♪ hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is june 3rd. welcome to "way too early," the show that has a theory about florida georgia line and i'm not talking about the country pop duo. thanks, guys. we've got more about sergeant bowe bergdahl. he could be back by the end of the week but the questions surrounding his release will extend longer than that because a lot of the focus is on how he was captured back in june of '09. multiple reports say bergdahl sent an e-mail to his parents just before he went missing. writing i'm sorry for everything here. these people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid.

i'm ashamed to be an american and the title of u.s. soldier is just the lie of fools. the horror is that america is disgusting. his father said obey your conscience. and he walked off the base without his weapon. in the months that followed at least six were killed in the mission to find their fellow soldier. some are speaking out. the parents of lieutenant darren andrews said, where is the honor in any of this? adding han noshl soldiers risked their lives for someone who was a deserter, a traitor. it devalues their lives. >> he willfully left. he premeditated, planned out, and left. he deserted not only the army, but he also left myself and my platoon and my company to clean up his mess. >> i have frustration that potentially he can still be alive if bergdahl had not left his post. we lost somebody we love very much and we'll never see him again. >> their perspective is

understandable. bergdahl's former roommate said a handful got purple hearts looking for him. the u.s. released five senior taliban numbmembers. they were seen celebrating in qatar where they will be required to live for a year monitored by the government there. supporters of the obama administration including hillary clinton are defending the exchange as one of the hard choices in government. members of congress are complaining that they were not notified of the swap beforehand. and there are deep questions about whether these militants will propose a new threat now released to america. >> we went to war because the taliban was in power. we killed a lot of taliban people. took over the country. turned it over a karsai's crowd. and basically we continue to fight our soldiers over there. the taliban. we are killing taliban if they're coming at us. they're killing us if they get their chance. we're giving five of the most dangerous taliban back to those people in exchange for a soldier that walked into their midst in leaving his post.

does this make sense? >> let's bring in nbc's ammann mohyeldin. let's talk about the concern there is that once they're set free are going to regroup and take positions back up in the taliban that continues to gain legitimate credibility politically on the world stage. >> yeah. well, there's certainly a lot of concern about what roll they could take. they will certainly include restrictive measures. that is they will remain under house arrest. they are banned from traveling. they are banned from reentering, if you will, or playing any role within the taliban organization domestically and internationally. and they will also be proibt hadded from giving media interviews or speaking publicly. they are under tight restrictions as far as qatar is concerned. how long that lasts, that

remains to be seen. but keep in mind also the taliban is a political organization, was only at war with the united states when american soldiers were in afghanistan. if the obama administration intends to wind down and pull out u.s. troops, the taliban has said repeatedly their fight with america is not beyond afghanistan's borders. >> i want to switch gears while we have here you and talk about syria. we have the presidential elections taking place in that country. it is widely expected the president there bashar al assad is going to win in what the west is referring to this as a sham election. because we have the only people who are voting are in the areas that are currently controlled by the government. so really does this election change anything for the hopes of drawing down the civil war in syria? >> well, quite honestly, beyond the syrian regime, nobody is taking this seriously. there are two other candidates, but even by their own admissions they won't win. they haven't been allowed to

campaign. in terms of the votes taking place, it's only taking place in the areas where supporters of assad are. simply out of fear or necessity. the concern obviously is that this is one more emboldened measure by the regime. feels very confident three years into this war. very few people would have thought president assad would be standing for yet another third seven-year term. which is what he's poised now to win. in fact, a lot of people have been speaking to say this a simply a vote of confidence by the regime in itself and nothing more. thomas? >> the thing that's amazing, third seven-year term. ayman mohyeldin, appreciate it. in seattle, the city council passing legislation to make the minimum wage 15 bucks an hour. that's the highest in the u.s. fast food workers and others

cheered this. the legislation goes into effect next april. but the increase is going to be phased in over several years. so it's not from 0 to 60 here overnight. businesses with more than 500 employees will get three years to comply. while smaller businesses will get up to seven years. a group representing national franchises says it plans to sue over the different classifications. the obama administration's new plan to reduce pollution across the country is threatening to cause big headaches for democrats in november's midterm elections. the environmental agency says power plants will be required to cut emissions by 30% by 2030. it covers more than half of which are coal plants. house speaker john boehner did not hold back his criticism. he said the plan would cost americans jobs and increase electric prices. congressman boehner also said, quote, the president's plan is nuts. there's are not more succinct way to describe it. will the democrats listen to the american people and stop this

