right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a new twist. the fbi is looking at the hard drives of the pilots of malaysia flight 370 after investigators say data was deleted from that flight simulator found in the captain's home. seen here in this youtube video. now 12 days in for the families of passengers and crew, frustration has turned to fury. in a heart wrenching scene today, a grief stricken mother collapsed and was physically removed from a press briefing by malaysian authorities after she cried out for her son. power grab. after signing the treaty to annex crimea, russian is enforcing its takeover with military might. russian troops stormed in crimea, and in eastern ukraine, richard engel is at the site of

another standoff. >> the ukrainian troops were trying to remove ammunition from that base and send this ammunition to reinforce troops in kiev. the ukrainian forces were leaving their base, they were blocked by a pro-russian militia and there is something of a standoff there. >> as russia moves forward with its expansion plans, joe biden tried to reassure allies in putin's backyard. >> president obama wanted me to come personally and make it clear what you already know, that under article 5 of the nato treaty, we will respond. we will respond to any aggression against a nato ally. and overdue medals. decades after their service, three vietnam heroes and 21 more who have already died finally received the medal of honor in an emotional white house ceremony. >> in the thick of the fight, all those years ago, for your

comrades and your country, you refused to yield. and on behalf of a grateful nation, we all want to thank you for inspiring us then and now with your strength, your will, and your heroic hearts. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. malaysian officials are calling on the fbi now to assist with the criminal investigation of missing flight 370. 12 days after the plane first went missing. the fbi is being asked to do a forensic analysis on the hard drives from the computers of the captain and the first officer. this comes as families are reaching new levels of frustration and desperation. waiting for news of their loved ones and frustrated by confusing signals from malaysian

authority. with more on all these developments today, i'm joined by nbc's tom costello, who has been covering every aspect of this investigation, and nbc's keir simmons, covering the story from kuala lumpur. first to you, tom, bring us up to date. the fbi is now involved in this forensic search and there's probably no one better in the world than the fbi at going back and trying to restore things that have been erased from hard drives. what hope is there that they can get any information? and we should point out, as you have been so careful to point out, there's no indication of anything awry, but this is one or two very important leads. >> yeah. on every level, i think that's absolutely right. the fbi is coming in to try to see what's on the hard drives of those computers taken from the homes of both the captain and the first officer, and presumably, although we don't know for sure, presumably that would include the hard drives from the flight simulator. these are copies of the hard drives, the malaysian authorities have given to the fbi. so as you suggested, there isn't

much expertise better in the world than the fbi can offer on that. now, it is also true that there is still nothing necessarily to indict either the captain or the co-pilot, the first officer in this case. although there's a lot of circumstantial evidence that suggests something isn't right here that. there was this programmed u-turn into, as we suggested last night on "nbc nightly news," a u-turn programmed into the automated flight's computer -- >> preprogrammed. >> we believe it was preprogrammed, according to our sources, 12 minutes before the last radio conversation, the last radio call. and then, of course, the plane flying on for as we now know six to seven hours beyond what it was originally supposed to be flying up to beijing. so the mystery continues, where is this plane, and the best guess is still in the south indian ocean. and today, as we know the australians with the assistance of the ntsb have now reduced the size of that search zone. they've cut it in half off the

coast of australia. but it is still a massive search zone, it's going to take them weeks to traverse it with p-3 and p-8 aircraft coming from the u.s., australia, and new zealand. >> i wanted to go to keir simmons. i know there's a big satellite delay. but tell us about what happened today with the families. frustration, anger boiling over. you were right in the middle of it. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. and to be honest, i think today was a day that frustration boiled over into fury really. some families, some relatives came here just before the news conference where they made some of those announcements that tom was talking about. they came here, they said to talk to journalists, to try to get some information. they unfoiled a sign, officials took the sign away, and they took the relatives away, including the mother who you saw in those pictures who was just so upset, wailing. she told reporters that her son has been missing for 12 days,

