>> i think on both sides of the atlantic there's recognition on the initial incursion into crimea, we had to take some very specific steps, and we did, identifying individuals that were in part responsible for those actions. when the russian government made the decision to annex crimea, after a referendum nobody outside of russia could take seriously, we then heightened those sanctions, again in coordination. what we're now doing is coordinating around the potential for additional deeper sanctions, should russia move forward and engage in further incursions into ukraine.

and in order for russia to feel the brunt, the impact of these sanctions, it will have some impact on the global economy, as well as on all the countries represented here today. and we're mindful that's going to be different, not just between the united states and europe, but among different countries inside of europe, some of whom who are more more dependent on energy from russia than others are. so we're taking all of this into account. i think energy is, obviously, a focus of our efforts and we have to consider very strong ly. this entire event is pointed for the need for europe to further diversify its energy resources and the united states is blessed with some additional energy sources that have been developed in part because of new

technologies, and we've already licensed, authorized the export of as much natural gas each day as europe uses each day, but it's going into the open market. it's not targeted districtly. the question is, whether through our energy ministers and at the highest levels we're able to find ways in which we can accelerate this process of diversification and this is something we're very much committed to. we think it would be good for europe. we think it would be good for the united states. it's not something that can happen overnight. but what i think this entire crisis has pointed to is the need for us to get moving now with a sense of urgency, and our energy ministers are committed to doing that.

that was their assignment coming out of the g7 meeting. just on the t-tip very briefly, we already do enormous trade and there's enormous direct investment between the united states and europe. we account for a big chunk of the world economy in our economic relations. that's not going to change. i think that, you know, our publics, both in europe and the united states, have legitimate questions when it comes to trade deals as to whether or not it's going to benefit their countries over the long term and can we make sure that hard-won victories around consumer protection or environmental protection are preserved as opposed to weakened. that's something that's of concern in the united states, as

it is here. here's what i can tell you as these negotiations proceed. i have fought my entire political career, and as president, to strengthen consumer protections. i have no intention of signing legislation that would weaken those protections. i fought throughout my political career and am fighting as we speak to strengthen environmental protections in the united states, so i have no interest in signing a trade agreement that weakens environmental standards. and so i think that there's been a lot of publicity and speculation about what might be or could be or is this provision potentially used by corporations to, you know, in some fashion weaken some of these protections or encroach on sovereign decisions that are made, and i would just caution everybody to wait until they actually see what has been negotiated before

they engage in all these speculations. i think there's generally been suspicion in some quarters around trade, some of those suspicions are unjustified, some of them reflect old models of trade agreements that have been updated. but what i can say for certain, because of the trading relationship between the united states and europe, we've created millions of jobs on both sides of the atlantic and growth and prosperity has advanced. there is a way of doing this right that will help us make sure that we remain at the cutting edge of innovation and growth and development. there are bad ways of doing trade agreements, as well, and ultimately, all of these things will have to be subjected to scrutiny in the light of day, but no point in getting excited

about potential provisions and trade agreements that haven't been drafted yet. there will be plenty of time to criticize trade agreements when they are actually put before the public, but i guarantee you, we're going to be working hard to make sure that environmental protections, consumer protections that are already in place, that those are strengthened, and i shared with president van rompuy and barosa, some small segments of our economies or large corporations as opposed to small and medium-sized businesses. i think it's important for us as leaders to ensure that trade is helping folks in the bottom and folks at the middle, and broad-based prosperity, not just a few elites, and that's the

test i'm going to apply in whether or not it makes sense for us to move forward in a trade deal. i'm confident we can shake a trade deal that accomplishes those things. >> just on ukraine, and i guess that the president of the european commission will speak, on ukraine -- >> president obama, who has just finished answering a question after making a statement in brussels, today's a very big day when he's talking about the relationship with europe, and particularly how it relates to what's going on with russia and the incursion into crimea. we have seen that he has this big speech that is set for 12:45 eastern time, where he is going to talk about the role of europe and the democratic movement and how it fits into that big picture of what's happening in russia right now. i want to bring in steve klemens, editor at large at "the atlantic." couple points about them being closest partners, how they are coordinating closely. he said, if anyone in the russian leadership thought the world wouldn't care about their

