the report of malaysian flight 370 today. it's unlikely to contain any ground breaking news. thousands are marching through moscow's square. peace protests will be going on around the world today. nba owners having a meeting to discuss the next steps in removing donald sterling as owner of the los angeles clippers. tonight game six of their first round series. that's going to wrap it up. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ we're learning more about the woman at the center of this scandal. a woman named v. stiviano. the media showed up at her apartment. look at this. she decided to do some roller skating there in the alley while everyone looked on.

instead of yelling at the camera guys outside her house, this is real. she offered them refreshments. >> you guys want some water? i have coconut water, aloe vera water, regular water, sparkling water. >> thank you. such a sweetheart. >> she's got a team. you know what? i'm suspicious of this woman for a lot of reasons, but number one now is who has four kinds of water and three varieties of oranges in their house? no wonder we're having a drought. she's got all our water. >> good question. good morning, everyone. it's thursday, may 1st. >> beautiful. >> it does not feel like may. not the may i used to know. with us on set we have the chairman of deutsch incorporated donnie deutsch. >> look at that. he's got the point. >> you got to have a thing.

>> that's your thing. is that your signature? >> msnbc contributor mike barnicle. looks nice today. >> and in washington -- >> rolling the dice, baby. rolling the dice. does that work? >> that was great. >> wow. okay. and hi, jeremy. >> how are you? >> good. >> and in nashville, historian jon meacham joins us. gosh, what a great crew. >> that's good. >> there you go. that's the craps move. >> paul newman thing. listen. i think up to this point and i think we'll all agree here, that it was 50/50. you know what i'm talking about. >> no, it wasn't 50/50. >> on the bubble. should he go to rehab, should he not go to rehab. i think, willie, i think rob

ford going to rehab. >> what a mess. >> serious problem. >> why do you say that? was the crack pipe your first clue? >> there's a new video from a newspaper that reports to show mayor ford with a crack pipe in his hand and smoking crack. so he's taking a leave of absence. >> so now it's not funny. now it's not funny. >> it's funny until it's not funny. >> but this guy got all -- he drank a lot of kool-aid that the media gave him. >> may have been on crack before. >> probably was. >> the clippers. are you going to buy them? >> i'm just under budget. yeah, i am. how about you? >> i don't know. i think barnicle and i are going to be in a bidding war. >> i told you i'm not getting into a bidding war. >> but everybody's piling on. >> i got a price. i put it on the table.

>> the list goes from larry ellison to frankie muniz. i'm not making that up. >> let's get to the news. >> a lot of severe weather to hit the south. unbelievable damage. heavy rains tore through several states leaving parts of the florida panhandle nearly two feet under water. >> that picture is right -- the streegt right across from my mom's house. >> no! >> and where we -- >> that's that street that we -- >> yes. my parents' house where i lived for a long time. we have other picture. >> at least one death blamed on the flooding. hundreds of drivers and residents trapped in the worst flooding in the state in 30 years. this is what's left of the scenic highway in pensacola. oh, joe. >> yeah. that's right down the street. >> after it collapsed yesterday. and we have a photo back in pensacola that shows flooding everywhere in front of your old house. you can see the truck of the

home is buried near the water. another photo shows extreme damage in the local neighborhoods there. >> that, actually, is believe it or not, that is from the front yard of the house where joey and andrew -- >> no. >> -- grew up. where we lived when they were growing up in pensacola. to tell you the truth, i have no idea where the water came from. we never even had any standing water in that area. >> that's incredible. >> it's just a massive flood. >> i'm so sorry. there's lots more to report on this. sarah daloff joins us with more. sarah? >> reporter: good morning, guys. the worst of the storm may have passed, but the cleanup is going to take weeks. this is what used to be old cory field road. now as you can see just a jumble of asphalt and cars. people actually had to be rescued, pulled from those cars.

luckily everybody is okay. and it's not that pensacola isn't used to rain. they're one of the wettest cities in the country, but it is the amount. nearly two feet in 26 hours. as you said, it has been deadly. at least one person killed. and there have been a number of dramatic rescues including that of a mother and her young son. they were in the attic of their home. the flood waters were rising and firefighters had to use an accident to break through the roof. they say they were about two feet of breathing room left when they got to them. and people who weren't in such dramatic situations say they were quite afraid. besides the heavy rain, there were also extreme winds and some very intense lightning. they say there were moments of terror in there when we talked to them. some good news. the worst has passed. we'll see rain today but nothing we've seen in the past few days. it will give people a chance to dry out and start to clean up. back to you guys. >> thanks so much. let's go to bill kairns with more on this.

>> let's sum up this four days of destruction from a storm that we don't typically see. we can get storms that stick around for a day or two. but for four days this storm has lingered all the way from nebraska and this morning it's still located over wisconsin. but it's weaker now. so let's sum this thing up. this is going to be our first billion-dollar weather disaster in this country. this is our first. 39 deaths reported attributed to the storm. most of those from tornadoes. 79 tornadoes in all. two of them are what we call ef-4 tornadoes. that's high on the scale. it goes to ef-5. those had 185 mile-per-hour winds. the event we showed you in pensacola, it's a 1 in every 200-year event for that city. no one alive has seen anything like it. by the way, in areas of south dakota they had a blizzard on the backside of this that didn't have a lot of attention. two feet of snow. >> incredible. all right.

bill, we'll be back in touch with you. thank you. >> that's like one final punch from this winter. one last punch right to the jaw. >> just painful. as we mentioned at the top, rob ford is taking a leave of absence after reports of a new video allegedly showing him smoking crack. the toronto globe say two reporters recently viewed the video shot by a drug dealer in ford's sister's basement saturday morning. nbc news has not verified the authenticity of the videos, but you can see for yourself. make your own decision. ford is now acknowledging only that he has a problem with alcohol and that he will take a break from this diminished role in office to get help. he disputed he had a substance abuse problem last november with matt lauer on the "today" show. >> e the best excuse i heard you give for using that crack cocaine was i was in a drunken stupor. i'm wondering, is that supposed to make anybody feel better? >> no, not at all.

but show me video even according -- >> why does the video matter? >> i can barely remember it. i was very, very inebriated. >> i want to make sure we understand, you're not in alcohol treatment program. >> no. i have a weight issue. i've been training every day. all i can say, matt, actions speak louder than words. i invite you to come back. give me five or six months and if you don't see a difference, i'll leave. >> hard follow me around thing. come back in five or six months. he only has a problem with alcohol, not crack, right? so i guess that's just to keep his weight down? i don't know. >> i think we're done having fun over this. that's pathetic. >> it's taken a turn. >> it's kind of like, you know -- >> the media attention was a drug to him as well. let's move on. bill clinton is defending his economic policies. not just to shape his own legacy

but to neutralize criticism ahead of his wife's potential run. speaking at georgetown university, the former president pushed back after the administration put business concerns over where the former secretary of state was looking at him from the front row, clinton reflected on how his budget helped boost education and pave the way for the affordable care act. >> almost immediately we had several million children getting health insurance who couldn't get it. i don't know how many times i have read from the left bitter criticism about what a slug i was to sign the balanced budget act of '96 lowering the capital gains rate from 28% to 20%. you're afraid to decide that you think i made a mistake, but all the people that say, you know, what was bill clinton doing getting in bed with wall street and lowering the capital gains tax, he was getting 6 million

poor children health insurance coverage. you can say clinton was lucky. he caught the tech boom. clinton was lucky, he came out of the recession. and all the so-called prosperity of the 1980s, only 77,000 of our fellow americans moved from poverty into the middle class. in the '90s, 100 times as many, 7.7 million people, did. that was policy. >> clinton's forceful defense of his economic legacy comes as progressive leaders including senator elizabeth warren criticized past policies that they say hurt the average american. it's a fine line to walk for hillary clinton who has been discussing income inequality while also holding events with goldman sachs and the carlman group. several wall street figures would gladly open their wall et ceteras to hillary clinton.

>> i don't know where to begin on that speech. can we start with wow? can we start with wow? >> i think that's a good place to start. >> that's a good place to start. second place to start, i've got to say this as a guy that was there at the time bill clinton vetoed every appropriations bill and said our plan to balance the budget in seven years would destroy the economy and throw young children out in the street. and he vetoed bill after bill after bill after bill after bill after bill and he only signed that balanced budget act after he was on the golf course with michael jordan and he got the horrifying news that if he didn't rush back to washington and sign it, the budget would balance itself. didn't hear about that in the speech. but bill clinton fought us in welfare reform, said we were throwing young children on the streets. said we were cruel.

now you read his memoirs, it leads it as his great accomplishments and he's still talking about it. so that's my little spiel in response. why don't you tell me as a presidential historian what to make of bill clinton talking about his self yesterday. >> he is the best defense lawyer in america. barack obama hired him last time. he's apparently hired himself. >> isn't he better defending somebody else than doing what he did yesterday? >> one of the things that's interesting when you watch that, i don't know about you, i had the sneaking suspicion that's not the first time he's said those lines. so it had a kind of rogue quality to it which is interesting bigraphically. presidents off see as they wish to be seen. they look back claiming inspiration. most of the time they're looking for sanction. this is actually kind of automatic circle on this.

he's reshaping, he's arguing the history as it's happening. and he's the first president, really, that i can think of that has a direct personal interest in arguing forward. arguing the past in order to shape something for someone else. except for george h.w. bush who would never try to make a case about his own administration like this personally in this way. >> jeremy peters, obviously hillary clinton was sitting front row right there. fair or not, the legacy is lumped together with hillary clinton's legacy. she was in the white house at the time. how much of what bill clinton is doing now is about actually his wife and her potential future? >> i think that's what this is all about. i think you look at hillary clinton now and she's taking a lot of heat from the left. ralph nader who i'm sure democrats just love to have him sticking his nose back into

democratic presidential politics again. but ralph nader and another group of liberals wrote to her urging her to exercise more of her authority in persuading walmart. you have the elizabeth warren wing of the party that's getting a lot of attention lately. let's remember something interesting about where hillary clinton and bill clinton are now vis-a-vis where they were when they entered national politics. they were making $35,000 a year when he was governor of arkansas. now they have made in excess of $100 million on speeches. so they may not be in the eyes of many democrats the best messengers for the message of economic populism. >> you know -- >> $100 million? >> they've got a nice quote between the two of them. >> $100 million. >> highest paid. >> not bad. >> in listening to him just briefly, he spoke for two hours. >> no, he did not.

stop it, barnicle. that's his first convention he spoke at. that was horrible. >> he was up for two hours with charts and graphs. >> don't tell me that. >> tim didn't stay for the two hours. >> i was going to say i hope he took his iphone and played angry birds. >> one of the interesting aspects listening to the president, he can recreate in people's minds, i think, a fondness for that period of time in the 1990s during the clinton administration. people forget a lot of the negatives. there's a fondness for that period of time. >> well, there's a fond -- even as you're kind of -- what's the word i want? not mocking. >> telling the truth? >> just kind of jabbing, there is in our lifetime or certainly post-ronald reagan, there is not a figure, not a politician that comes on the screen and you stare and listen and lean in. so many politicians, you're leaning out. >> there's no doubt.

