the biggest story you'll be hearing about today is president obama's address announcing his plan to take executive action on immigration reform. msnbc's live coverage of that address begins at 7:45 p.m. eastern. we'll have much more starting right now on "morning joe" live edition from d.c. ♪ >> this is an extraordinarily difficult situation. >> more than 230 truck loads of snow removed from south buffalo. >> you're going to see people's

houses are going to be demolished from this snow. it's so heavy. alone it's 200, 300 pounds on a roof. maybe thousands of pounds. >> the snow is coming down so much right now that i don't see us getting out of here for another day if that. maybe even two days. >> good morning. it's thursday, november 20th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set in washington, we have "the new york times" reporter and msnbc contributor jeremy peters, white house correspondent for "the wall street journal," carol lee, columnist alan hunt and on capitol hill, the host and managing editor of news 1 now, rowland martin and joe and me here in d.c. we'll start with the snow in new york. incredible snow totals in buffalo new york with more snow on the way.

forecasters expect another three feet in parts of the region in addition to the five feet that has already fallen this week. the weather has already claimed seven lives and now the national guard is on hand to assist in this state of emergency. the buffalo bills are now offering $10 an hour and free tickets to sunday's game for people who help shovel out the stadium. we'll talk to governor andrew cuomo about this. let's go to bill karins who is tracking this epic storm. >> this is historic in this region and we're watching round two. where it sets up will be critical to those people that have struggled for the last two or three days. this aerial drone video is incredible. what caught my attention is when an e-mail came out that says each and every hours has the equivalent of two f-150 pickup trucks on the roof right now and another three feet of snow will be like adding another pickup truck to every single home and

that's why they are worried about structures and roofs collapsing. let me show you the radar here. the band set up off lake erie. the snow towns, the ones that we're concerned with are just south of buffalo. it's not a large area. right now we have set up this snow band just south of there. if it stays there, those areas weren't hit as hard. it would be okay. we can deal with it. that's what we'll be staring at all day long as that heavy snow band and if it shifts north like we expect later this morning, it will be right over those hard hit areas. >> you know, bill, i can't look at these pictures and not remember back when i lived in upstate new york back in the late '70s. and the blizzard of 1978 was historic. the snowfall just kept coming. but they got more snowfall in one day yesterday than they get in an entire season. where did this come from? what caused this? >> we're having mid january-type

cold in the middle of snowflake. typically the great lakes are known for their lake-effect events but usually it's not this cold and of course it's early in the winter season so the lakes were still holding a lot of that warmth from the summer and the fall. we had this incredible temperature difference between the warm water in the lake and very extreme cold so we had vertical -- the air was rising so fast vertically it just produced four to six inches an hour. with today's snow we'll only get two to three inches an hour but with pictures that you see now from two days ago, we had four to six inches of snow an hour. that's incredible rates. that's why a lot of people have never seen anything like this. >> it's unbelievable. >> jump back in if there's anything new to report. bill, thank you very much. okay. to the other big story in washington -- >> jeremy peters says it was like a pinball machine in capitol hill. you couldn't write the quotes -- >> boehner wants to get them out

of town as fast as possible and they are on planes tonight and they'll be gone by the time the president makes his announcement. >> we were there. president obama will announce executive action tonight to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. the president says the moves comes after a failure of congress to approve a comprehensive reform bill. >> what i'm going to be laying out is things i can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better even as i continue to work with congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem. >> reportedly about 4 million people who have lived on u.s. soil at least five years and without a criminal record can apply for work papers. about a million more can avoid deportation through other means. the people who qualify won't get access to government healthcare including obamacare. frustrating many activists. a new nbc/"wall street journal"

poll show 57 support for pathway to citizenship and numbers flip when americans are asked whether executive action is the right approach. in fact, the president doubted his own legal authority just last year. >> young people who have basically grown up here are americans that we should welcome. we're not going to have them operate under a cloud, under a shadow. if we start broadening that essentially i would be ignoring the law in a way that i think would be very difficult to defend legally so that's not an option and i do get a little worried that advocates of immigration reform start losing heart and immediately think somehow there's an out here. if congress doesn't act, we'll just have the president sign something and that will take care of it and we won't have to worry about it.

>> it's quite a change. what's happened in the year from the time the president said this would be unconstitutional? >> he thought he would get a bill passed in the last congress and he didn't is what happened. >> did the constitution change? >> i don't agree with his analysis back then. i think he's on pretty solid legal ground. i sure do. judge richard pozner, his son wrote a piece a couple weeks ago and he said this isn't a paragraph. he's doing what all of his predecessors did. he's not deporting 5 million immigrants. this is just officially recognizing current law and, joe, congress tomorrow can come in and overturn this. next president on day one, january 20th, can rescind this. >> "the washington post" says that frustration with congress doesn't give the president the right to shred the constitution. obviously the white house lawyers while publicly may be laughing this off have to be

concerned about a legal challenge. >> for sure. and mostly because you have the president out there saying that what you guys just showed that what he was -- he couldn't do this. if you look back at what he was trying to do then versus trying to do now is he's trying to work different audiences. at that time when he said those things, he was trying to hold off advocates who some say argue he went too far on that end. now he has waited a year. he and speaker boehner had secret talks for a year where they thought they would get something done and he can't. his legal team has gone over this and combed over this. it's not going to stop lawsuits from happening. >> and we'll talk about whether it's going to succeed or not a little bit. jeremy, you sense some conservatives like matt lewis have said the president is baiting republicans. he wants talk of impeachment and

talk of lawsuits and talk of shutdowns. >> and he's getting it. >> he's getting to talk about that. >> i think that is the problem on the right right now. how do they harness this energy. does it become this galvanizing, energizing event like obamacare was. or does the republican party pull itself apart over this. what's likely to happen is this is all going to roll over into a debate over the budget in the beginning of next year. and this is when republicans are going to finally take control of congress for the first time since 2007. will the new conference be defined by this infighting over immigration. we don't know. >> let's bring in a different dynamic. joining us from the republican governors conference in florida. kasie hunt, you caught up with several governors yesterday to ask about the president's moves on immigration. let's take a look at this. >> this is a president who talked years ago about the audacity of hope. it's audacity of a power grab.

>> i don't think a government shut down is in the cards. >> after the election the president wants to grant amnesty and go around congress. if he wants to change the law, the way to do this is to pass a bill in the house and senate and not ignore the law and ignore the constitution. >> okay. kasie hunt, fill us in. you gave us a taste of what they have to say. >> reporter: that is just a taste, mika. there was a lot of outrage i would say here at the republican governors association after it was announced. it quickly became the talk of this conference. rick perry says it's likely that texas will sue the federal government over this. i think jeremy touched on the idea that there may be multiple lawsuits. you have to remember that this conference is set in the context of the upcoming 2016 fight. you have a half dozen people here who are likely to run for president in 2016. this debate -- we were talking

about it in context of just this immediate budget fight. think about how this immigration executive order is going to play over the course of the next year. i asked governor chris christie whether or not he would run on a platform of overturning this? would he get out there and say, hey, i'm going to roll this back. he claimed it was too hypothetical. think about that in context of a republican primary. are republican primary voters stand to say candidates won't roll this back? once you get to a general election, that becomes a real problem. it seems to me the white house is very keen on that. >> casey, thank you. so what do you think before we go to rowland? >> i think justice roberts, chief justice roberts, is going to have the final say in this like he did with affordable care act and i thought the most interesting part of that was when justice roberts said, wait a second, there was an election and if you don't want the affordable care act,

republicans, there's another election coming up. we're not going to do your bidding for you. i think you have the same case here in reverse. this time you're going to have roberts' court saying wait a second, the president said this was unconstitutional. it does expand the president's powers in a way that we're uncomfortable with perhaps enforcement for irs statutes in the future, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. there was an election. there was a campaign. the majority of americans are against this. democrats were afraid to run on it. so now for the president to unilaterally decide to do this on his own, i think just sort of -- i think will be concerning to the court and i think the same conservatives that were condemning the roberts' court for looking at the political realities actually may find a friend in him this time. >> perhaps that will take a couple years probably, joe, before it works its way through. >> i'm hearing that from conservatives. when truman took over the steel

mills, that was, like, two months. the supreme court turned it around. >> i think it will take longer than that. you may be right on this. i do think that the argument some make there was an election and people voted one way and therefore the president shouldn't do something. when george bush did the surge in 2007, nobody said there's an abuse of power and voters in 2006 were against the iraq war. >> it's different with a commander in chief, isn't it? >> to be sure. it's more clear cut. i also think going back to jeremy's point that the dream of democrats is that steve king of iowa will become the voice. he's having a presidential forum. >> let us also say that is the dream of left wing journalists across america as well. >> exactly. let's bring in rowland. can you sympathize with conservatives who say that this

strikes them as anti-democratic that you have a congress that was elected, a congress that ran against this sort of immigration reform, and we just had elections. it was a bit of a landslide for the republicans and now you have a president that's going to legalize 5 million illegal immigrants with a stroke of a pen. while we're in the middle of the debate. not like what reagan and bush did which were cleanup operations. while we're in the middle of the debate and using this also as a threat. do you see any justification for that concern? >> i understand the point they're making. here's the thing that kills me when it comes to inside the beltway politics. there was a midterm election but there was a presidential election and he's been elected twice so the midterm elections somehow doesn't negate the presidential elections that took place in 2012. and so he also -- look, he got

the popular vote versus congressional races, u.s. senate races. one of the problems of the president is he made the mistake of hoping for a bill and he makes these public comments and so now he has to counter his own argument and that's crazy. second of all, he's the other question he has to ask. why 5 million? why that number? why not six, why not seven, why not eight? and the white house has to provide lawyers to explain how they arrive at this conclusion. it's not a question of poll numbers. they're going to have to make a case beyond simply his presidential address and if it throws into limbo because al said it what happens in two years? new president. it might get pulled back and then what? >> i think roland you also bring up a great question. arbitrary number. where did it come from?