actions in ukraine or they could drive a wedge between europe and the united states, they've clearly miscalculated. what's the president wanting to accomplish there today? >> president has two big goals with this speech. one, to send a clear message to putin, the other to calm jitters in europe about what russia's doing and convince them the united states is not going to be awol as this crisis unfolds. we're going to be talking about this for weeks, months, if not years, and that kind of pressure where putin may respond with trying to raise gas prices, put leverage on europe because it's so close and because there is economic integration and leverage points putin has, president obama wants europe to know we'll be standing there with them. >> of course, the ongoing concern about what happens if he decides to go further if putin thinks eastern ukraine is up for grabs, the question is how far are the united states and

european leaders willing to go. >> absolutely, both of them are on the periphery of saying, we may be back in a long game strategically with russia. the president is trying to call russia a regional power that's weaker. that bob gates doesn't write "the wall street journal" about regional powers that are weak. this is a potential for a big tectonic shift in global affairs that may make us reorganize how we think about international institutions, trade and investment, our security strategy, whether or not we get any resolution in syria, what we think about iran. there are a lot of things that hinge on whether we pivot towards a long-term conflict with russia or whether the president is able to sew things back together with both europe and perhaps putin coming back in. >> in fact, the president was asked yesterday if russia is our number one geopolitical foe. here's what he had to say to that.

>> russia's actions are a problem. they don't pose the number one national security threat to the united states. i continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in manhattan. >> when you say a nuclear weapon going off in manhattan, there's no surprise, a nuke in new york city, mr. president, steve, what do you make of those comments? >> well, i think one of the things we have to remember is russia is, of course, the world's largest stockpiler and holder of nuclear weapons in the world. it's not just the fact iran and terrorist groups may have it. we may be entering a new nuclear standoff at some point. it's great after the nuclear security summit that the president continues to raise the prospect of how significant nuclear weapons and other biological and chemical weapons

of mass destruction are, but we're getting back into not the high trust world, but a higher fear world, and in that, it's going to change the calculus by which we think about the defense budget, by which we think about investing in defense partnerships. there's been a lot of pressure bringing those numbers down. this is going to turn that around. >> again, the president going to be making a major address, 12:45 this afternoon eastern time. we'll have that. steve clemons from the atlantic, thank you very much. coming up, we'll head to washington, where the search for the missing is getting even more difficult. we'll be talking about how this happened. tirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead.

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it's just after sunrise in oso, washington, and the scene there is devastating. the death toll from that massive mudslide is rising, 24 now, and

families are bracing for that number to go much higher. two more bodies have been recovered, bringing the confirmed dead to 16, but another eight have been located and are expected to be pulled from the pile of trees, mud, and other debris some time this morning. more than 100 people are still missing. that is making for an excruciatingly painful wait for the families, as more than 200 search crews try to find the missing. >> there's, like, a mudslide and everything's gone. the houses are gone. i got people here screaming for help. >> the mudslide hit with no warning saturday morning, when a lot of people were home. and while we wait for a briefing in two hours, let's bring in nbc's jennifer bjorkland in arlington, washington. what is the search plan today?

>> reporter: [ no audio ] >> okay, we apparently are having audio problems. do we have meteorologist bill karins standing by, because, obviously, one of the concerns -- there he is, hey, bill, one of the concerns about all this, the weather conditions and how miserable, in addition to dangerous, it's going to be for the searchers. >> not to mention we have a river literally cutting through the search area and making a new channel because of this landslide. the rainfall has been, you know, pretty much off the charts this march. that didn't help things, along with the fact this river undercut this mountain, and in addition to that, deforestation. a lot of things went into this landslide and it's maybe not unpredictable as said. if you look back at the history records and warnings, a lot of angry people out there when they find out the facts. let's talk about today with the search with the rain. we had a storm system move in yesterday. you can still see the rain showers and now we're watching heavier rains shifting on to the

