would you agree with that? >> well, i hope it isn't. i totally agree with him on the priority which is to stop the violence in kiev and find some political solution. that's going to have to involve the americans the europeans and frankly the russians, but most of all, the parties in ukraine. >> why should it involve the americans? >> the americans have a voice that's listened to. i think the americans have a very strong interest in stability in the region between russia and the e. u. rtainly, a destabilized and lawless ukraineld pose tremendous dangers to our interests in europe. and to europe. and to russia itself. >> why would you say -- now, i was asking you the question whether this is a proxy war, if

you will, between united states and russia. can you elaborate on that idea a little more? >> i don't think this is a proxy war between u.s. and russia. >> okay. >> this is first and foremost, a violent expression of disagreement between factions in ukraine. i think the idea that this is somehow being run by either side of outsiders is really missing the point. the real problem is that ukraine has not had a leadership, whether opposition or president, that is able to bring a consensus about stopping the violence and where ukraine should go next. >> if question look to the east and russia and their leader, president putin, as he watches what is happening in kiev, is he afraid that the protests, the ideas behind these protests, might seep into russia. that he might see these in the streets of moscow? >> well, i think he must find the breakdown in order to

ukraine very disconcerting. after all, he's had plenty of such experience in the north caucasus of his own country. and the idea that you would spread this kind of disorder into the center of europe must be at least, as upsetting and unsettling, for russia's leadership as it is for anyone else. >> i want to read a quote that our colleague here at msnbc chuck todd brought this up early from max fisher in "the washington post." fisher saying one of the very first sentences you're taught to say in foreign policy community college is, russia without ukraine is a country. russia with ukraine is an empire. you can talk about that? >> well, i just think, you know, after two decades of independence, the idea that ukraine will rejoin russia is probably totally unrealistic. ukraine has become a sovereign

nation. the problem is that they don't have a leadership and an elite that has managed to knit the station together and define its state in a way that is satisfying to the large majority of ukrainians. but it seems to me one of the things ukrainians are united about, they don't want to go back and be part of russia. >> ambassador, for president obama, how might this be a difficult space for him when we talk about russia, relationship with the u.s. and the e.u. relationship with the u.s. and political demands that he faces from congress? >> well, it seems to me that his focus on getting the fighting stopped and get something political process under way in the right one. my own advice would be we better find a mediator or a group of people who can bring the sort of stature to ukraine to bring the opposition and the government to the stable. >> who would that be --

>> to get some kind of negotiation. >> well, my own candidate that no one seems to talk about osce. they're the chairman in the office, the swiss, they have performed these kinds of functions in the past. and they inclusive of all the nations of the euro atlantic region, including the united states and russia. that, to me, is a pretty good start. >> all right. cam bass dore james collins, i wish we had another ten minutes. so informative. thank you for your perspective. coming up, we're going to talk about the president's week with our power panel. and get their take on governor chris christie still taking questions from constituents. 70 minutes. no questions on the lane closure. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn.

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the president arrived back in washington in the wee hours today, about 2:00 a.m. after his trip to mexico for the annual three amigos summit. one subject that came up that remains a source of tension both at home and with canada is the keystone pipeline. the question that the president acknowledged at a joint news conference. >> there's a process that's been gone through. i know it's been extensive. at times i'm sure steven feels a little too laborious. but these are how we make these decisions about something that could potentially have significant impact on america's national economy and our national interests. >> and a nebraska judge did not help proponents of the pipeline yesterday by striking down a state law that would have allowed nebraska's republican governor to approve a route in

that state. meanwhile tonight, in a key election year, the president, he will address the democratic governors association, as 14 seats be up for grabs this november across the union. joining me now democratic strategic chris la thinis. will the president be able to satisfy both proponents and environmentalists on it? >> no. this is one of those issues where unfortunately, you're going to have to choose a side. whatever position you take, you're going to upset folks not only in those key states but even within the democratic party. you have groups in labor that clearly want the keystone pipeline, you know, to move forward. you have, obviously, the environmental groups have grave concerns about it. i think the president's in a bit of a pickle. and gimp, i think, some of the stakes that are up for grabs,

which are these, you know, traditionally red states with democratic senators, i think it's going to be really difficult for the president to actually, you know, continue to deny it. so i think at some point, he's going to have to make a decision to let it go forward. if that happens, that's going to create a lot of political headaches within some groups on the left. >> lynn, to you on that, considering what chris just mentioned and what he has to say tonight, in his message, what is key that the president brings across as he's reaching out to not only the governors but, of course, voters across the country? >> well the most important thing that obama's doing for democratic governors tonight is raising them a lot of money. you know, he pledged his time, the dga and different organizations have limited use of president obama's extraordinary fund-raising power. so there are several messages that governors will be hearing. tonight, it's a little more to

rally the ones for the democrats. it's a focus of ate lot of governors as we talk about christie and walker because this is the annual winter meeting of the national governors association. that's why they're all here. this is a big spotlight in washington on governors starting today. >> lynn, you're peeking at my notes here. >> i'm sorry. >> joe, to you, based on the sense lynn is directing our conversation today. we're looking at that live town hall. governor chris christie there taking questions, so far none on bridgegate. another governor facing hot water e-mails from his former aide released yesterday. and there's no time for traffic problems in ft. lee e-mail. that one out there. some of the e-mails may raise questions about walker's campaign financing, and certainly the character of some of the staff? >> i'm not too worried about it.