why not 7 million? why not 10 million? why not hand out guest worker permits to everybody coming across the border. let's bring in jim. there was a presidential election but the president didn't run on this in the presidential election. it's like he was against gay marriage until he knew he would never run for president again. he waited until the very end. in this case, he waited until after the mid terms because he didn't want to hurt democrats. again, you're going to have a president signing something he knows the american people are against, that he knows congress is against, i'm just wondering if the republicans may not be standing on as weak of ground as they usually do when they set their hair on fire. >> it's such a fascinating power play on his part. obviously could have done it earlier but waited for purely political reasons to punt until after the election. his calculation is simple. he believes the country is ungovernable right now.

zero middle ground between him and republicans and this forces action. there's a small percentage he loses in court but it forces something. he gets part of what he wants on immigration reform for this specific segment of people or he forces congress to actually pass a law to undo it or modify it or make other changes that he thinks will lead to the solution that's closer to his ideal on immigration reform. basically he said the hell with it. i won't compromise with republicans. i'll do a partisan act and you saw jeremy is talking about it. you know what republican reaction is going to be. i think it defines the next two years and makes it impossible to get anything done in washington. the president would say it's virtually impossible to get anything done to begin with. >> such a defeatist attitude. it really is. the president really has said i'm not going to be able to make washington work for the last two years. i understand the power play. i understand his frustration. i understand his frustration in dealing with congress because

time and time again john boehner has not been able to do what mitch mcconnell has been able to do. john boehner makes a promise and he can't keep the promise because of an unruly caucus. i was talking to people very close to the speaker yesterday. they have a lot more control now than they've had. in fact, they were smiling about their broad margin and said good luck trouble makers because you will be on the backbench and nobody is going to hear you. the president, has he poisoned the well for the last two years? >> the one important thing about all of this is that he comple completely boxed himself in. he promised to do this by the end of the summer. he walked back from that. he's now promised to do it by the end of the year. his whole reputation is tied up in setting red lines and then not following through and if you're the white house, the last thing you wanted to do is once again set a red line and not followthrough when you are already a lame duck. >> that's the white house's thinking by the way.

he can't break his word. i understand for conservatives but if you talk to those close to the president they'll say he can't draw another red line and ignore it. >> he's already a lame duck. everyone is turning attention away from the white house in a matter of months and if he were to set a red line and then not followthrough with it, he's weakened even further than the election left him. >> i can tell you too, al hunt, the one thing i told people in the house when they came to the house if you think being obedient 100% to the speaker and leadership is going to get them to pay attention to you, you don't know how this place works. george h.w. bush was seen as weak by a lot of people in congress because he was so kind and so nice and invited so many people in and it did him no good. george w. bush learned that lesson. i wonder if barack obama is not laying down a marker here and

actually may get more out of congress in the long run. >> that's an interesting point. he's incredibly careless. for a guy who is so cautious sometimes, he's careless with his language on occasion. but, joe, just imagine if he hadn't done it. that's the picture that would have been painted. secondly, i don't buy for a second that he's poisoned the well. the republican congress will enact corporate tax reform because it's in their interest. they won't do it to be nice to obama. >> great debate which we'll have but we have so much more ahead on "morning joe" including former prime minister of the u.k., tony blair joining us, governor andrew cuomo updates us on the snow his state is receiving and senator coburn has thoughts on president obama's action on immigration and governor mike pence joins the conversation and big changes for one of the world's largest airlines. how jetblue is about to change your flying experience in major

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time now to take a look at the morning papers. thomas roberts is in new york joining us with that. we'll start with tallahassee democrat following a developing story out of florida state university with a reported shooting on campus. three people were transported to a local hospital after a gunman opened fire at the fsu library. their condition still unknown at this time. a police department spokesman says officers confronted the suspect at the library. the suspected shooter then fired on police who shot back killing him. >> it was at midnight and the library was absolutely packed. terrible scene. people shutting it down and sending out texts but the shooter killed. >> we'll follow that.

>> good morning. we get this from "the washington post." an iowa man arrested outside of the white house on wednesday with a rifle, ammunition and a knife in his vehicle. the man approached a secret service officer telling him someone in his hometown in iowa told him to come to the white house so he drove his car all of the way there. his behavior led agents to search his car. he's been charged with possession of an unregistered firearm. >> "the wall street journal" jetblue airlines announced a major shake-up to the core business practice the company is known for. under pressure from investors, jetblue says it will add baggage fees and will cut passenger legroom on its planes. the airline will roll out new pricing for three new fare classes next year. the move leaves southwest airline as the last carrier to allow at least one checked bag for free. >> that's a big change to their business model that a lot of jetblue fans are going to be mad about.

>> we look at this from "the miami herald." a man arrested for trying to go through a florida taco bell drive through on his bicycle spurring what some call the saddest mug shot ever. take a peek. 33-year-old gabriel harris is on the verge of tears in his mug shot. he was heavily intoxicated and caused a scene when he was refused service because he was on a bike and not in a car. he fought with officers called to the scene and was arrested. >> why didn't they serve him? he was driving his bike. >> he just wanted pintos and cheese. when you're drunk, taco bell and getti getting pintos and cheese is a good deal. >> why the no serve him? they want to sell tacos, right? >> he has to turn that frown upside down. that's a sad shot. >> what do we have in "usa today"? >> private schools in delaware

are considering adding cyber snow days. this is a bummer. the plan will allow kids to essentially work from home on the computer and submit assignments electronically. teachers would make themselves available for office hours to help answer questions. schools hope the plan prevents children from losing days at the end of the school year if this winter proves to be as bad as the last. i'm not sure about it. >> i like it. >> everyone has to have a computer for that to work. >> we'll see. i like the idea. >> don't you remember huddling around the radio as a kid waiting to hear your kid was closed? >> that's a tradition that should be maintained. >> one of the great moments in my life. >> this is a really serious story that we've been following for the last couple days. it's taken a new turn as the new video emerged of a previously unreleased interview that the associated press conducted with bill cosby that happened earlier this month. he's asked about allegations of

sexual assault that's been referenced in another comedian's act. this is how he responded. take a look. >> i have to ask about your name coming up in the news recently regarding this comedian. >> no, we don't answer that. >> okay. i just wanted to ask if you wanted to respond at all about whether any of that was true. >> there's no response. >> can i ask you, with the persona that people know about bill cosby, should they believe anything differently? >> there's no comment about that. >> okay. >> and i tell you why. i think you were told i don't want to compromise your integrity, but we don't -- i don't talk about it. >> so after this interview finished, cosby also asked the reporter not to air any part of

the response. he apparently used the words of scuttle this. ap never agreed to withhold comments and cosby was on the record so ap decided to release the video since more women have accused cosby of rape. in the past, cosby has denied any and all allegations made by other women and he's never been criminally charged. the fallout for cosby continues. we have tv land announcing it will pull repeats of "the cosby show" from its schedule and nbc entertainment says a sitcom is no longer in the works at the network. >> we heard the interview with the radio npr and now this. it seems like people are so nervous to ask him about this. that's what i'm struck by. the tentativeness on the part of reporters that kind of say we're

really sorry. i just want to ask you -- when you have all of these allegations you say there's allegation after allegation, there's this one, this one, this one, what's your response? you have no response. wouldn't we ask someone else that question? there's a fear of asking him about this when now we have a pile on of accusations and settlements. no one is talking. okay. coming up -- >> no. no. al says you're right on. i think a lot of people might say, okay, well so there's been a settlement. have there been any convictions? have there been -- what's to stop anyone else from coming out next week and you use the word pile on. the only reason i am not completely comfortable with this is that -- okay, where there's smoke, there's fire. where are the lawsuits? where are the convictions?

where are things that you can grab ahold to other than people saying 20 years later, yeah, he did this to me too. >> i think that -- >> what does bill cosby do? roland, how does bill cosby prove the negative in that case? >> look, the interview he did with ap was actually tied to some art him and his wife were showing here in washington d.c. i interviewed bill cosby as well. the point that you're making is exactly the question that i had and other journalists had that if you go into it, typically when you're interviewing somebody, you might refer to depositions, you might refer to an actual investigation. the philadelphia newspapers reported that the d.a. is saying that he is fine with back in 2005 when they investigated the claim, he said there was insufficient evidence. that's really sort of the tricky part here and remember, mika, the question that he was asked actually was not necessarily about the allegations.

barbara bowman's comments came after that. this was a comedian said this. you asked the question but what else do you have to present to press on other than at that point what a comedian said. that's the struggle and as a journalist, i was sitting there saying what do i say? >> i can think of situations where i've been in -- i feel like there's this overall unease in talking about it. >> ray rice, you had a video. everybody could talk about it. bill clinton, that came to the middle of a sexual harassment suit. democrats said it was just about sex. yes, it's about him lying about sex in the matter of a sexual harassment suit. that obviously led to a lot of questions. here you have people coming and any public figure would be concerned about this 15, 20 years later, he assaulted me here. he assaulted me there. at the time where were the prosecutors? i understand some women don't want to come forward with a man

who is very powerful. maybe that's part of the story. i'm just wondering what am i supposed to say? what are you supposed to say when someone comes 20 years later saying bill cosby did this to me too. he gave me a pill and a drink and tried to sexually abuse me. >> it's not as if somebody can't read what other people are accusing them of. you asked where discomfort comes. the discomfort comes from this like it comes from people who write memoirs about how horrible their mother or father were after their mother and father died. >> no one will ever look at his work the same again. i think that's fair to say. it almost reminds you of what happened with woody allen when there was similar allegations of sexual impropriety and bill cosby's obituary when it's written has gone from being a brilliant comedian to sexual allegations being second line in that first paragraph. >> i don't know about that. if he died tomorrow, perhaps.

you look at martin luther king's obituary and it looks pretty darn good. he changed america. and bill cosby i guess is another reason why i'm so reluctant. bill cosby changed the way white americans look at black americans and that's also why this is so disturbing because he has been a transformative figure in american race relations. >> that's it. it's awkward. >> is roland there? >> i'm here. that's the struggle. at the end of the day, folks are coming forward. he's going to get asked more questions. now that more people are speaking. i'm just looking at the context of that particular interview and why the reporter was hedging a bit. >> fair. you're right. coming up, has governor chris christie been reborn to run for president? excuse me.