washington coastline, so the best search conditions will be this morning. the actually river itself, this is actually the river that goes through that caused most of this, that goes in between the carrington area and arlington. it was right in there. we have a little on and off rain, looked damp and wet. more rain is likely into the afternoon hours, but the problem is, over the next seven days we're predicting at least another two to three inches of rainfall in this region. we still have a chance of getting really soaked. i want to show you the before image of this. have a better view of how this happened, what elements went into this landslide occurring. you can see on the left, this is the before, on the right, the after. you can see where the river snakes its way right in here. that undercut this. this is all the area that slid down like this. you can actually see from 2006, a lot of the trees didn't grow back in this area. they are still in the process of, you know, the deforestation that happened with the slide, it was in the process of nature

slowly building back up, and what happened is there's also a area above this, plateau, logging permits were issued on that. there was a big pie-shaped, like a pizza pie, right above the slide, and there's people out there now saying that probably took about 25% of the rain water away. usually, the trees would soak it up. they don't know why the logging permits were issued and why after warnings from 2010 saying there's an eminent chance of a big slide, were all these people still allowed in this area. it's very troubling when you see all these facts as they are piling up. >> thanks so much, bill karins. to give you another perpspectiv of the devastation of the mudslide, the oso landslide brought something like three times the volume of mud as there is concrete in the hoover dam in one momentous cascade, creating a one-square-mile path of discussion. i want to bring in geologist

david montgomery, author of "the rocks don't lie." thanks very much for being with us. >> good morning. >> that hoover dam comparison brings it home. give us a comparison how powerful this mudslide could be. >> this was probably going 20 to 30 miles an hour, maybe faster. there's almost no warning. the amount of concrete in the hoover dam, the equivalent massachusetts mass is just an awesome form of devastation, as is now observe. it's a horrendous tragedy. >> we have the search, it's dangerous, as well. the last search came on saturday, this video shows the rescue of a 4-year-old boy. four other of his family members are still missing. what's the likelihood there still could be a place of refuge in the mud, maybe a pocket somewhere in a car, in a corner of a house? >> well, we can hold out hope for that. we're all praying for a miracle

that people are found alive in that terrible wreckage of a hill slope and community. the force involved is unimaginable. but we can all pray that they find people safe in a pocket like that, but it's, you know, with every passing day it becomes a lower probability that the search efforts are to be commended for their action. >> yeah, and, obviously, the focus here is on if it's at all possible to find survivors, but also giving some peace to the family members who have lost loved ones, because they are going to continue that recovery effort, but we have to look at a bigger picture, as well. it was way back in 1999 that dan miller, a scientist, warned of the potential of a large, catastrophic failure here. you heard what bill karins had to say just now, there have been some complaints from neighbors in that area about logging, about the amount of deforestation. obviously, they had a period of heavy rain there. what are we looking at in terms of what might have caused this?

>> well, that particular hill slope had a history of failure going back to the 1940s or '50s. it was a reactivation of an older slide. you can look at it as successive slides taking chunks and pieces out of the hill slope, and the latest one was bigger, traveled farther, ran out farther across the valley. it was much larger than the previous ones that happened there, but the potential for a catastrophic failure at that place had indeed been noted. it's probably too early to really evaluate the causes, other than the great amount of rainfall that we've had in this area this winter. it's been incredibly wet, but as your meteorologist mentioned, the river had been cutting the toe out of that, which is one of the reason that failed. the materials in the slope were unstable, old glacial deposits, and whether or not logging activity and the groundwater recharge area influenced the moisture levels in this event is i'm sure something people will be looking into. logging regulation and land use decisions, who can live where,

are governed by local agencies. they are not geologic decisions, but i'm sure people will be asking those very questions in the future. >> and not just there, but other parts of the country, as well. david montgomery, thanks for being with us. coming up, are the three female justices banding together to protect a woman's right to choose contraceptive? dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪

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the law itself, as well as its implementation. joining me now, jan schakowsky from illinois. good to see you this morning. kathleen sebelius had said march 31st, that date was not going to be delayed. now, as of last night, some folks will have until mid-april to sign up and republicans say this is another sign of botched administration of obamacare, just the latest extension. do they have a point? >> well, i don't think they do, because people have to have made the attempt to get signed up. they have to have entered into the marketplace, and it will -- it may take some time for them to actually get approved, so no one can begin the process after march 31st, but if they began it before, and i know in my office in the district, there are some people who have hit some certain questions that still have to be answered, and they'll have time to do that in order to finally get their insurance. look, you know, the idea that so

many people now are signing up and we may need some more time is good news, actually. as you head toward a deadline, you know, people need deadlines. there are more and more people who are saying, whoops, i haven't done it yet. now they'll have a little more time to get processed in order to become part. >> there is that practical implication, but also a political one. rnc chairman reince priebus sent out a statement yesterday, "another day, another obamacare delay from the same obama administration that won't work with republicans to help americans suffering from the unintended consequences of the failed health care law. democrats in leadership may say they are doubling down on obamacare, but you have to wonder how many more unilateral delays their candidates running in 2014 can withstand." look, the criticism isn't new, but what about the implications for people who are running in tough races, and does this give more ammunition to republican candidates? >> every single improvement that the obama administration has

tried to make in the affordable care act, they call an example of how it's failed. let's remember, chris, that no american who has a pre-existing condition will ever be denied care again, that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition in our country, because women have paid about 48% more. it's just a remarkable improvement. they don't want to work with us at all to try and make the law better. they want to embrace the bad things, the obama administration wants to make it easier for people to participate. >> and, of course, the contraception mandate in obamacare was before the supreme court yesterday. justice kaig l saying, when an employer says, no, i don't want to give that, that woman is quite directly, intangibly harmed. what do you think about the impact of the women on the court

on this decision and how it might play into the 2014 elections. >> thank goodness there are women on the court right now. you know what they say, chris, if you're not at the table, you're probably on the menu, and so i think the fact that women, who have some experience with contraception, know the difference between the effectiveness of an i.u.d., for example, and a condom, that it's very important for those women to be there, who have experienced as 99% of women in their reproductive years have experienced contraception, so the fact this is controversial at all is amazing. i think that their voices are essential in making the right decision. >> representative jan schakowsky, good to have you on the program, thank you. >> thank you, chris. let me bring in senior political writer for buzz feed, and senior editor at msnbc.com, beth fouhy. good to see both of you. you're working on a book right now on the gop, right, so you're

the perfect person to ask how the delays with obamacare are going to play into their attacks in 2014. >> this plays into the republicans' narrative all along, not just about obamacare, but about president obama himself, which is that he's incompetent, he's not ready for the task that he has at hand, that he's not really fit for the oval office, not because he's necessarily a bad guy, but just because he's, you know, in over his head. right? so every time one of these obamacare delays happens, you know, i don't know that it actually makes a huge difference in terms of the midterms. i don't know how many voters are going to say, oh, they gave people another two weeks to sign up for obamacare, i'm not voting for the democrat in my district anymore, but what this does is says, president obama, this is his key, signature accomplishment from his entire presidency and he can't get it done. he can't get it rolled out. what does that say about him and should we really believe this law is ultimately going to help people? that's the republican argument. >> i guess the question is, will

this have legs come november among the undecided voters, in many cases the republicans are preaching to the choir here and what the democrat response is going to be. >> i agree with what you said. people are not going to not vote for a democrat because of this delay in the implementation. look, people are going to get covered. they just are. the deadline is going to get pushed back, people will skrump on, people will get on next year. this law is done, it's over. yes, it's going to rest at the ballot box in november how people want to take action, and republicans are gambling, probably rightly, that a lot of democrats are going to go down over this. we don't know 100%, but the more people get covered by obamacare, the harder it's going to be for republicans to repeal the law. >> part of the largest conversation is, as we mentioned with congresswoman schakowsky, the obamacare contraceptive mandate before the supreme court yesterday, and the president is about to visit the pope tomorrow, so senator rand paul