>> there's a magic there that even -- >> i wouldn't go that far. >> even as you were calling him on the mats, you're doing it with a smile on your face. >> of course. >> i'm just saying there's something about that guy. >> it's fun. like every time i see him up there talking, i start laughing. >> whether you're agreeing or disagreeing with what he's saying, you can't not love the guy. plain and simple. i do not believe the same thing happens with hillary clinton. >> actually, that's actually the takeaway here. i love hillary, that never happens with hillary. >> i do believe that obviously she's the possible front runner. i do believe there will be some clinton fatigue. the same thing i'm saying about him i don't know plays with her going forward. time will tell. coming up on "morning joe," oklahoma senator tom coburn on his home state's botched execution everyone's been

talking about. also why senator joe manchin says he's not giving up on his republican colleagues after they blocked on the vote to raise the minimum wage. and bob woodward is going to be here at 8:00. >> we're going to have a great discussion. >> for what bob called a full-blown governing crisis in the white house. also there you see joanna coles of cosmo with the extreme way women can free up their careers. >> with woodward, we'll have al hine. >> wow. talk about lamp shades on the head. wow. >> are you kidding me? you don't like him? michael is going to be here. >> i don't know who you guys book. it's amazing. >> wow. okay. but first, joe, what's the biggest factor that could keep hillary clinton from running for president in 2016? politico has the answer. next on "morning joe." ♪

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all right. it's 21 past the hour. time now to take a look at the morning papers. from our parade of papers, "the dibenedetto union tribune." more than 700 firefighters are fighting a fire in rancho cucamonga in southern california. mike allen says it's perfect. the fire burned more than a thousand acres in the san bernardino national forest. officials say the blaze is fueled by winds and dry conditions. it also forced the evacuations of about 1600 homes. >> and from "the richmond times-dispatch," a train explosion yesterday in virginia. thousands of gallons of crude oil seeped into a river after cars derailed in lynchburg.

some of the cars quickly went up with flames filling the sky with fire and black smoke. nobody hurt. >> and "the new york times" on the senate republican successful filibuster on the plan to increase the federal minimum wage to $10 an hour. democrats claim republicans are tone deaf to low income americans. i would say so. lawmakers in the gop say the democrats are risking jobs. just bob corker, republican of tennessee votes with the democrats. front page story. i guess this is going to be the narrative for the democrats as they head into midterms and also the presidential elections. >> that's absolutely right. you're seeing this with a lot of other proposals that you put forward, calling their plan a fair shot for everyone. my question is do voters come out and vote on this? if you look at polling, it will show that a majority of voters are willing to vote for someone who doesn't share their views on the minimum wage.

where that intensity is a lot stronger is on health care. so that's what democrats need to be worried about going forward. now, they're going to keep trying to get this minimum wage bill through the senate. susan collins, a republican. they're looking for a way forward. but i just don't know. i don't see it getting through the house. >> what is it republicans are afraid of will hurt their image if the minimum wage is raised so people can eat? >> is that a leading question? let's put it another way. why would the republicans say they rejected the bill yesterday? >> it's funny. i went back and looked at john boehner's quotes from 1996 when you guys had this fight in congress when clinton was president. and his argument back then is basically the same as it is now. if you raise the minimum wage, it will lead to people making more money, but it will lead to fewer jobs because businesses will have to cut employees. and that's ultimate what their argument is right now. and they do have some evidence

to back that up. >> okay. >> all right. it's not as much of a slam dunk as a lot of liberals say on their blogs. it's a -- you know, there are different studies. you can make an argument on both sides. if you want to ask why republicans like myself would be concerned about raising it as much as the president's talking about raising it right now, is because we had an economy that grew at .01% this past quarter. i think most republicans believe it does need to go up at some point, but i don't know if now is the best time to hike it that much. >> if people raise more money, don't they spend it? >> that's the debate. you'd think after 30 years of this discussion, there would be an economic clarity to this discussion. when you raise the minimum wage does it cost jobs or does that counterbalance by more spending? >> the economy's always changing though.

it's hard to say. yesterday we had tim pawlenty on saying we needed to raise the minimum wage. maybe not up to $10. i think there's a deal to be done here. because you look at polling. it's very interesting. you look at polling, even republicans a good number of republicans, support raising the minimum wage. that don't have college degrees. republicans don't have college degrees and advanced degrees are opposed to it. >> t los of republicans. the way the one person wind through and summarized it for me, if you're not rich you're for raising the minimum wage. and republicans are reading those polls. that's why i think there's going to be some action this year. even the leadership will tell you there's not, i bet they change their mind. >> there is a middle ground

though. for something in ohio where it's $7.95. california is 8 bucks, something like that. when you look at the numbers. $7.25, 40 hours a week over a year is $15,000 a year. talking about a lot of money. >> there's a deal to be made. it sounds like the democrats want to be backed out of keystone and other energy issues. maybe there's actually a compromise to be made where republicans do a middle ground and they can even pull the trigger when the economy grows at 3%. >> i like that. >> for the year. boom, then suddenly it goes up. and you index it to inflation. so we don't have it happening again. there's a deal to be done. >> just something. >> this is the one issue i'm very comfortable stepping away from. nobody as jeremy said is going to move the needle away from you because you stepped out of this as a republican. it's a great place to broaden. >> mike allen as you know is

here. white house correspondent for politico. he's got a look at the playbook. there's a really good piece in politico magazine asking the question what is hillary clinton afraid of. what is the answer to that question? >> it's not donors, not the left wing. >> carneys? clowns? >> she is reengaging with the media. she hasn't had to have a lot of give and take. the immediate issue of politico magazine out for white house correspondents weekend. glen and maggie talked to dozens of people around secretary clinton. and what they found is she believes the conspiracy theorists around her. she thinks the coverage is shallow. she thinks it's misogynist. there's one quote in this piece that says glen and maggie asked why she hates it so much and they said -- they gave a few

excuses and finally said she just hates you. that's not going to change. >> how many times, donnie deutsch, in high school did we hear that from girls we asked to prom? >> i wish it stopped in high school. >> why aren't you going to prom with me? because i just hate you. >> you went to prom. >> she's too busy, prone to making mistakes. and this senior clinton campaign veteran just cuts it all and said, quote, look she hates you. period. that's never going to change. >> you've got to appreciate that. >> you can't just look at what happened in 2008. she had to deal with more biased coverage in 2008 in the primary against barack obama than any republican. it was misogynistic. >> her cleavage. remember that? >> it was horrific. if i was hillary clinton and i went through what she went through in 2008, i would hate the media. then you rewind it and take it

back to '92, '93, '94, the humiliation she had to go through in '98 and 't -- '99. she's got a reason to not care for the media. but the problem is if she's going to run for president, she's going to have to deal with the media. >> that's just it. what they found is she takes it personally still. one very interesting string they picked up was special hate for "the new york times." a lot of bitterness in her camp about the way "the times" has treated her over the years. five words you will never hear a "new york times" editor say are, there's no story here. philippe insisted the press doesn't try. he says it's as if you guys think that everyone takes one to tango. this is the spot they're in.

even reporters who have treated her friendly over the years, even reporters who have tried to be fair, they treat them, they internally regard them as suckups and sycophants. they don't like them either. >> the flip side of her enduring all this is she knows what it's like. she knows what to expect. she's tough enough to deal with us. >> and the fact that the very, very, very, call it bias, whatever it is over the last 20 years, the media has a way of swinging. and it may be in a strange way she's taken her flogging at this point and there might be a kinder, gentler media. >> why don't we just thank mike and ignore donnie. >> i'm going to retract that statement. >> thank you, mike. >> thank you for your lovely invitation. it's nice to see you and have you on the set here. >> thanks for having me. coming up, he's one of the

most exciting players in college football. i stole your tease, willie. apparently it was about crab legs. $32 of seafood could have the heisman winner in trouble. full highlights from the nba and nhl playoffs. and still ahead, the dangers of talking to the public during a live shot. one reporter learned an important lesson coming up. and the cutest, cutest little baby hamster you've ever seen. >> what? there's some real dogs out there. ♪

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♪ welcome back to "morning joe." time for some sports. a little trouble for the heisman trophy winner jameis winston of florida state. police say he ordered $33 worth of crab legs and crawfish. >> we all do that. >> from a tallahassee supermarket. >> publix, right? they're great. >> yes. i love publix. >> you do kroger or publix? >> publix. >> jameis winston ordered that crab legs and seafood but then walked out of the store without paying. winston says he simply forgot to pay. he got a ticket that will force him to serve about 20 hours of community service.