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>> with us now for most read op

e op-eds, we have mark leibovich. >> this is going to be on the cover story of the upcoming issue of "the new york times" magazine. mark writes about governor chris christie in a piece called reborn to run. it reads that christie's comeback campaign was a success. there's a theory that elector e electorates will gravitate to. that's the argument people make to me about why i should run, christie told me, during one of our conversations. they're like no one could be more the opposite of barack obama from a personality standpoint than you, therefore you're perfect. one of the more compelling aspects would be the ability to start an overdo fight within his own party. >> what did you find out talking to chris christie? >> he thinks he's back. he's had a good cycle with the

rga. republican governors winning a lot. he threw himself into a political concept. he spent this year campaigning for republican governors trying to rehabilitate himself after the bridge gate thing. if he runs for president, he's going to get to be that for another year and a half. i think he enjoys being at the center of this carnival and whether he's back or not, i mean i would say it's a long shot. >> look, he's the most captivating figure in the republican field no question of that. i wonder apart from some of this other stuff, i wonder if jersey travels. i'm not sure what appeals to people in new jersey will appeal to people in iowa and wisconsin. i don't think sit down and shut up will take its place with we have nothing to fear but fear itself. i'm not sure that resonates. >> you no he what it reminds me of? mark will remember this as we were in iowa watching newt

gingrich and people saying i want a debater that will take obama's head off in a presidential debate. that didn't work for newt gingrich. i wonder if there are parallels between his candidacy and what a christie candidacy would be. >> there are a lot of things about new jersey that won't travel. the fact that the state has just lagged under him during his second term is not going to travel well. temperament is a huge issue. the fact that lot of people have serious questions about the bridge allegations will still be an issue and he's thin skinned. >> he said all these folks march in line. he suggested that maybe he acted in a way that corporate bosses

were telling him to be tough on chris christie. i must say -- >> you should see book events. i don't really understand what happened because i think that obviously if -- we have allegiances in the white house. it doesn't not preclude us of being critical of the white house. >> for anybody that watches this show, we've been condemned for being chris christie apologists nonstop. we even made fun of our own network. i'm sorry. nicole wallace weighed in and tore people at her own network to shreds and we would do this on the same network. it's a question of temperament if the guy looks at us and then says, well, geez, insufficiently loyal. >> i think you have to expect

the questions. we asked them. he was really angry that we asked them. >> your number is low. >> jim? >> i think he has way too many liabilities to even be considered one of the top tier republican candidates. i agree with al on most things in life but i don't think he's one of the most compelling republicans that will jump into the race. there are other republican governors with better economic records that will make a more compelling argument than he can. rand paul as being unorthodox and doing things we don't expect in politics is an intriguing character. ted cruz will be a powerful force as a voice of the right and much more articulate than some of the candidates we saw last time around. i agree with most of the folks on the panel that there is so

many liabilities that he brings to the national stage that outside of a small group of big donors in new york who have been fascinated with him for some time, i don't know there's a huge christie base out there. >> before you go, mark, we're out of time but al says what plays in jersey may not play elsewhere. it's not playing that well in jersey. >> it's not playing well in jersey at all. half the state doesn't believe him on the bridge gate allegations. many think he's an absentee governor. statistics bear that out. >> i still like the guy. he's got thin skin. i'm concerned for our good friend when he goes out on the campaign trail and gets the hell beaten out of him every day. >> he should come back on the show and punch back. punch back. >> i wouldn't go that far. we don't want you to go away crying. we're looking for your article in next week's "the new york times" magazine.

appreciate it. congressman castro will be here. >> up next, former british prime minister tony blair joins the discussion. much more "morning joe" when we return. you owned your car for four years. you named it brad. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends. three jobs. you're like "nothing can replace brad!" then liberty mutual calls. and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement, we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

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here with us now from new york, former british prime minister, founder of the african governance initiative, tony blai blair. it's good to have you on board

this morning. >> it really is. we obviously like most of the civilized world discouraged by events in israel. the cycle of violence just continues. what is the short-term and long-term ramifications of that synagogue attack? >> short-term it's going to be very, very difficult indeed. an horrific attack. wicked and despicable thing to do when people were peacefully worshipping and the action taken by the israeli government so tensions are high at the moment. first thing we have to do is try to calm the situation to make sure there aren't provocative actions or statements and then we need to get back to a political track that's credible and changes on the ground to give people hope. it's a very, very tough situation indeed. >> the palestinian authority obviously condemned the attack. we had israeli ambassador to the united states saying that he went on to condemn israeli

aggression. do we need to put more pressure on the palestinian authority and maybe find a way forward with them in separating them from hamas? >> they are also under enormous pressure from their own population. things are difficult in jerusalem and west bank and of course in gaza as well. so i think right now the most important thing is just to try to create some calm and stability but we will require to get back at some point to a proper political initiative, a frame work that allows people to start discussing the basic issues in the conflict and you have to get changes on the ground. there are still many, many homeless people in gaza. huge problems on the west bank. and where there's a vacuum then into the vacuum come these acts of violence some of which are just literally random acts of violence and which make it very, very difficult for the authorities to control or

contain the situation. so, look, we have been through this cycle many times before but the only thing that works is to calm it and then get back on the front foot. >> carol lee, "wall street journal" has a question. >> i'm curious what role you think the white house has in all of this. right now at this particular moment and whether the iran talks deadline on monday if at all has any bearing on being able to maintain and tamp down violence and maintain calm there. >> i think even though obviously iran is a very crucial issue for israel and the whole of the region, people are aware that in the immediate term at least that is a separate question that's being handled through negotiation process. wi we have to wait and see if they reach an agreement or not. the thing that's most important right now is to try to draw tension out of the situation so that you can at least create a

reasonable enough atmosphere of calm where you then start talking about how you might put a political frame work back together. right now the credibility of the political process is very low and frankly until it comes there's not a lot anyone can do. >> al hunt? >> mr. prime minister, there's a growing feeling among asisraeli politicians that the two state solution is dead and it's not going to work. what are the implications of that? >> the implications of that in my view are very bad indeed. if you move away from a two state solution, if you go away from that and try to think for a moment about a one state solution, you just seen on the map there if you paint a bigger picture of the map, you see how

small the territory is of israel and the palestinian territories in the whole of the middle east. this is a small strip of land. you try putting people in a situation of conflict and force them together in one binational state, i think you would have an immense problem on your hands. the two state solution is still possible. it's not that this can't be done. but it requires a situation on the ground which starts to help people prepare for peace and a two-state solution at the moment. you have gaza and tension in jerusalem that is stalling of the economy on the west bank so we've got our work cut out. >> tony blair, thank you very much. congratulations once again being recognized by save the children for your work in combatting poverty and everything that you do. thank you. still ahead, governor andrew cuomo joins us from upstate new york where the buffalo area suburbs have been hit with nearly six feet of snow and more is on the way.

"morning joe" will be right back. [ breathing deeply ]

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coming up, president obama is set to act on immigration without the support of congress but does he have the support of

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mid-size price. (pro) nice drive. (vo) well played, business pro. well played. go national. go like a pro. welcome back to "morning joe" live in washington d.c. carol lee, jeremy peters and al hunt still with us. joining the conversation, political contributor and editor of "the fix" at "the washington

post," chris. >> there's a guy who bought -- so when jeff bought "the boapos he came to the newsroom and said that the newspaper experience has been -- you can't read the newspaper. nobody reads. you read one little thing. this is an attempt on the kindle to find things you're not looking for. it looks good, right? >> it looks pretty. it looks real pretty. anyway, president obama today is going to announce executive action. >> to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. president says the move comes after a failure of congress to approve a comprehensive reform bill. >> what i'm going to be laying

out is things that i can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better even as i continue to work with congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem. >> reportedly about 4 million people who have lived on u.s. soil at least five years and without criminal records can apply for work paper. it's about a million more that can avoid deportation through other means. the people who qualify won't get access to government healthcare including obamacare frustrating many activists. an nbc/"wall street journal" poll shows 57% support for pathway to citizenship. the numbers flip when americans are asked whether executive action is the right approach. in fact, the president doubted his own legal authority just last year. >> young people who have basically grown up here are americans that we should welcome. we're not going to have them operate under a cloud, under a shadow. if we start broadening that,

essentially i would be ignoring the law in a way that i think would be very difficult to defend legally. that's not an option and i do get a little worried that advocates of immigration reform start losing heart and immediately think, well, somehow there's an out here. if congress doesn't act, we'll just have the president sign something and that will take care of it and we won't have to worry about it. >> okay. joining us now from the white house, assistant to president obama and director of white house communications, jennifer, good to have you on the show. >> jennifer, good to see you. we'll have you respond, first of all, to what the president said a year ago that he doesn't have the authority to do this. >> so the president was right. he's not king. he can't just pick up the piece of legislation that advocates and he were pushing for and implement that.

what he's done is asked the justice department and homeland security to look to see what we can do locally and those are actions he's going to take. this is just going to be the first step in solving the problem. it's not going to take care of the whole problem. it's not going take care of the whole population by any means. it's not any permanent solution. we're certainly still going to need legislation and we're going to want to work with congress to do that. >> what's your response to "the washington post" editorial that said that the president's frustration with congress "doesn't grant the president license to tear up the constitution." >> it doesn't. and that's not what he's doing. whatever the steps are that he'll take you'll see are well within his authority to do that and we'll have the legal justification to show that. you know, the speaker asked us to wait for six months to give them time to act to pass a bill. it's been a year. and, you know, waiting anymore

is not a cost-free enterprise. there are millions of people that are here that are working that are willing to pay taxes, like certainty in their life and at this point after it's been two years since we first proposed the bill, a year since the house republicans started working on it, there's not a credible reason to ask people to wait. >> that's the frustration part of that equation. you are talking about the president being frustrateden ani understand that frustration. people have seen steps that john boehner took in 2013 understand that frustration but the line from "the washington post," the president's frustration from congress doesn't grant the president license to tear up the constitution. is the president concerned that "the washington post" editorial page believes that this action "tears up the constitution." >> but it doesn't tear up the constitution. you will see -- everyone will see that it doesn't.

