. this morning we begin with a progress report. president obama declared 2014 to be his year of action. we are in the 6th month, halfway through the month. the past week has been an active week for the president and we thought it was the time to assess where he and his administration are. what has president obama accomplished so far in this his year of action. we will discuss all of this and more with the panel in a bit.

first let's take a step back and assess how president obama arrived at this stage of his presidency. the middle of year six where nothing is coming out of congress and executive actions seem to be the best and probably only chance. every day he confronts a republican dominated house and a senate where they routinely force them to come up with a 60-vote super majority if they pass anything. this has been the state of play since the 2010 mid-terms. they had to think creatively. we witnessed executive authority in action. on monday they announced far reaching regulations to curb carbon emissions, a 30% cut. exhibit two, the administration announced the young undocumented immigrants from temporary waivers to back in 2012. now is a two-year extension that prompted outrage from the most

powerful republican opponent in congress. now talk is rampant if the house keeps stonewalling immigration, obama will take another dramatic action to impose reform on his own. he made no apologies about trading members of the taliban without giving congress notification, something he reiterated on friday night. >> we have a rule, a principal that when someone wears our country's uniform and they are captured, we will do everything we can to bring them home. we saw an opportunity and took it. i make no apologies for it. >> the president has been candid in admitting last year was not the easiest. >> i admit it. last year was rough.

sheesh. at one point things got show bad the 47% called mitt romney to apologize. >> so did it come to this? in 2009 and 2010 they benefitted from the majorities that allowed them to get big things done. then came the backlash in the landslide followed by the debt ceiling brinkmanship in 2011. they believe if they can win in 2012, they would break the fever of unyielding opposition. losing in 2012 would scare the gop into bending in a few big issues. >> the frustration is that we still need to break the fever here in washington so that this town operates and reflects the values that are shared by people all across the country. >> the 2012 election was more than a year and a half ago and

the fever is still raging and the white house came to realize as long as republicans have power in congress there is not going to be much action in the president's agenda. the magazine interviewed more than 60 people in the obama paradox, that the few years remaining may give him a feeling of liberation even as he is strung by the realities and restraints of office. the article depicts the president with a deep awareness of how precious his remaining time is. he took in salon evenings, engaging them in philosophical conversations late into the night. when he said after one of the sessions, i was talking about life and art, big, interesting things. now back to the things on politics. president obama appears to have his legacy in his mind and talks about conceiving his own version of a clinton foundation that

benefits young people. bright lights beckon as he sets his sights on home base. politics in washington encumbered him and he is trying to short circus and seek creative approaches in leaving a lasting mark even if congress won't help him. he finds himself in a poignant moment. the mid-term is closer and his legacy is on his mind. what will can he do to create lasting change to fulfill the promises he made in 2008 and 2012. to help assess this, i want to bring in richard wolf who wrote several books. the most recent is the message, the reselling of president obama. amanda is the senior report managing editor with the "huffington post" and erica is a public policy expert, president and founder of the progressive project. let me start with you. you know this administration so

well. it seems to me, i'm not sure when the hit was. maybe the start of the year and the shut down. there has been a realization on the part of the white house. there has been -- you can think back to the first or the second term, it felt we are building towards a moment when republicans would be willing to compromise and they didn't want to do anything that would feed into republican characters. it seemed somewhere in the last six months to a year, that moment is never going to come. >> right. the moment of breech comes with the crisis because that was a miserable time. if you are a clinton person and heaven knows they are getting more vocal, you would say of course this was going to happen. >> it would open up. >> it's a fairy tale. what do you end up with?

the clinton situation chicago is you have to move by executive order. there is still one area which is immigration where they are trying to hold some things back and say we will give you more time, maybe if eric kantor gets through, it will be different. in of hearts that's not true either. you are seeing a president who is very aware that he has a sense of mortality on him, but his power and time in office and maybe to look at that interview in 2012, just 2012 was better make up. he looks a lot younger. a lot younger. >> we are saying this, but they are there eight years and everybody ages, but i have the same reaction. >> look at how he talks about young men of color and something really passionate and personal for him. the epa emissions standard. very tough. he is preparing the legacy and the unfinished business of the

promises of that first term. >> even in the political article, even as little as playing golf. there was a republican joke. the president is playing golf all the time. they cared about that image and playing into that. doesn't seem like they care about that anymore. i want to get to immigration and some of the specifics. immigration is the big unknown right now. in general, i heard this debate from time to time and i wonder if you can weigh in. the idea is has the administration exhausted every opening it could have and every opportunity it might have to get to the moment of compromise. you look back at the clinton years and they opposed him. there was that moment when they got the compromise. they came together. is there anything that you see the administration hasn't done. he could make more personal calls. is there anything that they could do or could have done that could have avoided this moment? >> you need the carrots and

sticks approach. a lot of people were frustrated for a while. we will compromise with you before they offered anything in return. now what obama is trying is sticks. republicans don't like when the president uses too much executive action. what he is saying on things like immigration is fine. you guys can work on passing legislation and i won't do this. he held that out on issues like gay rights and the employment of nondiscrimination act. he is trying to finally say congress, you guys can get something done or i will act without you. it's nice to see him trying this. >> erica, i wonder what you think of this. there has been criticism of president obama from the left of not being aggressive enough as president and trying too hard to compromise with republicans. seems they are out of the let's cultivate compromise mentality.

