governing. this is about republican governing over the next year and, of course leading into 2016 with our potential nominees. >> sam seder, molly ball and michael steel, thank you. "rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> thanks to you at home for joining us. welcome back from the holiday break. it's great to be back. here is just the thing to welcome you back into the news cycle. it's terrible nazi art. neo nazi art. this is not vintage. this is now. some of the stuff is for sale online by an artist who appears to have a whole collection of this sort of thing. this appears to be a southwestern theme, plus swastikas, fd and backward. this is called sun under the south.

first glance it just looks like a bag geometric flag painting until you realize it has lots of different swastikas. there's the big obvious swastika and then the little backwards swastika and then cute swastikas made with leaves. nature swastikas. this one is supposed to be an african swastika. that's nice. these terrible terrible paintings, including this super extra racist one are available online. they appear to have been created by either the same guy or somebody using the same pseudonym as the person who brought us these steve scalise scandal. lamar white broke the news that the number three republican in the white house, steve scalise had spoken to david duke's white supremacist organization in

2002, a main data source was the neo-nazi message board called storm front. apparently the same guy now posting his terrible nazi drunken crayon scribblings online as art, that same guy wrote at storm front in 2002 about steve scalise, about having seen this up and coming republican state rep steve scalise speak at david duke's neo-nazi meeting at a best western in metairie louisiana. to this day, nobody has seen any photographs of steve scalise speaking to that group. nobody has seen any video of steve scalise's remarks to that white supremacist group but storm front as an online hate exchange, it still exists. and the storm front archives are searchable back to when it was founded. that contemporaneous reporting about steve scalise speaking to that white supremacist group, that contemporaneous reporting on storm front, somebody saying

on storm front that they'd seen him there, that's the seminal evidence that steve scalise in fact spoke to that david duke associated white supremacist klan derived group. since that story broke last week, national media outlets, including "the new york times" have been able to track down confirmation he was there from people who remember going to that event and who remember steve scalise speaking there. one former representative said steve scalise's speech was about how america was founded on christian principles and how america would go forward as a christian nation. another contemporaneous source a long time reporter for the "times picayune" in new orleans is now also said that she remembers meeting with congressman steve scalise about 20 years ago, so around this time. and that he call himself -- i met steve scalise nearly 20 years ago. she says he called himself david

duke without the baggage. that dovetails with an article from roll call in 1999. three years before steve scalise sfoek the david duke group. a roll call article about whether he'd make another run for office and whether they might, i lect him. as part of their reporting, roll call in 1999 talked to the other republicans who were thinking of running for the congressional seat in question. at that time in 1999 steve scalise was one of those republicans and told roll call he was a david duke republican. quoting from the article. state representative steve scalise said he embraces many of the same conservative views as david duke but he is far more viable. scalise told roll call the voters in this district are smart enough to realize they need to get behintd someone who not only believes in the issues

they care about but also can get elected. david duke has proven he can't get elected and that's the first and most important thing. really? it's the most? hard to look at the legacy of david duke former klan leader and say the first and most important thing about him is his electability. it's not the first thing i think of when i think of david duke. let alone the most important thing. but that was what steve scalise thought about him in 1999 saying that voters should pick him because while he agreed with david duke on the issues he steve scalise, could get elected. the new congress set to be sworn in tomorrow republican leadership apparently has made the decision that these revelations about steve scalise are not enough to keep steve scalise from ascending to the very top tier of republican leadership in washington. he's due to be the number three republican in the house now.

the house majority whip. white house spokesman josh earnest was asked about that prospect today. >> so far, republican leadership seems to be standing by scalise. does the president feel that's appropriate? >> he believes it's ultimately their decision to make but there's no arguing that who republicans decide to elevate into a leadership position says a lot about who -- what the conference's priorities and values are. ultimately, mr. scalise reportedly described himself as david duke without the baggage. it will be up to republicans to decide what that says about their conference. >> white house trying to put republicans on the spot for this decision they've made to keep steve scalise in the leadership despite his david duke problem. it's important to note in that moment josh earnest looks down at his note to get the exact quote right.

described himself as david duke without the baggage. he was prepared to talk about that. democrats intend to keep putting republicans on the spot about this. but whether or not this is an interesting partisan food fight aside. if you put it in factual context in terms of what really happened here and who the players are involved and what's happening over time it is really hard to see how republicans are going to stand by this decision to keep this guy. how they'll let steve scalise be there in the leadership in this visible role every day, the number three guy in congress. the whip. a very public role. he'll be there indefinitely given these revelations? think about the whole reason he's ascending into the leadership tomorrow? the republicans aren't just taking over the house now. they've been in control of the house already. john boehner is speaker. kevin mccarthy was in the leadership before and is staying in the leadership now.