>> i'm asking if you all are concerned that even "the washington post" editorial page suggests that it does. >> the president will announce what he's doing tonight and will explain it and people can look at the legal justification and make that determination. it's not about the president's frustration with congress. like i said, there are millions of people we can help right now begin to solve the problem. it's been two years. there's just not any credible reason to ask these people to continue to wait and congress has free will. they can pick up and the legislation or add other legislation and act whenever they like. the president wants to work to do that. but at this point the president feels like he has to ask to solve the small part -- there will be people that are disappointed because we won't solve the problem. >> i want to let jeremy jump in and you discussed earlier potential destructive nature this could have but at the same time you have talked about if

president doesn't act who will? >> one of the things i wonder when you talk to republicans on capitol hill, they feel like the president is picking a fight with a congress that hasn't yet been sworn in. it's kind of easy to see why they would think that because this is such a provocative action and i wonder if you think that you can get much done with this congress after you make this explosive move. >> we think we should be able to. i work for president clinton when joe was in congress. there were a lot of issues we disagreed with but we didn't refuse to work with each other on issues that we did agree on because we disagreed with one thing. house republicans are likely to try to pass legislation to repeal the affordable care act. they may do that before the state of the union. that doesn't mean we're going to refuse to work with them on issues that we agree on. by the way, a lot of us in

congress, republicans and democrats and as well as the administration agree we should work on immigration reform and we're going to do a small part to take care of the problem now where we can. yesterday the president signed into law a child care center bill that set standards for child care centers. congress had been working on a bill for many years. hadn't passed it. the president implemented some regulations to address the problem. he signed the bill yesterday. he said you guys dealt with this issue. i'm pulling back the regulations. i'm not going to do that. that's the same thing we would do on immigration reform. this is not the way we want to proceed. it's not solving the problem permanently. we'll take this action and then we hope that there's just not any reason why they shouldn't continue to work on it and why we can't work on issues that we do agree on. >> you know, mika, obviously if the republicans want -- republicans can do several things to stop this.

first thing they can do is pass their own law and send it to the president's desk. if they don't like what he's done, pass the alternative and second thing is they can file a lawsuit. if it does "tear up the constitution" like "the washington post" says then the supreme court will rule on that. >> what do you think you should do? >> i think you respond in kind. you have ted cruz talking about shutting down the government. i remember early on with some of the best political advice i ever got was always respond in kind. if somebody writes a nasty letter to the editor to you, you don't go on tv and blast it. you respond with a letter to the editor. if somebody takes out a full page ad in the newspaper, you have to respond. you respond in kind. republicans should not respond to this by shutting down the government or doing other things that would at the end of the day just hurt them. they need to respond in kind and as jennifer said, stay in the lane. have the battle on immigration

reform. if it's unconstitutional, have that battle with the supreme court. she's exactly right. we fought bill clinton tooth and nail nonstop and we still managed to get things done because we didn't let impeachment get in the way even most extreme case of bill clinton working with congress against saddam hussein. you have to stay in your lane. carol lee? >> jen, i want to ask you beyond washington when you guys are looking out at the country, we have a poll showing "wall street journal" and nbc news have a poll that shows while voters may support certain aspects of immigration reform, they really care about the process and the vast majority of them do not want the president to act and they think that congress should be setting policies. the president has obviously a job to do with the public in terms of getting them onboard with his policies that he'll announce tonight and how will he go about doing that and turning around what seems to be a rejection of what he's about to do? >> that's why we're going to spend a lot of time explaining

it. we know that what the president is going to do is well within his authority to do it. it's not going to solve the whole problem. it's not any kind of a permanent solution. and he will -- this is why we are going to do the address tonight so he has time to explain it to the american people. we're doing an event tomorrow. more travel around this. so he's going to work really hard so that people understand exactly what he did and why he has the authority to do this. as you all know, other presidents have taken similar actions and we'll have to explain that to people. we think when they hear what he's proposed and why it's legal and the problem he's solving and he'll continue to work with congress, that this is a policy that they'll be comfortable with. >> jennifer, thank you very much. good to have you on the show. let's bring in democratic representative from texas, congressman castro. speaker boehner had a pretty

critical response yesterday. his spokesperson put out this statement. if emperor obama ignores the american people and announces an amnesty plan he said over and over again exceeds his constitutional authority, he'll cement his legacy of lawlessness and ruin the chances for congressional action on this issue and many others. what's your response? >> well, he's making a very theatrical political argument for what's a legal question first. the first question is does the president have a legal authority to do this? the clear answer is yes. and by now it's been often cited about what presidents reagan, bush and other presidents throughout history have done specifically with respect to executive orders and immigration. so the second part about this is the politics. i understand that john boehner doesn't like this. folks like michele bachmann and steve king don't like this. it's also a fact that the congress has had years including the last two years of speaker boehner holding up a bill that would have passed on the floor of the house of representatives if you just put it up for a vote

and so the president didn't want to take action alone. he said if the congress doesn't act, this is what i'm going to do. this is what he's doing. it's the right thing to do. >> congressman, obviously you brought up steve king and michele bachmann. obviously most americans judging by our latest nbc/"wall street journal" poll doesn't like this action either. and you had democrats that did not want the president talking about this during their campaign because it might hurt them in senate races. so it's not just the most conservative members of congress that are against this action, right? >> no. you're right, joe. that's right. and the president has a job ahead of him to explain this policy that he's putting into place but, listen, if we listened to the polls and i wish republican leadership had when the polls said that two-thirds of the american people wanted congress to take action on immigration reform, if we had listened to the polls then and if they listened to the polls, the president wouldn't be doing this and we would have a new

immigration law in place. >> all right. thank you so much, congressman. we greatly appreciate you being with us and hope you'll come back. we are cutting this short because this word just in that director mike nickels has passed away. he directed some of the most enduring movies in america cinema including "working girl," and he got an emmy, an oscar and he was married to diane sawyer. he passed away suddenly last night. he was 83 years old. obviously just a giant force in american culture. >> people of my age and even people younger grew up with some of the great genius of mike nichols. i remember seeing "the graduate" many years ago thinking this is one of the great movies i have ever seen.

everything he did with great quality. what an extraordinary figure. >> it was one of the great movies of all time. >> our love and thoughts to diane this morning. sad news. suddenly apparently. still ahead on "morning joe," governor andrew cuomo updates us on the state of emergency in new york and senator tom coburn and governor mike pence join us. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. dad, i know i haven't said this often enough, but thank you. thank you mom for protecting my future. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote

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welcome back to "morning joe." look at that picture. as the sun comes up this morning over upstate new york where that area is in the midst of a deadly winter storm up to 65 inches of snow has already fallen crippling the area suburbs. let's go right to governor andrew cuomo who joins us now from outside buffalo. governor, how is it looking this

morning and i know there's a state of emergency in effect. how are people doing? >> it's looking cold. it's looking snowy and it's looking like something we have never seen before. you know, buffalo knows how to handle snow. western new york lives with it. the so-called lake-effect snow. this is something we've never seen before. this will probably break all records. and it's a pattern of this extreme weather that we have been seeing. i know we've been seeing it here in new york across the country and across the globe. we've had hurricanes. we've had typhoons that we never had before. and now this historic snowfall, which in some places is seven feet of snow and seven feet of snow is almost unmanageable. >> it is. that's what i'm wondering in terms of rescue efforts and preventive, what can be done at this point when you have this much snow. i'm assuming we worry about homes collapsing?

>> yes. first, we were worried about getting people off the roads. seven feet of snow, the plows aren't even effective. so you have to use front end loaders and lift the snow and put it in a dump truck and take it away. now we have the secondary issues of roof collapses, people with no heat, structure failures. and we're looking at another two to three feet of snow today and then warming on the weekend, which could potentially bring flooding as all of that snow melts. >> what's the biggest concern at this point with more snow on the way and what is needed? do you have it covered? is more help and assistance needed? >> we're bringing equipment in from all across the state, mika. we have it coming -- buffalo is obviously on the western tip of the state. we're bringing equipment in from as far away as long island. we have hundreds of national guards people up.

our neighboring states have been great in sending equipment so i feel good on that aspect. unavoidable, you will have building collapses. you'll have people in homes where you can't get oil or there's a heating problem and they can't get service to their homes. people are stranded in homes. people with health problems so that's what we're looking at today and again, another two, three feet of snow on top of it today. >> all right. we'll be watching that. before you go, jeremy peters has a question for you while we're talking politics. >> governor, good morning. i want to transition to the news of the day which is immigration and the president's impending executive action. now, you're an executive. you've dealt with legislators before. the president is going to take this step but it's one that the american public may not necessarily agree with. i wonder what your thoughts are on what he risks by taking this step? >> well, you know, jeremy, this

is a difficult situation overall. the situation i'm in is even a snapshot but it's important to remember. government is supposed to function, right. government is supposed to operate. at the end of the day, government is a service bureau. it's not a debating society suppose supposed to have political endless ideological debates in washington and accomplish nothing. ultimately, people respond to that. the democrats paid the priceon e the last election. the democrats had the reigns and didn't perform and the people said we fire the person at the top. that was the message. but i think the republicans have to be careful because they now were handed the reigns and gridlock will be punished. what the president is saying on immigration reform is we've been talking, talking, talking.

something has to happen. the house hasn't moved. it hasn't moved for a very long period of time. for their response to be, well, just give us a little more time, you've had plenty. and they're not saying give us more time and we'll act. so the president heard the message and government must function and an executive order obviously you would like to do it by legislation but you have executive authority and i think he's going to make the point that he heard the people and government is functioning and maybe the republican congress should get with it. >> all right. governor cuomo, thank you very much. good luck today dealing with that epic snowfall in upstate new york. thank you very much for being on the show this morning. >> thanks. here with us now, democratic senator from minnesota, knows a thing or two about getting snow although that is unbelievable what they are dealing with.

vice chair of the joint economic committee who will serve as next chairwoman of the senate democratic steering committee. great to have you on this morning. congratulations on that. when you look at those headlines and we feel another showdown upon us, is the president taking too much of a risk, do you think? >> i think when you look at history here for the last 50 years, presidents have been taking some kind of executive action on immigration. the first george bush actually made sure that 1.5 million people which at the time was 40% of the undocumented workers in the u.s. made sure that they were not deported. we have seen this before. it is preferable to have legislation. i'm proud of our senate bill. i would hope one of the things the president says tonight is that he will tear up whatever paper he needs for this executive action the minute the congress acts and passes some kind of comprehensive reform. >> senator, can we go 50,000 feet and not focus on this particular executive action but

there are three branches of government for a reason. how concerned -- you spent time as a legislator. how concerned are you that going forward you have not extra constitutional but this is clear the president going around what he believes to be a congress that won't move but how dangerous is the precedent being set on a major policy issue. how concerns to you as a legislator but not as a democrat about what he's doing here? >> i would much prefer congress to act. i was a major supporter of the comprehensive immigration reform. i think republicans want to work with democrats next year. they're going to have that opportunity. i want to move on tax reform and immigration reform. >> do you take them at their word? >> i do. you had rob portman on the show

yesterday and he's someone that wants to work in the middle to get things done. there are a lot of senators that i have worked with that want to get things done. i do take them at their word. >> what about mitch mcconnell? >> mitch mcconnell like harry reid knows how to make deals. they have to put their heart there and they want to have to do it and i think they can do it. we have an enormous opportunity for our country. the economy is improved and now we can move forward on things. >> if we had that enormous opportunity, shouldn't the president wait two or three months for new congress to get sworn in? >> the problem with this issue is that it's been waiting for years. the senate immigration bill passed years ago. i was actually on the show with you talking about the bill i had with senator hatch to reform green cards and make it easier for engineers and doctors to come to this country and we said that's great. it got in the senate bill. it passed. and nothing has happened. it's like a deep freeze over in the house somewhere between the frozen peas and ice cream.

