fweetsd >> tweet of the year. so what's your tweet of the year? nancy giles. also right answer. thank you, that is "all in" for this evening. "rh e the e the rachel maddow show" starts next. >> there is a really big developing story that's happening in politics tonight. it involves the number three re republican in the speech back in 2002. it's a speech that's just resurfaced in a big way. and this is a story that as we speak, is starting to rock the political world. we're going to have much, much more on that in just a moment. but we're going to begin tonight with what is the top story a across the world again tonight. it is now 9:00 a.m. in the morning now off the coast of indonesia. and that is where the search operation is going to resume.

this is the start of the third day of the search for the air bus liner. who's carrying 162 people in total. now, so far, there has not been any confirmed siting of the plane. now, any confirmed siting of any wreckage from plane, although one indonesia search crew spotted some oil slicks. they're now testing those slicks to find out if they contain aviation fuel. >> o overnight, indonesia teams are set to restart that search today. indonesia officials are widening the search to other islands in the java sea.

frans and china are set to join the search. according to the pentagon theist could provide air surface and sub surface search assets. we're told the details of that request are now being worked out. but a defense official tells us tonight that the u.s.s. sam zone will be making its way to the search zone to help in the efrts to find the missing air asia flight. now, all of this comes after early today when the head of the indonesia agency in that were e charge of search and ree rescue for the missing jet cede that he believed the aircraft was at if bottom of the sea and that their country lacks the adequate equipment to conduct an under-water search. meanwhile, the family and friends have been gathering at the airport where the flight took off checking the flight's manifest and waiting for the latest news about the search for their loved ones.

late ere in the day today, the vice pet vice president spoke at a press conference lowering expectations that any survivors will be found alive saying "we realize that we have to be prepared for the worst kwsz e." air asia flight 8501 vanished early sunday at around 5:35 a.m. local time. the flight took off. it was bound for sick e singapore. then, about 42 minutes after taking off from surabaya, ind noo e news news ya, it disappeared. while weather is suspected to be a factor back ground e ground checks are being carried out on all passengers, as part of a standard procedure basis.

the e the pie lot asked air traffic control in jakarta for permission to urn e turn left. the plane then turned seven miles to its left. and then the pie lot requested to climb from 32,000 feet to 82,000 feet. a few min you wanteds after that they agreed to increase its altitude to 34,000 feet not the 3e8,000 feet. that full approval denied because another air asia flight was flying above at 38,0 0 feet. by the time that permission was grabted, this was arnt e around 6:14 a.m. there reportedly was no reply from the cockpit. the jet was last seen on radar around 6 clen 17:00 a.m., local time.

the plane didn't send any distress calls before it disappeared from the radar. somewhere between the islands of bo borneo and sumatra. the speed will play a role in their investigation. radar suggests the plane was flying at a low speed. a slow speed come biem e biened with a high altitude could cause an air plain toplane to stall. all of this comes at the end of a disastrous year changing from beijing to kuala lumpo rarks. this summer in ja e july it was a ma lay e laze ya airlines jet shot down over the ukraine. both of those planes were boeing 777s. this plane the one we're now talking about, was an air asia, air bus 8320.

it should also g e be noted that until this sunday air asia has had an impeccable safety record without a fatality in more than a dej e decade. but, still, so must recall e many questions tonight. joining us now from singapore day three of the search. can you tell us what exactly is going to be happening over there today? >> search and rescue operations continue. what we do know is that the international coalition is expanding, and that includes some very powerful nations, the u.s. southern fleet has confirmed to us that the u.s. sam son guided missile destroyer. it's in the western pacific, currently, on 5:00 sisz.