disaster or will they back the president all the way? coal state democrats came out in opposition. alison lundergan grimes is going to launch a campaign that criticized president obama's plans. and lawmakers including mark begich, kay hagan, and mary landrieu also expressed their concerns over this. however, a "washington post"/abc news poll show 70% of americans are in favor of the government limiting carbon emissions from power plants. it is decision day for voters in several states. much of the focus on republican circles is in mississippi. it's being called the nastiest race in the nation. tea party candidate chris mcdaniel is charging thad cochran who was first elected back in 1972. high profile republicans like sarah palin support mcdaniel. he tried to fire up his base by

saying it's time for a new era in mississippi. >> if we can unseat a 42-year incumbent, it will send shock waves through the system. and for the first time in years those men and women in washington will look at mississippi and say what just happened down there? there's a reason those men and women have all come to mississippi to endorse and fight for us. there's a reason these state senator are here fighting for us right now. it's you. knock the walls down, mississippians. >> all right. so the 76-year-old lawmaker says he will stick with his longtime leadership. >> for the republican majority, as dharm of the appropriations committee, i can help wasteful spending and make sure our conservative principles are at the forefront of our decisions. >> we'll watch what happens out of mississippi today. turning to business. dow and s&p posted new closing

highs. but apple stocks slipped following the developer's big conference jef conference. >> we have a weak futures opening indicated for you at this stage. not much on the data front after that snafu with the isn release yesterday. so motor vehicles just about does it. don't expect great things out of the market early on in the session. i want to switch gears, just talk about google. we have news reports that google may be in chinese. at least the chinese authorities are trying to make it difficult for people to access google as we run into the 25th anniversary of the tiananmen square incident on june 4th.

back to you. >> apple making the underwhelming announcement yesterday. >> you know what? the problem here is that the word integrate deal of new products. there was movement on the software side. there's a new health app that will tell your doctor when your blood pressure's bad. and home kit which will allow you to tie your devices to services in your household. but i think the reason the stock fell, people weren't that wowed with the new technology. back to you. >> thanks so much. dan marino becomes the latest former player to sue the nfl over head injuries. that's next in sports. and later, we'll show you what happens when a pilot undershoots a runway that happens to be next to a busy beach. that's a close call. we'll have a check on weather as well. stick around. ♪

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what's your favorite kind of cheerios? honey nut. but... chocolate is my other favorite... oh yeah, and frosted! what's your most favorite of all? hmm...the kind i have with you. me too. welcome back, everybody. let's get to our twitter question. it has to do with seattle and the historic vote to raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks. however, they have is subminimum wage. is it fair to pay teens less than 15 bucks an hour in seattle? and is this a federal model? tweet us your responses using #waytooearly. let's talk sports. we've got dan marino one of the latest players to file a concussion related lawsuit against the nfl. the suit does not specify any

medical problems suffered by marino and the 14 other plaintiffs. the league agreed to a $765 million settlement with the original group of players last august, but it was rejected by a federal judge in january who said she didn't think it was enough money. so baseball news. we take you to philadelphia. mets leading the phillies 1-0 in the second. the phils ryan howard launches one deep to center. this one's heading out. but look at that. matt dindecker gets up there to rob the homer. >> good hair. look at that hair. >> i know. like an old billy ray mullet. that isn't the only victory for the mets in philadelphia. on april 30th they broke a long standing record by eating 103 philly cheese steaks in one day. the mets get a new championship title on the field after winning that record. they went on to lose eight of their next nine games.

>> i can understand why. >> that's a lot going on down there. overseas, look at this. the pacific league ball in japan. you might recognize the pitcher in all of this. okay? it's kazihito tadano from a short stint in cleveland. you check out that throw? bill kairns loves this. >> it's a strike. >> well, the ump called it a ball. >> it's like slow pitch softball. that's a strike. >> and the player there so confused is just waiting for it to speed up. so look at this. a pair of marathon-related stories. during south africa's comrade marathon, people had to get out of the way as the car slammed the barricade. everything made it out okay. wow. that's scary. look at that. and then really uplifting news out of san diego. 91-year-old harriett thompson ran her way into the record books at the sunday san diego

marathon. she ran this race shattering the u.s. record for the fastest marathon runner in the 90-94 age group. >> 91. >> can you imagine that? >> she just got over cancer. she had radiation in the last year. >> a role model for all of us. congratulations to her. i could never do it. >> i tried to train once. i got to mile 10 or 12, my knees gave out. i can't do it. >> i got to be on a treadmill with my car keys nearby so i can stop and walk out. >> i'm with you. all right. let's talk about this forecast for today. unfortunately severe weather is going to be the big story and maybe even dangerous severe weather. talking tornadoes and winds. not this morning. just showers racing across western new york. pittsburgh to buffalo. some of this weather will make its way in later today. it's going to be hit and miss. for the first time in probably four or five days. numerous chances of rain out

there all the way down to d.c. it's going to be warm and more humid too. the middle of the country is the problem area. late today. it may en be mostly after the dinner hour, after dark. of course when you get tornadoes after dark, it's very dangerous. you can't see them as well. storm chasers can't give a heads up. if you're in the omaha area to the des moines region, you have a chance of dangerous weather tonight. make sure your family is safe and you have your plans. >> get people on alert. thank you, sir. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," new questions about bowe bergdahl's past and a new tweet from his dad raising questions. we'll break it down. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler with a judge challenging the attorney to fight. i mean actually fight. meet me outside because this stuff is going down.