she has been here for ten days, and she said just being brushed off and brushed off. at points, she was wailing, give me my son back. it was incredibly distressing. and, you know, in a sense, i suppose i was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say okay, maybe they were taking her away because they were worried about protecting her from the journalists and reporters there because there are a lot of journalists here. you can see in the pictures she was surrounded by media. and yet, i spoke to an official and he told me, look, this isn't their platform. this isn't the family's platform. this is our official platform. so an extraordinary reason to take them out of that briefing room and pull them away. what they did is they took them into the corridor down into another room. and then there was this kind of siege really, this standoff between journalists and relatives. the relatives in a room, locked in a room with officials while the journalists outside stood outside and said we want to talk to them. we want to hear what they have to say. that continued, i have to say,

for around an hour. and then they took them out. you can see that mother screaming, wailing. they took him out of that room, took them down the corridor. it was pandemonium, panic, really. as the media followed them into another part of the hotel and finally, they left the hotel. but what a terrible image, to be honest, for malaysia, for malaysian officials here, who have been saying -- and said again today that their hearts go out to the families, but took this action. perhaps not officially, perhaps not at a high level. but it was what they decided to do on the ground to remove these relatives from the briefing room who were there to try and -- they said get help from the media. they decided to remove them and you had these awful scenes. >> awful, indeed. that's just -- just absolutely heartbreaking. one of the reasons why the families are so frustrated is that the malaysians themselves have changed the story over and over and over again. and there's been a lot of rumor. i wanted to give tom here a

chance to dispel some of the rumors that have been circulated, some in american media, some over there, that have just been false leads. >> first of all, i think that that episode underscores the issues and why the malaysians seem to be lacking credibility right now. when you treat family members like that. that really would be a polar opposite of the way that this would be handled in the united states. that said, there had been a series of contradictions and walk-backs and statements made by the malaysians that the next day they say well, let's massage that, let's change the facts a little bit. that's been very frustrating. not only for the families, obviously, but for the press trying to cover this. a couple of issues that we tried to clarify on the "today" show this morning, some issues that have been maybe misreported. again, bad information coming out of malaysia. our sources with the u.s. government say that those reports suggesting the plane climbed to an at constitute of 45,000 feet, very high. by the way, coming from 30 up to 45. and then descending down to

5,000 feet. that those reports are completely erroneous and not to be believed. and that that is coming from, they believe, bad radar data, that they're not giving much credibility to. that would be point number one. point number two, there's been a lot of suggestions that this u-turn back to malaysia was a very sharp left bank, almost like a hair pin u-turn. and our sources are saying, not really. it was a pretty smooth 20-degree radius turn, which was done by a professional pilot, and with the assistance of an onboard computer like a flight management system, like auto pilot. so it goes, again, to this whole notion that this was planned and executed in a professional manner by somebody on a flight deck. that doesn't mean a pieshllot, somebody who was professionally involved. >> i know you talked to one of our aviation experts earlier about all the speculation that there could have been an electrical fire that would have knocked everything out and still knocked out the oxygen, perhaps.

they would have not survived that, or they would have fallen asleep, oxygen deprivation, but the plane would have continued. >> this comes from an internet report yesterday from "wired" magazine. and it's a very good read, and a lot of people feel like it has a lot of possible truths to it. most of the experts i've talked to, however, caution that they feel it would be very unlikely for a 777 to suffer this kind of a catastrophic electrical fire and knock out all of the systems, all of the redundant systems, and that the plane could continue flying for up to seven, eight hours after the crew was incapacitated. they feel that that would really be unlikely. that said, andrea, it is 12 days. we have no sign of this plane. and as a result, you know, there are plenty of rumors out there and plenty of theories out there. and until we find this plane, it's going to be difficult to knock any of them down. >> tom costello, thank you so much. keir simmons, thank you for that report on the heartbreaking events today in kuala lumpur. meanwhile, today, in crimea,

