potential indictments in bridge-gate. ♪ good morning, thanks for getting us with us this saturday morning. that big chris christie report you may have heard something about in recent days it's been eclipsed by even bigger chris christie news, more on all of that in just a moment. also, demonstrations continue to cross the country last night to

protest a new york grand jury's failure to indict a police officer in the choke hold death of eric garner. first, we begin this hour with news that broke overnight that an american held hostage by al qaeda was killed in a failed rescue attempt in yemen. the sister of photo journalist luke somers confirmed to an nbc news partner that fbi agents have informed her of her brother's death. a top security official says the failed attempt came after al qaeda promised to present luke somers today. he was abducted 15 months ago in yemen's capital city and this week the pentagon revealed it had tried to rescue him last month. chuck hagel who was in kabul this morning says that somers and another hostage were murdered by the terrorists during the mission. he did not identify the second hostage. the group since identified that hostage as south african peer

corky. it is his highest responsibility to do everything he can to protect american citizens and bring them home safely. for now we're joined by msnbc analyst, colonel jack jacobson. i'm reading this morning and what jumps out at me, how close they came. apparently they did rescue him while he was still alive brought him somewhere else to try to save him and then he died. and it just looks like -- other hostage from south africa was going to be released tomorrow but because of the turmoil, he was killed as well. it seems like you can't come much closer. >> we came close last time. we tried one time before and it turned out they moved him to some other place. there was a raid on a cave not that far away from where the raid was conducted last night.

and they had moved him and we had just missed him. it's all about the intelligence. if you have good intelligence, you have to act quickly. if you don't act quickly enough, you lose it. >> now, al qaeda, this is al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. tell us what we know about that group? >> it's a splinter group. what's happened is that al qaeda, the original al qaeda has become frag meanted which makes it both easier and more difficult to destroy, you have to do it piecemeal, more labor intensive. but it loses its chain of command. very few others come from the top to anywhere else and it's mostly a franchise operation but that makes it much more difficult to eliminate. we've been conducting drone operations, for example, in yemen for a long, long time. and they've been very, very succe successful. if you -- they move around. this is a lawless area of yemen, which itself is something of a failed state. i think it's something of a success that we actually

operated in conjunction with yemeni forces and special operations forces. >> there's been a story of hostages and beheadings and now we have this story. is there more that we should be thinking about that our government should be looking at for other american hostages earn western hostages being held by groups like this? >> i think they are making a big effort to do that. the problem is they are all held in different places and splinter groups that don't report directly through the al qaeda chain to anybody in particular and they keep moving them around. no cell phone towers to eavesdrop on. we rely on satellites and what human intelligence we can get on the ground, which is very, very sparse. i think without having flooding the zone with lots and lots of troops to gather intelligence, we'll have to do these piecemeal attacks and operate on what

intelligence we can gather whenever we can do it. >> with isis, they've been looking for ran some money. there was this video released from this group in yemen on thursday basically saying saturday is the day unless you meet our demands. didn't specify what the demands are. do we have any idea what a group like this is looking for? >> a, money and some political leverage. which is difficult to focus in on, and c, prisoner exchange. and for us to stop doing what we're doing, which is to chase after them -- >> so clearly the policy of our government is we're not paying ransom. is there anything they are looking for where there is potential for bargaining between the united states and them? >> in short, no. what they are looking for is for us to layoff and not keep attacking them, which we're not going to do. there's no way that the united states government is going to be able to meet these guys in the

middle. we're not paying ransom and we won't layoff. we'll have to keep doing it. >> colonel jack jacobs, thanks for joining us. switching gears to the big draft report we told you about on the george washington bridge lane closures making a lot of news yesterday morning, now that news is being eclipsed by an even bigger development. just a moment we'll be joined by the reporter who uncovered that new development, it broke late last night. first, bring you up to speed on the interim report that was making headlines yesterday. it was released by the legdsive committee in new jersey investigating the closures. the very beginning of all of this, it subpoenaed documents from new jersey governor chris christie's administration. that is how the famous time for traffic problems in ft. lee e-mail became public. that is what ended months of the christie administration saying the closures were the result of

a traffic study. that e-mail also spurred a federal investigation by the united states attorney and it's led to intense media scrutiny of the christie administration this year. late on thursday night this week, the interim findings of that legislative committee were leaked. it's a report written under the direction of the committee's co-chairs, both of them are democrats and the report does not establish the link between christie and the lane closures, either as they were being planned or as they were happening. and it cannot say for sure when the governor learned about them. the state legislative investigation is also been hampered by the federal investigation because many of the principle players in the saga were not made available to the committee because of their potential role in the ongoing federal investigation. so again, what leaked from the committee on thursday, is an interim report of an investigation that has not been able to operate at full strength. the full committee is scheduled to vote on monday whether to make that report official.

but meanwhile, that federal investigation, the one that prevented the legislative committee from reaching all of these key witnesses, the federal investigation being conducted by the u.s. attorney for new jersey, well, there is big news about that this morning. it comes from wnbc's brian thompson who filed this report last night. >> reporter: the political firestorm that enveloped governor christie since the scandal over this lane shutdown at the gw bridge 14 months ago is quieted in recent months after this legislative committee suspended its hearings while the u.s. attorney took his own investigation to a federal grand jury. that hasn't kept in kmpt from preparing to issue an interim report on monday. it finds no evidence christie new in advance but calls into question his handling of the scandal after it broke. >> what we do know for a fact rkts the governor has deliberately misrepresented what he knew and when he knew it. >> reporter: that comment from the democratic chairman was

refuted by committee member. >> there's nothing that implicates the governor whatsoever. >> reporter: the governor's office responded, the committee finally acknowledged what we reported nine months ago, there's not a shred of evidence christie knew anything about the realignment beforehand or any current member of his staff was involved in that decision. david wildstein here with christie and baroni three days into the shutdown and wildstein's claimed to have told the governor of the shutdown. both officials resigned and pled the fifth to the committee while the u.s. attorney probe went into high gear. now, multiple sources tell us there's a potential for indictments in this bridge scandal as early as january. of former staffers to the governor, former port authority officials and current officials at the port authority at least six. the port authority itself has no comment but among possible charges a cover-up conspiracy.

>> there was an effort to conceal, to cover up what took place here. >> was there poor judgment, absolutely. as to whether or not that constitutes a criminal cover-up or conspiracy, only the u.s. attorney can make that determine mason. >> reporter: the battle between republicans and democrats over the interim report could get very heated. but as one source tells me, that's just the opening act. the main event will be the u.s. attorney and grand jury action something that could be just weeks away. >> indictments, federal indictments potentially of at least six former christie staff members and current or former port authority staff members potentially weeks ago. that's the bombshell from brian thompson reporting last night. he covered the scandal before it broke and been a huge help for us on this show in analyzing events as they unfolded. he filed that report last night and joins us at this table next. [ male announcer ] take zzzquil and sleep like...