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welcome back, everybody. it was earlier in the show we told you about the growing backlash of bergdahl from fellow soldier who is claimed he is a deserter. if you want to sound smart today, tell them article 85 of the military justice code seeks that desertion in a time of war is punishable by death. harsh discipline has only been used once since the end of the civil war.

u.s. army private eddie slovik was executed by firing squad for alleged deserting his unit in france in world war ii and then refusing to return. let's lighten things up around here and get to the cooler. jen is here today. i'm louis. you're me. okay? our first story involves a wedding getting a lot of attention. this is shawna carter brooks and jonathan brooks from tennessee. they were surrounded by family and friends. but an accessory on her dress that has people buzzing. can we pull out a bit? yeah nap is a baby strapped to her train. the bride secured her 1-month-old daughter as she walked down the aisle. people are up in arms about this. the mom responded on facebook is the answer is we do what we want as long as jesus is on our side. everything worked out fine and we'll continue to be fine. i think everybody's okay with this, but she had the nerve to wear white.

anyway. so get ready to geek out, star wars fans. we have new spoiler pictures from the new set of star wars episode vii. we showed you the script meeting before showing favorites including harrison ford and carrie fisher. now we have new pictures from abu dhabi where j.j. abrams is filming a desert scene. we already have an addition to the cast. now lou pitot nyongo. don't get excited. it doesn't open until 2015. please have a good plot. our next story comes from a beach. be careful where you put down

your blanket to sunbathe. a pilot undershoots his runway. the plane's tires barely miss the man but the fence wasn't so luc lucky. finally we head to brevard county in the great state of florida where even tedious courtroom proceedings can get out of hand. that's when the presiding judge john murphy lost his cool. >> all right. what do you want to do? >> what do you want to do? i'm not waiting. you want set up a trial, set up a trial. >> all right. >> you want to set it for docket. set it. i'm not waiting in any case. >> you know, if i had a rock i would throw it at you right now. stop pissing me off. sit down. i'll take care of it. i don't need your help.

>> i'm the public defender. i have a right to be here and stand up for my client's rights. >> i said sit down! if you want fight, let's go out back. >> let's go [ bleep ]. [ yelling ] >> and another thing, about 30 seconds later the judge reenters the courtroom out of breath and to a round of applause. according to reports, the deputies had to break up the fight. the public defender's office said the incident will be reported to the florida bar. can i have the sound effect again? love that. love being able to call for sound effects. earlier in the show we asked you if it's fair to pay teens less than 15 bucks an hour in seattle. and is their model about raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks and phasing it in over the next years a model to emulate.

justine, what'd we get? can i have my law and order sound effect again? >> good morning. >> yes! >> ronny says no. if the teens are going toe same work as adults, the pay should be the same. and tammy says yes. and a 61% increase will have negative consequences. >> she's talking about 61% increase over the next seven years basically where this salary raise is going. but a lot of people are celebrating the fact they're going to see their salaries go up. next on "way too early," the stories we'll be looking at for the day ahead. and "morning joe" is next from d.c. ♪ (mother vo) when i was pregnant... 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

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alright, russell you are good to go! alright, fellas. alright, russ. back to work! welcome back, everybody. let's get a check on the day ahead before we toss it to "morning joe." eight states will hold elections across the country. mcdaniel is challenging thad cochran who was first elected in 1972. president obama arrives in poland today for meetings with the president and prime minister. russia will undoubtedly be a hot topic of discussion.

and then chicago mayor rahm emanuel will appear on "the tonight show" with jimmy fallon this evening. he is making good on his promise after fallon came in march and jumped into lake michigan for the polar bear plunge. he had his suit on. there he is. that's going to do it for this edition of "way too early." "morning joe" from d.c. starts right now. ♪ obviously we should be happy for the family. they've gotten their loved one back. that's important. the methodology in what we used was troublement. negotiating with terrorists. >> it is cause for celebration when a soldier is brought home. >> first of all, we're happy an american was returned to his family. this was not right. >> yes, it is a victory and a defeat. the whole situation has us pumping our