this has become a meme online. the twitter verse tweeting out images of him with crab legs. >> he loves crab legs. >> i'm allergic. >> when did he do that? >> that's amazing. >> wow. a lot of people in this country with way too much time on their hands. >> yes. some people calling fsu this morning free seafood university. think about his road games. going to be showered with road ga crab legs everywhere he goes. >> he's been dumped off the fsu baseball game for a period of time. >> that's right. he's a good baseball player too. he's sitting out for awhile. let's go to the nba. rockets hosting the blazers. they stay alive with a 108-98

win. they trail though 3-2 as they go back. >> ever seen a better opening round in the nba? >> this was a great game. raptors up big in the third, but the nets come storming back. they come back from a 26-point deficit to tie it up on a joe johnson three. 26 down. just over three minutes left in the fourth there. couple minutes later, kyle lowrie, he went off for toronto. that's the go-ahead three. raptors feed off the home crowd there. they win 115-113 in a shootout. toronto leads that series 3-2 as it comes back to brooklyn. the twitter account took a jab at its own fan base. posting this is what a playoff crowd sounds like. really? is that is a jab at their own team? i don't know. let's go to san antonio where tony parker playing on no sleep hours after the birth of his child. san antonio win over the mavs. the spurs lead that series 3-2. playoffs continue tonight.

game six matchups, the hawks can close out the pacers tonight in atlanta. >> the hawks and the wizards. that's crazy. >> just what adam silver dreamed up there. grizzlies host the thunder. and the clippers visit the warriors. let's go to the ice. three game seven stanley cup playoffs last night. >> big playoff series. >> kopitar. across nor brown. going to catch up to it. and l.a. is going to join a select group of teams. >> laid it back in deep. score! the new york rangers move on for the first time in six years. >> holding onto it. and he scores! wins the series for the minnesota wild. >> that's a huge upset right there. the minnesota wild knocking out the avs. the rangers and kings advance.

>> we should point out that doc emmett, he's the best announcer anywhere from hockey. >> just incredible. >> when did colorado change their name? >> a couple generations ago. >> in '75 when the hustle came out. it's been awhile. you were busy at studio 54. >> i'm just not a hockey guy. >> willie was a little young for this and mike was -- >> but i was right there. >> those were good years. >> those are the peak deutsch years. all right. ever heard of a water hazard in baseball? >> really? >> it's off the end of the bat. flipped down the right side. it's foul and giving chase that time was perez. and somehow it set off a water geyser. >> holy cow. >> what happened there, willie?

>> that's from the ft. wayne tin caps. >> that happened at a tin caps game? >> that's a nice ballpark. 18-minute delay. knocked off that sprinkler head, i guess. i love that. >> what happens when college softball players meet some unexpected competition. let's watch. >> right to williams at third. gets it to first and a dog on the field. >> oh, boy. >> that's something you don't see every day. and he just stole pfeiffer's glove. now he's stole a left fielder glove. >> bad boy. >> that dog is incredible. >> that's western oregon university playing softball against monmouth. he's not giving that back either. >> he took two.

>> dog gone it. willie, dog gone it. still ahead, a new report says china will pass the u.s. to become the world's largest economy this year. not pictured here. we will explain what that means in just a bit. >> thank you. 11 years and you still can't get it right. >> but first, some big names expressing interest in the clippers if the nba forces donald sterling to sell the team. now it makes sense. don't go away. ♪ ♪

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now that donald sterling has been banned from all the clippers activities, the focus shifts to what happens to his ownership of the team. nba commissioner adam silver says she plans to remove him as clippers owner. but he'll need support from 75% of the other owners. lebron james has been vocal on the matter. >> in this case what we're fighting for, i don't think we can do anything to hurt our game. we're fighting to get an owner out of ore league that shouldn't be part of our league. no matter how much time it take, no matter how much it costs, we need to get him out of there and anyone associated with him. he doesn't belong in our league. like i said, the next step is for the owners to vote and get him to sell the franchise. and obviously it's not going to be as night and day, you know. it's not going to be like that.

just wake up tomorrow and the team is in someone else's hands. but we need to get the next step going. can't be something we drag on. >> people like lebron saying this. people like -- just so many of the players are out front. magic's talking about it as well. they were actually a lot of teams were talking about boycotting the entire playoffs. i think the nba knows even if they have a huge lawsuit, they have to deal with it. >> i just don't think they will. >> i think a lot of players will walk. i think they will refuse to play until he's gone. i don't think lebron will put on a uniform if this guy survives. >> here's the unfortunate thing going forward. this guy has a history of being incredibly litigious. in the nba constitution it says -- so i don't think this guy goes away easily. he will go away. >> except the vote will be 29-0.

>> it has to be. >> and when you consider the other aspect of his personality, he is litigious, he bought this for nearly no money. it will sell for nearly a billion dollars. >> and advertisers will not be affiliated. he will not make money with this team. >> it does not exist. >> willie? >> how would you like to be an owner on the record voting for this guy? >> not going to happen. the legal fight behind it. there were players two nights ago that were not going to play in playoff games. this is their livelihood. if he was not thrown out of the league. so it's going to happen. it's just a matter of time. >> yeah. can anyone here imagine working for someone who would say something like that? there's just not one of us. >> no way. it's unbelievable. >> okay. still ahead, not even a massive wildfire will stop this

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thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. clay, is there going to be any singing on this tour of yours? put the asses in the seats. >> i'm on sabbatical. >> not even the national anthem?

>> i might. but i'm going to leave it to you. i feel like i had a great 11 years singing, and this is the new chapter for me. i think it's more important than singing. so i put that on the back burner for sure. >> headline, clay aiken refuses to sing national anthem. >> that's cute. >> clay aiken, runner up on "american idol" second season is running for congress as a democrat in north carolina. >> i remember that. we were glued to the tv. >> that was an obvious jump. >> when he sang "bridge over troubled water." >> he sang that? >> yes. and it was amazing. it was like you stopped and thought this is almost like the real -- yeah. >> mika, you're going to like this one. this is california. our good friends at ktla. >> yeah, sure. >> this is courtney friel. >> courtney, yes. >> covering the local wildfire. >> sir, do you live around here? >> yeah. wow. you're super pretty. you want to go on a date some time? >> we're on the air live right

now on ktla, actually. do you live in one of these houses? >> i live down the street. i was just checking out the fire. >> what do you think of it? >> it's pretty cool. >> yeah. >> wow. >> want to go out on a date? >> she didn't miss a beat. >> how about that guy? >> i have no problem with that. he's using the dog as a prop, obviously. and that to me -- do it without the dog. man up. >> you do it with kids. prop kids. child actors. >> a stroller and baby. >> jon meacham is here, which of the greek philosophers does that young gentleman from the city of angles remind you of the most? >> tusididis. >> that's what you said off air. >> i did. that's why i had meacham on. >> she is gorgeous. can i do one? remember when you said that you had two burritos yesterday?

>> no. i don't know what you're talking about. >> you said i was handed two burritos and i ate them. this is what came to my mind. take a look. ♪ >> i can totally see you at the table doing that. >> we've all been there. 2:00 a.m., long night, couple burritos in front of you. >> my gosh. >> that's amazing. >> let's get another burrito. he wants oanother one. fill up his cheeks. >> made me hungry. did doesn't that remind you of yourself yesterday 4:00 p.m. eastern time? >> we watch this and think somebody got up in the morning and say i'm going to set up a

camera, i'm going to get my buddy the hamster and make him burritos. >> welcome to the wonderful world. coming up at the top of the hour, we have got tom coburn coming up. >> that's actually for that story about the executions. >> and huge hour straight ahead. all executions have been put on hold in oklahoma after an inmate's death was severely mismanaged. there's no shortage of blame to go around and all sides are angry. >> hurry up and get it done with as little transparency as possible. this is what they get. >> could a constitutional crisis be brewing in the sooner state? look who's coming up. >> senator and doctor tom coburn. sam stein joins us as well. also we'll get another update in the severe life-threatening flooding in pensacola, florida. "morning joe" will be right back. ♪

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♪ we asked people if they wanted to get their photo taken. we told them it was for the nbc top of the rock website. not true. what they didn't know was while they were getting their picture taken, me and cameron diaz were going to photobomb all their photos. >> three, two, one. and, three wob two, one.

three, two, one. okay. and three, two, one. another one here. three, two, one. all right. three, two, one. >> that's cute. welcome back to "morning joe." mike barnicle and donnie deutsch still with us. jeremy peters still with us from washington and from capitol hill, senior political editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post" sam stein. >> hello. >> hello. >> hello, sam. >> hello. >> i'm looking at the front page of "the wall street journal." i think this says it all about our economy is why so many people feel disconnected. from wall street, from washington. across the top you have the dow eking out its first record of

20 2014. stocks continue to explode. then below it we have a story about the economy. which is flatlined. and people have been struggling for years. real wages have been going down since 1973. people just can't get back on their feet. it's just absolutely miserable. >> and the minimum wage. >> and here you have changed life of the poor, better off but far behind. i mean, it's really -- these are the stories of our times. more and more americans struggling to get ahead and this economy that keeps sputtering along. >> okay. and we'll get to that in a second. there are other issues pertaining to that. that they are debating and not voting on in washington. but first oklahoma's governor is promising a probe after the botched execution of a death row inmate and widespread claims he died inhumanely. clayton lockett was being put to death by lethal injection, but

it wasn't going as planned. he was not unconscious during the execution and only later died of a heart attack. oklahoma had never before used the three-chemical cocktail that lockett received. with the state supreme court to make sure it went through. the governor has ordered a review amidst suggestions of cruel and unusual punishment. >> i believe the legal process worked. i believe the death penalty is an appropriate response and punishment to those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men and women. however, i also believe the state needs to be certain of its protocols and procedures for executions and that they work. >> we have a fundamental standard in this country. that even with the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely. and i think everyone would recognize that this case fell short of that standard.