a ukrainian naval base was stormed by russian-backed forces in the city. no shots were exchanged, but this comes a day after a confrontation between ukrainian and pro-russian troops left two people dead. the first reported casualties since the conflict began almost three weeks ago. and vice president joe biden concluded his trip to the baltic states and lithuania today. he emphasized nato will defend its allies against russian aggression. >> as long as russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation. there are those who say that this action shows the old rules still apply. but russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behavior. >> joining me now is nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. richard is in eastern ukraine, an area that is heavily

pro-russian and was one of the major areas of concern. richard, was that just false bravado from the vice president? we've heard from the president, from secretary kerry, now the vice president. yet, there's a lot of criticism, both here and overseas, that these sanctions are very weak to date, and that vladimir putin is just laughing them off. >> well, vladimir putin so far has not been deterred. if anything, russian troops over the last three weeks have just dug in even further into crimea. pro-russian militias, which work hand in glove with russian troops, have been operating openly in crimea. and then yesterday, putin moved to annex crimea, to the ovation and cheers in parliament and red square. what we saw over the last 12 to 15 hours in crimea was a move to solidify that control even

further. with the pro-russian militias and russian troops going in to take over the naval headquarters and make sure that the ukrainian troops there don't try and put up any resistance and don't try and reverse the situation. there are only a few hundred ukrainian troops that are still locked inside their bases, surrounded, under siege, and negotiations have been under way to try and get those ukrainian troops to leave crimea. but it's unclear that all of these ukrainian troops want to leave crimea. what we saw a short while ago was a different scenario. we are in eastern ukraine. this is part of mainland ukraine. and there is a several ukrainian military bases in this area. we went to one and it was being blockaded by a pro-russian militia. they were not allowing any of the vehicles to go in and out of this ukrainian military base, specifically this pro-russian

militia didn't want the vehicles to be transporting ammunition from this base and bring that ammunition to the government in kiev. this is a very significant development, or has the potential to be a significant development, because you've seen these pro-russian militias preventing the ukrainian military from operating normally, from exercising its sovereignty in the mainland of the country, particularly in the sensitive south and eastern portion along the russian border, which is where we are now. >> so far, there have been no real clashes. there have been reports of skirmishes, but in ukraine proper, what's now ukraine proper, eastern ukraine, we haven't seen real violence. the ukrainian leaders have been very restrained, but they've asked for defensive weapons from the united states and so far the u.s. has not given them that kind of military support. some criticism from john mccain and others. >> reporter: we have seen some small escalations and some

deadly encounters, the one you mentioned yesterday in crimea a few days ago in this part of the country in eastern ukraine. there were also some clashes in which a few demonstrators were killed. these were fights between those who want close relations with russia and those who support the government of kiev. but we have not seen a war. we have not seen ukrainian forces, ukrainian troops fighting against these pro-russia militias. the danger is what we saw today could become a provocation for a much deadlier situation, a much broader conflict. picture the situation. you have ukrainian troops heavily armed inside their base, outside these pro-russian militias. it was peaceful, but tense. had there been a situation where the ukrainian soldiers had opened fire, had they killed a dozen or more of these pro-russian militia men, that could easily have been used as a

provocation by moscow to intervene, to protect its fellow russian co-nationalists. so there is still a lot of possibility for this to get much more deadly. >> thank you so much, richard engel right there in eastern ukraine. and in a major settlement between the justice department and toyota, announced today the world's largest auto maker has agreed to pay more than $1 billion for its mishandling of sudden acceleration complaints. since 2009 this has been an issue, toyota has recalled more than 11 million toyota and lexus calls for the acceleration problem. after a four-year investigation, attorney general eric holder says the justice department found that toyota had intentionally concealed information and misled the public about the safety issues behind those recalls. as part of the agreement now, toyota will also fully admit wrong doing and will be subject to independent reviews. >> toyota confronted a public safety emergency as if it were simply a public relations

problem. and they mounted this cover-up despite widely documented incidents and even tragic accidents like the one that took the lives of an off duty california highway patrol officer and members of his family. ♪ because more of what you love is a beautiful thing. the new tide plus collection. what's your tide? the new tide plus collection. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today.