it will reach the slow zone in -- well, let e later on today. later tuesday, local time. but that's good news. it does involve two main abe abe assets on board. we do know that the chinese will be involved and south korea will be helping in the existence, as well. so a number of very powerful and the technologically savvy countries are invoefled here. the indonesias are taking point. they are the lead investigators here inlied e linene with international protocol. so far nothing that can be traced back. what we did get yesterday were a number of to be frank with you, confusing messages from the indonesia side. the rescue chief said that one

of the high part of the world seize hypotheses that they're working on is now at the bottom of the sea. very premature to make that kind of sec police stationpeculation and one has to wonder if something got lost in translation there. the search operations are continuing. the singapore people are involved as is malaiseysia and australia. squl e. >> all right, cnbc's asia correspondent. really appreciate the time this morning. now, let's bring in air fife greg, thanks for joining us tonight. so the headline here as they

start the new day is help is on the way. china is involved the americans are apparently getting involved. realistically, what is the timetable here to find an answer? >> steve, a lot of it depends on the weather. you can have a lot of assets there, especially airborne assets with helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. but if the weather doesn't cooperate, then you can't use those assets and now you're stuck with just surface also sets like the ships. nay're think're including land and sea. if it had occurred on land then we would expected the emergency transmiter to have triggered. if it goes into the walter it's

like any other electronic piece of equipment, it will short out and not work. but if it crashes on land then we have a good strong signal that's bounced off of a saturday satellite and they can honen e in on that. we all know the circumstances that have made that at this poishlts bs point, you know, where the plane is. what are the key differences? is this one much more feasible? >> absolutely. we've had a lot of high-technology, very sophisticated equipment. unfortunately, it was timing. it took so long to get all of these resources on station. unlike now, where everybody has come together in a very short period of time we have multinational group, not only providing ships on the ocean, but, of course, airborne assets.

they're out there searching. and the good thing about the java sea is it's not as deep as the indian ocean. so we're talking hundreds of feet, not thousands of feet. and if we can fine it we don't necessarily have to use our remote-operated vehicles to get the wreckage and get the cvr and the fdr. but we can send divers down there. but the key ser e here is trying to find the wreckage and then trace it back from the surface to where that debris field might be. >> in terms of trying to piece together what happened here, i mean whether we keep hearing ant weather and whether it was moving at a slow speed that was too high, that can cause issues for it. what are some of the key clues that you're looking at? >> i thrill the first clue is what did the pilots know even before they took off. how were they briefed? how did they analyze the weather that they knew they were going to have to at least ebb e encounter during their rootute of flight to singapore.

how were they making decisions to deviate? was it because they heard other pilots say it's better at higher altitude? or did they think they could fly over parts of this thunderstorm. those are the kinds of questions that could be answered in part by the investigators while you e we're still searching for wreckage. they can go to the airline. they can talk to the dispatchers. how did you train your pie lots to read weather radar. so all of that can still keep the investigative progress moving forward raeter than stagnate waiting for wreckage. >> okay, greg pfife, thanks 23r your time tonight. we have a lot more ahead in the show tonight, including a story that is sending shock waves through the political world as we speak. it involves one of the top-ranking republicans in the u.s. house and a roomful of white su e suepreme e supremists.

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a quick news update from abroad now. a health care wrorker who recently returned from sierra sierra leone has now been diagnosed with ebola. the woman was thought to have contact with only one person since arifling in the city. but that all passengers from her flight are being traced. she will soon be mooifed to a specialized facility in north london. we'll keep you posted on any further developments in this story. so, please, stay with us. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah, everybody knows that. well, did you know that playing cards with kenny rogers gets old pretty fast? ♪ you got to know when to hold'em. ♪ ♪ know when to fold 'em. ♪