>> and of course, joe, this case has obviously widespread implications as other states face the same problem. shortages of the drugs traditionally used in execution. >> no doubt about it. let's bring in our friend republican senator from oklahoma, senator tom coburn. your state obviously, you're not involved in this, but i'm just wondering obviously you certainly represent the people of oklahoma. there's some constitutional concerns here. what is your understanding of what happened? and what's your view on how oklahoma should move forward? >> well, just as a physician i can tell you it's obvious they didn't have good access to his circulatory system. and the drugs didn't get into his circulatory system. i don't know the details of it. it's a state issue. they need to handle it. it was certainly not done appropriately and it doesn't seem to be thought out in terms of backup systems in case something fails which is what we always do in medicine.

we try to have a backup system. it's an unfortunate thing, but any time you're doing something with a body, things can go wrong. this leads to the discussion about the death penalty and whether or not that in and of itself is appropriate and whether you can do that humanely. >> what was his crime, by the way? >> horrific. he shot a 19-year-old woman and buried her alive. just absolutely horrific. the other man on death row, his crime was equally horrific as well. >> and we're stumbling the fact that his death maybe happened a

few seconds slower? >> no. we're stumbling because when you have somebody -- well, first of all the entire -- >> you're missing my point. >> no, i don't. because the entire purpose of lethal injection is supposed to make it more humane. not for the person being executed but because we have a constitution that forbids us to engage in cruel and unusual punishment. allowing somebody to -- >> but that 19-year-old -- >> so you're going to judge our government standard by the standard of a -- >> i'm not losing any sleep over what happened. >> maybe you should lose sleep over the constitution of the united states. it wasn't made for this guy. it was made for us all of us. we can't selectively decide what we're going to do and what we're not going to do because it speaks about us as a country and as a people. yes, while private individual -- if i were the father of the girl that was shot and buried alive,

i would want to exact revenge and go out and kill the guy. but you know what? >> the execution was not set out to be done inhumanely. it was on error. >> sam stein, the bigger point here, though, is the governor admitted what we all know. the protocols weren't working right. they didn't know -- >> joe, that's not true at all. >> hold on a second, tom. the governor said -- the governor herself said the state's protocols and procedures are deeply flawed. i don't know if you've seen what the drug companies -- they aren't supplying the drugs anymore. they're just deguessing. >> the doctor that was there said they lost iv access which means the drugs that were pushed didn't get there. so it's not the -- it's the procedure. you're right, it's about procedure. but it's not about the policy and it's not about the drugs.

it was about the procedure. it's important to be very clear -- >> can i jump in, we don't actually know that. there's been a shroud of secrecy. let me just finish. there's been a shroud of secrecy what the drugs are. and it's been shown 3% of executions have been botched. there is an established shroud of secrecy over those drugs. it's impossible at this juncture to know if they can be applied effectively in the case of death penalty. and to donnie's point, two days before this execution took place, a study came out showing that one out of every 25 people on death row, people who are executed are likely innocent. and i'm wondering how you feel about that in light of what you said which is a commonly held position that these people deserve even a gruesome, botched execution because of the gruesome crimes they committed. >> i would respond, 3% are botched. what percentage of any medical -- and this is obviously

for the senator -- any medical procedure have botching and we're stumbling over the 3% of the most heinous. >> that wasn't my question. that 25% are innocent. >> i'm still very much for capital punishment. >> that's not a fact. that's an estimate. that's not a fact. it's an estimate. so it's important that we don't confuse fact with estimates. >> so tom -- >> doesn't change my question. >> so tom, what's your thought on the death penalty yourself? some evangelicals, pat robinson many years ago started moving away from the death penalty. we're one of five or six countries in the world that still have a death penalty. any movement for you through the years? any reservation at all? or are you still a firm proponent of the death penalty? >> i'd say i've given a lot of thought. i still think it has a deterrent capability. i don't like it. i wish we were -- put everybody

that had such a history as this gentleman behind bars working and doing things that would help them. but i haven't changed my position. i think it is a deterrent that does affect and impact people. >> i agree with that. take it to willie, you can take it back to the doctor and senator. i think one of the things i found troubling from this story is the shades were closed when things were about to go wrong. and that, i really think, is a procedural error if we want to talk about procedural errors. they should have been transparent about it. the reporters that are there to witness this which are therefore to be part of the process were denied access to see what they were supposed to see. >> you can read it online. there's a horrifying minute by minute account. it does say at one point the shades were drawn. >> that's awful. what country is this?

>> senator, i would ask you this as a doctor, is this the best we can do? if you believe death penalty is a good thing, is this the best they can do? you can argue the way they did it 300 years ago with a guillotine was more humane. it was over quickly. we've seen this botched experiment that we don't know how to do this. why are we so bad at it and is there a better way to do it if you believe the death penalty ought to be used? >> first of all, the generalization of botched time and time again doesn't hold up. there have been some errors. but if you look statistically as a percentage, it's a very, very small number. one. number two is every medical student knows how to do this after about their third year. if they wanted to figure it out, i mean, a combination of drugs

that are readily available, you can do this. so the drug question is a different thing. i think this is just an error on the part of individuals to not follow a protocol that should have been followed. and not testing the security of their access. and i think we'll wait and see what happened and the autopsy will show us that. but it's a problem and, you know, if we were perfect at everything, you all wouldn't be on tv and i wouldn't be here. >> oh, good lord, that's true. mike barnicle. >> senator, you've been talking about capital punishment as a deterrent. there are many members who i've spoken to who are in law enforcement. they say yeah, it's a deterrent, but only to the person being killed there in the electric chair or whatever. and if you look at it -- if you look at the states that have capital punishment in this country, you can make a case, a

strong case, that it's far more punishing to put a person in jail for life, in prison for life rather than to execute that person as well as the fact that it's far cheaper given the fact that, you know, they just litigate the death penalty on and on and on and on and it costs states a lot more. have a drink. >> well, you know, that may be the case. you know, your first assumption there is it's only a deterrent to the person who's undergoing it. i'm not showure i'd agree with that. the fact is this is a controversial subject. it will be that way and it's unfortunate what happened in oklahoma. and oklahoma will correct it. they'll be transparent about what happened. they'll fix what happened and they'll go on down the road.

and humans make errors and i'm sure that's what has occurred here. >> senator, jeremy peters is in washington as well and he's got a question for you. jeremy? >> good morning, senator. i want to switch subjects here to a topic that's slightly less morbid. the 2014 midterm elections. and there is a very fascinating senate race going on right now. two republicans who are vying to replace you there in oklahoma, one of them t.w. shannon has drawn the endorsements of sarah palin, ted cruz, mike lee. these are not exactly the types of republicans you've seen eye to eye with over the last year. so i'm wondering what you make of their attempts to influence who succeeds you and whether or not the senate right now needs more senators like ted cruz? >> oh, i think you probably ought to be asking oklahomans other than me what they think of it. i think there'll be a backlash from their effect there. oklahomans don't like being told who to vote for.

if you'll recall in 2004 when i ran, washington was telling them who to vote for and spending millions of dollars backing that individual. and that individual ended up getting about 30% of the vote when i got 62%. so oklahomans -- as a matter of fact, there's been a lot of op-eds written on it. they assume everybody stay out and let us figure out who we want. >> okay. willie geist? >> senator coburn, we'll continue the lightning round here. i want to ask you about minimum wage. you voted against it yesterday. what do you make of the argument now from the white house and from many democrats who support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 that you've turned your back on hard working americans including those in your home state of oklahoma? >> i think it's malarkey. the fact is if you look at omb studies and you look at the good economic models, is the benefit is small.

the cost of lost jobs is great. it goes against the free market principle. susan collins is going to be bringing forth a better proposal. we don't know what the minimum wage should be. why did they pick $10.10? why not $22? why not $100? what we have is an economic system on its butt right now because we have poor leadership and poor policy. we don't have capital investment and we don't have demand creation because of the leadership policies of this administration and this congress. and i'm saying republican and democrat alike. and you're fixing a symptom rather than fixing the problem. and what we need is the demand for workers. and the affordable care act driving down hours to 27 and 26 is one of the things that is really hurting in terms of the ability of median family income to rise in this country.

>> but, senator, do you think there's a deal to be had there? $7.25 if you work 40 hours a week that works to $15,000 a year. that's way below the poverty line. do you think that $7.25 is sufficient? >> i don't believe you ought to interfere in the market. if there's to be a minimum wage, my theory is if oklahomans want a minimum wage, we ought to have it. i don't believe there ought to be a national minimum wage. i'm the only member of the republican party that's still here that voted no on the last one. i believe that markets work better than bureaucrats. and i think there's lots of downsize and lots written in economics field on raising the minimum wage. whether you raise it a dollar or $20. so if you want to prove the point, raise them all to $20 or $25. if you want to give somebody a livable wage. because at $25, you put them at median family income which has

not increased since 1989 in this country and everybody else is going backwards as the very rich and wealthy move way out. >> all right, senator tom coburn, always good to see you. thank you for being on. >> you're welcome. god bless you guys. >> god bless you too. now moving to the heavy rain in the south leaving parts of the panhandle of florida under two feet of water. at least one death is being blamed on the flooding. drives and residents were trapped by what's being called the worst flooding in the state in 30 years. this is your hometown, joe. we just saw your street. >> this is what's left of scenic highway in pensacola after it collapsed yesterday. this is the neighborhood where i grew up in high school and college. and this photo in pensacola showed severe flooding in front of my old home which you can see past the truck. and no, mike barnicle, it's not a dirt road. it is a very nice road. >> beautiful neighborhood.

>> beautiful neighborhood. but mika, as i've said before, bill kairns said this was a one in every 200 year flood. i never saw standing water in that street ever. and we got a lot of floods and hurricanes. we always got torrential down pours. and that's actually a picture taken from the front yard of my old home where joey and andrew grew up. piedmont road. >> that is lovely. >> it's stunning. >> i remember you showing me that. i cannot believe it. all right. jeremy peters, thank you so much for being on this morning. >> thank you, jeremy. >> thank you. >> great article in "the new york times" about the minimum wage. that discussion will continue. still ahead, while we're on the topic, he says raising the minimum wage is an american issue with no lines. senator joe manchin joins us to explain why it just can't get passed. and bob woodward is here to say why the white house is in a state of disarray. presidential historian yans

michael beschloss joins us for that. >> that's at the top of the hour. big conversation, big discussions. >> and later, cosmo's joanna coles and emma rosenblum on a growing trend for women to reclaim their careers. the reasoning behind what some are calling extreme measures. it has to do with -- >> they freeze their eggs. >> seriously. but more questions about the attack in benghazi. chuck todd standing by with the latest details. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly.

we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen.