if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. this is humira helping me lay the groundwork. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b,

are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. take the next step. talk to your doctor. this is humira at work.

and texas republican gubernatorial candidate greg abbott is making some news. he's getting attention for opposing equal pay legislation for women. in fact, has reiterated, according to reports today, that he would not sign any legislation that would make it easier for women to sue for equal pay. when two of the state's republican women leaders tried to fix the problem, some argue they made it worse. >> men are better negotiators and i would encourage women,

instead of pursuing the courts for action, to become better negotiators. >> what's the solution for equal pay then, carrie? >> if you look at it, women are extremely busy. we lead busy lives, whether working professionally, whether we're working from home. and times are extremely -- extremely busy. it's a busy cycle for women, and we've got a lot to juggle, and so when we look at this issue, we think, what's practical? and we want more access to jobs. we want to be able to go get a higher education degree. at the same time that we're working or raising a family. that's common sense. and we believe that that real world solution is a more practical way to approach the problem. >> what can i say? we are extremely busy. joining me now are very busy people for our daily fix, chr chris cillizza and susan paige,

and mark halperin. >> i'm extremely busy. i'm not sure that's an answer to the question she was asked, which is what's the alternative to legislation. >> and what do you do with all your businesbusiness? >> i'm extremely busy. chris halperin is busy as well, but maybe not as busy as us. >> 55%-plus of voters are women. is this a good strategy for greg abbott in texas? >> the answer to that is obviously no, particularly when he is running against wendy davis, a woman. i would say this, andrea. i went back and looked because i knew we were going to be talking about it. i looked at the exit polling from 2010 in the texas governor's race when rick perry beat bill white, the former mayor of houston. the vote was 50% women, 50% men.

so evenly split in terms of the composition vote. rick perry actually won women by eight points, 53-35 over bill white. if wendy davis has a path to victory, and i still think that's a big if, it quite clearly goes through moving that bill white number at 45% way up, certainly winning a majority. comments like this i think do probably help her do that, but again, this is texas. i always remind people, it is at this point hard sledding for any democratic candidate statewide. >> it's been hard for wendy davis. there's no question that there have been mistakes in her campaign. there are many times when i sort of wish that anne richards was still among us. this is one of those times. >> well, look, as chris pointed out, the electorate would have to change dramatically. you don't normally see a swing in the electorate overall or within a particular group with women in just one election cycle. so wendy davis would have to run a near flawless campaign.

republicans around, greg abbott and probably greg abbott himself would have to make serious mistakes in order for this to matter. it obviously goes to the larger point, that republicans have a huge problem with women. not just because of gaffes or a failure to be articulate, but because a lot of the policies that they're selling have not done as well with women. conservatives would say we sqju need to do a better job of explaining ourselves. and then you get to the inability for people to explain themselves clearly. >> and susan, when you get to some of the really serious policies, the plan parenthood issue, and some of the other health policies in texas, they are down to now a handful of clinics that provide abortions. and state after state, but texas in particular has been very aggressive in cutting back on access to health care for women without means. >> you know, i think that's certainly true, and i don't think this gaffe turns around the gubernatorial race. it does reinforce a national

problem that republicans have had for a year or more. i mean, the republicans continue to have trouble talking to women voters about issues that are of special concern to women in an articulate way. i don't understand why that is. the women who were being quoted in these interviews were in a group forum to respond to questions just like this. so i find it mystifying. i think the influence of this kind of thing, may be beyond texas's border. and just making the point that women who are concerned about things like equal pay have questions for republican candidates that so far have not really been effectively answered. >> and this is not one of the social issues that might divide women by ideology or by religion or other kinds of conservative versus liberal divides. this is equal pay. we're getting to mainstream economic issues here. >> while i always say when i talk about texas, the math is