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we're back and joined as promised by wnbc veteran reporter brian thompson, reporting the potential indictments, at least six potential indictments, may be coming within weeks in the george washington bridge investigation. thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> first of all, the timing on this was -- it's sort of amazing in that you had this interim report from the legislative committee that came out and the christie people put former governor cane out there saying it was a partisan witch hunt. then you have news for the first time, sources close to this investigation, this federal investigation which nobody has been able to get close to. i don't know if you can say anything on the air, is there a

sense were people willing or eager to talk to you to deliver a message to the christie people, there's more to this than you're seeing? >> in all honesty this is something i've been trying to assemble for weeks and weeks from multiple sources. and when you're getting into semispeculative information like this because there has not to our knowledge been an indictment vote by the grand jury, you know, you have to tread carefully in saying okay, we're ready to pull the trigger if you will. there was no coincidental timing that interim report comes out, maybe absolving the governor and other people -- >> i had that thought of somebody sitting in the u.s. attorney's office -- >> you're just a conspiracy theorist. >> covering new jersey will do it to you. >> it will do it to you. we've been down in road before in a way. there are have been other reports that have said, i

remember there was one this summer a report about the race between the manhattan district attorney and u.s. district attorney to have indictments and nothing panned out of that. what's your sense in having to have the confidence to go to the air with this? >> what's different right now a couple of weeks ago we know they were doing interviews with individuals, i won't identify who they were, but of the same employment group, let's put it that way at the port authority. that was really kind of a wrap-up. it was a minor character that they were looking at in this drama, somebody who does currently work for the port authority. but still a fairly well known name, a name you have repeated in the past, i might add on a couple of your shows, i'm not going to tell you who. >> getting closer, okay. >> but with that -- with them -- it was like a loosened they were tieing up. and other information has come to me that actually gave me the month of january as the target

date for wrapping this all up. >> is there any particular significance to january, they finish the process, any reason in particular? >> finishing the process, part of it is you don't want to do it before christmas, it looks like the heavy hand of the government coming down on people, not all of these people by the way are the prominent names we've gone over many times in the past year, but they are all names on the public record. if anybody -- >> is there a range here? people have become so familiar with a lot of these new jersey names and port authority names. when you're saying at least six, first of all, i think my reaction was wow, i was thinking maybe two or three. at least six. is there a range here in terms of how prominent they are? >> absolutely. some are the obvious names that we've seen and some of them are obscure names buried in the record of the e-mails, et cetera, they are there. every name is somewhere in the public record that we know of.

we don't know of any nonpublic record names. but here's the thing and this is what really ties it all together as a single unified prosecution, that is they are all involved in this. they all have a fingerprint or more somewhere in this, which is what our sources are saying all wraps up into a conspiracy to cover up. >> so it's the classic watergate cliche, not the crime, but it's the cover-up. >> this is in terms of once this thing comes to light last september or october -- >> everybody is doing this and they are doing this with e-mails and talking about this and what do we do now? how can we facilitate this and who can do this? it starts that week of the shutdowns. it's not just two months later or a month later. it starts that week, that's when the cover-up began. >> the other thing everybody has been wondering, we have all of

these principle players we talked about, whether it's bridget kelly, bill baroni, david wildstein, there's been speculation which one of them cut a deal or could one of them flip? is there anything there you've learned? >> our information is definitively that at least two people of the principles are either -- have made a deal or singing or trying to make a deal with the u.s. attorney. now, when it comes down to that, as my friend joe hayden will explain to me, they -- the u.s. attorney will pick and choose who they want to make a deal with. i could come up to you and say, hey, i parked my car in the middle of that traffic jam and i admit it, will you let me off? and they'll say no because we already know that. >> you have to give them something good enough. >> you have to give the u.s. attorney a lot of bait before he says i'll make a deal.

>> the expectation is if happens in january, if there are documents in january, a whole new drama starts to play out then in terms of trials and other people cutting deals? >> you're talking about the main event nouxt the interim report was the preliminary round. this is the main event of it all. once you get to that point, unless everybody wants to plead guilty to whatever they are charged with, then you have the whole discovery process and you have the potential for leaks from the attorneys who are looking for favorable press coverage before the jury is impanelled to pass judgment on their client, and you're looking at a process that could last easily a year. you're looking at a possibility of a trial right about the time of the new hampshire primary in 2016. >> there's the news the christie people didn't want to hear. brian thompson, you have done for what six months now we've been waiting for a reporter to get in there and do. this is great reporting and thank you so much for joining us. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> and until then, we will be

revisiting this next hour i should say but the pending indictments, what do they mean for chris christie's political future? one potential headache for him but we'll bring our panel in and talk about it next. ring ring! ...progresso! you soup people have my kids loving vegetables. well vegetables... shh! taste better in our savory broth. vegetables!? no...soup! oh! soup! loaded with vegetables. packed with taste.

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♪ chicken parm you taste so good ♪ ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ mmm mmm mmm mm mmm mm mmmmmm back with more on one of the biggest stories, indictments may be imminent in the george washington bridge investigation. we heard from brian thompson who broke the story last night. we want to talk about it with the panel, eleanor cliff and jackie kucinich from the "washington post." we heard the most interesting there to me in terms of the politics for the timing, eleanor, where he laid out the time line for 2015. if his reporting is right and there's a batch of indictments that come down in january, all of the legal wrangling begins and trial could be starting

january 2016, new hampshire primary, iowa caucuses. >> we give out end of the year awards and i'm beginning to compile my list and i have governor christie down as comeback of the year. he really did recover politically. he's going to look at this or his people will look at this. it depends on how much he wants the presidency. these indictments don't appear to be the governor himself. these are people around him. he can argue they were covering up to protect him. were they smart enough to protect him or if they go through discovery are there e-mails there and evidence that he really was involved in the cover-up? he's got to figure that out for himself. only he really knows for certain what's out there that could really involve him. but i think this is a man who really wants to be president. and -- >> yeah. >> he's bullied his way through the scandal so far pretty effectively. and i expect that he will continue to do so.