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♪ hello. i'm chuck todd from nbc news. i've been asked to comment on the broadcast from nbc this week.

let's check the latest polling. 96% of americans own a television. of those that have cable, only 28% receive the e! network. of that 28%, only 14% is aware that e is a network. and only 8% of those that have heard of e watch e. and of those that watch e only .2% tune into the soup. .2% of 28% of 51% of 96% of americans means what? i'm talking to one person right now. buddy, how you doing? the soup's in d.c. >> wow. my gosh. that's kind of rough, man. you know what's got him going? the fsu thing. >> look at the glee on his face. >> you know what fsu stands for? free seafood university. >> free seafood u. there it is. >> have you seen the pictures of the heisman trophy winner that have been making the rounds?

>> yeah, with the crabs, yes. >> i haven't. >> okay. sam, look at your monitor. he loves crab legs, man. look at that. who doesn't? ty love crab legs. and this was actually for a muppets christmas special. a great story. who would put that in their heisman trophy case? >> say it again. it's going to be a long season of road games for jameis winston. crab legs. >> he's going to have a lot of crabs. >> he's going to get a lot of crabs. >> chuck todd, of course, nbc chief white house correspondent. chuck, big news out of washington. specifically on benghazi. you end up -- we end up finding out that the white house was

directing susan rice to stick on the talking points that it was a video, it was a video, it was a video. and told her specifically that it had nothing to do -- to make sure that people knew it had nothing to do with barack obama's foreign policy. how significant of a development is this for susan rice, the white house, and hillary clinton moving forward? >> i know that you're shocked that any administration would worry about how their foreign policy is being portrayed in a crisis moment. it's shocking. >> no. that's not so shocking as much as it is how shocked and stunned and deeply saddened they acted afterwards and said this is a cia report and how dare you second guess the cia or say that susan rice is political. this is a pretty big embarrassment for the white house, is it not? >> they were overly defensive in the moment. at the time they believed the video was having an impact. this is where the level of

belief is, i think, in why this is such -- you're not really going to ever rationally have a debate about this. because if you believe -- if you don't believe the white house ever thought the video had a -- was involved -- was sort of an instigator in benghazi, if you believe they were lying about that the whole time, then it doesn't matter what they say or do. you'll say they were lying about it. at the time, and i can tell you everybody i've ever talked to about this, everything i've read about this of original documentation at the time they did believe that the video had something to do with starting that -- that it involved some sort of protest in benghazi too. if you look at what they were dealing with at the time in arab capitals all around the ar rab world at the time they did think benghazi was part of it.

so that's sort of where this this dispute lies which is do you believe -- if you don't believe the white house ever believed that, that they were making it up the whole time then this is a massive coverup and all that. >> let me ask you this then, chuck. that e-mail we learned of yesterday is as innocuous as the white house says it was, why wasn't it in the documents they had to provide? why was this withheld? >> i think they were afraid of anything looking political in the moment, i think they over-panicked. because if it is as innocuous as they say, they shouldn't have had a problem releasing. now, i think they were being overly sensitive at the time worrying that it was going -- or they were covering something up. but it's hard to imagine what is it they were covering up that came out within 24 hours?

if they were covering something up, then it was stupid for them to cover up something that was going to be exposed 48 hours later. >> the e-mail you're talking about is written by ben rhodes. i think we flashed it up there. to then-u.n. ambassador susan rice. the e-mail was sent two days before ambassador rice went on five sunday talk shows and blamed an anti-islamic video for the attack. to underscore these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy. so they're trying to really clarify exactly what her focus is. republicans say the e-mail is a smoking gun and should have been released with the rest of the benghazi material as we were talking about. but the white house disagrees arguing that it was about broader middle east policy. and didn't have to be released. >> that's ridiculous. >> why were you holding back this investigation? why was this not turned over to

the congress? this is directly relevant. why did you hold it back? >> again -- >> why did it take a court case for you to release this? >> i can say again and again, and i know you can keep asking again and again, this document was not about benghazi. >> it was a prep for the sunday shows. >> it wasn't her only prep, john. she relied on for her answers on benghazi on the document prepared by the cia. as did members of congress. we -- the white house, rather, and others involved in her prep said when it comes to benghazi, there's been a document prepared by the ic so that everybody is working off the same information, republicans in congress, democrats in congress, administration officials. >> you talk about double speak. i mean, donnie deutsch, i mean, manage the brand here where the spokesperson for the white house is saying a directive to susan rice about benghazi is not about

benghazi. it's about broader middle east policy. no. it's about benghazi. >> i want to put up a warning for republicans. obviously the republicans are jumping in. i think this is fools gold for 2016. i do not think benghazi -- i think if they focus on this -- >> what about the coverup for the white house? everybody here is apologizing. >> i am not. i am talking about political strategy. i think that -- >> okay. but why are you jumping to political strategy instead of -- >> i'm giving my point of view. >> why aren't you talking about the double speak? >> it is double speak. but it's a political show. >> tell me what's the politics? lying about something we all know they're lying about. with saying it's not about benghazi when you know it's about benghazi and we know it's about benghazi and chuck todd knows it's about benghazi. everybody watching knows it's about benghazi. and you're talking about how the republicans -- you see the white house spokesperson lying on

national television. you see an abc news person shocked that he's lying and treating the press corps and americans like their stupid, he's saying it's not about benghazi. republicans have been called fools for a year now saying this happened. they don't release it with the original documents released. they finally reluctantly are forced to release it. then you have the white house lying about it yesterday saying it's not about benghazi. and your only reaction is, hey, republicans better not overreact to the coverup. >> -- that we as voters understand both republicans and democrats are political animals and are going to manage a crisis in their situation to their face. so what i am saying -- it's both -- >> when it's democrats, it's politics. when republicans cover it up, it's a scandal. it should be on the front page of "the new york times." it would be on the front page of every newspaper in america. but when democrats cover up, you think it's rude political games. >> i'm saying it is a reality.

>> it's a disgrace. >> it is not. i'm saying that if republicans bite, it's a stupid move. and what i just said -- >> what about the media biting? what about the media doing their job? what about the media calling a coverup a coverup? >> the media has covered this. you're pointing to a spokesperson of the president. what i am saying is i think the average american can sit back and say, yeah, that presidential office was trying to manage this crisis just like a bush white house, just like a clinton white house would. the reality of what i'm saying is a political football -- >> we're going to get you video. mika -- >> was he engaging in double speak or coverup? >> double speak, yes. >> what is double speak? >> it's politics. >> come on. it's either they were covering up something or they forgot to release the e-mail. the question we have now is whether they released other prep e-mails for susan rice and where

hillary clinton stands on all of this. and that may serve the republicans very well if they don't have good answers. >> sam stein and then mike barnicle. sam? >> i'm too scared to speak right now, guys. i don't want to get involved. you know, i will say this. my wife works for the white house on this matter. i think the white house has not been transparent enough about these e-mails. i don't see a compelling reason why they didn't put this e-mail in the batch of other e-mails released. i thought the white house fought for that. on the other hand, it's always been my opinion that the two more compelling things here is why wasn't the intelligence better prior to the attack so we could have prevented the attack and what have we done and what did we do improperly -- hold on. i had two points. my second point was why have we and what have we done with respect to embassy and outpost

security? those two things seemed more important in my estimation than how the administration manipulated. but i could be wrong. >> two things. about what sam just said. first, john tower just alerted me that was his senior thesis in high school this year. second thing, i think sam stein is about as polite as anybody in telling me to shut the hell up. he said, i had two points. >> just two points. that's all. >> that meant shut the hell up. go ahead, mike. well played, sir. >> i would submit there is a third point to this discussion that we've been having, that the two of you have been having. and the third point if people will just stay tuned until 8:00 when bob woodward is on, we will talk about the management of the white house staff as it currently exists. the insulation of the white house staff. the sense it's understandable to protect the president and the presidency at all costs.

sometimes to the exclusion of e-mails. >> at 8:00 we've got bob woodward, al hunt is going to be on. michael beschloss talking about this specific issue management at the white house. bob woodward has been doing a lot of investigation on this. chuck, quickly, let's go to a safer topic. that's minimum wage. we have joe manchin coming up. we just had tom coburn on saying no minimum wage increase. but we have a feeling, willie and i were talking about it, there has to be a compromise here. maybe a pull in keystone and other things. i mean, we all think there has to be a compromise in the works here. you hearing anything? >> i'm not. but one point on benghazi, it's -- >> i tried to get us off the topic. >> sam's scared, chuck. >> i mean, here's the thing about this debate which again you can't have a rational debate about benghazi because it quickly becomes what we just saw there. and i love you both, guys.

>> we're just passionate. >> which is the white house was overly sensitive in trying to manipulate the spin within the 48, 72 hours and at the same time actually believed that a video was involved. right? it's possible more than likely that both things are true in this case. and what i have to tell you is the idea that if this is a smoking gun, it's not a very good -- it wasn't a very effective gun. and it's not clear they found anything. very quickly on minimum wage, here's what i don't get, joe. why republicans aren't countering saying you're right, but let's raise it to $9. if states want to go higher, great. let's pass this politically. take it off the table for the democrats to use. >> give us keystone which will create jobs and we'll give you minimum wage to $9. i think it's a compromise. democrat wills say no and republicans can campaign on it.