just very hard to add up for any democrat. wendy davis or anyone else at the moment. i would say that the path to victory, quite clearly lies in winning vast majorities of the hispanic vote, winning the african-american vote overwhelmingly. but also having to win white suburban women around houston, dallas-ft. worth. those are places you would have to really overperform, people like tony sanchez. i think wendy davis's status, sort of profile will help, the fact that she is a woman frankly will help. the fact is can she overperform what democrats have traditionally done among women in the suburbs by enough that it makes up for what is just frankly a very difficult demographic equation for any democrat in the state. >> and mark halperin, there's no question that the senate was within grasp of the republicans the last time around, if not for

language and not just policies, but the language used by several candidates. missouri comes to mind and indiana. >> well, there's no question. and look, in today's environment, gaffes can have a huge impact. but usually when they're connected to policies. and part of what the republican party has to do, again, not focusing on the texas race, but nationally in particular thinking about 2016, in some of these competitive senate races. how do you talk about your true principles in a way where you don't make gaffes, but you also appeal to women. there's a real reason why republicans have been doing worse with female voters. it's not just because women are just reflexively voting for a democrat. they're being offered something they find more appealing. republicans have not picked the lock on that yet. while it costs them a few senate races with gaffes, those candidates also had policies, republicans and democrats were able to exploit and point out to female voters that clearly hurt them. >> mark halperin, thank you so much. chris cillizza and susan page.

need a feel good fix? check out these stories making us smile today. 80-year-old grandma betty is stealing hearts thanks to her teenage great grandson zack. after betty was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year, zack created a tribute page to try to help her lift her spirits and it has done just the trick for betty and now 280,000 followers. zack says that she still wakes up every morning asking how many friends she has. a fan favorite, a video of her swinging to the hit song "happy," very fitting. and this intrepid little girl is being hailed a hero for rescuing a puppy near ft. worth, texas. 7-year-old animal lover nina didn't think twice before crawling her way to the 10-day-old australian shepherd mix. the puppy is the only one to survive in a litter of 10. well-done, nina. >> i think she was excited to see me and save her. if i can impart one lesson to a

new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. america's favorite lasagna. topped with a mouth-watering blend of fresh cheese

and aged parmesan. it makes our lasagna a delicious centerpiece for this table this table and your table. stouffer's. america's favorite lasagna. those little cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial.

the fbi has finally been brought in to the forensic hunt for clues over the missing malaysian airliner. the malaysian government has asked the fbi for help in recreating files deleted from the hard drive of the laptop of the pilot's flight simulator. but will this turn out to be another dead end for investigators? bog hager joins me now again from new york. what can the fbi help to learn? >> well, this, as of right now, is the best avenue for trying to at least begin to solve this thing. and so off those hard drives, personal computers, you want to know what e-mails they've sent, who they've been in touch with. you look at phone records, you look at bank records. you want to get your hands on everything you can. and then in terms of that flight

simulator, surely it will be interesting to see -- they've now said some files were deleted from that a month ago. whether those were just ordinary delusions or if they can recover them from the hard drive, there's something incriminating there. that would solve a lot if they found something incriminating there. >> you've covered so many of these terrible disasters over the years. can you recall another case where families had to wait this long for any kind of information as to what happened? >> well, families have had to wait a long time before, but not for more sound information than we have right now. in other words, oftentimes it's a question like in the twa crash off long island, was it a missile or a bomb, or as it later turned out to be, was it a mechanical problem, an explosion of the center fuel tank. so families had to wait a long time for those kind of answers, but at least they knew where the plane was, that it had gone