>> i guess one of things that looks like -- i agree, his desire for the presidency seems pretty obvious. i guess the question is, there's one issue there about whether he himself is ever implicated and i always thought that would be doubtful. but if you've got six or seven people around you, some of whom are very close to you, all going on trial, be charged with things and cutting deals, it says something as you're selling yourself to a national audience about the culture of the administration you created. >> it depends on how close it gets to him. if it comes down to it that it's the people closest to him end up indicted and something that's hard evidence, not preliminary report, then it hurts him. but save that, he can just say, this is democrats trying to attack me, which rick perry has effect i have beenly done. doesn't mean his opponents in a republican primary won't go after him. of course they will. i think the argument that the democrats are out to get me isn't necessarily lost on

particularly a gop electorate -- >> believe me, i've heard that on twitter once again, msnbc, bridge, christie, i understand. joe, that is great politics in republican party. i can't think of the republican who lost ground in republican primary running against the media. >> he has a great story any way, aside from all of this distraction, he's a republican governor who wins big in a blue state and done it twice. he gets african-americans in big numbers. i was just at his house on wednesday night for a holiday reception. >> you were at christie's? >> i was. >> he's a great guy. the heart of the man is incredible, no bitterness, had democrats and republicans there together just to enjoy each other's company and the holiday season. not a hint of bitterness in him. and -- >> legislature might have a different -- >> i talked to a democrat mayor who saw me in one of the rooms i know who you are, you're the

watkins guy. i said yeah, he said, i love this guy. i love this guy. i'm a democrat and hard core democrat and love this guy. that's f that says a lot. >> there's nobody else like him on the national scene. to stand out the way he does is a positive. but i don't think things are going that well in new jersey, the distribution of the sandy funds, the state budget. i don't think he can campaign on the new jersey miracle. >> but what he campaigns on is what he potentially brings to america and in a primary, in a primary setting what he brings -- let's face it. the republican party doesn't have a shot of winning in 2016, especially against hillary clinton unless we draw on groups we didn't draw on in 2012 and 2008. we have to bring in african-americans and latinos and lgbt community and do better -- >> right, that was the before all of this bridge stuff started about a year ago or whenever it

was. that was the trajectory he was on, to make that case to republicans. i'm the guy that can win the blue states. i was looking at the most recent polling, it matched hillary versus jeb bush and rand paul and christie. christie did the best of all three of those against her. i wonder if we take the bridge thing out of it and look at the republican universe, how do they look at chris christie beyond the bridge thing? do they look at him is he the rhino we don't want to give the nomination to another mitt romney or sellout? >> i think there are concerns about his temperament. we've seen him yell at some people quite often, pretty often and recently. it seems for a while he pulled that back. there is a lot of concern about that among republicans that you'll have this guy that's yelling at people in new hampshire. they don't take too kindly to that. >> it depends -- doesn't it depend who he's yelling at. >> absolutely, but -- >> ronald reagan did it. i paid for this mike, back in 1980 -- >> did it with such a smile --

>> he was the actor. >> not yelling at someone in a crowd who is challenging him, right? that i think is -- that will be christie's challenge, take all of the ethics stuff out of it and it will be whatever is going on with the new jersey economy, his legacy in new jersey will definitely be on the ballot. >> people like the fact he's authentic though. they like the fact chris christie is authentic. that comes across every single day he's an authentic guy. people like that. they like a real person running for the presidency. a republican, real person. >> i get that and certainly there's -- every time there's an outburst, the chris christie page puts it out there. if there's a conservative activist, rands paul debate stage and saying shut up, it's going to sound different. >> it depends who he's objecting to. and i think actually the wider audience often doesn't like protesters, they don't like them

disrupting and if what we're seeing in recent days, the protests across the country, i would like to see how governor christie positions himself on that, on the racial divide here. it's a fine line to walk between standing up for the police and hearing the voices of minority -- >> we did hear he said base he can -- basically said nothing. >> i was a prosecutor, don't want to second guess any. >> politically savvy answer if nothing else. jackie you'll be back with later and so will joe. up next, new protests last night over the failure to indict the police officer who put the choke hold on eric garner. where does the federal investigation stand? is this one the feds will step in on? there are signs they might. we'll talk about this next. more amazing than ever. (sniff) honey, isn't that the dog's towel?

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last night was the third night of protests nationwide protesting against the grand jury decision not to indict the nypd officer in the choke hold death of eric garner. protester held die-ins, lying down in an apple store and macy's flagship store in herald square and similar protest in chinatown as well where protesters blocked traffic for several blocks and in miami where they tried to block traffic in miami beach. as with ferguson, the eric garner investigation lives on at the federal level. wednesday night hours after the grand jury decision not to indict nypd officer pantaleo in the death of eric garner. it was announced they would conduct a civil rights

investigation. >> our prts prosecutors will conduct a fair and expedition thorough investigation. in addition to performing our own investigative work, the department will conduct a complete review of the material gathered during the local investigation. >> as we mentioned the justice department is conducting a civil rights investigation into the death of michael brown in ferguson, missouri. legal experts don't expect charges to come out of that probe because of the high legal bar in a federal civil rights case such as this. it may also be tough for feds to charge new york cop pantaleowise with a crime as well because they have to prove he acted willfully to deprive garner of his civil rights. they have a successful track record of prosecuting police officers of civil rights charges, two of the four lapd officers acquitted in the beating of rodney king were subsequently conducted of violating his civil rights, federal charges there. the officers served three years

in prison. in 1994, nypd officer was acquitted on state charges in the death of anthony baez who died in an altercation with police but later convicted in federal court of vi lating civil rights. in both cases the officers had faced state charges. in the case with pantaleo and wilson, in ferguson, a grand jury opted not to indict or bring a case in the first place. what might happen this time? paul butler, now a professor at georgetown law joins us now. paul, let me give you my reaction. i'm not a legal expert or anything, you are. my reaction as a layman watching the response on wednesday night when the decision came down from the grand jury and that eric holder is out there very quickly -- the fact it's the attorney general of the united states out there on national television making this statement told me compared to ferguson, there's something more specific

they are looking at and thinking of doing here. >> the justice department steps in when it perceives there has been a breakdown at the state level, something that rises to the level of a miscarriage of justice. unfortunately there's tragic history back in the '60s and '50s when folks in the south were violent against san francisco -- african-americans and the state wouldn't prosecute. is this a case like that? eric garner? it's certainly a better case than ferguson. in ferguson, the concern was well we didn't really know what happened in the encounter between officer wilson and michael brown and maybe the officer was acting in self-defense. here none of those issues exist. we saw it on tape. we saw pantaleo jump on mr. garner, slam him to the ground in that illegal choke hold. we saw it on videotape, no question about self-defense.

so is this a clear case for prosecution from the state? most people think so. why didn't the state prosecute? we don't know. it's probably the answer is the da, mr. donovan in staten island didn't want to bring the prosecution so that's when the feds can step in. >> in terms of bringing a federal case on civil rights grounds, everybody who watched that -- you can make up your own mind from watching the video, but a lot said unquestionably it's excessive, it was clearly -- this was like a choke hold, didn't let up that easily, didn't seem to help the guy when he was on the ground. a lot of people walked away with that conclusion. in terms of saying there's a civil rights violation as opposed to police misconduct on negligence, what's the bar there? >> it's a higher standard, in a state case it would be homicide or even recklessness or negligence would be enough to conduct the officer of manslaughter. for at a federal civil rights

charge there has to be willful and intentional misconduct. the officer would have had to intended to violate mr. garner's civil rights. well guess what? there's a civil right to be free of excessive force by the state, including police officers and federal prosecutors have brought these kind of cases. there's one just like this in new york from the '90s in which the cops placed another man in a choke hold. the state failed in its prosecution of them and feds stepped in and got a conviction in federal court. >> is there this distinction between if you look back at the new york case in the '90s and rodney king case where those cases went to trial initially at the state level and there were acquittals and then the justice department stepped in. the fact that you have grand juries that said we're not even going to send these to trial, does that distinction mean anything in terms of doj playing a role? >> i think that actually makes the doj more likely to

prosecute. again, you don't have to be a lawyer to look at that videotape of mr. garner being choked to death by the officer to know that something wrong happened here. you do have to be a lawyer to know that something illegal and criminal happened there, i'm a lawyer, i can tell you that it sure looks illegal and criminal to me. so why didn't the grand jury indict? again, the reason is a man named donovan, the elected prosecutor from staten island. is it because staten island playing to his base, the most conservative, home to a lot of police officers? maybe that's why. or maybe it's just because he works with cops and doesn't want to bring a case against one. >> paul butler, thanks right now for your time, more next hour. more ahead on the failed rescue attempt in which a u.s. hostage has been killed, the fall out over "rolling stone"'s retracted