>> senator, it's on you to break the freeze. >> i will. get through the snow in buffalo. >> thank you. coming up, a look at the most pressing foreign policy issues of the day. get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement. at the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. right now, for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a new volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta and the precisely engineered passat tdi. ah, the gift of clean diesel. for the new volkswagen on your list this year, just about all you need, is a pen. festive, isn't it? hurry in and get $0 due at signing, $0 down, $0 deposit, and $0 first months payment on select new volkswagen models.

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welcome back to "morning joe." good to have you all onboard. >> in your last book which i read every night before going to bed, one of the greatest strategist of all time. you talk a lot about turkey. and talk about the promise of an alliance with turkey and how critical they are. the past couple years have been a rough ride for u.s./turkey relations. where do we go from here? do we start making decisions

that might offend turkey as it pertains to the kurds? >> we have to be careful not to make such decisions because the concern is for the region. turkey has its own national concerns. it poses a threat to turkey's territorial and national integrity. that's a terrible complication. beyond that, the president of turkey is going through an evolution that is mysterious to me. step by step he's moving toward a restoration of the religious in turkey. >> it's a disturbing evolution for many american observers is

it not? >> it is. they have not behaved like an ally throughout the beginning part of this. i don't think they be counted on to be dependent on what we're doing going forward. so i think we have to be tougher with them. we are going to face a crossroads in the not too distant future when kurds who are most dependable ally in this so far come to us and say what about our state? >> what do we say to that? >> at some point, yes. something like that. it can take a country to the cleaners and force them to do our bidding because we feel that we are right. our record in the region isn't all that good. >> you have always been very clear about this. people have come on here and

said some pretty naive things and you always remind them that every country has their own interest involved. turkey's interests are in conflict with our interests right now. can we not say our interests are to do what it takes to stop isis and the best way to do that is to move toward a kurdish state that will cut isis effectively in half. >> yeah. that's easy to say. it's difficult to implement for one thing. there are quite a few kurds in turkey itself spread out throughout the entire country. if you go to istanbul, a large percentage of citizens is kurdish. how do you realign the territ y territorial boundaries so we have to find a formula for accommodation. on the whole they've been smart dealing with the courts. the leader has been in prison but negotiating with them. they have a stake in stability

in the region but they don't have a stake in the dismemberment of turkey and we have to find a formula in between these two propositions. >> so ambassador hill, what if that formula is a kurdish state in northern iraq that goes into parts of syria? >> that certainly is what the kurds of iraq would like. he's not interested in a greater kurdistan but when you talk about kurds, you talk about kurds in iran and talk about kurds in syria and kurds in turkey and it's a little difficult to slice that up. so indeed i think there are serious problems for turkey going forward with an independent kurdistan yet when you look at the divisions in iraq, you can see the kurds are just chafing to leave and the big question is whether or not the united states will accept that they can leave peacefully and be their own state. >> should they, mr. ambassador? >> i don't think they should do it now. i think it would be very

destabilizing and harmful to our interests. i don't think we should encourage it. anybody can declare anything independent. the issue is whether others accept it. i don't think we should accept yet an independent kurdistan. >> jeremy? >> as we know, the united states has increased the number of forces it's going to deploy to the region to fight the islamic state. what does that tell you about how this operation is going so far and the viability of defeating them? >> i think our chances of defeating them are better. if we concentrate on them alone, if we do it the way we're doing it currently, which is mostly from the air, not entirely but mostly from the air and while we are stressing that we are reacting to the killing and torturing of innocent americans and leave it at that. we're not engaged with a fictitious state and we're not

fighting islam or jihadist which george bush claimed as our objecti objective. the region has to find its own compass. it's been dominated from the outside for well over a century. and for a long time through the empire. it has to find its own balance. that involves turkey acting affirmatively in its own interest and iran, wihich is an important source of stability and instability and then saudi arabia which seems periodically to be embarked on some holy mission and then there are egyptians who are important but disengaged. all of them have to in one way or another find their own balance. >> chris? >> david, the region has to find its own sort of place. what place then -- i'm always sort of focused on barack obama,

the obama doctrine. what place for the united states in all of this. obviously we're sort of in partially. what does this president do in the region and how does it affect the broader such as it is. >> i don't think he wants to go any farther. i think he wants congress to reign him in. you heard him say if you limit our ability to stay there, that wouldn't be a terrible thing. and president obama is a doctrine of reluctance. i think he accepts the idea that the region needs to take care of itself. the problem is every time somebody in the region tries to take care of themselves, it makes the u.s. a little uncomfortable because it may not turn out exactly the way we want

it. >> okay. thank you very, very much. appreciate it very much. still ahead on "morning joe" -- >> the country is going to go nuts because they're going to see it as a move outside of the authority of the president. and it's going to be a very dangerous situation. you're going to see hopefully not but you can see instances of anarchy. >> what do you mean? >> you could see violence. >> we're going to ask senator coburn about his warnings about president obama's immigration strategy when he joins us ahead on "morning joe." plus, from bananas that prevent blindness to a smartphone that puts privacy first. we have a look at the best inventions of the year. stay with us. we'll be right back. for most people, earning cash back ends here, at the purchase.

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>> we all remember that. that's a classic scene from the film "back to the future" in the '80s when 2015 seemed so far off as did the hover board we saw michael j. fox on but that invention appears to be a reality and it's one of the best inventions in the latest genius issue. managing editor nancy gibbs joins us now. this is one of the things that's in the genius issue.

we have one of hollywood's hottest stars on the cover of the genius issue. he's starring in "the imitation game" right now but hover board is one of the things featured. how are you able to curate what you felt was best to go in the genius edition and obviously the hover board is an important discovery. >> it's partly fun if we imagine it like ultimate skateboard but the important thing is technology underlying it which they imagine could help stabilize buildings and earthquake zones and have all sorts of applications. that is one of the things in our mix of inventions. some of them are just fun. i was sorry i didn't get to sample 3-d printed candy but we can 3-d print everything. there are 3-d printed cars and shoes and we have a range of very high tech to low tech but very sensible like the super banana for instance which is vitamin a enriched banana which can help prevent blindness.

>> this is supposed to stave off issues with children that have been suffering from issues on the african continent. >> about 30% of children are at risk of blindness just because they don't get enough vitamin a. bananas are a staple of their diet if you could create vitamin a enriched banana it could have a significant impact in a simple way. they run the range of something like that to the spaceship that india launched that's in orbit around mars. what's important about that spaceship is it cost less to building than the budget of the movie "gravity" to low cost high impact ways to do space explo exploration will have a big impact. >> you know what else in "back to the future" became a reality was tablet newspapers. this idea of a digital newspaper. one more way in which "back to the future" predicted our

future. i want to know, nancy, tell us what else is in this. the selfie sticks that i keep seeing tourists using on the national mall to take pictures of themselves. what's going on with that? >> the new techniques to help improve the quality of yo your selfies. >> the selfie stick. we see the young lady with it in her right hand. we were traveling over the summer in europe and venice. so many people had that. this really again takes away from the interaction of having to deal with strangers because you're not passing off your phone to say take my picture. >> yet you want to get whatever that optimal angle is. >> you get a great big per picture and selfie takes on a new meaning so it's not all face anymore. it's getting in that wider shot. that's just one of the great inventions you have in here. again, the black phone is another one. >> for people worried about privacy, meaning everyone, this is an android phone that has

encryption software in it making it harder to hack data by not including calendar syncing and things that make your phone more vulnerable. for those that don't have pockets to keep their phone in is a ring that vibrate when your boss e-mailed you or uber is texting you to let you know you have a message coming in you should pay attention to and reach into your purse and look at your phone. >> wow. that's very cool. that means that you are actually engaged in the conversation but you can have an alert going off on your hand. i did that. >> leveling the playing field. >> other things that are going on in the magazine in this edition we have joe klein's piece president obama on executive action and we also have walter isaacson sit down. and you like the movie. >> the movie is terrific. it's a fascinating portrayal of a fascinating character. >> nancy, as always. great to see you. thanks so much. we'll have much more with nancy on "time's" genius issue and 25 best inventions of 2014 on our

website. we'll do that interview coming up in a second. stick around for that. still ahead, could there be anarchy and violence on the streets once president obama goes forward with his plans to act on immigration alone? senator tom coburn thinks so and he's going to join the show next to talk about why. that and much more after that. twhat do i do?. you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it. now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable.