down, that there was no more hope that their relative might be alive. this is agonizing, in this case. and so it is unprecedented having to wait this long with so little information. >> and if debris is actually washed up. let's say somewhere in that q d quadrant in the indian ocean. without finding the plane itself, they can learn something depending on what kinds of pieces might wash up? what happened with air france, they actually found the body of the plane, though. and the black boxes. >> yeah, the wreckage might mean a little, but what you really want to find is the black boxes. i don't think you learn a whole lot from the wreckage. maybe where the plane broke up into little pieces or whether it was ditched in the water. but that's not going to be really meaningful. you need the black boxes. and this is a really tough task, not knowing where the wreckage is. not even knowing where to start. i mean, that's brutal. so that means -- i mean, it's my belief, just guessing, that they may not ever find this wreckage,

in which case, the only real avenue that can help solve this is if they turn up something in the background of one or the other of these two crew members from the cockpit. >> or someone who was traveling on the plane, somebody who actually got into the cockpit. we just don't know. >> yeah, but that is less likely, it looks. what we know so far, it looks like somebody really skilled did this, if they programmed these changes into the computer and all. i think it's looking more like -- i mean, the focus really would be on the cockpit. and i think it's informative that the chinese -- you know, who would know more about their own people than the chinese, who probe into everybody's private lives. and if they're saying all the chinese passengers are clear, that goes a long way towards saying there's not a big problem back in the passenger cabin. >> bob hager, thank you again. thanks for being there. >> sure, andrea, thanks. and five million americans currently live with alzheimer's

disease. that number is expected to triple by 2050. there's a dramatic impact of the disease on women. according to this new study, when a woman reaches her 60s, she's about twice as likely to develop alzheimer's as breast cancer. nbc special anchor maria shriver was among the first shining a light on this connection back in 2010 in her shriver report. this morning on the "today" show, she shared the story of angie carillo. in 2008, her husband john, a successful cpa, was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease, leaving her as the full-time breadwinner and care giver. >> when you're in your mid 50s, you're looking at retirement and what's going to happen after you retire. john and i had a whole plan. and all of a sudden, that was not going to happen.

i jbut they blacked me out.ht these miles are useless! that's turrible. and all the other dates are triple the miles! triple the miles? that's as useless as chuck at a golf tournament. or you at the three point line. or you in a spelling bee. you gotta switch to the venture card from capital one. you can fly any airline. no blackouts. that's what i did. i don't say this often -- but listen to the ref. i can't believe i said that. don't get blacked out, get the capital one venture card. earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. good on any airline or hotel. what's in your wallet?

that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. the food and drug

administration is hearing a lot of criticism from state and federal lawmakers over the approved drug. west virginia senator joe manchin joins me now, he has introduced legislation to withdraw the fda's approval of this new drug. senator, thanks very much for joining us. i wanted to point out what the fda says in response. but first to you on why you think this drug is so dangerous. >> let me just say, andrea, first of all, thanks for having me. this is such an important issue for all americans. it's an epidemic proportion as far as prescription drug abuse. in west virginia, it's the leading killer. when i was the governor of the state of west virginia, i saw firsthand what it was doing in devastating families in my state. one little girl about 12 years of age, her daddy got hurt in the mines, and she said before we knew it, he was addicted and we lost everything.

it's not even finished, from a scheduled three to a scheduled two, which will give us more control. and really hold doctors more accountable. that's hydrocodone contents. the fda comes out with zohydro, which is ten times, ten times more lethal than the hydrocodone prescription drugs we have on the market. and then on top of that, a recommendation from a field of experts that 11-2 they recommended, their advisory committee, not to bring this drug on the market and they did it anyway. >> in response, the fda says that this is a unique niche. it fills a purpose for a pain control and it has less liver damage toxicity than some of the other drugs that are available. so that their argument is that it's very necessary for those patients who need it.

and that it's not solely the fda's job to deal with abuse of prescription drugs. their job is to approve drugs that are needed for pain control by those patients who need it. >> let's talk about the process of approving. if you have the leading experts in the country that tell you this is such a lethal, two pills taking at one time can kill a human being. two pills. and it can be used in many different forms. they have different makeups and compositions of this pill coming out that could basically protect the public. but no, they go ahead and do this one. let me tell you the thing that really has gotten me fired up, is that we know there's a thing that i've defined as pay to play. that there is drug companies paying a couple universities 25,000 to $35,000, paying these universities for the chance to sit down in a private setting with the fda with no oversight, no transparency whatsoever, and we know that zohydro came through that type of a process.