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>> if you're just joining us we're following breaking news that an american hostage being held by al qaeda has been killed during a failed rescue attempt in yemen. the obama administration says that photo journalist luke somers was murdered by the terrorists who had been holding him in the midst of that raid "the new york times" adds the detail that u.s. forces reached somers when he was still alive, he was badly wounded when commandos got there and died later as a result of the injuries he suffered at the hands of his cap tors. chuck hagel recently wrapped up a news conference in kabul. we'll tell you what he said about the failed rescue and other news about the u.s. presence in afghanistan. that and much, much more still ahead this morning. we'll be joined when we come

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seven incoming governors at the white house yesterday, one was greg abbott, abbott, who was mounted a whopping 31 legal challenges to the white house has described his job this way. i go into the office, i sue the federal government and i go home. these are the polarized times we're living in where the house and senate can seem to agree on these days is passing a bill to stop social security benefits from going to nazis. >> the no social security for nazis act. it is the most popular bill to come out of congress since no pre-k for the kkk. folks, it's inspiring to see both parties join hands to declare with one voice nazis are bad. >> we all know that washington

is gridlocked and for years now the parties have been moving farther and farther apart. with president obama still in the white house and republicans set to take over the senate next month, it hardly seems like much is about to change. it's felt this way for years now that nothing happens in washington, that nothing meaningful ever gets done. which makes us wonder, it's been bad before, has it ever been this bad? are we truly in up chartered waters here? our next guest, dor doris kearn goodwin, her latest book now available in paper back. very excited to have you here. let me start with an easy question for you. the political polarization we see right now, does history tell us there is any way out of it? >> there has to be, roosevelt

said problems made by man can be solved by man. we have to take some solace in that. true, there were worse times in our history, in the 1850s, you had revolvers on the senate floor and one guy say you're a coward and they have to restrain them. we're not as bad as that but there are problems that do have solutions. they don't stay together on the weekends as they used to and used to form friendships across party lines. we could mandate that the congress goes together for four months at a time and that they are there on weekends, they don't come home on tuesdays and thursdays that their families are there and they have functions that allow them to see each other as human beings, we could figure out how to get money out of politics. there are constitutional amendments which can do that, which is the poison in the system and everybody knows it. they could have nonpartisan commissions in the -- redistricting so they won't so ideologually poor.

it's been so long we've been in this gridlock and it has taken our nerve and power away. >> it's interesting you mention the 1850s and charles sumener and what was going on in the country. we were becoming two countries in the 1850s and there's a column this week that jumped out at me. america is coming apart at the seams, on this topic of polarization in red and blue america and the idea that these two americas, red and blue america want to pull apart from each other. the author says polarization has its own logic in his red and blue states pursue the sharplydy verge ent versions of government presents a version of hell to the other. ready america doesn't want to talk to blue america and blue america doesn't want to talk to red america. the way you succeed in each is defining yourself in opposition to the other. does it feel we're becoming two countries? >> it does sometimes feel like minded people spend more time with each other and not with the

other so they begin to make a stereo typed vision of who the other people are. there's even been studies to show people are living together more close minded with their political opinions than they were before. that's exactly what happened in the north and south pre-civil war. it now may be happening coast versus inland, but what america always depended upon and what's so important about us as a nation, we were a large country with lots of different kinds of interests but we could somehow come together and feel that we could do compromise, that's what our whole system was based on, compromise, compromise. and now that's a dirty word on pt parts of both parties. instead of watching a common media, people can watch their own favorite channels where they hear their own favorite people saying their own favorite things and we're not getting that cross section we used to get. >> i think about it sometimes

too and mention the idea of the parties finding ways to bring the parties more together in washington. i feel one of the problems is that the parties have sort of for lack of a better term, each sorted themselves out. it used to be that you would have in the same democratic party, you had conservative southerners and liberal northerners and in the republican party, very conservative midwesterners and it allowed for cooperation across party lines because there was so much sort of like idealogical, regional diversity in the two parties. now we're in the state where the democratic party really exists in cities and immediate metropolitan areas and republicans exist in large ex-urban swaths of the country. it seems that sorting out promotes this distance and separation. >> without a question. you're absolutely right. part of the problem with the modern day is transparency, which is supposedly a good thing. when you try to make deals across those party lines like lbj was able to do with dirk sen, promised him everything

under the sun if he brought republicans along for the civil rights bill, dams and judgeships and all considered okay when that kind of deal making becomes public today, no, you can't do that. that's part of the means toward an end. some of the things we value like transparency is only making that division stay exactly where it is. so things have to get done but the most important thing i think is the president has lesser tools now to force congress to take action because the bully pulpit, which teddy roosevelt defined, used to be able to get public so excited about an issue that congress even in gridlock felt, we better do something because they are going to come after us, the public. now a president's speech isn't listened to in the same way it used to be on the radio, 80% of the people. you have pundits criticizing before it's done and breaking news takes our attention away. and washington stays in gridlock, they've got their own bubble. they feel unrelated to us in a certain sense. >> i wanted to know what you

make of the reaction we're seeing to the decision in ferguson, now eric garner in new york city. the polling i've seen, i haven't seen much on garner but opinions seem to be hardening along the same basic political divide. if you look at the democrat graphic divisions between obama and romney, you're seeing same democratic divisions in how they are interpreting this story. >> at the end of the '60s, 50 years ago, there was a commission on race and it came after a lot of riots had taken place in in '67 and said we were in danger of becoming two nations, one black and one white. there was hope that policy, somehow the civil rights bill and housing bill, the nonviolent movement that the civil rights movement had been at the time was pushing us in a progressive direction and somehow we've moved backwards, i think in a lot of ways, that same divide still exists even though most of us don't want to think about it.

it makes you too sad as an american to figure the divide is still there. >> it is sort of a chilling reminder. we've been wanting to get you on for a long time. i appreciate you getting up on a weekend and going into boston and doing that. >> you're very welcome steve, i'll be glad to do it again. >> another full hours of news and politics ahead, including how "rolling stone" is backing off the uva rape story it ran last week. stay with us. for a crowd this big, your everyday dishes will only go so far. literally. you had to go deep into the cupboard. embarrassingly deep. can this mismatched mess be conquered... by a little bit of dish liquid? it can if it's dawn ultra. it's more concentrated...