this is an issue that's come up in the past. this happens when he was a milwaukee executive. so this has happened. there are times when people who work for them do things that they shouldn't do and have to pay for what they've done. ultimately, i don't think it will hurt scott walker's re-election chances or even any national ambitions that he might have. i think this is a little bit of a -- a little bit of a detour. but in the long term, i don't think it hurts scott walker. >> chris, do you know, how do the democrats look at what's happening with chris walker -- how do they take advantage of that in the issue of bridgegate, how do they take advantage of that in 2014? >> well, listen, to some extent when someone's drowning keep pouring water on them. in both cases with governor christie and now governor walker, actions they've taken that basically undercut their entire, you know, candidacy and their narrative. >> chris, you said drowning and

adding more water, really? >> part of the problem is i don't think you necessarily go out and keep hammering it. the reality is this is going to be a problem for them. the more you make it political, ironically enough, you just kind of drive everyone to the poles. they're going to go to their respective corners. i think christie is actually -- and walker, in both cases, obviously, democrats can go out and keep pointing it out and hammering at it. that's fine, that's politics. the only thing i would say, they are their own worst enemy. irony actually ends up becoming more damaging for them as we're unable as we've clearly steeen answering the difficult questions. >> lynn, how does this play out in the congressional races? >> well, walker and christie, they have limited impact in the congressional races but for obama, on your question of that. there's a question of whether he

and whether he'll campaign for how active. right now, his biggest gift for the democratic candidates to do fund-raising so they can tailor district-specific. wisconsin has stringent ethics laws. that keeps him tethered to the state. not good for somebody who may have ambitions. >> thank you. i owe you the next time around. thank you all. coming up, an economic catch 22. raise the minimum wage and lift thousands of families out of the poverty but risk killing jobs as well. we'll hear from both sides of that debate next. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn?

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well, the minimum wage

debate raging in washington. the new retailer saying it would raise the minimum wage to $9. next year, it would increase to $10 an hour. the move comes from a new report of the budget office that has given ammunition to both sides of the debate. first, the nonpartisan report predict raising the minimum wage to $10.10 with 5,000 jobs lost by july 2016. but the report as says raising the minimum wage would lift 900,000 low-wage workers out of the poverty. in addition, the cbo report found those still left below the poverty line will be closer to getting out. because they'll be making a total of $5 billion more in income. just to put all of this in perspective for you you the cbo report also says this wage hike would put the buying power of minimum wage workers at the lowest in 40 year.

that's this blue line here. as you look at that percentage. it is still below what it was earlier four decades ago. what others, as you see the other two lines, they see the purchasing power increasing. so what does this report really say? and will we see a ripple effect of other companies like gap raising their minimum wage? joining me is jared bernstein and president of the american action forum and former cbo director doug holtz eken. thank you for being here. a lot of this looks good. we laid out the facts in the report, is it good? >> it is good. you didn't mention a key number and you mentioned a lot of numbers no critique there. >> go ahead. you're a numbers guy i expect it. >> thank you. 16.5 million low-wage workers would get a direct boost, according to the cbo to their paycheck. and another 8 million would get an indirect lift. those are wheeshgs earn more than the minimum wage hoot

employers would give a bump to. that's over 24 million workers who get a pay hike to this policy, according to cbo, 500,000 employee lost. so there say cost to this. if you factor that in, this is a program that has a 98% success rate. that is, it helps 98% of the people it targets. and i challenge you to find another program that does this much good to folks that kneeled the income this much at no cost to the federal budget. >> okay. my friend, you've got a bigger brain than i do when it comes to this stuff. your challenge will go do doug. doug, jared challenges you to come up with a better plan. is there one out there? >> let's first stipulate that the interest in this is not politics. this has been a subpar recovery for not just those who can't find a job but those who have jobs and seen real wages and income rise. it's a real problem that needs to be addressed. i'm not a fan of this approach,