thought that would be something to take up with the pope. take a listen. >> we ought to explain to the pope why he's telling businesses in america why they can't stay in business. the hobby lobby case is being discussed today, and i think it's important he tell the leader of the catholic church why he thinks businesses owned by catholics can't make their own decisions with regard to health care. >> i don't think, mckay, it's going to be interesting how much this is talked about as we head into the election. we certainly saw, in spite of nasty weather yesterday, a lot of protesters outside the supreme court. >> if you watch this debate unfold on twitter, which i have been the last few weeks, and especially yesterday, this is one of the least productive and most vicious debates that i've seen. like any big culture war debate, it strikes at the heart of people's identities. each side is deliberately trying not to understand each other. the progressives are saying this is a reproductive rights issue, conservatives are saying this is a religious rights issue.

why we're seeing republicans talk about this is religious liberty is where the social conservative base is headed. they know that fighting against gay rights is not ultimately a winning argument. they saw how in 2012 how effective the war on women argument can be, so what they are trying to do is shift the terms of the debate, this is not about contraceptives, this is not about gay people, what this is about is protecting religious peoples rights to exercise their free conscience, and the more we see conservatives talk about these issues, this is how they are going to reach the religious right voters without having, at least they believe, without having to alienate the rest. >> at the same time, the democrats think they have an argument, too, they are worried about the slippery slope. >> i see what you're saying about taking the religious liberty argument separate from the war on women, but face it, we're talking about contraception here. this is a women's issue. you had a male lawyer for a local christian company arguing for the supreme court that women who work at that company should not get this coverage and you have three women justices, as

you pointed out, that are advocates for, or at least questioning the hobby lobby point, so it's clearly become a gender issue, and i think what republicans and conservatives are trying to do is thread a needle they might not successfully do. >> good to see both of you again. thank you very much. check out myhealth care.msnbc.com for all your health care questions or tweet us the story usin using #myhealthcare. coming up, new hope and a new lead in the missing malaysian airlines plane. satellite images showing 122 objects. could they be debris from the missing plane? we'll have a live update. it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer.

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debris picked up by satellites last week. joining me now for the latest from perth is nbc's ian williams. ian, what are you hearing about this latest development and how's the search going? >> reporter: hi, chris. well, this is the fourth piece -- the fourth set of satellite images, the fourth lead, and possibly the most significant. certainly, that's how the malaysian officials see it. a french satellite took these images last sunday, the 23rd, they appeared to show suspect debris spread over a 155-square-mile area out there in the southern part of the indian ocean. now, what we don't know at this point is precisely what they are. the satellite said they appear to be quite solid, range in size from three or four feet, up to 75 feet. the information has been passed on to the australians and will be factored in to future searches out there.

now, today, wednesday, there were a record number of assets out in the search area. 12 aircraft, five ships, they did spot what they describe as three significant items of debris, two of which appeared to be rope, the third was just described as something that was blue, although they played down the significance of those as to whether they could really be related to the aircraft. the weather was much improved today. there was good visibility, although it was a little rough out there, but not like yesterday when they had to suspend the operation. they are warning, though, that bad weather is on the way, and so they are not entirely sure what tomorrow will bring, but certainly, they will be encouraged by these new satellite photographs as they step up the search tomorrow, chris. >> ian williams in perth for us, thank you so much, ian. meantime, new questions being raised this morning about the secret service, after three of the president's secret service agents were sent home from europe following a night of

drinking. now they were supposed to be doing advanced security work for the president's visit, but one agent was found passed out in the hallway of president obama's hotel. two years ago, you'll remember, another advanced team of agents hit the club clubs. nbc's chief white house correspondent and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd, is traveling with the president. i guess now since the cartejana incident, there's a zero tolerance policy, chuck? >> that's exactly right. folks said this is a classic case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. this was behavior that some acknowledged might have been tolerated, but there's no tolerance for any of this type of behavior now. the implication is it was no more than a drunken night on the