the only reason a job has opened up for steve scalise to ascend too, is because eric cantor was just thrown out of congress. eric cantor the highest ranking jewish republican ever in congress. at the time he had to leave congress he was the only jewish republican in either the house or the senate. but he was thrown out of congress by his own party, right? he lost a republican primary and, thereby, lost his seat. and the only jewish republican in either house of congress will now be replaced in his leadership position by david duke without the baggage. if you want david duke's own take on this controversy, and i'll admit i'm not sure that you do. on his david duke website he calls this the steve scalise lynching. a textbook example of how the zio-media lies. zio-media? zio in this case zio in this

case would be his catch-all phrase for anything jewish. on his website today, here's david duke on the jewish takeover of america. the jewish hate campaign and war against christmas. christmas symbols banned while giant menorahs erectsed on public land. jewish supremacist racist hypocrisy. zionist treason against america. vicious attack on family values. the david duke website said that's straight out of the protocols, as in the protocols of the elders of zion. also he has nothing against carbs. jewish online extremists. a review of dr. duke's jewish supreme simp.

low carbohydrate diet. so there's like a little bit of david duke as revolutionary weight loss guru but everything that isn't about how to improve your diet for a healthier neo-nazi you is about the evil jews taking over the world. david duke's latest beef if you want to stay current on your neo-nazi news is with nikki minaj. even his bif with nikki minaj is a beef with the jews. in his -- okay. it exists. why do people blame blacks like nikki minaj? she is promoted by the jewish record producers. it was the jewish record producers that promoted this degenerate, sick and horrific music. you can still buy stuff from david duke on his website. david duke for president t-shirts and also books like this one, the international jew, the world's foremost problem.

congressional republicans are promoting the republican with david duke ties to replace the one jewish republican member of congress. who again was thrown out of congress by the republican party because high lost a primary among republican voters in his own district. the steve scalise defense here is ignorance. a series of statements since the revelations came out, he had no idea of the racist and anti-semitic affiliations of this group he was speaking to. the david duke connection didn't pop for him as a meaningful thing when agreeing to speak to this group. he didn't have enough staff or the google for some reason even though google had already been around for foryears at that point. when all this happened it was not like david duke was hide hg white, white, white light under a bushel. in 1989 as they klan leader he won a seat in the louisiana

house of representatives from 1989 to 1993. in 1990 he ran for u.s. senate. he got 44% of the vote in a u.s. senate race as a former klan leader. he ran for governor in louisiana. a klan guy and very nearly won. second in the run-off. david duke doing so well in louisiana didn't just get a ton of louisiana attention. it got all sorts of national republican figures involved in louisiana politics. national republicans who had nothing to do with the state got involved in those races by endorsing david duke's opponents so david duke wouldn't be seen as the face of the republican party in louisiana. david duke was a very big deal at this time. a very famous guy and a very big deal in republican politics in that state and around the country because of it. he was a klan leader who had just won office and was trying to win even bigger offices and was doing very well in his efforts. he was not a secret. in 1998 he ran for congress and

came in third in one of the big jungle primaries. david witter narrowly beat him to come in second. that got him into the run-off. that's how he got to congress for the first time. 1999 the serving governor mike foster was revealed to have spent $150,000 to buy david duke's racist mailing list for his louisiana gubernatorial run. that was a big scandal in 1999. that was the same year steve scalise was describing himself to roll call as a david duke republican. somebody who agreed with david duke on all the issues but who could probably do a better job getting elected than david duke could. it's not like steve scalise didn't know who david duke was. and then three years later, he's speaking at david duke's group talking to them about america being a christian nation. and the republicans in congress have decided to let him be the guy who replaces eric cantor in

the house leadership because they say, steve scalise probably just didn't know what he was doing. didn't know where he was. duke who? david what? steve scalise's most detailed explanation of what he was doing at that david duke white supremacist event was speaking out against a tax plan he disagreed with. none of the contemporaneous accounts we have of that day say anything about that tax plan. and the new reporting today from the guy in louisiana who initially wrote this,his new reporting today is that steve scalise's explanation about this tax plan itself makes no sense because that tax plan he was reportedly so upset about hadn't even been filed in the state legislature an the day steve scalise made his speech to the white supremacist group. apparently the republicans believe his story anyway and are going to keep him in the leadership for the new congress. not a single member of the republican congress has called for scalise to step down or even