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ballots in the one remaining senate race yet to be decided this year of the i'll go to the big board and break down that contest a few minutes from now. we're also going to return to the big new developments in the george washington bridge traffic scandal and report that indictments may be coming in a matter of weeks. also, we'll look at the latest bombshell to drop in the uva rape allegation story. we want to begin with the latest on this morning's news that an american hostage being held by al qaeda was killed overnight in a failed rescue attempt in yemen. luke somers was abducted 15 months ago in yemen's capital city. they had tried to rescue him last month in another rescue attempt that failed. secretary of defense chuck hagel addressed the overnight raid saying quote, this is further evidence of america's continued commitment to always find its american hostages no matter where they are and to make every effort that hostages are returned to the united states. kristen welker joins us live

from the white house. kristen, we're getting some details in different reports of exactly what went down here. but what can you tell us right now? >> reporter: that's right, details are trickling in this morning. the president condemning the murder calling it barbaric. he's also shedding nor light on his decision to authorize that rescue mission in an early morning statement. he said in part, quote, earlier this week a video released by his terrorist captors announced that luke would be killed within 72 hours. other information indicated that luke's life was in imminent danger. based on this aassessment and as soon as there was an operational plan i authorized a rescue attempt yesterday and also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as luke. now a senior u.s. official is saying this morning that somers was already wounded when u.s. forces found him. he was then flown to a u.s. naval ship but die by his

injuries by the time he arrived on the ship. his sister is speaking to the associated press saying they learned from the death from fbi agents who called at 12:00 eastern time overnight. the ap is also reporting and we are trying to confirm this again, steech, the details are trickling in, the attempted rescue mission began before dawn when a u.s. drone struck an area dominated and that was followed by jets and yemeni ground forces that moved in. at least nine al qaeda militants were killed in the drone strike. in addition to somers, we can tell you that a south african teacher, also being held by aqap was killed during the raid. his family and friends were told he was going to be rescued today. a little bit more on the background of this entire situation. somers was 33, he was abducted in 2013 from yemeni capital of

sanaa, he been moved before the first mission took place. then just a refresher for everyone. the al qaeda militants released a video on thursday that showed somers and the group threatened to kill him in three days if the demands were met. i've been speaking with u.s. officials about the claims and they told me aqap never issued any demands to the u.s. government. al qaeda's affiliate in yemen remains one of the powerful branches and president obama saying all of this underscores the need to fight the group and the ideology which the president quotes as being evil. >> this morning we mentioned the press conference in kabul and he addressed american troop levels there. what can you tell us about what he said? >> reporter: chuck hagel who is visiting troops in afghanistan announced it is possible as many as 1,000 u.s. troops could stay in afghanistan beyond 2015. of course, that's significant because that's the deadline that

all combat operations were supposed to end. secretary hagel saying look, this is not a shift in policy but rather something that they feel is necessary because of these recent elections. they want there to be a smooth transition, but the obama administration going to get a lot of questions about that throughout the day because that troop level much higher than the administration had initially suggested it would be. steve? >> kristen welker live for us at the white house. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> as we mentioned, we want to shift gears by turning to the bombshell uva rape allegation story. it was a bombshell when "rolling stone" first published it two weeks ago. "rolling stone" is now backing a with a from its account of the brutal gang rape alleged to have taken place at the university of virginia at a frat party in 2012. it prompted uva president to launch a full investigation and

also kicked off a national conversation about the ongoing problem of sexual assault on college campuses. because of doubts about the magazine's source for the story, rolling stone manager editor released a statement, there now appear to be discrepancies in jackie's account and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced. we're taking this seriously and apologize to anyone affected by the story. "washington post" has been very critical of "rolling stone"'s reporting on the story, first they questioned the decision to publish without having talked to the alleged assaulters. yesterday afternoon in the wake of the partial retraction, the post published another story reporting that the fraternity whose members had been accused were releasing a statement vehemently denying the alleged victim's claims. the fraternity says key details about the fraternity members were not accurate. they add the fraternity did not

host a party on the weekend when the rape is alleged to have taken place. the 20-year-old alleged victim told the newspaper that she stands by her account. joined now by a media reporter for politico and focused on politics and culture, aryn, the one thing i'm trying to get a grip on here, "rolling stone"'s statement, saying our mistake was placing trust in her, but it seems there's another part of journalism here. you trust somebody talking to you but you have a journalistic duty to try to verify them and i'm seeing no evidence they took that part too seriously. >> it's a big black eye for rolling stone. they were giving subsequent interviews after fact saying we checked out of the things, we have fact checking and believe the story is credible. but they weren't transparent about the process of reporting and didn't say did we make an agreement not to contact the assailants. they could have checked out other detail such as was there a

party that night. that does not require breaking the agreement they made with the alleged victim. they could have said, is there someone who works as a lifeguard at this fraternity. the fact they didn't do that but came forward saying the story is iron clad, ultimately the victims are journalism and rape survivors, already very afraid to report, who are already afraid they'll be misbelieved and now the baby getting thrown out with the bath water, the larger institutional critique being made in this story has now been hung on a story which they did not do their due diligence to confirm the details of. >> i'm curious what you make of how this happens, first of all. "rolling stone" and this reporter did not go and contact the alleged perpetrators and to hear them tell it, it's not too hard to know who the guys supposedly are and didn't go and contact them, they said out of respect for the victim.

journalistically, is there any justification for taking that approach? >> some people argued in journalism ethics professionals and professors argued when you're investigating let's say a mugging or crime or something, you don't necessarily go and try to get the mugger's side of the story. in this situation they weren't necessarily naming accusers by name but they were naming an organi organization, the fraternity. the reporter of the story reached out to the fraternity to the local chapter and national chapter and they couldn't confirm or deny it. she says that they were very comfortable that they knew that these people existed. but that's a lot different than what we saw in this story. it was painted as almost a true narrative and there wasn't also any indication in the story that they weren't actually able to fully contact the people involved. and actually, if you look at the story, it almost seems like all of the version of the events we're getting come from this woman jackie and her friends but we're not even sure about that. there's one thing, that line that a lot of people put in,

such and such was not able, not available to comment or did not respond to a request for comment. that line, while it seems boring is very important in journalism to at least show to the readers that you made a good faith effort to reach out to the people or at least confirm their existence. >> the other thing i want to show you, this is eric from the "washington post," their media critic. he has a piece talking about what he calls quote, the poisonous biases revealed by the story, you hear about media bias all the time but rarely see it. this is a case of it because the writer refused to evaluate the gang rapists as individuals instead opting to fold them into the caricature of the elitist fraternity culture and all of the delicious implications. is that what you think was happening here? >> i definitely think it had a part in this, but it's such a sensitive topic. when you're dealing with a woman who is obviously so fragile and as "washington post" has shown in their reporting, jackie was