what do you think of the president obama you are seeing right now? >> i'm glad to see him getting loosened up, but part of the problem is we have to look at rahm emmanuel being chief of staff when president obama first went into office. rahm emmanuel lived through the clinton years. if anyone knew what the right wing is capable of, it's rahm emmanuel and the clintons. i think he fundamentally did not prepare pop for what he was going to face. you will never break this favor. this has been going on since bill clinton went into office. all of the things that the right wing threw at him. i think president obama very naively thought -- it's the best spirit of hopefulness, but thought he could come in and work with these people. the right wing of this country wants to destroy everything that we think is great about this country. they are never going to end. the fever will never be broken and the best thing president obama could do to seal his

legacy is to build out the intellectual infrastructure of the left. the standing infrastructure. the heritage foundation has a $77 million annual budget. the center for american progress, the stcenter left thi tank. they changed the face of the country. >> in terms of a long-term impact, you are thinking beyond presidential power right now. you are talking more about building up institutions outside of government. that is the more promising track. >> yes, 100%. if you look at politics, it's like the picture of the iceberg where you can see the top bit of it and everything underneath. the conservatives after the gold water defeat, they built out a network of think tanks and the society and the aei and heritage foundation. those in combination with the

chamber of commerce and the koch brothers, this whole infrastructure is the problem. a legacy needs to address that infrastructure problem. >> we talk about the mind set to compromise. we are back to the clinton years and there were compromises between the impeachment and the rise and all of that. if you look at the first term for president, that's the most accomplished congress and they pass more big things than you have seen with lbj. they were able to get health care and stimulus and all these things. the reality of republican opposition has not changed. the democrats had votes in 2009 and 2010. i wonder if it has been like a teaching moment for americans. everyday americans. we think of the president as all

powerful. we have seen limits of what an individual president can do. if you don't have the votes, 60 votes in the senate or a big majority in the house, what can you do? >> i don't know why anyone would not understand the system. even my kids in elementary school. >> more people vote in the presidential and if you don't vote in the mid-term. >> expectations that he fuelled and his campaign fuelled. in many ways as point out, they were able to meet, but the expectations were higher than that. if you are going to play the legacy game, is the country in a more progressive place than at the end of the bush years. on issue after issue, it is. that's why you are seeing this backlash. erica is right. was there a conflict saying we are going to try to unite this country and having rahm emmanuel as the first chief of staff,

absolutely there was. in any case if thank you are taking rahm's position, who can you compromise with? they are offering a third and the republicans couldn't give them more than one vote. there were no republican votes at all for this president because they knew how threatening he was in terms of realigning the political framework in the country. obamacare is not going to go away. it's rapidly changing. even with a republican president. the ending of two wars and with the exception of guantanamo bay and immigration reform, you know this president is still working on those by executive order. >> there 2 1/2 years left in the presidency. we have the basic reality out lined here. you have immigration that is the one i want to pick up when we come back. but what can happen and the lasting impact the obama presidency can be in the last 2 1/2 years. we will get to that when we come back. underwater fans

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>> let's see where else we can make progress together. let's make this a year of action. that's what most americans want. for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives. their hopes. their aspirations. >> president obama at this year's state of the union calling for 2014 to be a year of action. the two big issues with the year of action that we are hovering over, number one, the epa. the new regulations were announced. immigration, we have been talking about this for his whole presidency, but especially since the 2012 election. it was the story of the younger diverse coalition and he never thought he would get reelected. now we will see where the

country was going and say okay, give me immigration. that's the one we will compromise on. the white house thought that was going to happen. it is early june 2014 and it still hasn't happened. we are hear being this little window that supposedly existed. we had the idea that eric kantor had to get through a primary and the tea party challenge. he's free to put something on the floor. john boehner, maybe she free too. if nothing happens here, if the next month or two is like the last 19 months, the question is what can president obama do? what would president obama do as president with an executive order on immigration. what does he have the power to do? >> immigration is an area where we could do a lot. he could reshape the system. he has deported more people than president bush has. he doesn't have to do that. he could help determine who stays in the country or make it

harder for people to be deported and the people who served in the military to stay in the country. a lot of areas and changing the culture. >>. >> i heard it explained. we were talking about it earlier. you want to get a buy in from republicans and you don't want the line from republicans. we don't trust the president. the whole idea of the deportations. he said i'm tough on immigration. that hasn't gotten them. that's one of the areas that they look at and say being the tough guy has not gotten me credit. >> they are saying that we don't trust obama to follow the law and we need to be tougher on border security. he has been tougher than president bush and a lot of them wanted to do immigration reform. i think that hopefully many advocates are saying that republicans won't go along and a time he is losing his chance and

republicans, i am very skeptical they will do anything. >> i'm skeptical as well. i have been listening to the rhetoric from kantor and his primary and allowing for the fact they say one thing and do another. i'm having a hard time to see how he gets from point a to point b. 2 1/2 years left in the presidency. when you lock at the powers of the presidency and executive action, what is at the top of your agenda that you would like to see him do and think he should be doing. >> i like to see him come out kicking and screaming to save the consumer financial protection bureau. it has been under attack since it got put in. they will need protecting. let me mention a minute on the immigration issue. what hoe has is not only the ability to make an executive action, but also has an ability to time that executive action. rather than waiting on this, the

president should do executive orders on immigration now. what that will do is force republicans who are still in these primary battles to pick a side and the tea party potentially could beat these candidates and all of a sudden you have more transparency about who the right wing of the country is. the republican friends of mine from down south really don't have a concept of how these people are actually oriented. i think the faster we can bring transparency tow tea party republicans and republicans who are tea party-like even if they think they are just republicans and not officially in the tea party. this is an angry hateful mob of people who are trying to take over this country. so force the issue. time your executive actions in such a way that it will have electoral effects. >> what are do you think the time table is.

we keep hearing from the white house the idea where there is this window. what do you think we would see an executive action from the president? >> it will be the summer. you will have this last gasp. you cannot come up with a path to citizenship. it requires legislation and they have to give it one more try. it's not wrong. it sounds crazy, you want more tea party republicans, but that will be the defining vision. that's exactly what democrats and the president will end up with. the actions on climate change and immigration will lead to that. i think that you are going to have this one last effort in legislation. it's not going to work. you talk about a republican party that opposes common core standards because it has obama attacheded to it. there is no compromise available any time he backs anything and especially something this difficult. >> we talk about the executive

actions and the other thing is the difference between something like the affordable care act when president obama got reelected. that settled it. this was not going to be repealed. when you talk about the actions, if a republican gets elected and becomes president, they could undo with one stroke of the pen that everyone can do. that's the downside. we are out of time. we want to thank you and see you later in the show. you may remember from the mayor of hoboken, new jersey came on this show and alleged that chris christie was playing politics with badly needed sandy money from the city. the first live television interview since coming forward, that's ahead. we are continuing to follow news about tracy morgan. the man who they said caused the crash faces multiple charges.

