>> so it was a smoking gunman date from gm on banned words when talking about their car's litany of safety issues, so how does this impact the brand's bottom line? california chrome shines brightly at preakness but is there a chance the two jewel horse may not finish its triple crown run? m and hollow gram. how they resurrect the king of pop for an original performance. this is "way too early." hey there, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. hope you had a great weekend. it is monday, may 19th. welcome to "way too early." the show that does not use any ho holograms. wait until you see this michael jackson performance. some people are offended, some are intoxicated by it. a new pole showing the

democrat's lead in the legislature is vulnerable. 9 in 10 say the health care law would be important to determining their vote. despite calls from many congressional democrats to move on, 60% of voters say the health care debate should not be over. nearly as many say candidate's stance on the income disparate between men and women will impact their decision come november. after an ugly primary season. some of the toughest races are resolved tomorrow. they're playing out across the map from oregon to pennsylvania all the way down to the deep south. despite big money from the senate conservative fund, matt bevin trails mitch mcconnell. the senate minority leader is on cruise control by 20 points but the same poll shows mcconnell trailing allyson lundergan grimes. in georgia the outcome is

unknown. purdue said it would take slashing spending and increasing revenue to bring down the debt. it's a comment his opponents jumped on. >> he's never voted in a regular republican primary. he's flip flopped on issues that are key to republican voters, common core, bailout, repealing dodd frank and now we found out just earlier this week that he seemed to be a little bit soft when it comes to not raising taxes. >> i use the word revenue and revenue is a code word for tax increase in politics. the point i've been making for over a year is we have to get the economy going that will increase the tax days and solve the debt crisis. >> voter turnout is expected to be below 20%. the winner will likely take on michelle nun in november. then there's miss sip sippy. a local political blogger has

been charged with a felony for photographing and posting a photo online of cochran's wife who is in a nursing home. the blogger is a mcdaniel supporter. mcdaniel has condemned the blogger's actions and personally called cochran. a report from over the weekend suggesting that the veterans affairs scandal may be more widespread than thought. the v.a. settled 167 claims since 2001 that were apparently linked to delays in treatment. that financial payout stole more than $36 million. all of this coincides with a federal investigation that the phoenix medical center kept a secret waiting list to cover up long delays for vets looking for care. a doctor claims that he falsified records and that led to dozens of preventible deaths. on friday robert petzel resigned. shinseki is a four star general

and he has resisted calls to step down. dennis mcdonough spoke about the scandal over the weekend. >> the president is madder than hell and i've got the scars to prove it giving the briefings that i've given the president. we have seen obviously the reports out of places like phoenix and fort collins and north carolina and we're going to get to the bottom of those things, fix them, and ensure that they don't happen again. nbc news can confirm that julian castro, the mayor of san antonio, is being vetted for a role in president obama's cabinet. the 39-year-old delivered a speech at the 2012 democratic convention will be appointed to the head of h.u.d. castro has reportedly been approached about a cabinet job in the past. he and his twin brother are

considered rising stars in the democratic party. the cabinet post immediately raises the mayor's profile as a potential vp pick. moving our attention now to business. the market will look to improve on its modest gains on friday after breaking a two-day losing streak. cnbc's steve sedgwick is letting us know how monday may be. >> very good day. the markets are looking slightly negative at the moment. we have actually a couple of weeks of downward movement for the s&p. that's despite tuesday marking a record high for the s&p and the dow. since then i'm afraid they have come up a little bit. a little bit quiet on the day. we have got existing home sales and new home sales thursday and friday. ahead of that on wednesday we'll get a look at the last bit. campbell's soup, hsbc and tiffany will be reporting. at&t is potentially making a very big deal to buy directv.

it looks like $48.5 billion is the price tag for the telecom giant to move into this paid tv arena. trying to gain control over the whole spectrum. big news concerning gm. first we have them agreeing to pay this record $35 million fine and a new investigation is focusing on the company's lawyer. we led the show with this about the type of language that gm employees were supposed to not use. >> yeah, what is interesting is obviously they have an internal investigation now looking at what's wrong with the legal department throughout this entire crisis, plus as you say, $35 million fine from the government as well. but looking forward, i think everyone wants to know what's going to go on at the corporate front, the market front. what it will do for sales as well. sales have actually been picking up. the most recent monthly data we have is 7% increase in the april sales. we had that a couple of weeks ago. despite that there are real concerns about the image of the

company, about how they sort out what their internal structures are. going forward, they're actually okay. very important to note if anybody has a gm product, they can go to gm's website to see if their vehicle falls under any of the recalls for that company because when we talk about brand image, obviously there are so many people behind the wheels of these cars and they need to be aware of the safety recalls. portland, oregon, is pulling its money out of one of the world's biggest companies. the city will no longer invest in walmart. they have adopted socially responsible investment principles which take into account health and environmental concerns, abusive labor practices and corrupt government performances. the city will eliminate 36 million in holdings or 3% of the city's portfolio. concern is growing in the u.s. about the deadly mers virus after the cdc reported a third case in the country. for the first time it was transferred from one person to