very uneasy at times about dealing with the reporter from qult rolling stone", at one point she wanted to not be a part of the story at all and ended up making some type of agreement sh she would continue to be part of the story. actually richard bradley, ugsed to be the editor of "george", was one of the first people to question the article. if you remember the man, steven glass, who it turns out he fabric ated almost all of the stories even to create fake business cards for people who were his sources. funny enough he was a classmate of sab breen that rubinand richard bradley said even before in the days right after, something in me says this is not right. this is a little bit too beyond. he was attacked and now he's been proven as right. he said partly as eric said, because it fed into biases. sabrina said she went out

looking for stories will campus sexual assault. she found this story and it was her perfect story. it's possible when you get wrapped up into you want to present a narrative, which is a true narrative, there is a problem of sexual assault on college campuses and how universities deal with it, that she wanted to find the right narrative to hook the story on. >> right, and i think that's one of the questions going forward here is just this is a serious and real problem on college campuses, going through something like this, media story falling apart like this, what does that do to the real victims of this out here who might want to come forward? does this give them pause. >> it gives them pause, it makes criminal investigations harder. that said the university of virginia indisputably has a problem. i don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water here. the university of virginia is one of nine schools under a strict compliance review under title 9 by the federal government. it's undisputed that the dean said that people have admitted

to her they've committed sexual assault and nothing happened to them. it's undisputed no one has expelled for sexual assault in recent years. all of the institutional problems that were supposed to be the linchpin of the piece by sides the explosive opening narrative which we don't know the facts of for sure, all of that still stands. i think we really need to not lose sight of that. >> my thanks to irincarmon, this is the first saturday in december and also election day in louisiana. up next i'll go to the big board and breakdown the runoff in the state's crucial -- they are all crucial but could be march mary landrieu's last stand. here we go. ♪ fifty omaha set hut ♪ losing feeling in my toes ♪ ♪ nothing beats that new car smell ♪

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if people would stop reading polls and go to the polls and cast balanm lots, i feel i have great chance to win. >> mary landrieu is fighting for her political life and today is going to be judgment night for her political career. we can show you, we'll get the map up here. this is where we left things off on election night back in november, we called all of these different senate races and republicans got control of the u.s. senate. they got 53 seats. they are going to have the majority next year but there's one outstanding race with mary landrieu. because they do things differentny in louisiana. let's show you why this is such an uphill fight. on election night, louisiana held a jungle primary, all of the democrats, all of the republicans and all run on same ballot.

landrieu got the most votes and bill cassidy becomes her opponent in the runoff. the reason why landrieu is in such trouble, you can see clearly, only got 42% of the vote. meanwhile, her two main opponents were republicans, you add those together, you get 55. if you look at this from a partisan standpoint, it sends her into as a real underdog. if you look at the polls taken in the runup to the to runoff, about a 20-point lead for cassidy, has a huge margin, turnout can be funky, we don't know exactly what's going to happen. that's why mary landrieu is such a huge underdog. you look, she has been there 18 years and won three election and long serving senator from louisiana. how did it get so bad so quickly? we can show you a little about that. you're seeing two presidential

elections, story of two separate presidential elections in 2000 and 2012. in 2000, al gore ran against george w. bush, in louisiana bush the republican won it almost eight points. al gore won the popular vote that year. he actually won the popular vote by half a point. that means louisiana in the year 2000, in the presidential election, it was eight points more republican than the national average. that's a republican state but not that republican. look in 2012, look at the obama/romney race in 2012. in louisiana, romney wins by 17 points. nationally obama wins by four points. that's a difference of 21 points. that's the political evolution basically over the last decade in the state of louisiana from 8.2 to 21, again, 13 points more republican. so where are those republican votes coming from? we can show you that as well -- i have to undo this thing, still

learning. why has the state become so republican? ? 2008 for instance, mary landrieu won in 2008 with 5 2% of the vote. what was the formula? here you can look at it among black voters in louisiana, she won all of them, 96 to 2%. white voters able to get 32%, one third of the white vote went for landrieu in 2008. the white voters in south long ago used to be all democratic, they've been trending republican for generations now but in 2008, a democrat like landrieu can get a third of them. if you can get a third of the white vote in louisiana as a democrat you're in good position to win the election. but now look what happened in the jungle primary last month in november, when landrieu came in with 42%. she still wins all of the black vote but look at the white viot,

done to 18%. it's the story of why mary landrieu is in such grave danger tonight. 2008 and 2014 the number of white voters willing to vote for her, a democrat in louisiana for an election to u.s. senate has been cut in half. this was 33%, now down to 18%. that is the difference between mary landrieu winning with 52% in 2008 and potentially getting trounced tonight. we'll see what happens but the odds say mary landrieu is in for a tough night. we'll update you on the results tomorrow but that is the story in louisiana right now. there was this week's big bridge-gate news and now there's a bigger story that knocked the first story out of headlines. the story of potential indictments. we'll go into that next. the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it.

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of the many stories we've been juggling now. wnbc's brian thompson who joined us last hour is reporting potential indictments may be handed down in a matter of weeks. at least six indictments potentially handed down in january. former members of governor christie's staff and as well as former and current port authority officials are facing possible charges according to his report. they could be handed down as early as next month. we want to bring in defense attorney brian weiss, who's live in houston this morning and bring back former federal prosecutor paul butler. our legal go-to guys, dream team, whatever you want to call them. paul, on the prosecution side first, you have worked in a federal prosecutor's office, when you see a report like this, brian thompson's report. i know him to be a terrific reporter. when he's reporting something, you never know but you always -- it's sort of the gold standard when he's reporting it. it's been so tough for the press

to get inside u.s. attorney's office to figure out what's going on with the bridge-gate thing and now we have what seems like really credible reporting from brian thompson. what's the decision usually behind that? what is happening inside for something like that to get out? >> well, it's unusual. federal prosecutors are usually a lot more discreet than state prosecutors because they are not elected officials. they are appointed by the president. this report is incredible though because we've always thought that bridge-gate has never been clear exactly what the crime is. sandy-gate, how the sandy funds were allocated that seems a more traditional public corruption prosecution but these indictments are most unwelcome development for governor christie. what's going on is pyramid prosecution, working your way up to the top. it sounds like these indictments will be little fish and bigger fish but not the big fish. the big fish is christie. i think he's kind of again, this

is not good news for him. >> brian weiss, the report from brian thompson, he's saying at least six indictments potentially coming. he says former christie staff members, current and former port authority members. we've talked on the show and people who follow this know the names of the principle characters, bridget kelly, bill baroni. if you're representing one of those palestinian players in a story like this comes out in the news, what is reyour reaction to it? >> i was shocked to see that as many as half a dozen indictments were in the pipeline, steve. we know who the usual suspects are, the names you just alluded to, that great flow chart that you had long ago as a year ago in december when the story first broke. if i'm representing one of the target defendants, i want to know if it's too late for me to get paul fishman on his cell phone over the weekend to see what we can do about cutting a deal. the problem is my good friend