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state and national average. they created a national firestorm in 20 then when they fired and rehired all of the teachers after failinging to negotiate a contract. a year later they were forced to declare bankruptcy after corruption and mismanagement left it in debt. a new generation of leaders is fighting for a turn around. msnbc.com cofiled with the mayor and the city is trying to resurrect. he is the town's first hispanic mayor elected in a special election after the previous mayor was arrested on corruption charges. he is leading a new band of young elected officials and the city is 60% latino. he wants to help people like his father who after 30 years may lose his job at a lighting factory in september. he faces tight budget constraints and a judge requires the city to adhere to a budget.

they are spearheading new projects that are drawing national attention. alec baldwin spearheaded a fund-raising campaign. there was a 28-year-old have what it takes to confront the major economic challenge of our time and the generation of young people who feel they have fewer economic opportunities than their parents. joining me now is a democrat from central falls, rhode island. thank you for joining us. i have to tell you, i know central falls a little bit. i have been there a couple of times, but i feel it's towns like this that are the story of my family. my mother's family comes from water bury, connecticut and the old brass capital of the united states. i know so many people that even if they don't live in up tos lick this, their parents and grandparents did. this is part of the story of america. there is a sentimental

attachment there. you have been dealt as mayor a tough thing in terms of trying to take the city out of bankruptcy. you don't have a lot in the way of resources. the question i have and what you might be wondering, what is it that you need as mayor from the federal and the state government to turn your city around and bring it back. what is the biggest thing you need? >> thank you, steve, for allowing me to join your show. central falls went through on a smaller scale where many big communities are going through. the federal and state officials, what they could do is send more resources to a lot of infrastructure like roads and bridges and sidewalks and part of that would allow to stir the local economy and bring in local contractors to fix these infrastructur infrastructures. that's a major critical point of

my administration. we understand that the street, sidewalks and infrastructure was neglected for a long time. >> something else that i think people can relate to is get out of bankruptcy. the hole you guys are facing. so much of this had to do with long standing pension and health care. $80 million or something like that. you had retirees that took a hit in terms of pension and health care cost. what has that done to the morale of the community? it's necessary to preserve the city, but it also -- the impact has to be profound. >> it was definitely a difficult time during the bankruptcy. i was a member of the city council. i cannot describe how terrible it was seeing old men and women who gave so much for our city and sacrificed their lives and

put their life on the line to see them get the huge cuts. they would come up to me and crying and talk about how they are losing their home. they can't put their kid through college. >> what do you tell them? >> i was just making sure -- exactly what i'm going to tell you now. i'm going to do my best to be your voice. communicating with the bankruptcy. unfortunately it's bad decision making in the past and false promises that unfortunately the retirees suffer from. >> the mayor of central falls, rhode island, i'm cheering for you and a lot of others are as well. thank you for joining us. tonight go anywhere. our interview with the woman who set off a firestorm with governor chris christie. seattle is going to $15 an hour.

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. we heard a lot about the progressive wave sweeping america. senator elizabeth born in massachusetts and deblasio in new york city. have you heard of ed murray? he's the mayor of seattle and led the city to approve the highest minimum wage of anyplace in the country. they approved a $15 wage floor to take effect over the course of the next seven years, more than twice the current national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. they are in washington state with a $9.32 minimum wage that is the highest in effect in the country right now. it is indexed to infligz that rises by odd amounts each year. about a quarter of the population earns less than $15 an hour, about 14% live below

the federal poverty line. one organization estimates it will pump nearly a half million. a movement to raise the minimum wage begins with the workers organizing and demonstrating, but the deal to make it happen dates back to september when the then mayoral candidate pledged to set a $15 wage floor. he picked two leaders, from a business and from organized labor and gave him four months to can come up with a plan that got to $15 an hour. they gave him an ultimatum. if they failed, he vowed to present the city council with his proposal that both sides were sure to hate. they didn't fail and presented the compromise plan to the council. it was approved. it's not just seattle. in the last year, eight states increased min pull wages. the most 2006.

that last one, michigan is unique in that it passed through a republican legislature and signed by a republican governor. it came as a compromise to negate another. they tended to be blue states. that raises the question, are we entering a new reality where blue states and blue cities have high minimum wages and red states have lower ones. you go from place to a place with a lower one by traveling a couple of miles. does it make sense to have varying minimum wage laws across america. the majority leader sponsored michigan's recently enacted raise to minimum wage and here is a staff attorney at the national employment law project and i will start with you.

seattle is going to $15. the state of washington is $9.32. michigan will be phased up to $9.25 over five years and some states are down at $7.25. what do we know from an economist standpoint about the effect it has when you can be at $15 or $7.25? >> it points towards the need to raise the minimum wage more broadly. $7.25 an hour has not kept up with the cost of living. states will see 27 states that will have the minimum wages above the federal level. cities like seattle are going higher. the high cost areas where even 9.32 is the highest in the country, but not enough to make ends meet. given that more and more americans are relying on the jobs to support themselves and their families, that is

providing the impetus for this amazing movement on minimum wage. >> senator, i will go to you. the michigan story as we said, this is a unique story. michigan in terms of how it votes, we think of it as a blue state and in terms of being governed, his a red state and yet you guys increased the minimum wage. it looked to me watching this from afar, you were trying to forestall a larger increase that was going to be on the ballot and likely to be approved. the state is at 7.40 and the ballot put it at $10.10. the main goal for you in advancing the legislation, something is coming down the pike and we don't want it to be as high? >> it wasn't that we didn't want it to be high, we wanted it to be responsible. the increase was very poorly worded. it was a california company that

came in and a lot of outstate money and hiring volunteers to go out and not tell the whole story. we have tip wages for restaurant folks. waiters and waitresses. $2.75 an hour plus tips. i wanted to move it to $10.10 plus the tips. in some restaurants that would multiply their payroll by 400%. that was irresponsible. if this hasn't been done in michigan in sen or eight years. it was the consumer price index. instead we wait several years until it's out of whack and try to make up for it. the nice part and the responsible part is that we put a consumer price index into it so we don't have to deal with this. every year there is an increase. >> the deal is after 2018, it goes up with the cpi. 3 1/2% increase. unemployment goes over 8 1/2%.