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whether it's factual or perceptual it really doesn't matter. the glue that holds our country together is really this common belief in the rule of law and when we see the things going on

in ferguson and the worries there about whether or not it's equally applied, we shouldn't be doing anything right now to shake that worse. that's my number one concern. i know people where i come from, across the south and the midwest, are extremely concerned about it. i think the other thing that ought to be happening is the president ought to be working out after this last election and say, okay, let's find the areas we can work on that are in the best arinterest of the country. rather than start out with unilateral executive order that will set a tone that i'm not going to be there for but it's certainly going to be a positive thing for the country or his administration. and so i'm just worry that we're not taking advantage of what we can accomplish for the country

that will be true compromises between what some of the things the president would like to see and the congress would like to see. >> i think what you touch on here, these emotions over immigration are very real, very raw, in the sense there could be a convulsion after the president announces what he's going to announce, is right. however, that energy, when turned against the republican party from within, i think can be a very destructive thing. ied onner what you think the republican party needs to do to react to the president. in a way that doesn't poison the reputation for the rest of the country. >> you can have an executive order. you can do anything you want. whatever you did today, you're going to be doing something else later. so it's about applying

commonsense steps. everybody wants to solve the problem. even those of us who didn't vote for the last bill. we didn't vote for it because we didn't want to solve the problem. because we didn't want $10 billion wasted again. i don't think that is the problem. i think the problem is secure the border, do it in a common sense fashion. look, when the president issued this executive order, all sorts of problems are going to be created. the department of homeland security doesn't have the capability to handle this order. there's not going to be any accurate characterization or control over would gets or doesn't get cleared. there's not going to be any control of who gets benefits and who doesn't. the department isn't competent to be able to handle that. why not -- for our country's sake, for right now, after all this hard four years of harry reid's total dysfunctional

running of the senate, why not start off and let's try -- let's start working together. let's not poke fingers and eyes. let's do what's best for the country. let's see if we can achieve things. i know people have said they've had plenty of time to do it. we haven't been in charge over here. so i would just say for the country's betterment, for settling of our country and the leadership, creating a vision that says here's a difficult problem, here's a visionary way to solve this problem. i'm going to pull people along in a way that solves it, so when we get it solved, the reactions to the solution aren't worse than the problem was to begin with. >> senator coburn, thank you. >> good to see you guys. up next, several feet of

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real associates, using walmart's benefits to build better lives for their families. opportunity. that's the real walmart. this is an extraordinarily difficult situation. more than 230 truck loads of snow removed from buffalo. >> you're going to see people's houses are going to be

demolished from this snow. it's so heavy right now. it's thousands of pounds. >> the snow is just coming up so much right now that i don't -- i don't see us getting out of here for another day, if that. i mean, maybe even two days. >> good morning, it's thursday, november 20th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set in washington, we have "new york times" reporter and msnbc contributor jeremy peters. white house correspondent for "the wall street journal" carol lee. columnist for bloomberg view, al hunt. on capitol hill, the host and managing editor of tv one's daily tv show "news one now," roland martin. the ceo of politico, jim vandehei. let's start with the incredible snow totals near buffalo, new york. with even more snow on the way. now the national guard is on hand to assist in this state of emergency. the buffalo bills are now offering $10 an hour and free

tickets to sunday's game for people who will help shovel out the stadium. let's go to bill karins who is tracking this epic storm. the word epic can be used accurately. >> this is historic in this region. now we're watching round two. the snow off lake erie is under way. where it sets up will be critical to all those people who have struggled. this aerial drone video is incredible. an e-mail came out saying each and every house has the equivalent of two f 1-50 pickup trucks on the roof. if they get another three feet of snow, it will be like adding another pickup truck to every single home. that's why they're worried about the structures and the roofs collapsing. let me show you the radar. the band has set up off of lake erie. the snow towns, the ones we're concerned with, are just south of buffalo. it's not a large area. right now, we have set up this snow band just south of there. if it stays there, those areas weren't hit as hard. so it will be okay.

we can deal with it. that's what we're going to be staring at all day long is that heavy snow band. it will be right over those hard-hit areas. >> you know, bill, i can't look at these pictures and not remember back when i lived in upstate new york, back in the late 70s and the blizzard of 1978 was historic. the snowfall just kept coming. but they got more snowfall in one day yesterday than they did an entire season. where did this come from? what caused this? >> i mean, we're having mid-january-type cold in the middle of november. typically, the great lakes, they're known for their lake effect events. but usually, it's not this cold. and of course it's early in the winter season so the lakes were still holding a lot of that warmthth from the summer and the fall. so we had this incredible temperature difference between the warm water and the lake and the extreme cold.

so we just had vertical -- the air was rising so fast vertically it produced 4 to 6 inches an hour. today, we'll only get 2 to 3 inches an hour. but with the pictures you're seeing now from two days ago, we had 4 to 6 inches an hour. that's incredible rates. that's why a lot people have never seen anything like this. >> i know you're watching the effects of this. jump back in, if anything new to report. to the other big story in washington -- president obama -- >> jeremy peters said it was like a pin ball machine in the speakers lobby on capitol hill. he just couldn't write the quotes -- >> -- out of town as fast as possible. they're on planes tonight. they'll be gone by the time the president makes his announcement. >> we were there actually. president obama will announce executive action tonight to shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. the president says the move comes after failure of congress

to approve a comprehensive reform bill. >> what i'm going to be laying out is the things that i can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better, even as i continue to work with congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem. >> reportedly, about 4 million people who have lived on u.s. soil at least five years and without criminal records can apply for work papers. about 1 million more can avoid deportation through other means. the people who qualify won't get access to government health care, including obamacare.activ. a new poll shows heavy support, 57%, for a pathway to citizenship. the numbers flip when americans are asked whether executive action is the right approach. in fact, the president doubted his own legal authority just last year. >> young people who have basically grown up here are

americans that we should welcome. we're not going to have them operate under a cloud, under a shadow. if we start broadening that, then essentially i would be ignoring the law. in a way that i think would be very difficult to defend legally. so that's not an option. and i do get a little worried that, you know, advocates of immigration reform start losing heart and immediately thinking, well, somehow there's an out here. if congress doesn't act. we'll just have the president sign something and that will take care of it. we won't have to worry about it. >> al, that's quite a change. what's happened in the year from the time the president said this would be unconstitutional? >> he thought he'd get a bill passed in the last congress and he didn't joe, is what happeneded. >> so did the constitution change? >> i don't agree with his analysis back then. i think he was on pretty solid

legal ground. >> do you? >> yes, i do. >> here we go. >> judge posner, his son wrote a piece a couple of weeks ago, and we said, you know what this is, this isn't a paragraph. he is doing what all his predecessors did. he is not deporting 5 million immigrants. joe, congress tomorrow can come in and overturn this. the next president on day one, january 20th, can rescind this. >> but "the washington post" says, carol lee, that frustration with congress doesn't give the president the right to shred the constitution. obviously, the white house lawyers, while publicly may be laughing this off, have to be concerned about a legal challenge. >> oh, yeah, for sure. because -- mostly because you have the president out there saying what you guys just showed, you know, that he couldn't do this. if you look back at what he was trying to do then versus what he's trying to do now is he's trying to work different audiences. at that time when he said those thing, he was trying to hold off -- >> he was preaching patience,

wasn't he? >> right. some would argue he went a little too far on that end. but now he's waited a year, him and speaker boehner had these secret talked for a year where they thought they could get something done, and he can't. and so, you know, his legal team has gone over this and combed over this, but it's not going to stop lawsuits from happening. >> we'll talk about whether i think it's going to succeed or not. mika and i talked about this before. jeremy, though, you sense, some conservatives like matt lewis have said the president is actually baiting republicans. he wants talk of impeachment. he wants talk of lawsuits. he wants talk of shutdown. >> and he's getting it. >> talk about that. >> well, i think that is the problem on right right now. how do they harnish this energy? does it become this kind of galvanizing, energizing effect? like obamacare was? or does the republican party

pull itself apart over this? what's likely to happen is this is all going to roll over into a debate in the budget in the beginning of next year. this is when republicans are going to take control of congress for the first time since 2007. will this congress be defined over this kind of infighting over immigration, we don't know. >> joining us from the governors conference in florida, nbc political correspondent kacie hunt. you caught up with several governors yesterday to ask about the president's moves on immigration. let's take a look at that first. >> as the president talked years ago about the audacity of hope, it's the audacity of a power grab. >> i don't think a government shutdown is in the cards as congress returns to doing the job the way it was designed to do it. >> the president saying he wants to grant amnesty. if he wants to canning the lhan the way is to pass a law in the house, in the senate, not just ignore the constitution.

>> you gave us a tenth of what they had to say. >> that is just a taste, mika. there was a lot of outrage i would say here at the republican governors association after this was announced that quickly became the talk of this conference. although, you know, rick perry said it's likely texas will sue the federal government over this. i think jeremy touched on the idea there might be multiple lawsuits. you have to remember this conference is set in the context of the upcoming 2016 fight. you have a half dozen people here who are likely to run for president in 2016. but this debate -- we were talking about it in the context of just an immediate budget fight. think about how this immigration order is going to play over the course of the last year. i asked chris christie whether or not he would run on a platform of overturning this, get out there and say, hey, i'm going to roll this back. he wouldn't say. he claimed it was too hypothetical. think about that in context of a

republican primary. are republican primary voters going to stand to have their candidate, say they're not going to roll that back? that suddenly becomes a real problem. it seems to me the white house is very keen on that. >> so what do you think, before we go to roland in new york? >> i think justice roberts, chief justice roberts, is going to have the say in this. i think the most interesting part of that is -- just as roberts said, wait a second, there was an election. if you don't want the affordable care act, republicans, there's going to be another election coming up. we're going to do the bidding for you. this time, you're going to have the roberts court saying wait a second, the president said this was unconstitutional. it does expand the president's powers in a way we're uncomfortable with, perhaps

enforcement for the irs, stat cutes in the future, et cetera, et cetera. there was an election. the majority of americans are against this. democrats were afraid to run on it. now for the president to unilaterally do this on his own, i think sort of will be concerning to the court. i think the same conservatives that we're condemning, the robins court, for actually looking at the political realities, actually may find a friend in him this time. >> perhaps. that may take a couple of years -- >> when truman took over the still mills, that was, like, two months -- >> the supreme court turned it around. i think it will take a little bit longer than that. look, you may be right on this. but i do think the argument some make, there was an election, people voted one way, therefore, the president shouldn't do something. when george bush did the surge

in 2007, no one said, boy, that's a usurpation of power. >> it's a little different with the commander in chief -- >> it's a little different with the commander in chief for sure. >> instead of crafting domestic policy. >> going back to jeremy's point, the dream of democrats is that steve king of iowa will suddenly become the voice. he's having a presidential forum -- >> by the way, let us also say, that is the dream of left wing journalists across america as well. if we find any, we'll get them out here. >> exactly. let's bring in roland. roland, can you sympathize with conservatives who say that this strikes them as anti-democratic, that you have a congress that was elected, a congress that ran against this sort of immigration reform? and we just had elections. it was a bit of a landslide for the republicans. and now you have a problem that's going to legalize 5 million illegal immigrants with

the stroke of a pen. while we're in the middle of the debate. not like reagan and bush did, which were clean-up operations. while we're in the middle of the debate and using this also as a threat. you see any justification for that concern? >> well, look, i understand the point they're making. here's the thing that kills me when it comes to inside the beltway politics. yes, that was a midterm election. there also was a presidential election. he's been elected twice. so the midterm election somehow doesn't negate the presidential elections that took place in 2012. and so he also -- look, he got the popular vote versus these congressional races and senate races. i think one of the problems with the president is he made a calculated mistake of hoping for bail a a bill and he makes these public comments and now he has to counter his own argument. that's crazy. second of all, here's the other question he has to ask. why 5 million?