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potentially big story involving the third-ranking republican in the house of representatives at a speech that he apparently gave in front of a white supremists organization 12 years ago. he was elected to the house in a special election back in the e 2008. after that he quickly established himself as one of the party's leading voices on capitol hill. earlier this year eric canter's shocking downfall set off a shocking reaction. earlier this year skalise was elected to be the new house majority, the third highest position with just two rungs before house speaker. what nobody knew is this. in may, 2002 when he was still a member of the lae la state laej e legislature, he was the featured speaker of a workshop founded by david duke. he's a one-time grand wizard of the nightknights of the klu klux

klu klux klan. he ran as a republican that year, but his overtly racist history prompted many of his party's leaders including then-pet george h.w. bush to denounce him. he was doe feetefeated in that erection and then launched the european rights organization that held a workshop back in may of 2002 in a best western hotel in the suburbs of new orleanss. that was the event that steve skalise was invited to and spoke at. we are training people to run for aufts and put together community-based organizations. ha is what the group's national director said at the tame of that workshop. all of this came to light today

after a louisiana bloger had a member called storm front, probably the most. in that post the ewe e anonymous storm front user says he or she attended the conference in 22 e 002 and that the meeting was productive locally as state representative steve skalise discussed ways to oversee gross misuse of tax revenue or slush funds that have no accountability. the dire circumstances pervasive in many important, under-funded needs of the community at the expensive graft and urban development fund in an apparent give i way. this is the account of one anonymous user of a white supremest igs web site. and to be clear, skalise's office acknowledged today that he did speak to david duke's

group in 2002 but they are adamant that skalise was unaware of the racist nature of the organization at the time of that speech. this is the statement that his office put out late this afternoon. now, just hours later, he says, in part --

for anyone to suggest that i'm involved with a group like that is insulting. when people called me and asked me to speak to groups, i went and spoke to groups. now, to add further context here, in 2002 steve skalise was an am bishls state representative. but as a state representative as opposed to a member of congress like he is today, he didn't necessarily have anyone closely vetting every invitation he received. this is from the washington post robert costa who has been reporting on this story today. other allies who requested anonimty added skalise was poorly staffed. however, it should also be noted that it did stir some real controversy at the time.

that same weekend that it was held may 16th to may 19th that same weekend, was chicago cub's minor league baseball team the iowa cubs were schedule today be in town to play the new orleans severs. they were booked to stay at the best west tern in louisiana. but when they fouchbd out that david duke's group was going to be using that hotel for its workshop, the entire team which included 30 players and coaches, six of them african american, all of them pulled out. it had been active in opposing efforts to remove the confederate flag from south carolina's state capitol, a major battle jst over a decade isle e ago. and just three years before david skalise spoke to dave duke's group, he had come just 3 percentage points of making a

runoff for seat in congress. in that year 19 9d 9, another person kond e considered a contender with erer for that house seet was steve skalise in which they asked him about going up against david duke in a republican. also of note here. the year they e that they spoke, that year was 2002. and that was the same year that mississippi's trent lock who was days away from becoming the new majority leader of the u.s. senate delivered these remarks at the 100th birth day party for strom thurman.

>> when thurman ran for president, we voted for him. we're proud of him. and if the rest of the country would have followed our lead we wouldn't have had all of these problems over all of these years, neither. >> top republicans, including george w. bush's white house. tonight, skalise's republican leaders are said to be monitoring this situation carefully while skalise's allies mound a defeint e fence. steve is a highly devout catholic. it is unbelievable to me that he would knowingly speak to a group that hates his religion. eric eric zone one of the most prominent conservative bloggers says how do you show up at a david duke event and not know what it is. again, there are no videos or

pictures that have surfaced from the white supremist event. wo we've reached out to his office topd today but have yet to hear back. duke also called skalise a fine family family man and a good 3er7b. the question as this story congresswoman develops are his fellow republicans prepared to accept this explanation and to standby him. hold that thought because we'll be right back.