no minimum wage increase. you were listening and i saw you shaking your head there. what were you shaking your head at? >> the initiative that raises the minimum wage to $10.10 and that's key. if you are a waiter and a waitress, you are paid lower and the tipping are supposed to bring you up to a minimum wage. that is a very unstable way to live. >> the idea of a waiter or waitress is going to make the full minimum wage and tips on top of that. >> tips are in addition what they make. >> that's a huge difference. >> it's a huge difference. tipped workers have twice the poverty rate as a whole. the majority is women and it's very much a pay equity. they raise the minimum wage to

the full minimum wage. >> senator, when you look at the hourly rate for a waiter or waitress in a restaurant, it's a low number and that's a lot to make up for in tips, isn't it? >> not really. what we did. we took the restaurant folks and democrats and republicans and small business people. those that are affected by tourism and young people also. the youth rate would have accelerated beyond what small businesses can afford for the summer. it was a poorly worded ballot initiative. we said look, people are interested in this. let's sit down. i think this is what people are clamoring for. not only in michigan, but around the country. republicans and democrats to put the political crap to the side and work together and come up with something. if you look at the vote total, 10 of the 12 democrats voted for it. bipartisan work.

we left the politics at the door and put something together that we managed. we don't need people from california or florida or seattle or anywhere else coming in to tell us what we should pay our people. i think what we did is responsible and i'm proud of that work. >> i have to squeeze a break and pick this up on the other side. we are always having this debate about is this definitely the definitely where jobs will be? i want to figure out what that level is. i want to bring amanda in. we'll be right back after this. get outta here! i made this belt with traditional, bold, and peanut butter chocolate chex mix. you guys are cute! i've got trail mix, peanut lovers, chipotle cheddar, dark chocolate, hot n' spicy... turtle, cookies 'n cream, italian herb & parmesan, sour cream 'n onion, and brownie supreme chex mix. and it rotates. 20 flavors, lots of pieces. chex mix pick your mix. now try popped in white cheddar and sweet and salty.

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>> calling them to act on raising the federal minimum wage. minimum wage for imposing federal contractors. amanda, we were talking about this with you earlier. this seems like an extension. the idea of raising the minimum wame is installed in congress. we heard mitt romney and a few voices out there saying we need to be the party of blue collar people and this is one of the things we have to do. do you see any more wiggle room or is this up to states and cities because nothing is coming out of congress? >> i don't think anything will come out of congress, but what president obama is doing is bringing it up as a national conversation. we are seeing more states look at it. we are seeing more people at the state and local levels bring it up. with seattle, $15 an hour. that seems high, but if the minimum wage were indexed to

inflation and accounting for productivity, it would be at $22 an hour. not as high as it could be. president obama made it an issue and it is being discussed and people are asking why don't you support this? it is incredibly popular across the board. that is important. >> we're talk about the $15 number for seattle. where is the level because you hear whenever minimum wage is increased, is it going to cost jobs? there is a lot of research who said it doesn't do that. it has to be the rate of increase where the average restaurant or business owner is looking at this saying you know, at this point that's too much. i don't want to add the other worker. i want to squeeze more out of what we have. >> as amanda said, productivity would be much higher.

we have seen $15 an hour laws and seen that they have not caused job loss. if you look at airports in san jose and st. louis and san francisco, those airport workers get $15 an hour plus benefits. if you look at washington, d.c., they instituted a live in wage law for the security guards and that transitioned with an $8 an hour to that pays more than $15 an hour and the sky has not fallen. we have not reached it. >> the flip side of that question, we always talk about what damage to the economy, what damage to jobs could increase the minimum wage? you guys are raising it and do you think this is going to have a positive impact on the economy? >> yeah. i definitely think it will. part of the reason is -- why i appreciate that it's a national conversation, but each state should look at this separately. we have different kinds of economy. the summer as far as tourism is

important. we have high school kids and college kids working through college and through the summer. that has to be considered separately. senior citizens only make a certain amount and like to go out into the workforce and like to be there. you carve out different places to do this the right way. each state has different segments and that's why we in michigan said a california-based firm or people out of washington, d.c. are not going to come in and tell us how to run our economy. now it's 7.5. we cut in t just about in half. we think we know when to do in michigan. >> today with the national employment law budget. much more ahead including the interview with dawn zimmer. she and chris christie were in the nows this week. we will talk to her about that and everything else since she

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. if you watched this show over the last five months, you know a little bit about our next guest. the realities have threatened chris christie's presidential aspirations and sparked a federal investigation and are at the heart of the eternal investigation he claims exonerated all of this. dawn zimmer is back here today. what have the last five months been like for her? has she talked to chris christie? we will ask her that and a lot more when she joins us for the first live interview since january. that is next. (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?

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months ago. president obama's hud secretary is speaking in a public park this past monday. right behind him is new jersey governor chris christie. donovan was in new jersey to handout big checks, money for the winners of the rebuild by design competition. this was a contest between cities and towns hit hard by hurricane sandy. hud set aside a chunk of money and asked them to think about how to protect themselves from flooding damage in the future. in the the cities that deemed to have the smartest blueprints would win a cut of the money. he was there to announce the winning entries including this one. >> i want to acknowledge the mayor of hoboken and mayor turner and mayor full up of jersey city for the role they played and the leadership they display displayed. i asked the mayors and the team to stand as well.