paul pointed out, there are little fish and big fish. and as anybody who has watched an episode of "law and order" recognizes, the first people to the courthouse to get paul fishman on the cell phone are the ones to walk with the best deal. i agree with paul, this is an amazing story because this investigation makes electing a new pope look transparent. >> in terms of cutting a deal, is there potentially one of the motives here if a federal prosecutor is leaking this -- i don't know, if that's where this is coming from, would there be a motive to try to get the reaction you're talking about, to get people to come in and start making deals? >> yeah, i certainly think at this point paul fishman, again, this is not his first raodeo, knows this investigation is about to reach critical mass. any time a story like this leaks, you're absolutely right,

there may be some back channel movement to see, who, if anybody, is ready to come in and debrief. >> and paul, from your standpoint, again having been in these offices before, if -- what is the sequence of events usually in terms of cutting deals and then making decisions on indictments? would the big deals have already been cut? >> not necessarily. so you're always thinking about how this is going to look at a trial. how will a jury evaluate this evidence. and it sounds like again, some of the bigger fish are actually going to be charged, which makes a prosecution easy, easier. jurors don't like it when people get immunity because they think well, they were down and dirty and they are getting off, why shouldn't the defendant get off? and prosecutors have more control over people who are facing sentencing or facing a criminal trial. if we're thinking about people like bridget and david wildstein, if they are indicted, they are in paul fishman's

hands. >> in terms -- i'm curious about the timetable and brian was sketching out a sar toshcenario get indictments in january and talk about starting to go to trial and some people pleading out or whatever, this is basically something that would stretch into the next year, january 2016. obviously right around the time of the caucuses. is this something we can pretty much count on being a cloud for all of 2015 over chris christie? >> i think so. there's no exact timetable. did paul fishman know there's an election coming up and governor christie might be a candidate? of course he knows that. under the department of justice guidelines he's supposed to act like he doesn't know, ignore that, not consider the politics, just consider whether he thinks governor christie committed a crime. >> brian wice, if you're with chris christie's people, is there anything you can do? can you go to the u.s. attorney,

listen, i know you have to do your job, i'm trying to run for president, can we get this done and speed it up way? >> boy, i certainly think chris christie's people wish that he could. but i think at the end of the day that's not going to happen. again, this is supposed to be about the rule of law and whether the law was violated and not about politics and elections in 2016. i think you don't have to be chuck todd to recognize this is a very, very bad hanukkah give for governor chris christie. >> thanks to brian wice and paul butler for joining us this morning. >> dream team. >> dream team is better, we'll go with that next time. >> how much have you paying attention to the news this week? it's that time of the show to test your current events when we go up against the clock. that is next.

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another game show. and for a while it looked like jennings was on his way to not just wanting to be but maybe also becoming a millionaire. >> before signing off with thank you and good night and god bless america, al gore ended his 2000 concession speech with what line. >> i feel like if i had to pick, you know, if you were forcing me, terry, i would have to go with d but i don't feel i'm sure enough. i don't feel i'm sure enough to risk $100,000. that's a lot of money. >> a lot of money. i think it might be time for me to go. not al gore, me. >> although he had a hunch, jennings decided not to risk guessing incorrectly and walked away with $100,000. i'm bet many of you knew his hunch was right. the answer was d, time for me to go. if you like al gore who hated

trivia or any trivia for any matter you'll want to stick around for "up against the clock", mere moments from now three of america's brightest political minds square off in a trivia test for the ages. don't go anywhere, "up against the clock" is next.

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♪ chicken parm you taste so good ♪ ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ mmm mmm mmm mm mmm mm mmmmmm live from studio 3a in rockefeller center usa, it's time for "up against the clock." his childhood dreamwise becoming a u.s. senator but since been surpassed by becoming vice president of his condo board, say hello to brian thompson. she's never gotten a speeding ticket but watch out for her buzzer speed. please welcome jackie ckucinich >> he used to be a staffer for u.s. senator dan quayle but he

wasn't his spelling coach, it's joe watkins. now the host of qust up against clock, steve kornacki. >> thank you for everybody tuning in at home. welcome to another exciting edition of "up against the clock." we say welcome to brian thompson, first time contestant. thank you for joining us, jackie kucinich and joe played last season. welcome back to both of you. good luck, for a refresher for you guys and first time for brian. let me remind everybody for how the show works. it is a fast-paced current events and political news quiz. questions are worth 100 in first round, 200 in the second and 300 in the third and contestants you can ring in at any time but you will be penalized for any wrong answers. there are bonus questions we'll explain them if and when they come up. our contestants will be playing

not just for victory but the chance to play in our tournament of champions. i'll first have to win today. as always i i am plor our live studio audience, please no outbursts. our contestants deserve and demand absolute concentration. are you ready to play? >> no. >> absolutely. >> no choice, brian, hands on buzzers, please. we'll put 100 seconds on the clock and start with the 100 point round and begin with this. this rock star filled in for an injured bono at monday night -- zbles. >> bruce springsteen. >> tossup question pushing its value to nearly $40 billion, an additional cash infusion was announced this week by this ride share service? >> who was uber. >> uber at the wire, correct, 100 points for brian. currently leading in times

online person of the year poll is modi prime minister of this -- >> india. >> brian on a roll. question, in a bravo television interview this week, which former presidential daughter admitted -- >> brian? >> jenna bush. a little hanky panky on the roof of the white house. >> toss-up question on the floor of the house, democrats took to using a card board cut-out -- >> of reagan. >> stop the news. jackie, not only were democrats using a cardboard cutout but because you knew that, you triggered other bonus question. we have a special celebrity guest that will read a famous quote and you'll be asked to identify who said the quote. there is no penalty for guessing wrong. jackie, if you will direct your attention to our video monitor.

>> hi, this week's "up against the clock" quote of note is and i read, a president's hardest task is not to do what is right but to know what is right. good luck. >> jackie, what president said that? >> oh, gosh, i will go with roosevelt. >> incorrect. his lyndon johnson. that was a pain-free bonus question. no points deducted. you still keep the 100 points. we get the clock back in motion. we're back with this 100 point toss-up. plan to raise the minimum wage to $13 by $2019 was pass by this week by the city council of this -- >> brian? >> chicago. the country's third largest city. it was revealed this week that this billionaire recently donated $25,000 to the ready for hillary super pac. >> jackie? >> strayer --

>> incorrect. any guesses? warren buffett. >> i knew that. >> peggy young was before the supreme court this week claiming that ups unfairly discriminated against her for being what -- >> pregnant. >> pregnant is correct, 100 points for jackie and that is the end of the round. there's that horn. jackie 100 points on the board, brian, jumps to the lead with 500 and joe yet to get on the board but good news for joe and jackie, you can make up a lot of ground very quickly. the questions here twice as valuable but also twice as hard. so we put the 100 seconds on the clock and begin round two with this. $4.7 million was the going price at auction this week for dna co-discoverer james watson who became the first living -- >> brian? >> nobel prize. >> 200 points for brian. after this week if he missed congress -- >> rahm emanuel.