town, nothing more than the type of events that took place in columbia, but given the cultural change the new head of the secret service is trying to instill, there's acknowledgment it takes time to change a culture, it's not going to happen right away. my understanding, these three agents aren't newbies. they have been in the service for at least five years. you don't get to the position they were in as part of this advanced counterassault team that they are part of without having been in the service and worked your way up, so these are guys that it's not as if the rules were new to them. they've done a lot, i'm told, these guys have gone through a lot of training, sensitivity training, cultural training, but you know what, as one person put it to me, humans are humans sometimes and they make mistakes. my understanding, none of these three are going to be relieved of their duties or fired from the service, barring new revelations. >> we should say the white house is being clear, secret service is being clear, the president's

security was not put at risk. that's important to note, too. meantime, we heard from the president at the top of this hour, he made strong statements about the u.s. relationship with europe and has this big speech coming up at 12:45 eastern time. are we going to hear more of that? >> the speech is, in many ways, designed to rally europe to the cause of sort of the greater goal of europe and the united states and from world war ii onward has been sort of this alliance promoting democracy, promoting freedom, and in many ways, the president wants to use this speech as a way to use the ukraine example as a rallying cry to get europeans saying, you know what, you've got to sometimes -- there's a lot of work been put into building this freedom agenda over the last 70-plus years, and, you know, that's why it's important to stay united, to push back at putin on this, to not accept the idea that crimea is gone as some

sort of foregone conclusion. look, it's going to be a tough sell, you know, in their hearts, the europeans are with the president on this that, yes, putin needs to be punished, but the leaders here in europe have practical issues to deal with, including a struggling economy and the fact the european economy is so intertwined with the russian economy. it's not an easy decision to suddenly shun russia so quickly, so that's the challenge that the president has today, but again, it's designed to be a broader speech. president's vision of the european-american alliance going forward. >> chuck todd traveling with the president. thank you, chuck. from sweet to sour, the company behind the wildly popular game candy crush saga rang the opening bell last hour on the new york stock exchange and now they've made their public debut. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. okay, it's king digital, that's candy crush, and they want to go for big bucks. >> they really do. at the ipo price it was valued

at $7 billion, which some people sounds crazy for what essentially is a one-trick pony. i know king digital has 180 games, but about three-quarters of its revenue does come from candy crush. as we can see, it's down about 10% and i think what people are concerned about here is it does need to convince investors it is a whole lot more than just a one-trick pony. >> is candy crush a fad? some new game will come out and most of their interest is gone. >> the people supporting this do say, well, it's making money, right? estimates it's going to grow its revenue to about $2.5 billion this year, and last year it made a profit of about $567 million, so it is making a profit, but remember the lessons of farmville. have you ever played farmville? >> i don't play any of those video games. >> either do i, but the company behind farmville was synga. it had an ipo and went public in

december 2011 and their share price halved. i think it's come back recently, but the point is, you need to be more than just a hit-driven ipo, so time will tell with this. >> i did play pac-man. that was a while ago. >> '80s. >> a lot of people play candy crush on facebook. mark zuckerberg, headlines with another multibillion purchase. >> this is facebook's first foray to hardware. $19 billion for what's app. everyone is saying, wow, are they just spending to spend? what's its strategy here with regards to acquisitions? they make these goggles. >> very attractive, by the way. >> very attractive. and so far you can't just go into a store and buy it. there are lots of orders out there, mainly from, you know, the gaming industry, right, for playing video games, but zuckerberg has a vision for this to go so much further. he sees applications in

education, in medical needs, you might be able to talk face-to-face with your doctor through these reality goggles. >> that's kind of cool. >> he also sees media applications, he sees, you know, communication applications, so much further than just the gaming industry. that, so far, is his strategy for this particular acquisition. >> mandy drury, thank you. coming up, disturbing new study on smoking and the poor. we'll dig into the findings with the former antismoking director under president clinton. [ 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! until you're sure you do. bartender: thanks, captain obvious. co: which is what makes using the hotels.com mobile app so useful. i can book a nearby hotel room from wherever i am.

or, i could not book a hotel room and put my cellphone back into my pocket as if nothing happened. hotels.com. i don't need it right now. when my son was born, i remember, you know, picking him up and holding him against me. it wasn't just about me anymore. i had to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. chantix didn't have nicotine in it, and that was important to me. [ 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 could 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.