>> it was quick, but getting a shout out. that is dawn zimmer, the mayor of hoboken and yes, that's chris christie standing on stage and clapping along with everyone else. if you know the story about dawn zimer and chris christie, this was a surreal scene. one the "new york times" described as walkard. it was on january 18th that mayor zimmer alleged the lieutenant governor pulled her aside in may of 2013 and told her that hoboken would only receive the sandy recovery money if the mayor expedited a proposed redevelopment project. the rockefeller project it's called that was represented by the law firm of one of christie's closest confidants. >> the bottom line is it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the city of hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private

developer. >> he was the chairman of the port authority of new jersey, a powerful agency at the heart of the other major scandal that enveloped the christie administration over the closure of the access lanes to the george washington bridge in the fall. he denied any wrong-doing. zimmer provided copies of e-mails that showed a lobbyist trying to arrange a conference call with top officials to discuss the project. e-mails that sampson himself was copied on. she shared entries that she said she wrote as the threats to withhold money were being made. zimmer had been one of the christie's most prominent allies, but she writes of coming it view in a different light. my beloved governor wants to run for president and i can't understand it. what has he promised? i cannot figure it out.

i had no option but to sanld up to him. on allegations, they rocked the world and thrust her and the small city into the national spotlight. a day after appearing on this show, she is called to the attorney for new jersey where she shared her story and her diary entries. the allies have challenged zimmer's credibility, pointed out she needed eight months to come forward and she would continue to make positive comments about christie. >> it is compelling and it's repeatedly sent out tweets praising governor christie. i don't think she will succeed in shaking christie down on this. >> christie's lieutenant governor denied zimmer's allegations. >> mayor zimmer's version of our conversation in may of 2013 is not only false, but is illogical

and does not with stand scrutiny when all of the facts are examined. >> then there was the master report that is the internal investigation that was conducted at taxpayer expense that the law firm had retained to represent itself. when that report was released at the end of march, christie declared himself exonerated. >> the fact of the matter is i had nothing to do with this and as i said from the beginning of this report has supported exactly what i said. >> that master report came down hard on zimmer, concluding that our investigation found that mayor zimmer's allegations are in material respects false. they are contradicted by contemporaneous documents and other accounts in her own prior statements, subjective statements do do not match objective reality as reflected in the hard evidence in our investigation. zimmer was not actually interviewed by christie's

lawyers for that report. her lawyer refused to write, we question whether it is appropriate for the governor's office to be investigating itself when an investigation of the same subject matter is being conducted by the u.s. attorney's office. the status of that federal investigation like all federal investigations is shrouded in wristry. we know that agents have been here to talk to his inner circle. the hoboken city council voted to waive attorney-client privilege on redevelopment issues. a man named joe allowed him to meet with and speak openly with prosecutors. the press secretary said the mayor told him about her encounter with the governor on the day it happened. hoboken is of the most densely populated cities of america. 80% was under water. she was on our show in january. zimmer explained why she felt her city needed more money and why without more help, hud's

rebuild by design was the best bet for getting it. >> we now have an international team including a couple of dutch firms and working with us to create a comprehensive plan that truly protects the entire city. >> this past monday, dawn zimmer got that money. 2$230 million to mitigate futur problems in and around hoboken. months since zimmer became a central player in the scandals that threatened the political future. from a legal standpoint, we don't know where the allegations are going if anywhere at all. with that big check she won this week, zimmer scored at least one victory here. now what her life has been like in the last months. dawn zimmer, welcome back to the show. i have to tell you, i was saying this to you in the break before you came out here. i received more e-mails and more

feedback and more comments in the last five months about how is dawn zimmer doing and what is happening in hoboken and what became the story. this is the question i am asked most often. there is a lot of interest here today. i guess i will start and we set it up with your city and it's complicated, but it's a joint bid. your city and two other cities and new jersey. $230 million with the rebuild by design for future flooding mitigation. you were talking about how you wanted to and needed to win this competiti competition. what does it moan for hoboken now that you have won this? what is going to happen that wasn't happening before? >> this is a tremendous and historic opportunity for ho boeken and i'm looking forward to looking at jersey city. we now have the opportunity to comprehensively protect the city and the residents and protecting

our businesses and the housing authority. the critical assets this we share like the train that was down for three months and devastated our community. they provide sanitation services and tremendous things. >> do you think coming forward and the publicity generated about what hoboken was dealing with, do you believe that helped you? >> i can't speculate about that. this was a great proposal. it's a fantastic proposal that demonstrates the urban area. if you have a comprehensive plan that we can live with water. hoboken is on the frontlines of climate change. not only did we experience hurricane irene and sandy, we had five significant flood events since sandy. we are dealing with flooding on a regular basis. look at the climate change assessment report. it shows.

downpours are happening. in the last 50 years, downpour events have increased by 70% in the northeast. it's something we have to deal with. i'm excited that this plan will give us the opportunity to really comprehensively protect our cities. >> when you were on the show in january, while you were making allegations, you were appealing to governor christie for help with this. did you receive any help from them and have coordination with them as you were preparing the bid in the last few months? >> i think governor christie and his team made a decision that we were not going to take a public position on. they did help with coordinating and helping them with the process. >> i have to ask you this. we show the picture and the video from this past event. we know that the back story here is very surreal. that's the word we used to watch that. you are in the audience and they asked you to stand up and get applause.

chris christie is 15 feet away. did you have any encounter? >> i didn't have the opportunity to talk to him, but i'm absolutely thrilled. this is a tremendous opportunity for the city. what i'm focused on and what we celebrated, we are moving ahead. what's important is getting this done and implementing this. i'm committed to working with the administration and the council and working with the government. i have a meeting with hud next week and we want to get this implemented as expeditiously as possible. i will tell you, residents every time it rains, they are scared. they are nervous. at the community meetings we had for this rebuild by design project, people come up to me and some people came up to me in tears saying this was a great proposal. can this really happen and can you get it done? yes, we can get it done. >> i wonder, was there

coordination or communication before that event? i am curious how this came about? did they know what you would be there? we don't want them to cross paths? >> i don't know. i know i was invited and glad to be there. >> i'm sure you were. we reached out to the governor's office. you will be on the show and we let them know and they provided us with a statement. there was a lengthy statement and want to run it by you. they were making the claim and the point and we heard this from them in january. hoboken said in terms of the sandy funding, $70 million in federal aid from various sources in addition more than $68 million in private insurance for a total of $138 million in recovery and rebuilding and resources. the mayor requested over $100 million or roughly over one third of all available state-wide resources.