there's something wrong with that. we're not going to stop until we get to the bottom. >> in fairness, i just want to give you what the fda responded to us with today, which is that the agency is still reviewing senator manchin's proposal, but believes that a piecemeal approach, including targets products intended for patients in pain is not the answer. we look forward to continuing to work with congress on preserving access to medications for patients suffering from pain while addressing a serious public health problem, the inappropriate use of opiods. >> i'm worried about people all over this country. i can't even get responses. i'm going to have other senators involved. the judiciary committee. tom has been very much concerned about dh athis and i appreciate so much. when you go against the advisory

council. i'm sure they made the same pitch to their advisory council, which recommended 11-2 against bringing this deadly lethal drug on the market. we have in west virginia, it is the number one killer is hydrochydr hydrocodone. this is pure hydroco done. in a raw form, you can't even basically protect the people that are addicted that will crush this and use it in the most lethal way. we are the most addicted society in the world. we use more prescription drugs than anybody.

bringing in more lethal drugs of this kind, it just makes no sense. this is the number one killer in my state. and for me to sit by and watch this happen and bring on more drugs, in defiance of what we just said, listen, it's taken us three years to get you to recognize and your own advisory committee that i presented my reasons, they voted 19-10 to agree with me. then it took another year for the fda even to react and we had to shame them into it by getting all these other committees involved. so don't tell me that they're reacting to the public's desire or protection of the public, i don't believe so. and if pay to play, if that's what's driving them, bringing these drugs to the market, we need to put a stop to it. >> well, they have strongly denied that, but we will get to the bottom of it. >> we sure will. >> have you back and we'll have dr. hamburg here and others to fully debate this as we continue. thank you very much, senator. >> thank you, andrea, appreciate it. bob menendez joins me next

for the latest on the situation in crimea and the rest of ukraine. ♪ [ male announcer ] you're watching one of the biggest financial services companies in the country at work. hey. thanks for coming over. hey. [ male announcer ] how did it come to be? yours? ah. not anymore. it's a very short story. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. don't worry! the united states postal service will get it there on time with priority mail flat rate shipping. ♪ whoo-hoo! ♪ [ male announcer ] our priority has always been saving the day. because our priority... amazing! [ male announcer ] ...is you! the amazing spider-man 2 delivered by the united states postal service.

plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

glass on floors. daily chores. for the little mishaps you feel use neosporin to help you heal. it kills germs so you heal four days faster. neosporin. use with band-aid brand bandages. neosporin. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done.

sanctions for its annexation from crimea. some agree that the sanctions do not go far enough, at least not yet. bob menendez joins me now from cnbc in new jersey. senator, thank you very much. there is a sense certainly in moscow that the u.s. is issuing empty threats. >> well, you know, we're not finished. first of all, the threats aren't empty. they're significant. they, of course, will seek to brush it off saying it has no consequence to them. but i do think that what has to happen next is a combination of europe coming to the conclusion that their commercial interests cannot supersede their security

interests, and joining in some very biting sanctions because they have $400 billion worth of trade with russia versus 40-some-odd billion from the united states. so they have the greatest bite at the end of the day, and i know that they're debating that as they speak. so hopefully they'll come to the conclusion that they need to have some very significant sanctions joined with a continuing sanctions that we'll leverage as well as those that we call for in the senate past legislation, from the committee passed legislation. >> vice president biden on his trip in the last couple of days was discussing nato exercises that he said would help bolster the baltic states. yet it's reported from the pentagon that these are long-standing exercises that happen every year, every april and june with the baltic states. so there's nothing new here. it's just the normal nato joint military exercises. >> they're important to go ahead and hopefully to bolster the nature of the breadth and scope