>> we're going to go on and on about this while people continue to be paid a paltry amount they can't live on. it's ridiculous. chuck todd, thank you. >> it makes me sad. i love america. and i hate it when people like you harshen the debate. i really do. worsening of the political vein. why does he hate america? >> the e-mail should have been released. >> you know what, mika? we're going to be watching the always rational "daily rundown." >> i love "the daily rundown." coming up, from flooding in florida to baltimore sinkholes. the weather continues -- >> continues to slam it. getting slammed -- >> we'll have more up ahead. >> that was a good tease. customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed one-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price --

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with us now the managing editor of fortune magazine andy serwer. that was a disturbing tease there. >> was it? >> and on the cover we've got marissa mayer whose first test is just beginning with yahoo. but first china is going to overtake the u.s. as the largest economy this year. reading stories over the past six months, a couple months ago the economist have china losing its sort of glow about its economy. it's slowing down. the costs of labor going up. yet they're going to grow past us this year. >> but that report is kind of a red herring. that's a groanular of re -- >> what's a red herring? that it becomes a larger economy? >> yes.

that it's becoming the largest economy this year. i would discount that very much because they're accounting for the fact that china's currency is undervalued. that's really just going too far. if you look at gdp, it's going to be -- or twice as big. they're growing faster it's really hogwash. >> just absolute nonsense. >> and even more important with the gdp, we're five times bigger in terms of gdp per capita. $53,000 per person in the u.s. per capita. china, $10,000. >> i'm reading like so many people are reading capital and the introduction talks about how the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer. there's a line in there talking about how we're losing all our jobs to china. that was a great story five years ago. the fact is the cost of labor in china is going up. we're getting those jobs back.

>> they talk about income inequality in the united states. those numbers tell you it's worse in china. in other words our gdp is much bigger. theirs is much more concentrated to wealthy people. that means their society is much more unstable than ours too. >> i asked jon huntsman last year, he said, you know, the chinese aren't trying to take over the world. they aren't trying to, you know -- their number one goal is not to do all of these malevolent things. it's one thing and one thing only. to keep the growth rate at 9% or 10%. i said why. he said because the ruling class knows if they don't keep the growth rate at 9% or 10%, there's going to be unrest and it can all come tumbling down. we're at 7% now. it may slow down more. this is after years of double digit gain. steve rattner and i had this debate for a long time. i'm not saying it's not going to be economically be a bipolar

world. but like you said, we're still a long way off from that and there's instability in china if they don't continue growing at double digits. >> the number one priority for the chinese leadership and they are a paranoid group of people, is creating jobs. as your top search

the market value of the company is about $35, right? they is two investments, one in yahoo! japan, worth about $10, and alibaba, which is about 40. alibaba is going to be the biggest ipo. >> tell us what that is. >> it's a a giant, e-commerce company. it's ebay, yahoo! and google. it's going to go public this summer. they own a stake worth about $40 billion. >> covers up a lot of mistakes. >> and they're going to have to sell a piece of that. >> it's hard to believe she's already been on the job for two years. what is the overall estimate of how she's doing so far? if the perception is reality, so to speak? >> first of all, she's the best ceo they've ever had and they've had a lot of them.

she's someone who really stands the problem, which is fixing the core advertising business. she's brought in celebrity journalists like david pope of the new york city. she hasn't bought nest and then facebook. after google and facebook, the advertising business online is not such a great business. if you take away google and facebook, online advertising is a -- when was the last time you went to yahoo! and really signed up for something? >> i do it once a year, for fantasy soccer once a year. >> they need more. >> i still remember my password i set up. >> for liverpool? >> for liverpool.

andy, we love andy! we're also going to be checking out the latest issue of "fortune magazine." >> now he can't even unite his party, some say. bob woodward is going to be here at the top at 8 along with michael beschloss and a cast of eight. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ running on empty, running blind, running into the sun ♪ the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses,

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. coming up in our 8:00 a.m. hour, career now, baby later? the growing trend of women who are looking to let science kind of coordinate their careers. i don't get it. but cosmo's joanna coles will weigh in on the so-called egg freezing generation. what? what? really? how about training men to actually join us in the process of raising children. >> exactly. speaking of having babies, nicolle wallace said she had a baby in the green room while watching -- >> nicole will describe how it felt to watch chuck talking. and bloomberg's al hunt and

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♪ ♪ why were you holding back this information? why thwas this e-mail not turne over to the congress? why was it held back? why did it take a court case for to you release this? >> john, i can say it again and again and i know you can keep asking given and again.

this document was not about benghazi. >> it was her prep for the sunday shows. >> it wasn't her only prep, john. she relied on -- for her answers on benghazi on the document prepared by the cia, as did members of congress. we -- the white house, rather, and others involved in her prep said when it comes to benghazi there's been a document prepared by the i.c. so everybody is working off the same information, republicans in congress, congratulations in congress, administration officials. >> all right. welcome back to morning joe, bob woodward, columnist for bloomberg, al hunt, presidential historian michael bosnian seesc nicolle wallace. it was hard to watch, wasn't it? tell us why you had a baby in

the green room? >> it was so hard for me to watch jay carney say this e-mail had nothing to do with benghazi. it's akin to saying nothing that happened in the walkup to the iraq war was related to the actual war. benghazijust happened and everything that the white house was preparing to prep for message purposes had everything to do with benghazi. >> so were other parts of the prep material, even though it was hillary clinton's issue, even though she wasn't feeling well -- no, i'm just reporting the news. i think she had some health issues and could not be there so susan rice was put out there and was given prep information. >> lots of prep.

>> so this new information sent to susan rice by the deputy national security adviser, tells her how to focus, what the focus is here of potentially the conflict that was happening in benghazi and that it was due to a video and who it shapes the president's foreign policy. so that's great. so was there other prep information turned over to the press? >> of course there was. all of the cia's information has been turned over, the state department's information has been turned over and the white house turned out some materials. they turned over to jay carney because they felt it did not, quote, pertain to benghazi. >> how ridiculous. the only reason we're seeing it is because we needed a court order to see it. >> what usually happens in the white house briefings, is jay

carney, who has a hard job, he does a pretty good job, yesterday was not his finest hour. i don't think that everything he said from the podium came close to resembling the truth or even he would say is the truth. >> this is the e-mail to ambassador rice, who was going on five sunday talk shows about an issue she was not overseeing. one of the goals "to underscore that these protests that are rooted in an internet video and not a broader policy." . what were the protests? >> protests about the offensive video. i've never been a white house conspiracy theorist. >> let's go to bob woodward. let's expand this conversation, bob. you've done extensive work when,

quite frankly, a lot people in other administrations who usually do this have not. you've been digging in and trying to figure out what's been wrong with the management of the white house over the past several years. this is what historians will write about matter of factly the second barack obama leaves office and it becomes envogue to do it. you've been doing it and getting kicked around for doing it. take us around the white house and tell us specifically not what republicans but democrats and democratic senators have been saying for years. >> let me be very specific. these are notes of a meeting the president had january 15th, so that's earlier this year with all the senate democrats. in fact, i think he called them down to the white house. and it's a little long but it's very much to the point the president said, "i would not be

here -- in other words as president -- if not for the help of a lot of people in this room, starting with harry reid. our accomplishments are because we work together. nobody should leave without knowing how grateful and how important it is to me to keep the senate democrats in the majority. we are invested in your success." . n now, he went on to say goal one for him is to keep the democrats notice senate, and then you look at what has happened in all of the -- he will go out and campaign for people who want him on their side but people like mark pryor in arkansas can't have obama there where he's toxic so this gets down to the

issue of money. where is the campaign money going? it's not going to the democratic senate campaign committee enough at all. people are setting up committees for hillary clinton and so forth and so you talk, as i'm sure you have, to senate democrats, and they feel cut out. so fast forward 50 days later there is a vote on the senate floor for obama's nominee to be the assistant attorney general for civil rights. and seven democrats vote against it. it doesn't even get through and there's a moment on the senate floor, i understand, where one of the key people turned to one of the senate democratic leaders and said this shows that no one is afraid of the president. >> michael beschloss, talk about the president and the unique place that he's in because in my

conversations i'm sure you and other people have heard the same thing that a lot of us have heard. it's almost like, oh, my gosh, this guy is still going to be in office for three more years. i hear it from foreign leaders, from ambassadors. it's not that they don't think barack obama is capable. you hear time and time again that he may be disengaged in perhaps he doesn't want to be there. it's extraordinary where you have somebody look bill clinton who subjected up of second of the white house. >> we'll get to bill clinton. we have a story on him, too. >> you're right. the other thing we heard so many times is his situation would be so much better if this was lbj or bill clinton, 24 hours a day just twisting arms on capitol hill and probably that would help at the margins. but overwhelmingly, a, he's a second term president. of course they're going to be less afraid because he's gone in couple of years. he's not going to be in a position to reward and punish them for very much longer, especially and this last mid term. and the other thing is that

there's a very good chance the democrats will lose both houses of congress this fall. if that happens, you'll have a situation where this is a president who doesn't have a base on the hill, he's going to have a very hard time and it's going to be worse even than earlier cases where presidents didn't have congress because the subculture, as you well know on capitol hill now is that even if the president tries to find things where he's got common ground with the rebs, as you know well bill clinton did in the mid 1990s when you were an eminent member of congress -- eminent, yes. >> i said eminent, not imminent. maybe imminent political leaders of the other kinds. but it's not the 90s, not the 80s with reagan democrats. if he loses the senate, it's not going to be fun. >> i would love to have you put

perspective on this. from your view, you've covered quite a few white houses, you've got the historical view from 30,000 feet of presidencies and what works and what doesn't work. we've had two presidents now. the last two presidents have said it seemed am by law enforcement at best about being in washington and governing. what kind of impact has that had on this administration or do you discount that view? do you think barack obama is sufficiently engaged? >> i do think he's engaged, joe. i think washington these days does that to almost anyone in that office. i agree with michael. let's just remember 16 years ago where bill clinton was. he was in the middle of impeachment, or the beginnings of impeachment at this time. i think the town is difficult, i think the cycle is especially difficult. i think obama has become very cynical about it all.