this came up a lot after you were on the show in january. one of the things they were saying, hoboken didn't get enough, but dawn zimmer requested a ridiculous amount of money. one third of all the hazard mitigation funds and dawn zimmer did well compared to other cities. what is your response? >> at the end of the day we need to protect hoboken for the future. as far as the funding we need to help us going forward, i don't agree with the numbers. i am absolutely thrilled we won this competition and i anyhow it was an opportunity. i had all of the teams in august and invited them to hoboken and it was my son's birthday, but i took the day and presented them with our plans and what happened in hoboken and what we were proposing at the time and luckily the team took an interest and we worked with them and gave them the information that we had. when i was out there advocating

and having community meetings and we got nearly 60 letters of support from the community. that made it happen. that's my focus. that's what we need to focus on now is getting this done and getting it implemented. >> where you are sitting, the next day you were in the u.s. attorney's office and the administration had an awful lot to say about you. they had a lot to say about you in the master report. there is a lot that has happened and a lot that has been said. i want to go through and find out what the last five months have been like. we will ask you about that when we come back. >> okay. you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans

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mayor dawn zimmer. the next day you met with the u.s. attorney and federal prosecutors in newark. this is a sensitive subject in terms of what you can and can't say, but i wonder if from a general standpoint, is it your sense that there is an active investigation still going on? >> that's a good question, but you have to ask the u.s. attorney. i can't comment on that at all. >> from another angle, you heard in the last few months, chris christie is saying i'm exonerated. when you hear him say that, what's your reaction to that? >> for me, i will step back and say after i did the interview with you, i left here and i was bracing myself and i knew it was going to be tough and it's not easy to have the press questioning your integrity and your honesty. i will you what took the edge off is haley barber when he accused me of being a lady

mayor. you guilty? >> guilty. it's plain silly. my kids love that i got on the daily show because of his comment. that took the edge off and politics has prepared me. it's a tough place. not only to run in mississippi, but hudson county. >> here's something that people, the haley barber comment that we played earlier, but this master report. the taxpayer funded internal investigations and a law firm that was representing the christie administration in dealings with federal prosecutors and this internal investigation. this is why he is calling himself exonerated. the lawyer who ran this investigation revealed in his findings and talked about you. this is the sort of thing you have been hearing. i want to remind people, this is what he had to say about mayor

zimmer. >> mayor zimmer's subjective perceptions do not match the objective reality reflected in the hard evidence that we uncovered in the investigation. >> that are characterization of you, we heard that in the press and other defenders and allies of chris christie. what's your reaction to that? >> for a long time i will be honest, i didn't want to read the master report. i did read through it. what i was surprised about is how i was portrayed as obsessive in an unhealthy way. basically i'm passionate about protecting the city of hoboken and making sure our city is protected about climate change and that's my job is to look out for the city of hoboken. i will never apologize for that and never stop forging ahead to get it implemented as quick low

as possible. i was surprised about how my advocacy was portrayed in a negative way. >> obviously you knew and we had talked to you before you came on the air and you knew this was going to be a big deal. did you know how big of a deal it was going to be and is there anything that surprised you? >> yeah, i was expecting it was going to be tough and i have a job to do. i went back and focused on the rebuild by design process. i had a budget to pass and i sung at a barmitzvah. i went back to my and doing my job. >> what's lifelike in hoboken? the dynamic that is interesting is this is a pro christie town or it was in 2013. they voted for you and they also voted for chris christie. did are you resentment or what's

been the reaction among the people? >> the reaction has been very, very positive. people come up to me on the street and thank me. on social media, i will get different feedback. are they hoboken residents, i don't know. that always happens on social media. as far as people coming up to me, i never had anyone say why did do you this? people have been very, very positive. >> did you expect there would be arbitrate public figures after you who would come forward and say something like this happened to me too? are you surprised? >> yeah. -- not really. it's a hard thing to do. >> have you heard anyone privately say i don't want to say anything, but it sounds familiar. >> i think i'm not going to talk about that. >> sounds like there might be a little bit more there.

is there anything that is particularly disappointing to you about the reaction that you have gotten whether something said about you or people maybe you thought would be publicly defending you? is there anything disappointing you? >> i'm focused. like i said, it is what it is. i'm focused on moving hoboken ahead and excited to be working with jersey city and this is a plan that will really help our three communities and i am committed to moving ahead and getting something as quickly as possible. >> one thing that was striking to people is even as you were making allegations, you were talking about the things chris christie had done as governor. you had i political alliance and you worked closely with all of this. i wonder now after the past five months and after they have taken shots at you and you made allegations against them. what is your assessment right

now? chris christie as a leader and a person. >> one thing i will say is i will always be thankful to the help his administration gave in the hospital. that was one of the biggest challenges we had and the administration played a in helping us. there were more things, but that was a major challenge and i will always appreciate that. >> if you had the chance, he wanted to talk to you, you wanted to talk to him, what would you say? >> i would say that i am thankful that our administrations are working and i am committed to working forward and just last week i had a great meeting with the new director of new jersey transit. and working through issues on the highway and making that a complete street and she had an idea of how to integrate it into the transit station. we are working together.

that's what i'm excited to doing and i know the governor cares about the state and this is great for the state. i'm confident that his administration will move ahead and work with us. >> did you ask him to call you a lady mayor. now part of the vocabulary. i appreciate you coming back on the show. a lot of people had curiosity about this and i appreciate you taking the time to answer the question and congratulations on rebuild by design. i'm a former resident of hoboken. the stories were terrible to hear. i hope that's something that never happens again. we should note that we invited governor christ tie to appear o the show. it is considered an open invitation. the embattled democrat in a swing state that voted for mitt romney in 2014 and she is running on obamacare.