>> no bleeping way. >> maryland governor martin o'malley's pro inspective presidential bid was handed a blow when a former boss endorsed hillary clinton, name that senator. >> brian? >> barbara mikulski. >> exciting news, brian, not only 200 points for answering but you have triggered our use it tore lose it bonus question. very simple how this works. we have here a follow-up question that is related in some way to the question you just answered. if you would like to be asked that question and you correctly answer it, you'll double your winnings and get 200 more points. if you're wrong, you'll lose the 200 points you just won or pass all together. brian, i have your bonus question here. women you use it or lose it? >> oh, what the heck. >> he'll use it. >> i like it. remember, it is related in some way to what you just answered. when barbara mikulski ran for re-election in 1992, she was opposed by this republican who

later moved to illinois and ran against barack obama for the u.s. senate in 2004. >> oh, i know that. alan keys. >> that's correct, 200 more points for brian thompson into the big leagues. get that clock back on board and rolling 200 point toss-up here. 16 things i'll miss about being in congress was the title of the post by outgoing -- >> michele barkman -- >> that's incorrect, on what website? >> on what? >> time. the website is buzzfeed. in the 1980s ash carter, president obama's nominee for defense secretary was against president reagan's strategic defense initiative which was popular known by this -- >> joe? >> star wars. >> 200 points for joe. leaders of the central committee of the republican party in this

state vowed this week toe remain neutral in the first in the nation presidential caucuses? >> new hampshire. >> incorrect. >> brian? >> iowa. >> 200 point toss-up. yesterday the bureau of labor statistics reported that the u.s. added 321,000 jobs in november and unemployment rate remained at this percentage -- >> 5.8%. >> 5.8%. brian, you earned the 200 points with that one. you have a big lead after two rounds of play with 1500 points. as i said, it's never been truer, we go to the ph.d. round where the questions are three times as they were when they start, wild things have been known to happen in this round. that's why we dim the lights for dramatic effect. the ph.d. round will begin when we get 100 seconds on the clock. there it is. i have the questions here. let's crown a champion and start with this. ash carter, president obama's new defense secretary nominee will if confirmed be the first pentagon chief to have no

experience serving in uniform since this man who held the job under president clinton. >> joe? >> oh, darn, i was going to say sandy -- but that's not right. >> incorrect. >> it was bill cohen. police and social service workers began a massive cleanout of the jungle, the largest homeless encampment located in this western state. >> california. >> california is correct. confirmed by the senate this week the new ambassador to hungary was a television producer of what daytime soap opera bold and the beautiful. >> correct. >> during oral arguments, lyrics for an eminem song were quoted by this member of the supreme court. >> joe? >> closet -- >> incorrect, asking for the member of the supreme court. >> we'll call time.

>> john roberts. quoted eminem. this week this southern university became the first school to shutdown a major college football program since 19 -- >> brian? >> university of alabama birmingham. >> yes, the birmingham is key there. thursday night allison williams performed as peter pan she is the daughter of who -- >> of me, brian williams. >> robin williams. >> daughter of brian williams who took over as nbc nightly news anchor from whom? >> tom brokaw. >> jackie? >> tom brokaw. >> it is not enough to topple brian who wins the game with 1500 points. congratulations brian -- >> i was losing anyway. >> thank you so much.

>> your name will be engraved using the finest sharpie ink on the up against the clock gold cup and copy of the 1988 film "cocoon 2" and you'll get to play in our jack pot round for today's prize. a $50 gift certificate for food cart in manhattan. the only food street vendor operated by a former chef of the russian tearoom. i had it for lunch today. delicious. enjoy the meal and congratulations! back to you, steve. >> congratulations again, brian. you've got the gold cup. jack jackie's signature is on there somewhere. don't drink from it. highly toxic chemicals were used in that thing. now here's the jack pot bonus question. if mary landrieu is defeated in today's louisiana senate runoff, it will leave the state with two republican senators for the first time since reconstruction,

who before landrieu is the last democrat to represent the state in the senate? >> i know to the answer to that. >> well, go ahead. >> the last democrat. oh, i should no that. >> can't give it. >> incorrect! the get certificate is the safe. the cup is yours to keep for a week. all the glory and honor to you. congratulations, you each get the the home edition. thank you all for playing. back to wrap up the show right after this. how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40, $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge

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all right. it's that time where we find out what we didn't know last week that with do now know at the end of the week. we'll start with you, jackie. >> this was just reiterated this week. that's the importance of good,

solid, local journalism. my colleague said that in relation to the uva rolling stone scandal this week. i think it's all the more important. >> took a local reporter to discredit a national story. that's right. brian? >> cameras of events like what we saw with eric garner are not always the answer in giving you quote/unquote proof. it's too difficult sometimes for a grand jury to say, yeah, the camera tells all. >> we'll be talking about the issue with cameras on the show tomorrow. >> i still have great faith in the young people. i'm so proud they came out and said what happened to eric garner was wrong. he was murdered and they took to the street to say this can't happen. this is not going to happen in america in the 21st century. >> the response, the spontaneous uprising here and peaceful. it's been great. jackie, brian thompson, joe watkins, thanks for getting up. congratulations, brian, by the way. >> thank you. >> join us tomorrow morning when i talk to vermont's independent senator bernie sanders about when he's planning to decide to run for president, among other

things. coming up next is melissa harris-perry. what is ahead? >> good morning, steve. we're going to start with the latest on the awful overnight breaking news about the two hostages killed in yemen. we are going to do a lot in the ongoing story we're dealing with this in this nation we have the council to new york city's mayor bill de blasio in with us. we're going to take an in depth look at police and black men in this country. >> thanks for that, melissa. we'll be watching. everyone, be sure to stick around. mhp is up next. "up" is back tomorrow morning. pt under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria.

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my name is karen and i have diabetic nerve pain. it's progressive pain. first that feeling of numbness. then hot pins. almost like lightning bolts, hot strikes into my feet. so my doctor prescribed lyrica. the pain has been reduced and i feel better than i did before. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda-approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions

or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight, including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. [ karen ] having less pain, that means everything to me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry, and we have a lot to get to on the program this morning, including the latest in the response to the grand jury decision in the

eric garner case. but we start with breaking news from overnight. an american photojournalist who held hostage in yemen was killed by al qaeda militants. al qaeda posted a video earlier this week threatening to kill luke somers in three days. somers, a british born u.s. citizen was abducted a year ago where he worked for the yemen times. a second hostage was also killed in the rescue attempt. president obama condemned the killings as barbaric. he explained the mission in a statement, saying in part, earlier this week a video released by his terrorist captors announced luke would be killed in 72 hours. other information indicated his life was in imminent danger, based on this assessment and as soon as there was reliable intelligence, i thorsed eauthor rescue attempt yesterday. i authorized the rescue of any other hostages hel t