i think that hurts. i think he probably could do some things, as michael said, on the margins that would make it better. but when people suggest is he engaged, you might not agree with the policies or think it's tough enough but he's certainly engaged in ukraine, john kerry has certainly been engaged in the middle east, there's nothing they can do in washington. so i think there's a real question about how competent they've been in some of these matters, particularly on telling people about the economy but i don't think it's quite right to say they're not engaged. >> all right. let's talked about bill clinton. >> he's engaged. >> because he was engaged last night for several hours at georgetown, two-hour speech, bill clinton defending his own economic policies, to help neutralize before his wife's white house run? he pushed back at suggestions that his administration put business concerns over the poor. with the former secretary of

state looking at him in the front row, clinton reflected on how his balanced budget helped boost education and pave the way for the affordable care act. >> almost immediately we had several million children getting health insurance who couldn't get it. i don't know how many times i have read from the left bitter criticism about what a slug i was to sign the balanced budget act of '96, lowering the capital gains rate from 28% to 20%. you're free to decide you think i made a mistake but all the people that say, you know, what was bill clinton doing getting in bed with wall street and lowering the capital gains tax, he was getting 6 million poor children health insurance coverage. you can say, aw, clinton was lucky, he caught the tech boom. china w clinton was lucky here, came out of the recession. of all the prosperity in the

1980s, only 77,000 of our americans moved from poverty into the middle class. in the 90s, 100 times as many, 7.7 million people did. that was policy. >> michael beschloss, you're the presidential historian. put that in historical context for us. maybe lbj would have done that if he had a few more years. fascinating defense by president clinton. >> and lbj would particularly have done it if lady bird was running for president. bill clinton was operating in the 1990s, essentially a conservative period. so i'm a new democrat,on n oi'm one of those old liberals. now the democratic party is much more toward the left, much more, as you've discussed so well on this program, closer to the mold of elizabeth warren. he's retooling that legacy to

show not only was he a significant president and the peace and prosperity of the 90s look a lot better in retrospect because we know it want so easy and can much better be seen in the context of where democrats are now. >> going back to obama for a sek, lincoln coined a turn where basically foreign policy is not working, at least in the eyes of the people, you're limping along economically at home and you're basically looking at a pretty certain bad mid-term election. is it fair to say no matter how you slice it, that's where our current president is now? >> this isn't about cycles or not being iengaged. this is about leading and managing this process. it is a really dangerous world. the point essentially that clinton was making eloquently in his own defense, something he's brilliant at, is to say he made deals.

and he made deals. obama does not like to make deals and you could sit on all of the economic issues, al hunt knows this well, and you could make a deal between the republicans and obama on the spending and the taxing issues. it's not really that hard. obama doesn't want to do it. >> this is thomas. let let's talk about that. in the current state of what we have in washington, d.c., obviously 20 years after bill clinton, is that truly a possibility? >> well, it's certainly harder than it was back then. but just imagine in watching clinton at georgetown yesterday, just imagine clinton today with the current economy. basically the american economy has done better than almost any other economy in the world. not great, people are being left behind but autos are back, financial industry is back, housing slump is over, we are

creating jobs. bill clinton would talk about the great american comeback and he would be convincing people about that, i think, some at least. barack obama wrings his hands. what presidents convey is part of leadership. i think that's what clinton did very effectively, reagan did effectively and obama doesn't do as effectively. i would say about bill clinton's speech yesterday, one of the problems he had is there is a a rising populism today, whether it's from the right or left, that nbc/wall street journal poll, large corporations, health insurance companies, wall street, 13% popularity. they are lower than the internal revenue service. whether they are from the left or right, bill clinton's economics is out of favor with many people today. >> all right. al hunt, bob woodward and michael beschloss, thank you very much. >> he's right. rising populism is on the left

and is on the right and if a republican goes out and they start talking about breaking up the banks, they start talking about making sure the billionaires pay more than 14% of their income in taxes and they start talking about, you know, yesterday we had a former governor, former presidential candidate talking about raising the minimum wage from $7.25. you put all of that together with conservative economic ideology -- >> something could happen. >> you got a powerful message. al is exactly right. >> coming up, how putting your family on ice could potentially save your career. >> what do you mean on ice? >> literally, little eggs on ice. >> do you mean freeze them for easter? >> a growing trend, if you can believe it. >> women are putting their eggs on ice. >> also ahead from minimum wage

to immigration and obamacare, do democrats think they have a winning platform to win the senate? first bill karins with a look at the extreme weather here on the east coast. bill. >> good morning. we're finally watching this huge storm system that flagstiplaguer the last four or five days leave us. it did leave its course. in baltimore yesterday, the river was roaring and a whole section of the road gave way and fell right down into the river. pretty crazy stuff. as far as the rainfall went, totals are 3 to 5 inches in the big city, as high as 7 inches in maryland. this rain was very impressive. new york city had its second highest rain total ever for a day in april. that's historic stuff. it's a little drier out there now. two-hour delays at laguardia, 15 minutes at jfk. in the middle of the country,

it's a raw, chilly day from minnesota to areas around chicago. still showers down along the gold coast, pensacola, panama city, nothing like you saw yesterday. the pictures we saw from that region, it was almost look biblical-type stuff, how much destruction was done by that 20 inches of rain that fell in literally 24 hours. we're dealing with hot and windy conditions in the west. san francisco was 90 yesterday, about as hot as it gets in san francisco. we're expecting a temperature around 98 in the middle of downtown in the middle of historic drought. that's a recipe for disaster there. as far as the big, huge storm goes, it will be leaving through the day, no more tornadoes, no more severe weather soon. we're actually watching a quiet weather pattern. the start of may a lot quieter than the way we just ended april.

washington, d.c., drying it out, actually a a mild day this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ it's times like these that you give and give and learn love again ♪ hey there can i help you? (whispering) sorry. (whispering) hi, uh we need a new family plan. (whispering) how about 10 gigs of data to share and unlimited talk and text. (whispering) oh ten gigs sounds pretty good. (whispering) yeah really good (whispering) yeah and for a family of 4 it's a $160 a month. what! get outta here! (whispering) i'm sorry are we still doing the whisper thing? or? (whispering) o! sorry! yes yes! (whispering) we'll take it. [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance

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and wow! four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection! don't miss the memorial day sale. ♪ mattress discounters >> the advanced maternal age is preventing implantation. >> why do i have a t-shaped

uterus. >> we used a lot of drugs in the 70s which we now now can cause infertility. >> infertility? >> i would say your chances of conceiving of very low. >> how low? >> i don't want to assign a number to it. >> what would you a sign it, a color, a nickname, a locker? >> okay. one in a million. i just don't like you -- >> don't say that again! >> that was a clip from the film "baby mama," about the uphill battle of an older woman trying to have a baby. editor of bloomberg, emma rosenberg and joanna coles. you write how freezing your eggs could free up your career. you write "the the egg freezing

generation, those latch key kids of glass ceiling breakers were taught that you create your career and then everything else falls into place. you work hard, put off kids and might hear yourself at 40 hearing the fertility doctor deliver the bad news. among women 40 to 44, there were an equal number of those who are childless by choice and those who would like to have children and can't conceive." emma, it's the cover story. is this trend or what are the numbers telling you in terms of how many women are doing this? >> egg freezing has been around for about ten years. in the past couple years, the technology has gotten much, much better. there aren't actual numbers about how many women are doing it because it's a new procedure. but about 5,000 babies have been born about egg freezing.

all the doctors i spoke to said more and more women are coming in and younger women are coming in. >> any reason behind why more and more women are doing this? >> again, mostly because it actually works now as opposed to the a couple years ago the technology wasn't working. they have a new process and the eggs actually freeze well. >> but, i mean, the choices you could be because you are sick and because you might need to try and hold on to your ability to have a baby. is that the reason why women are doing it? >> it was the reason. it used to be mostly for cancer patients going into constantly sterilizing procedures. now it's women doing it more because they want to do it. it's becoming a trend, kind of, among women who are post 35, haven't necessarily found the right partner, so want to preserve their ability to have babies. >> i guess the difference between this and ivf, which is a really, really difficult process, but these are the

options for women as they develop careers as well. you had a very, very, very kind of high-stress career, nicole, and one thing led to another and you had a baby at what age? >> i was 39. and in any other city in america, i'd be a very old mom. but in new york you see lots of women having babies at this age. you get on an airplane and go to florida or california and you realize it's not normal. i'm a fan of women having more and better options. i read the whole article, it's very comprehensive and wonderful. but there's no mention of men feeling any pressure to freeze their sperm. dr. nancy snyderman has done a lot of reporting on how healthy baby and healthy births are increasingly linked to the age of the dad. i don't think this debate will fully evolve until this is part of a benefits package that a women can negotiate. these are very expensive procedures, ivf and egg

freezing. these are not available to anyone but the top earners. >> so joanna, your magazine readers are the younger generation, the 20 somethings, women. >> well, we've been writing about this for the last five, ten years. as emma said, what's happened is that the treatment is no longer considered experimental. so suddenly it's on the open market in a much, much bigger way and one of the other issues is that now women and doctors are saying to women if you want to do this procedure and you want it to be effective, you need to freeze your eggs when you're 21, not when you're in last chance saloon at 35 or 40 and the omelet may not taste so good. i literally think this is clearly in terms of medical advance, as important as ivf, and i think increasingly this will be the enough graduation present where parents say to

kid, we want you to have a fantastic career, freeze your eggs while they're healthy. it's an insurance policy for you. it's not guaranteed you'll have a baby at the end of it but as the technology gets better, it better and better. it's hope in a tank. >> nicole, jump in. but your readers and even your staff at cosmo, they see you as a guru of advice. everyone looks to you. do you think this is a good option? >> first of all, that people come to me about advice, i'm thrilled about that. >> they do. >> mika, you have a great story where you talk to your husband on yosh third daur third date a kids. >> right. i think kids today don't talk about that, it's socially inept -- >> on the third date, what a