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. north carolina senator kay hagen trumpets the benefits of the affordable care act. half of her people are currently missing out on the bep fits because they refused to expand medicaid. that's what tom tillis has helped to lead. a battle ground 2345 that mitt romney carried in 2012. she is running away from it, she is running on it. she had to send them to find out what's going on and talk to senator hagan about the embrace as she fights for her political life. >> i lot of candidates are running away from the affordable care act and you are running

towards it. >> look at the benefits it gives to people. i hear people who have access to coverage where as in the past they didn't because of a preexisting condition. tom tillis will take us back to a time where he if he repeals the bill, women would pay more for insurance than men. seniors would pay thousands more for prescription drug coverage. >> we will have much more from one of the year's biggest seanae battle ground states after this. [male vo] inside this bag exists

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access to employees, there has been a little around the fact that millions of women have benefited from expanded coverage under the affordable care act. under the law, a wide range of preventive care must be covered with no out of pocket cost. this means no copays and for women a variety of reproductive services like birth control. when a woman goes to the pharmacy to fill her prescription, instead of having a pay a copay of $10 or $20, she doesn't have to pay a cent. it is being phased in and not every kind of birth control is being covered according to federal data. 47 million women have access to reproductive health care with no out of pocket cost. the institution of health care found that american women saved nearly half a billion dollars on birth control last year, the average saving around $270. will these pocket book savings

have a political pay off for democrats in november? think back to for example 2001 when george w bush sent a tax rebate check and they credited him for the extra cash they got in their pockets. when president obama reduced the tax rates on the individual paychecks, voters didn't notice and he didn't get credit. when months after month, women walk out with the monthly supply of birth control without having to pay out of pocket, are they going to credit obamacare. to answer that question, we sent a producer to north carolina, one of the biggest battle ground states of 2014. kay hagen is in a dead heat with tom tillis. the affordable care act and reproductive issues are two big issues in the race. >> prior to the affordable care

act women with insurance or without insurance that had high copays had to pay a lot out of pocket, high up front cost for the most effective costs. >> have you had trouble paying for the birth control when you wanted it? >> i can't afford birth control. it's too expensive. >> i had to go to planned parenthood. i had no other recourse but to get low cost birth control through planned parenthood. >> i went to the pharmacy and i was expecting to pay $30, but it was free. >> now because of the affordable care act, she can have access to birth control. >> people say it's only $20 or $25. when you are living month to month, it makes a big difference if you don't have to pay that $25, $40, $50 copay. >> i have seen them be able to access the best forms of more

women using long acting reversible methods which are cost saving, but have a high cost up front. >> is that a thing about the cost savings women will experience some. >> preventive treatment makes a difference. birth control is preventive as are wellness exams and cancer screenings and vaccinations. that is one piece. my opponent said he wants to repeal the affordable care act that would take us back to a time that an individual had a presi preexisting condition, they would be deny the ability to buy health insurance. women would no longer have access to no cost birth control which is an ex-r economic issue. >> the second day we passed the health care freedom act to direct our attorney general to join the other states to try to repeal it through the courts.

we subsequently denied medicate expansion and prohibited state exchanges and done everything within our power to stop this bill. i believe i'm going to be the 51st senator to repeal this bill. >> what about the no cost birth control? >> you know, i think it's not that expensive. i don't think it's something that we need to do. the country needs to do. people can do it for themselves. >> what do you think they can do for themselves. >> pay for their birth control. it's not that expensive. >> they will be spending more than we ever have before. what we found was in the state of virginia when ken cuccinelli was running for governor, our political work was very, very powerful and very effective. we know that when we make a strong investment here politically, women will win and the candidates that support women's health will win. >> the democrats are waging war

on women. they are making us look like we can't take care of ourselves like we have to have them take care of us. republicans think we can do it ourselves. we are smart and strong. the women you know paying attention to the race? >> some of them. >> what do you think is going to happen? what's your prediction? >> i think republicans will become more powerful. >> while i love my president and i am so proud he's in office, we need people in congress to help him. we need people in our legislature to help her. >> we should note we reached out to senator hagan's challenger and the campaign did not respond. what is happening. one of the premier battle grounds, she returned to join us and amanda is the politics managing editor with the

"huffington post." watching that video, one thing that struck me was two of the last three questions. the sort of sense of discouragement that you encounter among women. do you think people are paying attention? some of them are. what do you think is going to happen in november? it feels like there is an air of resignation that there has been this republican wave that hit north carolina and for all of the tension being generated around the issues for all of the benefits that are being delivered right now, the connections are not being made. >> as you covered on the show before, there was an enormous political change that stacked the odds against democratic wins in general at the state level and the federal level. >> it all happened in 2012. >> right. it started in 2010 and involved a lot of money. our pope helped that political change. you have a pr progressive

change. you went out to moral mondays. the odds are tough. there is a lot of money on the other side and a lot of folks who are benefiting the most from these benefits are the ones who have the most barriers. i have to pick up my kids and i'm late for my job interview. all of the challenge, they are not going to get out the vote for democrats. >> is there an awareness? the broader atmosphere with the context of what we are talking about. he is supporting the person who has the motorcycle technicality. >> you say that word. >> the idea of blocking planned parenthood, but a lot has been happening on the front since the republicans got complete control of the state. they have done a lot and tried to do a lot and talked about doing a lot. has that translated into a

heightened sensitivity or do they not know it's happening? >> there is a playbook that has worked. we saw it in 2012 when the contraceptive benefit was being discussed. we saw it in 2o 13 when planned parenthood managed to run on the issues. we also are going to see whether it still works. in colorado, there is a personhood issue. you saw the candidates running fast from his support of personhood. in north carolina you don't see tom retreating to medicaid expansion and the affordable care act in general. he said whichever one discusses banning birth control. they don't seem worried and if democrats can marshall that energy saying women's care and

it's not taking sex pills for fun. it's about individual autonomy and economic well being. >> in terms of the national picture, what we are seeing in north carolina from kay hagan, the margin, obama carried it? 2008. it's a swing state, but republican from friendly. it's striking to watch kay hagan running on the benefits the way she is. specifically when it comes to talking about women's health aspects in general, is what we are watching kay hagen do, you said in virginia, is this a national strategy or something that georgia is a competitive senate race. arkansas. is this something they are not going to talk about and are going to talk about in other ones? >> we will see it heading into the general election.