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you want a way to help minimize blood sugar spikes. support heart health. and your immune system. now there's new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. there's a troubling new study about smoking and it plays into the debate about income inequality. there's a clear and disturbing divide between rich and poor when it comes to smoking. take a look, americans with a high school education or lower make up 40% of the u.s. population, but they are 55% of the smokers. and, of course, that has profound and potentially deadly consequences for people in poverty. so what to do about it? let me bring in michael

erickson, former director of the office on smoking and health at the cdc under president clinton. aisha moodie-mills, good morning to both of you. >> good morning, chris. >> michael, let me start with you. this study also shows people with money and education are quitting smoking at a much higher rate. what do you think is going on here? >> well, it's quite dramatic. first of all, higher educated, wealthier people, have always smoked less than other groups, but the rate of decline has really accelerated for the wealthy and the rich. what we've seen is, 25% reduction in smoking among those with high school education and a 75% reduction in those with a college degree. so not only the rates higher for those with less education, but the rate of decline is less speedy. >> and poor women, aisha, are particularly vulnerable, while about half of high income

counties, and they broke this down literally by county, half of those high income counties showed significant declines, but when it came to low income counties, it was only 4%. why is the message not getting through, particularly to poor women? >> well i think it's not surprising that we see a trend here with smoking that is reflective of the trend with health and wellness disparities across the board, with poor people, people of color, lgbt americans, as well. there are a host of symptoms of poverty, quite frankly, that are playing out here that we need to discuss in terms of how we deal with the structural issues on the ground, that people are facing in these communities where they are smoking. >> let me read one thing to you, aisha, it's a quote, "few people interviewed said they were glad to be smoking, but many said it was one of the few pleasures they could afford." i live in new york city, where the taxes are so high smoking is actually very expensive, that may not be the case in some of the rural areas. >> yeah, people are using

smoking as an outlet for pleasure because it's the only thing they have available, given they are facing so many struggles with unemployment, with, you know, being underemployed, with food insecurity, with health and wellness issues, so i think we see that with smoking. it's also important to note that tobacco companies market to these communities, as well. smoking is high among the poor, among people of color, among lgbt people because tobacco companies go for them and are pushing these products down their throat, which is why it's important that the fda regulate tobacco as best they can and particularly get rid of menthol cigarettes. >> it is important to say, michael, that the overall number of people smoking has declined, and some of the credit is given to some of these ads, i think we have one we can show you that the cdc put out, they target teens, they showed the graphic effects that smoking can have, but what do we do now, how do we continue this progress, because, as i mentioned, the implications

for public health are enormous. >> absolutely. and recently the surgeon general's report came out and celebrated this 50th anniversary from 1964, and during that time in a half a century, smoking rates have been cut in half. it's a huge success story, but we're only halfway there. there's still over 40 million americans who smoke, and we need to disrupt the status quo and make much more progress, because smoking continues to be the leading preventible cause of death in this country, and we can't just tolerate going along with a 1% or 2% reduction a year. we really need to accelerate it, and we know how to do that. >> michael, aisha, important conversation. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. [ mom ] over the years, i've learned how

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that wraps up this hour of "jansing and co.," i'm chris jansing. next on "news nation" with tamron hall, the death toll climbs in the catastrophic landslide in washington state, and new questions about a

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good morning, everyone, i'm tamron hall, and this is "news nation." we begin with that devastating mudslide in northern washington state, at least 24 people are now believed dead. after ten more bodies were found just yesterday. two of the bodies were recovered, eight more were spotted and will be pulled from the pile of mud and debris some time today. nearly 200 people are still reported missing. in the next hour, officials will provide an update on the recovery effort. and msnbc will bring that to you live. and right now, rescue teams are still looking for survivors, combing through that debris with their bare hands in some cases in drenching rain, but so far they've had no luck. >> unfortunately, we didn't find any signs of life. we didn't locate anybody alive. >> no one has been fou