why that number? why not 6? why not 7? why not 8? the white house is going to have to provide the lawyers to explain how do you arrive at this conclusion. so to me it's not a question of poll numbers and this, that and the other. but they're going to have to make the case beyond simply his presidential address. and it throws into limbo those very people. because al said it, what happens in two years. you make this kind of action and then in two years, new president, you might get pullback. then what? >> still ahead on "morning joe," the newest female member of the republican leadership team, congresswoman elect mimi walters is here who marvels that she's 52 years old and a freshman. governor mike pence of indiana joins the conversation. up next, a taco bell brawl end in what many are calling the saddest mug shot ever. >> it is a terribly sad mug shot. >> is it? >> yeah, i feel sorry for him. >> we'll be right back.

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all right. time now to take a look at the morning papers. thomas roberts is in new york. joining us with that, we'll start with the tallahassee democrat. we're following a developing story out of florida state university with a reported shooting on campus. tallahassee police say three people were transported to a local hospital after a gunman opened fire at the fsu library. a police department spokesman says officers confronted the suspect at the library. the suspected shooter then fired on police, should shot back, killing -- >> it happened at the library which was absolutely packed.

terrible scene. people shutting it down and sending out texts. but the other shooter killed. >> thomas. >> we get this from "the washington post". an iowa man arrested outside the white house wednesday. had ammunition and a knife in his vehicle. the man approached a secret service officer, telling him someone in his hometown in iowa told him to come to the white house so he drove his car all the way there. his behavior led agents to search his car. he's been charged with possession of an unregistered firearm. >> "the wall street journal" jetblue airlines has announced a major shake-up to the core business practice the company is known for. under pressure from investors, jetblue says it will add baggage fees and will cut passenger leg room on its planes. the airline says it will roll out new pricing for three new fare classes early next year as the company looks to boost its lagging finances. the last carrier to allow at least one checked bag for free. >> wow.

that's a big change to their business model a lot of jetblue fans are going to be mad about. we look at this one, miami herald. guys, this is a wild one. a man arrested for trying to go through a florida taco bell dri drive through on his bicycle and it spurreded what some are calling the saddest mug shot ever. he's on the verge of tears in his mug shot. harris, who was heavily intoxicated, caused a scene when he was refused service because he was on a bike and not in a car. >> wait, why -- >> -- with officers called to the scene and was arrested -- >> why didn't they serve him? it's a thridrive through. he wassive dr ivsiv ivdriving h. >> look, when you're drunk -- >> i don't agree with drunk biking, but why didn't they serve him? they want to sell tacos, right? >> i don't know. >> he's got to turn that frown upside down. that's a sad shot.

>> "usa today," private schools in delaware are considering adding cyber snow days. this is a bummer. the plan will allow kids to essentially work from home on the computer and submit assignments electronically. teachers would even make themselves available for office hours to help answer questions. schools hope the plan prevents children from losing days at the end of the school year if this winter proves to be as bad as the last. i'm not sure about that. >> i like it. i like it. >> no, no. everyone has to have a computer for that to work. i think that's -- no. >> we'll see. >> that's a no idea. >> don't you remember huddling around the radio as a kid, waiting to hear your school was closed? snow days. >> that is a tradition that should be maintained. >> one of great moments of my life. >> this is a really serious story. that we've been following for the last couple of days. it's taken a new turn. this new video emerged of a previously unreleased interview

the associated press conducted with bill cosby. he's asked about those allegations of sexual assault that had been referenced in another comedian's act. this somehow he responded. take a look. >> i have to ask about your name coming up in the news recently regarding this comedian -- >> no, no, we don't answer that. >> okay. i just wanted to ask if you wanted to respond at all about whether any of that was true. >> there's no response. >> okay. can i ask you if -- with the persona that people know about bill cosby, should they believe anything differently about what -- >> there is no comment about that. >> okay. >> and i'll tell you why. >> okay. >> i think you were told. i don't want to compromise your integrity, but we don't -- i don't talk about it. >> so after this interview

finished, cosby also asked the reporter not to air any part of the response. he apparently used the word -- something to the effect of scuttle this. the ap says it never agreed to withhold cosby's comments and cosby was on the record so the ap says it decided to release the video now since two additional women have accused cosby of rape, including janice dickinson, and an attorney for the comedian called dickinson's claim a lie and in the past cosby has denied any and all allegations made by any other woman and he's never been criminally charged. now the fallout continues. tvland announces it's going to pull repeats of "the cosby show" from its schedule and nbc entertainment says the development of a sitcom starring is cogs bsby is no longer in th works at the network. >> wow. you know what i -- because i saw the -- we heard the interview with the radio, npr i believe it was, and now this. it just seems like people are so nervous to ask him about this.

that's what i'm struck by. is the tentativeness on the part of reporters that kind of say, we're really sorry, i just want to ask you. when you have all these allegations, you say there's allegation after allegation, there's this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one, what's your response? you have no response? wouldn't we ask someone else that question? there is a fear of asking him about this. when now we have a pile-on of accusations and settlements. am i -- see, no one's talking. okay. >> no, no. al says you're right on. i think a lot of people might say, okay, well, so there's been a settlement. have there been any convictions? have there been any what's to stop anybody else from coming out next week? you use the word "pile-on." the only reason i'm, you know, i'm not completely comfortable with this is -- okay, where there's smoke, there's fire.

where are the lawsuits, where are the convictions, where are things that, you know, you can grab a hold to, other than people saying 20 years later, oh, yeah, he did this to me too? >> i think that -- >> what does bill cosby do? roland, how does bill cosby prove the negative in that case? >> well, i think the other point you're making, look, one of the -- the interview he did with the ap was actually tied to some art him and his wife were showing here in washington, d.c. and i actually interviewed bill cosby as well. point you're making is exactly the question that i had as a journalist had, okay, if you go into it, typically, when you're interviewing somebody, yes, you might refer to depositions, an actually investigation. the philadelphia newspaper's reported that the d.a. is saying that he is fine with -- like in 2005 when the investigator claimed, he said there was insufficient evidence. so that's really sort of the tricky part here. remember, mika, the question that he was asked actually was

not necessarily about the allegations. barbara boman's conversations came afterwards. that was about a comedian said this. so you're sort of caught in a situation where, okay, you asked the question, but what else do you have to present, to press on, other than what a comedian said? that's the journalist. what do you say? >> still ahead, he considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate and she is one of four new republican women joining the congress. next. ♪ ♪

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the senate is currently growing a crop of republican hopefuls who have only been there for a few years but sound like they want to run for president. our rand paul, ted cruz, marco rubio, qualified to run for president? >> of course they're qualified. i think obama's record makes it hard for them. i mean, makes it harder for them than it otherwise would be. he doesn't make a very good case. >> if you run for 2016 in president, would you be the koch brother's candidate?

>> you know, my focus is indiana. i'm flattered anytime year mentioned for the highest office in the land. i'm a small-town guy who grew up with a cornfield in my backyard. >> okay. >> the convention continues today in boca raton florida and indiana's governor mike pence joins us from there. >> mike, it's always great to talk to you. we were laughing during kacie's interview because she seems so swee sweet, and then a left hook like from fraser comes. you just don't expect it. so listen, let's talk about what the republican party is. we've talked about the republican -- yeah, we've talked about the republican party failures in the past and the excesses. things seem to be going well now. but as a guy from the heartland what do you suggest to your brethren, brothers and sisters in d.c., how do they act moving forward over the next two years? >> first and foremost, i think there were two messages on

election day a couple weeks back, joe. number one, the american people want a change of direction in washington, d.c. number two, with 31 republican governors elected and re-elected, including in places like maryland and massachusetts and illinois, i think the american people said they want more of what republican leadership is providing at the state level. i think that's, you know, balanced budgets, it's pro growth qualities, it's focusing on jobs and education, the issues that are important to the american people. i think those were the two messages. i hope washington gets the message. clearly, the american people are embracing what republican leadership has brought to places like indiana over much of the last decade. now it's bringing to 31 states. >> governor what about also working together with people who may not be on your side of the aisle? you often hear sort these glib announcements of how the american people want us working together. you're looking at the polls. there really does appear to be

that idea, end to the gridlock in washington. >> well, that's what leadership really looks like. and, you know, the earlier this week, i met with the democratic leadership of the indiana general assembly. we talked about the upcoming budget session that starts in january. what you have in republican governors around the country has been a willingness and an ability to work oftentime, across the aisle, to move their economies forward. to balance their budgets. to achieve the goals and priorities of the people in their state. i think that's one of the things that's profoundly wrong about what the president is proposing to do tonight in his speech about immigration reform. what we're going to hear tonight, we'll wait to hear the details, but from what we know, that's not executive leadership. executive leadership i think begins with bringing everybody together. recognizing politics as the art of the possible. and finding out how you can move a state or even move a nation forward on a foundation of