women who are unmarried and women of color tend not to vote. democrats are countering the republican voters. they are hoping to get republican moderate women. there republican women who are pro choice. democrats think they can perhaps win some of them over. tom tillis is a very, very conservative candidate. he is of the few republican candidates not only runninging on this anti-choice platform, but anti-gay platform. you don't hear that as much these days. i think kay hagan is as unique in that she has been going on this for a while. this is something that democrats want to do. they want to drive a wedge between republican and women voters. >> the one republican woman who agreed to do an interview with us, she refused to interior if

she was pro life. she said do you wish the republican party would talk less about social issues? she said yes, but it's not my place to tell them. i said aren't you an activist? she said yes, but it's not my place. we need people like this to make the difference. >> when we come back, i want to ask you about the conversations huh while you were in north carolina. the on the ground reporting. it's almost a laboratory in a way. this is the ultimate swing state. i want to find out about what you saw and heard. try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. thank you. thank you. i got this. oh, no, i'll get it! let me get it. uh-uh-uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week.

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. >> i'm 27. i got two kids and was not approved for medicaid and i don't make enough to afford obamacare. >> what would be different about your life? >> i would be healthy and my kids are getting healthy. they are the main thing.

i would be able to take medicine and be able to maybe have the surgery i need. >> tell me, why do you need surgery? >> i have cervical cancer and sifts on my ovaries and a hysterectomy would benefit me. >> that was reporting from raleigh, north carolina during the demonstrations. tell us a little bit more. 27 years old and cervical cancer. tell us more about her story and how it relates to the affordable care act? >> i was inspired by her story. she became activated through the fast food workers movement. she works at wendy's and is a single mother with two kids. her kids have coverage which she said is important to her, but she doesn't. she has cancer as age 27. cervical cancer that the malignancy can be mitigated if she was getting regular pap

smears and access to the hpv vaccine. a lot of this is preventible. now they are saying you do not deserve coverage. not only are they not expanding medicate, but they propose cuts that throw off 15,000 people. >> we were asking about the awareness of women's health issues. that's the other major issue is the expansion of medicaid. kay hagen is very explicitly making this a big part of the campaign. how is that penetrating beyond activists? are every people aware that they could have it better? what's your sense that was? >> they think they will have to pay a lot more than the fact that at most it will be 90% in 2020. they feel like the federal government is going to charge so much money. the republicans have done a good job. they submitted a lot of states

that are not expanding medicate. moral mondays cannot be under estimated. there is an incredible coalition of grass roots politics that are happen and there. they're talking about unemployment benefits. they're talking about abortion rights including women's health. they're talking ability the medicaid expansion. and these are all really linked. we know women make up a majority of low-income people who qualify for medicaid. so these issues are very much intertwined. >> when you look at the question of medicaid expansion, i remember when the supreme court rule i ruling came down and said, of course, they're doing to do it. it's basically free money. yopg a lot of people back then necessarily thought that two years later, this is where we would be. what is it going to take to get a state like north carolina, to get all 50 states on board with

medicaid expansion? is it inevitably to you or is there a missing piece to you? >> high speed rail is also free money that many states rejected. so i think we shouldn't underestimate how many -- how some republicans are so opposed to obamacare and will be opposed to anything, including free money. it's free in a year. the states won't have to pay much, even after that. i think some of the republicans who have national ambitions. the republican governors need to show that they're against obamacare at any cost, including the medicaid expansion. they've done a very good job messaging this. getting some of the people who need the care the most to speak out more and go to the polls is really important. >> so every poll i've seen, this is basically dead even. if republicans win this race, they're path is -- it's not complete, but the path is a lot more sturdy than if they're not

able to beat her. they need to beat her. republicans are hoping president obama's approval rating is not that great in north carolina. you know, you don't like where we are, don't vote for the candidate in the party. talking about all the things happening at the state level, the democrats are saying if you don't like what's happening in raleigh, if you don't like the republican is doing, don't elect the guy that is the head of it. did you get a sense talking to people how that argument is playing out? >> i foun people to be very aware of what was happening at the state level. democrats are going to do everything they can to hang what happened in the last two years at the state level around tom tillis' neck. he was the speaker of the house. they're going to say how do you feel about these things that happened in the middle of the night? they're concerned they're losing

the other states. a wild swing like that definitely has a risk of a backlash. this was an overnight takeover with a very radical agenda. >> kentucky and north carolina are the two in the race for very slightly reasons. this is one we'll be watching a lot. thank you for that report. what should we know today? our answers right after this. what are you doing? uh, well we are fine tuning these small cells that improve coverage, capacity and quality of the network. it means you'll be able t post from the breakroom. great! did it hurt? when you fell from heaven (awkward laugh) ...a little.. (laughs) im sorry, i have to go. at&t is building you a better network. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this?

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all right. it's time to find out what our guests think we should know. i'll start with you. >> a federal judge in wisconsin overturned the state eels ban on marriage equality. the state is trying the to stop that. not including wisconsin, 19 states plus the district of columbia where states have marriage equality. >> 19 and 50 one of these days. >> looking ahead, monday and thursday will be decision days at the supreme court, including hobby lobby, the case to decide if your employer cannot cover your birth control. never been on the horse that wins the kentucky derby. never ever going to win the belmont stakes again.

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this morning my question. what can president obama learn from candidate obama? plus, the campaign for those left out of my brother's keeper. and billion dollar beats. three billion to be exact. but first, california senator barbara boxer is here in nerd land. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. this time it was seattle. on thursday afternoon a 26-year-old gunman went on a