because. you look at the earnings that come out of raising the mill wage, they don't go to people in poverty. only 19% of it according to the cbo. this doesn't target that population and it does hurt the group we worry about, low-skilled worker, 500,000 of which will not find a job to. put that in perspective. the two big wage employment sectors are eating and drinking places. that's a year's worth of job growth. if wasn't to put on hold jobs for a year, that's fine, go ahead. >> let me respond. first of all, i completely agree and appreciate, doug, beginning where he did. with an emphasis on improvement in recovery is the best policy for all workers throughout the pay scale. >> that's true. >> on the poverty points are i strongly disagree in the following sense. 70% of the benefits go to families whose incomes are below 50,000. so doug is right. it doesn't just go to the

impoverished families it reaches up into the middle class and frankly that is a feature not above. that's an attractive part of this program. it's not as perfectly targeted if you're in that income tax credit but nothing wrong with lifting the wages of mc-income job earn s as well. it is true, some will be displaced. once those displaced workers get a new job, and they will, once they get a new job and they will, it will be a better job. >> i want to get both your big brains around this. the 500,000 number, also in the report says it could be more than that possibly because they add in the variability, it could be in the millions. talk about the 500,000, though, how do we help them? >> i'm deeply worried about the 500,000. it says you're a low-wage unemployed worker. 500,000 of you are not going to get jobs. we're essentially going to take

an income you could have and give it to someone else who might have $50,000. that's a terrible redistribution. that 500,000 is a number to worry about. it's a big part of the labor force that's been hurt badly in the reception. >> first of all, i think the cbo high-balled the number a bit. let's say it's 250, 270,000, something like that, again, i'd be very hard-pressed not to help 25 or 23 million people. you're right to frame the question for them. doug said the answer. we can get back to full employment as quickly as possible so get get back in the labor market with a better job. >> so jared bernstein bringing up a spock quote there. the good of the many. >> may the force -- i can't do it. >> i'm glad my good friend jared is the one indifferent to the low-low income people. >> i want them to get a better job. >> that's fine, jared.

you can have that one. i won't agree on the growth thing. the top thing here would be to have better economic growth. this is a side show and it raises hopes inappropriately. let's get serious about having a better recovery and that would be much better. >> well, guys we have to leave it there -- >> 24 million -- >> jared bernstein, doug holtz eken. wind up and go with you guys. i love it. i had three more full screens, graphics i wanted to go through. >> too bad. >> we'll do that next time, my friends. it all comes down to one game, team usa and team canada, right, facing off for the gold on women's hockey at this very moment. i'm going to take you live to sochi when we come back for today's women's action.

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[ nephew ] hi heath. i can't wait to see you win gold! bye. [ male announcer ] there when you need it. at&t. the nation's most reliable 4g lte network. i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! i will note that i think we are going to have both the men's

hockey teams and the women's hockey teams battling it out. so, for a very brief period of time, i may not feel as warm towards canadians as i normally do until those matches are over. >> those matches are ago. we'll take you to sochi where women's hockey and team canada on the ice as we speak right now. you can see the torch. canada has won the last three olympic gold medals but team usa beat them in the world championship in april. who will win today's match is anyone's guess. meanwhile, the united states has taken a lead in the medal count with 23 total medals. 7 of those gold. nbc's anne thompson has been counting those gold for us. she's live in sochi. anne, we're going to give a spoiler alert to those folks listening. although it may not be much of a spoiler. the women's teams locked at zero after the first period. tomorrow, it will be the men's

teams for usa and canada playing for gold there. president, as you heard, was talking about the games last night, now, according to his twitter, as you and i have been watching he's bet some beer on the outcome. there it is. >> reporter: that he has. >> what do we expect as we're watching the women's hockey match at the moment? >> reporter: well, right now, you said, it's tied 0-0, after the first period. the usa had a couple of power play chances but absolutely failed to capital united states on them. and as you said, this is a grudge match, richard. the last time the usa won gold in minimum's hockey was in 1998. in this olympics, the usa women's team lost to canada last week, 3-2. they are really looking. he want to come back. they want to get that gold medal because in 2010 in vancouver, the women's final game in hockey was usa/canada. and canada came out on top on that. richard. >> go team usa on that right,

anne? another big event tonight, women's figure skating. >> reporter: that is a very, very big event. and only one point separates the top three skaters but none of them are american. yuna kim of south korea, she leads going into the free skate. and then adelina -- let me repronounce that, it's adelina sotnikova of russia she's in second. and carolina kostner of italy in third. the americans, gracie gold, ashley wagneraed y polinaed you mundz. >> hard to believe only three more days left here. >> reporter: it really is. we as a country will be watching men's hockey.

we have the semifinal tomorrow night, that's against canada. that should be another grudge match, because in the final in vancouver in men's hockey that was -- usa versus canada. and canada came out on top in that match. and won the gold medal. so we'll see what happens in the semifinal game tomorrow. >> a great weekend about to start. nbc's anne thompson in sochi. let's go team usa, obviously. senator ted cruz is heading to the sunshine state to shake the palm trees. we'll head there as well to see what kind of welcome he might receive. but here's one more shot of sochi as we head to break. ♪ settle this. a steel cage death match of midsize sedans. the volkswagen passat against all comers. turbocharged engines against...engines. best in class rear legroom against other-class legroom. but then we realized. consumers already did that. twice. huh. maybe that's why nobody else showed up.