consensus. >> all right. jeremy peters, "the new york times." >> governor, good morning. you mentioned your judgment coming legislative session. at the end of that legislative session, you have a decision to make. whether or not you are going to run for president. how soon after the decision is over can we expect an announcement from you? >> well, jeremy, i'm always flattered to be mentioned for the highest office in the land. my grandfatherigrated to this country. i grew up in a small town. my focus is really indiana. every two years, our legislature meets to authorize or budget. this year's going to be important. we're going to focus on a balanced budget. keeping indiana in the forefront of growth and opportunity in the midwest. we're going to advance more education, innovation and reform in our state. and so after that's all over, after i get done in this legislative session, focusing on the people of indiana, we'll

take time as a family to think about our future. >> all right, governor mike pence, thank you very much. well done. >> well done with kacie hunt too. you watch out for her. she just sneaks up on you like a cobra. >> thank you so much, governor, appreciate it. >> joining us now, we have representative-elect mimi walter, of california. also, columnist from bloomberg view -- >> she hasn't been sworn in yet so it seems like the time to ask her are you consideri ining run for president? >> i'm focusing on my constituents in orange county, california. >> that is the correct answer! >> congratulations. >> what's it like coming up here? it's got to be pretty exciting. >> it's exciting. i was an intern 33 years ago. so i'm coming back as a member of congress. i am just honored. >> i was an intern here 25 years ago. i know how you feel. in this building. >> who did you intern for? >> congressman bill thomas. kevin mccarthy took his place. i served with kevin in the

general assembly. >> what are your goals? >> create jobs. i've got three kids in college. one just graduated. these kids today are so concerned about their future and getting a job. you know, 30 years ago when i graduated from college there wasn't a problem getting a job. but today, these kids are very, very concerned about it. >> and there's not a lot of debt. >> a lot of debt. >> they'll be back living in your basement soon. >> don't tell my husband that. >> good luck. so a lot of -- not a lot, but there are some republicans very upset about what the republican's talking about doing. talking about the possibility of a lawsuit or shutting down the government. do you think shutting down the government's an approach the republicans should consider? >> no, i don't think we should shut down the government. i think we need to work with the president. the american people sent a message to the president after this election that we need to work together. and my hope is that the president will work with us. >> i've seen a couple of columns. i think one in -- from your news agency talking about how the

government shutdown actually helped republicans. no, the government shutdown shaped the election so the rabid -- those that were the most rabid calling for government shutdowns didn't even make it through the primary process. it gave -- i will say we, we republicans, candidates that can actually win general election. >> well, there was a purification process that took on so some of the more rabid people didn't make it through primaries. on the shutdown, we are the united states of amnesia. it really didn't come up as a factor. i agree with you, the rabid people weren't out there. it only happened a year ago. it did seem to have disappeared. >> do you remember after it happened, you actually had the chamber of commerce. you had the rickets. you had the koch brothers. saying, okay, you know what, this is not our party. we want you guys to, like, cut spending. we don't want you to shut it down. there was sort a wake-up call to

everybody. and you've heard talks about the koch brothers. they were the first to go, okay, this is not the party we signed up for. >> well, you have these two, you know, governor pens is the we can all get along. he called himself rush limbaugh on decaf. then there's the angry caucus in the republican party which is the ted cruz and the -- >> the red hawks. >> the sit down and shut up part -- >> by the way, when i met you, you were a torch carrier and a guitar player. >> i handed out torches at the time here. bill thomas probably not the biggest fan of mine. so congresswoman, congresswoman-elect i guess -- >> so exciting. >> i want to talk about an interesting aspect of your cam pain. because you are one of a handful of republican women who i think would describe themselves as pro-life. you managed to get eelectrlecte pretty blue state. i wondered how you did this. maybe this solution was not really talking about the

campaign or in a different way, voters who would consider themselves pro choice, could find themselves more pal latable and weren't accustomed to hearing. >> we were more focused on the economy, creating jobs. being energy independent. that's what the voters were interested in. so as i campaigned, those were the issues that i campaigned on. >> margaret, what do you have for the next two years? everybody's talking about gridlock. i'm more optimistic. >> i heard the old mitch mcconnell, the guy who loves to make a deal, who wants it to work. who thought for a moment of who was elected. you know, maybe we can actually do something here. god knows john boehner's a deal maker. that's what they want. but then, you know, the voices start coming in. and then you have this immigration thing which looks like it's so polarizing. >> right. >> you notice that republicans are not really concentrating on so much the substance of what's going to happen with immigration as the process to try to nail

obama -- >> that's what i'm worried about. >> they just want to be on process because they have to weave their way through. do they want to look like the -- >> but tom coburn brought up a good point. they do need some time. >> i would have given them a month. >> i was saying, they should have given them two, three months -- >> let them squabble for a month. >> exactly. >> to figure out how to deal with it. >> because they're not going to want to pass one -- really quickly, what committee do you want? >> i'd love to have aid committee but i'm a freshman. i wanted energy and commerce but that's not going to happen. i'm shooting for the stars. >> you got a great office in the lottery. >> did you? >> yes, number 22. >> no way. >> well, 22 is my number. and my office number's cannon 236. so i want to go back and find out which cannon office i was in when i was an intern. i'm going to find that out. >> mimi walters, thank you very much.

margaret, stay with us, if you can. up next, it was part of walmart's big plan to do well this holiday season but its decision to match online prices has just backfired in a very costly way. we'll tell you why. msnbc's jose diaz-balart also joins the table. stay with us. (receptionist) gunderman group. gunderman group is growing. getting in a groove. growth is gratifying. goal is to grow. gotta get greater growth. i just talked to ups. they got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. like smart pick ups. they'll only show up when you print a label and it's automatic. we save time and money. time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics. earning unlimited cash back on purchases. that's a win. but imagine earning it twice.

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...the getaway vehicle! for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. hey, everybody, welcome back. it is time for business before the bell. joining us now, cnbc's morgan brennan. we're going to start off with wells fargo and something important when it comes to student loan debt. >> one of my favorite stories probably because i do have a lot of student loan debt.

wells fargo is the largest private student lender. rolling out a loan modification program that would slash rates for qualified buyers to as low as 1%. this is available to borrowers whose income has changed. the loans must be late, not in delinquency or default. discover has also recently announced a new plan. the details of that haven't yet been released. some other headlines today. we heard yesterday that scammers had found a way to score sony playstation 4s for $90 at walmart. after the retailer extended its price match policy to e-commerce sites like amazon. today we're hearing walmart has wisened up, clarified and updated policies. it won't honor prices for third party vendors or auction sites. shoppers will have to chalk up the $400 price moving forward. also, we're getting more details about intel's new smart watch.

this is the new wheearable. it won't need a smart phone nearby. it will have its own cellular connection with two years of at&t service included in that price tag. it's going to displaytex messages, retail notifications. it will start in early december. >> these are good looking, right? so look at this image because they're a good-looking tech product. see it? >> gutotchagotcha. i like the name personally. coming up next, new polls show the americans support the president's immigration policy, however, they don't support him going it alone. they seem to agree exactly with what the people on the hill are saying. but the president told jose diaz-balart last year something completely different. jose is going to join the conversation next and examine that. we'll be back with more after

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♪ with us now, the host of "the rundown" on msnbc. >> jose diaz-balart. >> good to see you. we've been running a clip of your interview with the president. give us the background on that

interview. you asked him about an executive order. he said no. >> yeah, well, you know, we've been talking, the president and i have been talking about this for years now. it just wasn't the one time. it was two times last year. probably two times the year before that. and obviously immigration, because i work for telemundo as well, immigration is part of the questions that i've always asked him. what about, for example, expanding doca to the parents of deferred action kids? what about expanding doca for kids that are older, et cetera? he always pushed back saying listen, right now, it has to be the house that is dealing with this. this is not the responsibility of the president. this is the responsibility of the house. to get something done after the senate passed their proposal a year and a half ago. and so he was always adamant he could not do more. as josh earnest said, things change. >> so, i'll let you follow up, jeremy. >> i wonder what changed then.

obviously the republican house did not act. but did the pressure from the immigration groups get so harsh and unrelenting that it forced his hand? did he finally decide, like, all right, i don't want to deal with you guys anymore, i'm just going to deal with it? >> even when he was a candidate in 2008, he said he was going to have sim graimmigration reform. the first 100 days. then the first year. he wanted immigration reform done. he's always been consistent on that. the question is whether he had thought in the past that it is strictly in the responsibility of the legislature or he can do something as president. he's clearly come to the conclusion that he can. no doubt because of the pressure of the promises. >> he was clearly pursuing the regulative strategy then which is we have to have legislation. >> correct. >> doing what he often does which is say things he doesn't need to say. professor barack obama on executive orders. the junior varsity, isis junior varsity, drawing red lines.

he says things without thinking about the consequences later when, as he says, the situation changes. and that was part of that interview. >> yeah, mean, last year, we were talking about the fact we had some legislation he would actually asked be presented in the house. if they didn't do anything. so, you know, he's had a lot of plans in place and i think that he really was optimistic that the house would do something in 2013 and 2014. i thought he was incorrect on that. but he was optimistic. we've got to give him credit for -- he really felt something should be done. >> do you think republicans are going to pass an alternative in the house or not? >> it seems like they have the where didall to do something. at least if it's -- >> what do you think? >> i think they can deal with the border issues. i think the chairman has been talking about the possibility of having some border issues come up. i just don't know why they don't do it. why they haven't been able to do

it in the past. >> it's possible to do dreamers. they've got the border issue that they say we have to do that. even though more money and more guards are there than have ever been there before. but the dreamers are popular. why not do that piece of it? the house -- >> couldn't get their act together even on dreamers. >> all right, jose, thank you. you need to go over there and start "the rundown." >> you start in two hours. >> two hours. >> no, it starts now. >> all right, get ready to go. all right. next door. >> see you guys tomorrow in new york. >> thank you for watching. i'm meteorologist bill karins. all eyes on the south towns. just on the south sides of buffalo. where they picked up 5 to 6 feet

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these are new pictures this morning from western new york. a record breaking november snow that has left up to six feet in some places. it's already to blame for eight fatalities. the street signs are almost buried. governor cuomo is about to give an update on the rescue operation and snow response. we will be watching that and have much more on this storm throughout the hour. good morning. i'm jose diaz-balart in washington this morning on what will be an historic day for immigration policy. white house press secretary josh earnest will join me to talk about the president's executive action in a moment. first on the rundown, a shooting inside the library on the campus of florida state university. the shooting happened in ta