another and officials say an illinois man tested positive after coming into contact with someone who traveled to saudi arabia. he's been asked to isolate himself from contact for now. there have been 572 cases of mers in 15 different countries and out of those, 173 people have died. officials are assessing the damage in california this morning following all the series of raging wildfires there, evacuation orders have been lifted and families are returning to their san diego neighborhoods. sadly for dozens of people, there is simply nothing left. 47 houses destroyed. three businesses and an apartment complex lay in ruin. >> we've had five fires since they built it. they've always used my house as a staging area because it's pretty safe. we've had firemen stay here with hoses. this time we didn't see anybody. >> this house was a house that was a lot of joy. my parents always hosted

parties. a lot of people have had great memories here. it's hard to see that change. >> there's nobody here so we walked in here earlier this morning and it feels like armageddon. >> the wildfires burned across 39 miles in san diego county. officials say the flames caused $20 million of damage. california governor jerry brown is warning it could be one of the worst wild fire seasons because of drought conditions. "the new york times" has issued a more detailed statement explaining the reasons of the firing of jill abramson. they directly addressed the allegations that gender played a role in her dismissal writing in part, quote, equal pay for women is an important issue in our country, one that the "new york times" often covers, but it doesn't help to advance the goal of pay equality to cite the case of a female executive whose compensation was not in fact unequal. i decided that jill could no longer remain as executive

editor for reasons having nothing to do with pay and gender. i concluded that her management of the newspaper was simply not working out. meanwhile, what is expected to be a commencement speech to remember, she'll give her first public comments when addressing this year's graduating class of wake forest university. all right. so we all know he passed away in 2009, but that did not stop michael jackson from stealing the show at last night's billboard music awards. look at this and look closely because this is a hollow gram of m.j. performing a song off his new album. he was performing "slave to the rhythm" here. we'll have details coming up in the cooler. looking at this, we want to know who else do you think could come back in hologram form and entertain us. tweet us. we'll have the best ones coming up later in the show. jen, a lot of people on twitter. some have been offended by this thinking it's creepy.

others have been intoxicated. couldn't take their eyes off it. still ahead on "way too early." he's 2/3 of the way to the triple crown. there's talk he could be held out of the belmont stakes. snl takes on the solange/jay z feud. stick around. >> reporter: fisher is a 167-year-old long island high school student who is said to have worked as a call girl. she is accused of shooting the wife of her 36-year-old alleged lover. the day we rescued riley was a truly amazing day.

he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com i got more advice than i knew what to do with. what i needed was information i could trust on how to take care of me and my baby. luckily, unitedhealthcare has a simple program that helps moms stay on track with their doctors and get the right care and guidance-before and after the baby is born.

simple is good right now. (anncr vo) innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories.

we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. captain: and here's a tip. bellman: thanks, captain obvious. when you save money on hotel rooms, it's just like saving money on anything else that costs money. like shoes, textiles, foreign investments, spatulas, bounty hunters, javelins... time for sports. heat and pacers in game one of the eastern conference finals. indiana hadn't won a conference opener yet. they decided to change things

up. paul george led. the pacers extinguished the heat 107-96 leading wire to wire. tonight's the spurs hosting the thunder in game one of the western conference finals. excitement is building for the chance that we'll see our first triple crown winner since 1978. >> california chrome reaching for the wire. another 16 on the outside. california chrome has won the preakness! >> such a great race there watching preakness over the weekend. there could be a problem heading into the belmont stakes. california chrome has worn nasal trips to help improve breathing during his first two victories. he might not be allowed to wear them at belmont. if that's the case, chrome's owners say they won't let him win. >> they'll let him. there's new people in charge of the nra. i know way too much. >> you think it will happen.

>> it will happen. >> to the ice for the stanley cup playoffs. kings and blackhawks in game one of the western conference final. game tied 1, all with 8:00 to go in the second period. duncan keith nets the go ahead goal there. the blackhawks notch one more toward the end of a third to take the series opener against l.a. 3-1. tonight the canadiens look to even up things at home against the rangers. this is a video you have to see. it happened over the weekend. a young rangers fan gets a foul ball in the stands. he turns around and gives it to a pretty girl in the row behind him, but it's not the actual game ball. he pulled a swisher-roo. he has the ball in the glove. he had a spare ball in his right hand. he is a smooth operator. he's more innocent than you think. >> if i got two, i would have to give one to someone else so when i caught the second one, i turned around and i whipped up to the first person i saw. >> everybody wants to know, did