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mplts . we've got a really strong team. it shows. our conference wants to move forward even stronger so that we can do an everyone better job of addressing those problems facing the country. >> that was republican congressman steve s e skalise of la lae back in june when he was elevated to the republican kons frens. he was made after eric canter lost his seet in a shocking primary upset.

today, just six months after that congressman skalise finds himself embroiled in controversy because of a speech he gave in 2002 when he was a state legislator. joining me now, fred hill. let's start with the bottom line. we have all of these reports out there that the republican leaders in the house, boef skalise, i believe, are monitoring the situation closely. what are we looking for next here in this story? >> i think they're trying to figure out what the reaction is in themedia. right you will no skalise has come out and did this interview with a local new orleans newspaper. they want to see if that aing which youly moves the needle at all. skalise, his defence here is that he went and did this speech and that this speech was more just about boilerplate issues, about posing a tax hiet e hike.

what skalise has going for him is the fact that we don't have the transcript of what skalise said or the video of what skalise said. if this turns out to be a boilerplate speech, it's a lot different nan what trent lott said he was supporting what thurman was doing. >> i guess, though frapg, we were in that post eric ericson, the conservative bloger put up saying how kwould you not know it's david duke's event. i guess we're saying this conference occurred in 2002 that duke had come within three-points of making it to a run aif for a congressional seat in louisiana. he made the gubernatorial runoff. in was a guy who definitely had a conservative political con stitch when esill in louisiana. is it plausible with a very ambitious audience wouldn't know

who duke was involved with? >> i don't know he didn't know who duke was. i think that there definitely are some questions about whether or not he knew who duke was. that might go down to what his defense is here poor staff work. if he only did have one staff work who is being shuttled from event to event, he wasn't necessarily sure what groups he was speaking to. grant it that is necessarily an excuse because you probably should know who you're speaking with. i don't think there's any question he knew who david duke was. i think the question is he knew what this organization stood for when he spoke with them. >> when it comes down to joan boehner, where he comes down to this ultimately could have a lot

to do with how this story plays out. do we have a read on boehner when it comes to balancing personal loyalties, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he has personal feelings at all for skalise here versus bottom liableltttom line damage for his par sni? do we know how he strikes that balance. >> >> he has a pretty killer line when it comes down to ethics violations. i think that he's very loyal to his team. he has congressman grim who might be stepping down as soon as tomorrow or the next day because he pled guilty. he's kind of tumbling in to the 114 et congress.

he wanted to get in with this new, larger majority starting with an ambitious legislative plan to get a republican congress to send bills to the wliet house. this is a stumbling block for that. but i think that he'll probably see how this plays out. he'll talk to skalise, get a gauge as to whether or not he feels like he can trust that s krksz ali srksz e dchblt know about this organization when he went and spoke to him. at the moment, it seems like a different situation. >> still ahead, this is sort of the time of year for big news dumps that you get all of the definitions out that you don't want anyone else to see and there's just a doozey of a news dump. we'll have that story for you next.

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them in an hour and a half of battle christmas is the season for sneaking things by. and, now, a couple centuries after that e eve got a new holiday sneak for you. this time, it's a political one. on saturday, two days after christmas, the governors of both new york and new jersey each spiked a bill that had been passinged by their state loemg slaytures. they would have reformed the government agency in tums and bridges in both new york and new jersey including the world's businessiest bridge, where members of new jersey governor chris christie's staff appeared to have created an e nor mouse traffic jam on purpose. the agency that controls that bridge is a spraulting opaque by state labyrinths. they want to ime inform the anyoneage season en sill, but to do that, they needed the approval of both governors. on saturday, both of those

governors decided to say no. those bills have passed namgsly. democrats and republicans coming together to support the same plans to perform the same anyone e agency. the governor saying they are all reform transparency. in the two governors are known to have a rather unusual -- or rather bipart san and a very behind-the-scenes alliance with each other. one legislator told the new york timings real reform gets buried

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we are e t minus two days until the beginning of the year 2015. but before the ball drops before people start breaking their resolutions, there's still a lot of work that has to be done to ensure new york city's 1 million plus revelers aren't disapointed by some kind of a glitch. so, last week they began testing the 2015 lay-up sign. but we can say they had mixed results for that, as you can see there. this past weekend, was spent attaching more than 2,600 crystals to the city's new year's eve ball. this morning, the city ran its confetti test with an assist from the cast of broadway's aladdin. this all sounds very enticing for new year's eve, although i'm going to be sticking to my plan of staying home maybe having a drink and definitely going to bed early. for practically just your signature,

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today was a graduation day. >> i do hereby pledge and declare to uphold the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new york to faithly discharge my duties as a police officer of the new york city police department.