of what those exercises, even if they're regularly scheduled, are, so that the russians get a very clear message. but this is a combination of decisions that the united states working with its european union allies must decide. it must decide that it cannot afford to have russia feel that the annexation of crimea, which is about to take place, has no real consequences and therefore send a message to them and to others in the world. for example, china looking at what's happening in the south china sea with territorial disputes there. that they can go ahead and act with impunity without very little consequence. and it's also a time to look at nato and think about its full abilities to meet what was thought to be a challenge of the past to continue to meet the challenge of the president. and those two items, the economic sanctions that the europeans must come to the conclusion on, and bolstering of nato and our resources for nato

i think are incredibly important at this moment. >> after vladimir putin's very tough speeches yesterday, both at the kremlin and in red sca square, are we getting into new post-cold war chill territory? the space shuttle, since we don't have our own manned space program right now going to the shuttle. we rely on russia for a lot, including the talks that just concluded the second round of talks with iran over its denuclearization. >> it's interesting, president putin about six months ago with reference to syria, said something in his op-ed in "the new york times" to an american public that we should move away from the policies of force and enter into the policies of engagement. well, he needs to listen to his own rhetoric. the reality is it need not be that way. but the russians also cannot

believe that they can annex properties and territories of countries without real consequences or putin will calibrate where else he will go to next. and so while i have never been overly enthused about russia's support in iran, as we were having this round of p-5 negotiations, the russians were talking about entering into some package with the iranians, giving them a sense of hope that they could have an off ramp to the sanctions, on syria, they have been assad's patron, and the only thing that got them to agree to pressure assad to give up the chemical weapons was the authorization of the use of force that the senate foreign relations committee gave to the president before he was heading to the g-20 summit in russia. so putin only understands strength and whether those are really biting economic sanctions

or strength millitarily. if he comes to the calibration and understanding that we are serious about it, then we can continue on a path that ultimately can be more collaborative and more cooperative. >> thank you very much. we'll be right back here on "andrea mitchell reports." lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. as a police officer, i've helped many people in the last 23 years, but i needed help in quitting smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced the urge for me to smoke. it actually caught me by surprise.

[ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental-health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away, as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood-vessel problems or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, and unusual dreams. i did not know what it was like to be a nonsmoker, but i do now. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you.

that does it for me. "ronan farrow daily" is next. with limited funds for the most important necessities. ugh...this toilet paper's like sandpaper. [ male announcer ] that's when the charmin relief project came to the rescue. holy charmin. [ male announcer ] delivering over 10,000 rolls of bath tissue. charmin not only saved the day. charmin saved our butts. [ male announcer ] making a firehouse feel like home again. one more way the charmin relief project is helping people enjoy the go. ...of america's number-one puppy the charfood brand...oject ...with dha and essential nutrients

also found in mother's milk. purina puppy chow. your hepatitis c.forget it's slow moving, you tell yourself. i have time. after all there may be no symptoms for years. no wonder you try to push it to the back of your mind and forget it. but here's something you shouldn't forget. hepatitis c is a serious disease. if left untreated, it could lead to liver damage and potentially even liver cancer. if you are one of the millions of people with hepatitis c, you haven't been forgotten. there's never been a better time to rethink your hep c. because people like you may benefit from scientific advances. advances that could help you move on from hep c. now is the time to rethink hep c and talk to your doctor. visit hepchope.com to find out about treatment options.

and register for a personalized guide to help you prepare for a conversation with your doctor. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need.

well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. hello, ladies and gents and welcome to "rf daily." today a former fbi investigator is going to join us to step up his role in the search for flight 370 and talk about what his agency is doing to do exactly that. we have fresh news in this. i promise you. even in that plane story. plus, the former head of the gop is weighing in on the political side of our call to action this week. remember, that is on the homelessness crisis around the country. figure out what the republican party is doing in this fight. stay tuned f