you get her name? did you get her phone number did you get a hug, something? >> no. >> oh. if you were out there, this little kid wants a hug, right? do you want to make your plea to her on tv? >> no. >> look her up on facebook, 12 years, buddy. >> no romantic intentions on that one, but he got a lot of attention out of this. >> yeah. >> big moves. >> in our mind it was a lot worse than it probably was. >> yeah. >> we were thinking he had it planned out from the start. >> no. genuine kid stuff. >> how beautiful was this past weekend? >> ten out of ten. probably one of the nicest weekends we'll see the entire year up and down the eastern seaboard. we were cool with rain down in georgia. it was only 62 in atlanta. from d.c. northward, florida was great, low humidity. i hope everyone enjoyed it. there's not a lot of troublesome weather out there. we are watching all the heat in the west has moved to where it should be in the deserts. all the problems from san diego

northward to l.a. are over. tonight it's nice and cool. little bit of rain in the northern plains and thunderstorms heading towards fargo. other areas like sioux falls, south dakota, the forecast this monday looks great. we're looking really nice pretty much up and down the eastern seaboard. no severe weather as far as big storms. we're looking at a nice, quiet spring week. >> thanks so much. it really is hard to believe tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary since that massive tornado that touched down in moore, oklahoma. i'm leaving after today's shows to be out there for the anniversary doing our show live, talk about the updates of recovery and rebuilding. the stories of the survivors as well as they rebuild their lives there. we'll be reporting "way too early" and "morning joe" from moore, jooeks mitch mcconnell facing a tough primary match-up in kentucky. why he could be in trouble even if he's able to survive tomorrow's republican challenge. when we come back here,

we'll huddle back around the water cooler. the hologram that had the music world buzzing. jen, lewis is not here. i'm going to play lewis, you're going to play me. i'm lewis, jen is me. she's all in. we're back after this. ♪ ♪ i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire.

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so earlier in the show we told you at&t is set to buy directv for 48.5 billion making it the latest telecommunications group trying to expands its reach in the evolving broadband markets. tell your friends with the entry of satellite and telephone companies into the paid tv market back in '92, cable's market share has dropped from 98% all the way to 54% last year. all right. so it was a great season finale to snl over the week end. the highlight came right at the top when they revealed what happened in the elevator between jay z and solange. >> we've got an exclusive of the video. this time with the audio included. >> it has a completely different story. man, what a great party. >> i know, ya. >> oh, my god, there's a spider on you. >> what? it keeps moving. >> kick it. >> oh, i got it. >> oh, great job. i love you, solange.

>> i love you, too. >> hey, thanks again for the help with that spider. >> you know what, no problem. >> that will be fun. oh, my god, the fire is back. >> get it. i have a rack na phobia. i love you. >> love you, too. >> that totally explains it. kick it. kick that spider. all right. so let's check in with john oliver who's noticed the gay rights movement has moved into the world of video games. >> nintendo is the target of a social media campaign, and the company's upcoming video game, you can make your avitar do just about anything, but what your avitar cannot do is marry another avitar of the same-sex. >> in the happy words of progress, nintendo has made a step. >> nintendo is apologizing. while it says it's too late to change now, it is committed to building virtual equality into later versions of the game.

>> yes, virtual eventual equality. that's the dream. now let's see how this news went down in nintendo's world this week. as you can see, mario just got the call. he's overjoyed. his friend link and they are -- whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. i did not know they were gay. >> a match made in virtual reality. we move onto the billboard views where the anticipation was high from a posthumous appearance from the king of pop. take a look. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hollow gram of michael

jackson performing his newly released song "slave to the rhythm." live on stage. the track was recorded in 1991 during the session for his "dangerous" album. they said the performance was nearly half a year of planning, choreography and filming. jackson's new album, escape, was released last week. i find it completely intoxicating to watch that. i didn't get to see the billboard music awards last night. this is the first time i'm seeing this. earlier in the show we asked you who do you want to see in holoram. >> thomas, michael says just let me know when i can buy one at staples so i can stay home and still get paid. >> that would be nice if we could show up for work as a hologram. >> it would. a few people seem outraged on twitter. someone said, no one, that's way too creepy. others are saying whitney houston, freddie mercury, ali a

and jim morrison. >> all i can think of is jem and the holograms. >> they're truly outrageous. >> coming up next on "way too early." look at the stories we're talking about and "morning joe" is just moments away. ♪ ♪ ♪

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recently ousted "new york times" executive is set to give the commencement address. this will mark jill abe bramson's first appearance after she was fired. they denied sexism had any part of removing her. >> the supreme court ruling today will allow citizenship to

children before their parents got their green cards. that's going to do it for a monday edition of "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ good morning. it's monday, may 19th. welcome to "morning joe," everybody. look, it just might be a beautiful day. with us on set we have the chairman of deutsch incorporated, donny deutsch. >> good morning. pretty. >> no. you're in trouble. >> okay. >> really? we'll talk. some people have excuses. and other people have excuses. all right. msnbc political analyst and visiting professor of nyu, harold ford jr. is here. hello. the host of "way too early," the