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republican leadership said we want this to pass. but if every senator affirmatively consents to do it it on 51 votes, then we can all

cast a vote no. and we can go home to our constituents and say we opposed it. and, listen, that sort of show vote, that sort of trickery to the constituents is why congress has a 13% approval rating. >> texas republican senator ted cruz taking to the airwaves this morning as well. taking aim at his republican colleagues for voting to raise the debt ceiling last week. now cruz drew criticism from those colleagues after he tried to block that vote putting his former senators in a tricky spot politically. he's tied with new jersey governor chris christie among registered republicans looking to 2016. tonight he will receive the statesman of the-year-old award from the republican party of sarasota county. congressman, thanks for joining us. you've been very open about being critical of your own party as well in the past. and whether you agree with ted

cruz or not, does this help the republican party grow stronger as they start to debate some of the issues that might be key to their future? >> no, not at all. ted cruz represents, the elder of the republican party who be trying to hasten the apocalypse. these are people who think that obama care is helping to save lives and they want to destroy it. these are people who understand a government shutdown causes chaos to the economy and they want to do it anyway. these are people who understand defaulting on the national debt would drive unemployment sky high, and they want to do it anyway. those are the people who ted cruz speaks for today. >> you probably heard senator mccain on cnn sunday, and he had something to say about ted cruz's actions on the debt ceiling. in so many words he said, you know, he respected ted cruz's right to do what he did. but in the end here, senator -- he did say, the senator, that

there was no plan should they reach what you're calling t ing poc apocalypse. how did you handle this type of criticism from your own party in the past? >> well, i haven't gotten that kind of criticism from my petition. in any event, calls him the statesman of the year would be like calling jim jones the religious leader of the year. for much the same reason. she's trying to create a mass suicide cult called the tea party and lead it. i don't think i can be accused of anything similar to that. >> you've been very straig straightforwa straightforward, shall we say about your views and you've had those who certainly disagree with you. how have you dealt with that and how is that good necessarily for

the democratic party? >> well, there's no comparison. look, the largest membership group, the democracy for america group. 1 million members called me their house hero of the year. my party is aligned directly behind me. my party is not a fringe group. my party stands for the three in euro gold to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, help sick. if there were an olympic gold medal for demagoguery, ted cruz would win it. >> who do you think wins in florida for 2016? >> well, since ted cruz is an a canadian, and i'm pretty sure that our constitution calls for an american to win, i think it

stands for acid rain. >> though ted cruz has said he's also an american. i leave that for the two of you to debate about. thank you for your time tote, representative grayson. that wraps up today. up next, we've got "andrea mitchell reports." we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? $500,000. maybe half-million. say a million dollars. [ dan ] then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. ♪ i was trying to like pull it a little further. you know, i was trying to stretch it a little bit more. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. [ man ] i looked around at everybody else and i was like, "are you kidding me?" [ dan ] it's just human nature to focus on the here and now. so it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement.

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we thought it was going to be just another phase, but she's a total natural. which makes us karate parents. one day i noticed her gi looked dingier than the other kids. but now since tide plus bleach alternative has more whitening power... i used it to wash her gi and now she's all...pow! she looks sharp like a dragon strike.

that's not a term. i'm just waiting for her to get into hockey. hockey's for canadians. i'm canadian. and i'm not. [ female announcer ] tide plus bleach alternative. that's my tide plus. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," truth shattered. as the government fires automatic weapons killing dozens of anti-government protesters. meanwhile, officials say protesters have kidnapped 67 police officers. our lead today from richard engel in kiev. >> reporter: protesters have turned this hotel lobby into a field hospital. the injured are still streaming in. we've seen volunteers using bed sheets to try and treat the wounds. and some of the injuries, at least appear to have come from live ammunition. the white house says it is outraged. we'll ask a top state department official, wendy sherman, about what the u.s. and europe can do

next. >> the situation that happened in ukraine has to do with whether or not the people of ukraine can determine their own destiny. i personally have to expressed to president yanukovych the need for him to recognize the spirit of the ukrainian people and work with that. >> and as the violence escalates in ukraine, a protest video from there goes viral. >> reporter: we want to be free from it. we want to be free from the politicians who work only for themselves. who are ready to shoot, to beat be to injure people. >> hazards ahead as new jersey governor chris christie holds his first town hall today since the bridgegate scandal. another potential republican contender is under the microscope today. did wisconsin governor's sco