>> 884 police officers joined the police officers today. for these 884 new aurss who graduated today, and who will be assigned to precincts throughout new york city starting today, it's got to be an e an exe especially difficult time to start their new jobs. for example, when the mayor of new york city got up to speak at today's graduation ceremony and to con gratulate the new cops he was greated by some of them with boos. >> it's now my pleasure to introduce the mayor of new york bill debl aurks sio. >> con gratulations, officers. it is an honor to call you officers. you will confront all the problems that plague society. problems that you didn't create. >> you did! [ laughter ] >> you've con confront poverty, mental

illness, illegal guns and a still too-divided society. all of these challenges. >> this came just two days after this happened back on saturday when hundreds of new york city police officers turned their backs on the mayor while he spoke at the funeral a week and a half ago in brooklyn. officers raphael ra 34rks os and li liu were shot and killed during that attack. the new york's police condemnedty e the mayor saying it was deblasio's embrace of the protesters in the wake of a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the

choke hold of garner and warning his biracial son about interacts with police. saying that basically kro e created the groundwork that led to that trat jill. the police union chief said that the blood starts on the steps of city hall. there is deep tension as far as all of this. officer ramos was buried this paes weekend. officer liu's will be held this coming weekend.ceremony will be held on saturday with the viewing on sunday. thousands more are sure to turn out for officer liu. so are we going to see this again? are we going to see the police turning their backs on their own mayor at a funeral for one of their own? pd e in just the past few hours, the mayor's office announced to

meet with 2346789 y.p.d. leadership. can there be any reconciliation here? why is this relationship so broken in the first place? is it possible that it's broken for bood e good? joining us now is former n.y.p. depth captain and brooklyn burro president. >> thaing. >> so this idea of tension between the mayor and tension between the police in a way, this is nothing new in new york. this is nothing new in sit e cities across the country. but this teal e feels very different to me when you have a tragedy like this in this visceral a reaction from the police. what is different this time? >> well, i think so. and i believe that any time you have an officer, it's one thing to lose your life while in the commission of a crime. that's a horrible way to die. but when police officers are assassinated, then the tension, the passion, the pain is increased because it is an assault on what we hold deer e dear. and that's public safety. >> you have such an interesting background in this because you've been on the lull e law

ens e enforcement side. you're more on the political side right now. but, when you have these tensions that we're talking about between the mayor and the police, i wonder if you can see both sides of this in the way that maybe other people can't. from the stand point of mayor, having been in law enforcement, can you look at the mayor's actions? some of the things that the police have been pointing to? can you look at that and say mr. mayor, there's something maybe you haven't seen here. there's something maybe you're not understanding? is there something you think maybe the mayor is missing? >> no, not guilty at all. when you put on that blue uniform, something that i wore and i really truly enjoy my law enforcement career. when you put on that uniform, you move away from politics. you hear comments that play out in the media, but you ignore that. you listen for the calls of service on your ray e radio. and there was one rule that we always followed in law enforcement. when an officer falled es in the line of duty you don't protest at his funeral. and you don't display any form

of protest while you're in uniform. that is unprecedented. and i hope that never happens again because it really tarn i were eished the badge. >> so wherefrom? you know the culture of the police. where is it coming from? obviously, it's an incredible tragedy here but to link it to the mayor in this way, where is it coming from? >> it's a combination of things. it's a perfect storm. you're dealing with a police department that the previous mayor did not address any of the contractual concerns. they did not have a contract throughout that entire run. you're dealing with the protesters in the streets. some of them were on the peripheral, they used terrible statements against the police that were not really representative -- >> was de blasio, it terms of his prososture, was de blasio, did he express sufficient outrage?