surprise. she's focused. before i go to the movie, i want three kids and here are their names. >> actually, i wanted four. girls should be able to say what they want for themselves. when you're dating, that's what you find out about a person. that's what you learn about me in my 20s, my early 20s, that i'm a person who wants a family. i think a lot of young women are trained to say put off having a family, career, career, career, don't even say it to a guy, he'll run, and this sort of adds to it. >> and dating in your 30s is very different to dating in your 20s. you don't want to appear crazy anxious and tie a guy down. >> women said by talking about having a baby right away, they felt desperate and by freezing their eggs, they could say i don't need to have it now. >> interns come in and you talk

to the women in the group and they're always shocked. you always say, hey, peeliople going to tell you what to do for your career. i'm going to tell what you to do for your personal life -- >> and your career. >> don't put marriage and having kids off. what do you think about this? do you think it's a good idea? >> i think it's great that the medical advances are there, especially who they were predominantly there in the beginning. i think we're being socialized for young men to not think about this at all and not think about their lives as it pertains to having families until much later and women are left to figure this all out. it would be nice to have a conversation with men about how their boys ought to bring them up ought to consider themselves as fathers. >> i think following nicole's conversation, it's one thing to ask a guy on a third date how

many babies -- >> do you have any sperm on ice? >> a little more difficult to say have i this freezing facility down the street, can you go in -- i think it's a problem. >> we have people in our office who have frozen their eggs, and they feel it's an investment in their future and for their peace of mind. a couple of weeks after they've done the procedure, they find someone and starts dating. it takes someone out of the puzzle and lets you relax. >> the goal for these women is not necessarily to have to use their eggs. it's to eventually meet someone and have a baby naturally. they're not going into it lightly, they're not flippant. >> it's an insurance policy. >> they still want to find a husband and get pregnant the old fashioned way. >> it's between $10,000 and $15,000. when you think what people invest in manicures and blowouts and clothes and trips, over the years it may not be as expensive

as we think. >> you can read emma's article online at businessweek.com. fascinating. thank you so much. coming up, senator joe manchion on why capitol hill is at odd over raising the minimum wage. we'll be right back. when sales rep steve hatfield books at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation. and when steve is perfectly prepped, ya know what he brings?

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♪ ♪ by preventing even a vote on this bill, they prevented a raise for 28 million hard working americans. they said no to helping millions work their way out of poverty. they told americans, like the ones who are here today, that you're on your own. without even looking them in the eye. >> all right. that was president obama taking aim at senate republicans for filibustering a vote on raising the minimum wage. joining us now from washington, d.c., senator joe manchion of west virginia. senator, good to you have on the show today. >> good to be with you, mika. >> okay, so what -- do we really want to pay people so little? >> let me just say the 7.25 is not acceptable, mika. i would like to think that most of the senators and most congressmen and congress women believe that.

if that's the case, then, can we find a path forward? i'm willing to sit down and am going to ten to sit down with my colleagues, if we can find that middle ground -- >> what is the middle ground? we had tom coburn on, he's a dear friend of mine. >> a friend of mine. >> he believes you should keep it to the states, let this many decide it. with 75% of americans supporting an increase in the minimum wage, there's probably a deal involving keystone and a few other things republicans want where can't we meet halfway? >> if we're really concerned about people being raised out of poverty? how many people would be raised out of poverty? let me give it to you this way. if we raise minimum wage, we can lift people off of food stamps. that saves $3 billion, to $4 billion a year. that's pretty effective.

and it gives people spending power. if in 1960 the minimum wage was 1.68, it would be $10.68 today. now, 10.10 is not acceptable to our republicans friends. west virginia this past session raised it to 8.25. then it goes up to $8.75. i'm proud of that. if we can do it in west virginia, surely, most states around the country -- tom coburn is my friend and i understand where he's coming from but we have to get it to a minimum number. hopefully we can get it to where inflation will take over. >> yes, i want to get people out of poverty, but this is going to cost jobs, the economic czar is we raise it a buck and a half, people are going to lose their jobs. correct or incorrect? >> donnie, basically it's been

raised in the last four or five years twice. under a republican president and a democrat president. we didn't have a job loss. we can't attribute a job loss to that. i've had some of my republican friends say but this is a bigger gap, bigger jump at $3. my friend mark warner says if three years is a little bit too much, five years shows hardly any job loss by gao. so is there a way forward, donnie? i would like to think if you believe that $7.25 is nonacceptable and you're willing to move forward, put politics aside and set down and try to help people. we've done it before when they shut down government, we got about 14 of us, 7 ds and 6 rs and one independent and we've done it again with the student loans. we're going to try and do it again here. >> senator, when you talk about west virginia and the example that's happening in your home state, we have states like louisiana that do not have a state minimum wage, they are

dependent upon the federal minimum wage to set that standard. so in the back rooms of where these discussions take place off camera, where is that figure that is palatable to both sides and that is politically feasible that's a winner? >> let me tell you what i have heard. first of all, democrats -- first of all, i applaud tom harkin for all the work he's put into this. he's in it with his heart and soul and every fiber of his body. with that being said, a lot of my friends on the republican side said when the president first came out and said 9.25, let's talk about that and see how many votes we can get. 100% of nothing is nothing. right now we've got nothing. we've got democrats, we all voted for 10.10 and we had bob corker vote for 10.10 to get the conversation started. so if that's the case and 9.25, they might say at least can't we go and start there? i'm willing to sit down and talk about anything that will raise it off of 7.5. >> all right. there you go.

did you hear it? it's on the table. senator manchion, thank you so much. it's great to you have on the show, as always. >> it's great to be with you. thanks, joe. take care, buddy. >> up next, a deal that would change the tv landscape? >> i'm not sure if i want at&t taking over directv. are we going to get dropped tv shows? >> let's wait till we hear. we'll be right back.

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possible merger. it would be about a $40 billion deal and it would create another cable/satellite behemoth that would rival our company, comcast. they have a co-branded deal, at&t, directv, internet. at&t talking to directv about merging and creating another tie-up. this would make it more complicated, all the fcc conversations that have been happening in washington, d.c. >> what's in it for at&t? >> what they get it tv. at&t has some small tv offerings. mostly they are the ent nintern say the directvs of the world. this would make at&t a television company, joe. >> brian sullivan, thank you. up next, a look at the best political side kicks of all time. keep it right here on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] this is jim.

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that's pretty. and that's branford. every president has a side kick. the president has the vice president the george bush had dick cheney, but not all relationships have always worked out for the best. here's some that have left us

speechless for years. >> the loyalty between joe and i are fantastic. i started with him at scarborough country and he just gained trust. >> people come up to me all the time and ask what's t.j. like? >> where's your congressional pin? i don't see a congressional pin on you. >> this isn't congress. >> the fact is he's a real [ bleep ]. >> the director is saying that? >> we can poke fun at or friends, t.j., because not only are you not bill's friend, your not anybody's friend. stay in your corner. >> my relationship with joe is fantastic. >> not only is he bad at what he does and he's really bad at what he does. he's a terrible human being. >> what's wrong with you, t.j.? we got kids watching the show! >> t.j., the worst director in the business. mika takes the moonsheen to her lips and t.j. cuts away.

>> let's look at our director, t.j., who shocks us every day with his ability to make as many mistakes as he does. >> t.j. loves cruises. >> it's the only time he gets a chance to talk to people. >> t.j. goes on the village people cruise. he votdresses up like the india. >> thank good for t.j.'s wife, monica. she makes really great banana bread for the show. great on snap chat. >> so i was snapchatting with t.j.'s wife last night and she shows me this video. >> joe, we're on the air. >> we've gone through it all these years. he's a great guy, a great guy to work with. >> this is t.j.'s animation. since he did it, we don't know

if they're the right planes or not. >> get back on your horse and go back to -- >> i think it's safe to say that america has just become a lot dumber because of all of our associations with t.j. aspraya. happy anniversary, t.j. >> aw! >> t.j., come give me a hug. >> you need to tell the story about when he left. i think you fired him or something. >> no, somebody tried to fire t.j. >> and he left. >> about 12 v.p.s that i've had have tried to fire t.j. and after they have i've walked into the e.p.'s room and said, "you're fired," because t.j. is the best director on tv. he's unbelievable. >> you're just saying that. >> so we've been together 11 years -- wait a second, i'm down here. >> boy, this is all planned out.

i had no idea. >> this is a surprise for t.j. >> you guys are hilarious. >> 11 years. >> barry manilow. >> 11 years. >> he's still working. >> may the 1st. we've been through the iraq war together, hurricane katrina together. >> set changes. >> yes, set changes. attempted firings of me 12 times, the passion of the christ where i did it for four months without ever seeing the movie. >> janet jackson. >> natalie holloway. >> the mystery cruise. >> we got to go to break. i love you, too. >> you know what he just said in my ear? something really dirty again. >> stop that! >> oh! >> let's go to break. >> what is wrong with you? >> i love you, you're the best. >> you're the best. thank you. >> no, i will not.

>> did he ask you to do that again? >> yeah. >> in just your socks? >> yeah. >> oh, my god! so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen. mattel started in a garage. disney started in a garage. amazon started in a garage.

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♪ make every day, her day with a full menu of appetizers and entrées crafted with care and designed to delight. fancy feast. love served daily. welcome back to "morning joe." i'll tell you what i learned today. that t.j. is still sending nasty myse messages. and to you. >> i think mika likes those. >> he's doing it again. is this one about the donkey?

>> stop it! you're such a pervert. you're a sick freaking pervert. you need to go get some therapy. i'm serious. >> i learned coming in at 8:00 is awesome. >> and you had a baby. >> i had time to have a baby before i came on. >> 11 years, t.j.'s a saint. congratulations to him. >> to put up with the joking around. what do you like? >> i learned that like you, i'm sick of 11 years of tripping in to pay his salary. i'm tired of it. >> he's trying to get minimum wage. maybe next year. it's "way too early," it's "morning joe." stick around, we have chuck todd with "the daily rundown." thanks for your patience. >> my billionaire is better than your billionaire. that's the sand box synopsi