>> we did not want a ferguson in new york city. we had protesters who voiced their righteous concern about police rainstorm without any violence outside of the small numbers, the assault of the two officers on the brooklyn bridge. but for the most part we saw a multi-ethnic group voicing their concerns in a constructive way. >> there's another funeral coming up. the mayor obviously speaking at that graduation ceremony there with responses from the crowd. looking forward to the next week, what would you say to the mayor? how should he handle the next week? >> he did not have difficulties. you had several thousand people at the ceremony and you heard one person yell out an inappropriate term. >> he yelled it out. then there was applause. >> we don't know in they were applauding to the mayor's comments about what these officers are going to become. but the beauty of what we saw on

the floor were those young recruits. they showed discipline. they sent a message that many of the senior police officers need to show. they understood. they were coming into a profession where you must be like the women in justice with the blindfold on. not get caught up in the politics. protect the people of the city of new york. that is what it's about. i remember going through my days in that academy, sitting on that floor and remembering how proud i was. that's what they want to remember. >> thank you very much. and we'll be right back.

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we have some breaking news to report tonight. just within the last hour, the new york daily news and the washington post are both reporting that republican congressman michael grimm from new york will resign his seat in

congress. congressman grimm pled guilty last week to one count of felony tax fraud. pled guilty to that count, but then to the surprise of everyone said he would not be resigning his seat in congress. he wanted to stay. that meant that congress would be starting the new year with big new majorities only to have the first thing on their agenda be to deal with michael grimm. there's almost no precedent for congress to have to vote to force-out a member. it's happened but it's extremely rare. it happened with congressman traficant. but michael grimm will in fact resign his seat. the dwoern of the governor of new york will have to call a special election to fill that seat. grimm it should be noted

represents staten island and parts of brooklyn here in new york. this is actually consider add very competitive congressional district. it was before grimm represented by a democrat. this is a seat that both parties will be aggressively targeting in any special election and congressman grimm will be sentenced in june. but for now, a late christmas present as congressman grimm will voluntarily give up his seat sparing the congress from having to make some embarrassing decisions at the start of the year. this news on the same night that another member of the house finds himself in hot water. steve ska lease gave a statement regarding kmiet supremacist. ska lease himself giving a

statement to his own home paper that when he gave that speech to a white supremacist group run by david duke that he had no eye deeft group's racist ties or no ideas of the ties to david duke that he was delivering his standard speech on taxes and budget issues. he was a state legislator in louisiana, had his eye set on higher office, but didn't have the structure that he does have now as a member of congress. this is part of skal ease's plan. he gave his standard speech not knowing of the group's ties. at the same time skepticism

being voiced eric ericson, a leading conservative blogger writing tonight incredulously about the idea that he would not know about the ties to david duke. david duke was a major figure in louisiana and nationally in the immediate runup to that 2002 speech. it was about ten years before that in 1991 that duke nearly was elected governor of louisiana. he beat a sitting governor in a jungle run off. and then in 1999 david duke ran for congress finishing 3700 shorts of a runoff. and david duke lost by 3700 votes in that jungle primary back in 2002. so obviously this story with steve ska lease, the new

headache. one we will be following in the hours and days to come. that does it for us. now it's time for the last word. filling in for lawrence is ari lambert. families wait and crews are searching miles and miles of water and land for any sight of airasia 8501. efforts are focusing on reports of smoke. >> the search is about to continue for a third day. >> what went wrong? the latest on the rescue effort over the java sea. >> flight 8501 disappeared more than a day and a half ago now. the plane disappeared sunday morning. the pilot asked to change course and climb higher. >> there was a very tall thunderstorm ahead of the flight. ? they wanted to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid bad weather. >> then