for him just to withdraw from the number three leadership position in congress. they are joined in that sentiment by david duke himself. david duke wants steve scalise to stay where he is. this is the first time he made a related threat an that subject in an interview with fusion. quote, he delivered a warning to both republicans and democrats. treat scalise fairly and don't try to make political hay out of the situation or david duke said he'd be inclined to release a list of names of all the politicians, both republicans and democrats, with whom he has ties. quote, if scalise is going to be crucified if republicans want to throw him to the woods then a lot of them better be looking over their shoulders says david duke. and he followed it up with this on cnn. >> you said this week if he's crucified, i think that was your word choice then you're going to name names. what are we tauking about? >> i would name names of any

democrat or -- i know some democrats and republicans in the house who tried, rgeed me to support them. i did. the governor of the state of louisiana, mr. foster wanted my support. >> you are saying there are members of congress today who have relationships with you -- >> have had relationships. >> but they choose to keep those private and you honor that. >> and i respect somebody's privacy. >> but you'll call them out? >> i'll call them out, hypocritical. >> david duke, that guy is now threatening that associating with him and associating with his white supremacist groups has to become an okay thing in our modern politics. david duke now threatening if steve scalise gets in trouble for his association with david duke and white supremacist groups in louisiana, then david duke will disclose the names of elected officials who have associated themselves with him oifr the years but that people don't know about yet. if you weren't going to get rid

of steve scalise from the leadership before don't you have to now that david duke is demanding that he stays? i mean are the republicans keeping steve scalise in their leadership replacing eric cantor? are they replacing him with david duke without the baggage because david duke will release more names of people he's worked with over the years unless steve scalise gets to keep that job? is that why they are keeping steve scalise in his job? it seems ridiculous right, to think that anybody is handing david duke the reins of power like that. that he'd get to determine who gets to be in the leadership of congress because he's able to make a threat like that. david duke gets to decide that? that seems ridiculous. one way to defuse any suspicion and sort of sap his power and his ability to make threats like this, this implicit blackmail, one way to take this threat off

the table would be to say to david duke ask him. just release that list. don't use it as blackmail. just mack it public. nobody who didn't cozy up to the klan should have anything to worry about that list being disclosed. and if you just have partisan concerns apparently a bipartisan group. david duke says it's republicans and democrats an his list of people he can prove sought him out for political help over the years. and honestly just as pure newsworthiness, a darn newsworthy thing to know who else besides steve scalise has been courting the david duke wing of white supremacy and neo-naziism in the modern klan for their own political benefit. who else is an the list? that would are a newsworthy thing to know. we called david duke today. to ask if he'd release that information to us. we were told he was on the other line. he hasn't called back yet. we remain hopeful we'll hear

from hymn. we also contacted congressman steven scalise's office. they just referred us back to their original statement from last week. they wouldn't give us new information. if we do hear back from the former klansman david duke who is pulling out all the stops to keep steve scalise in power, if we hear from david duke you will be the first to know. in my world, wall isn't a street... return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage.

which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars.

david duke is now saying if steve scalise gets in trouble with this i will release the names of all the people i ever dealt with and you'll be sorry they ever -- where does he live now? saying this from his klan cave right now?

[ male announcer ] take zzzquil and sleep like... the kids went to nana's house... for the whole weekend! [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] zzzquil, the non habit forming sleep aid that helps you sleep easily and wake refreshed. because sleep is a beautiful thing. ♪ with the incredible fuel efficiency of 38 miles-per-gallon highway you can feel like royalty in the nissan altima. now, get great offers on the 38 mpg highway nissan altima. nissan innovation that excites. [cheering] everything okay? we're here because you're about to have a heart attack.

pete's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. top republicans in congress have said they're sticking by congressman steve scalise who has been tapped for the number three republican post in the new congress, despite revelations he spoke to a white supremacist group in 2002. politico is reporting republicans in congress are now questioning whether steve scalise has become too great a liability for the party. one named aide telling politico it will be difficult to raise machine from major republican donors. it remains to be seen what kind of role he can play in terms of helping incumbents in tough districts. republicans have maintained a totally closed face an this before. they've sidaid they supported him and nobody has been willing to put their names to critical comments. today unnamed republicans

willing to breach the prospect that steve scalise is too banged up from this scandal to help the republican party. is this the dam breaking and what will be the political cost of the republican party letting him go. joining us is john stanton from buzzfeed. great to see you. thanks for being here. >> good to be here. >> before this politico piece came out tonight, my impression was that republicans thought this was over. they could wait it out. they were grateful it happened over the holidays and they assumed it would just go away over time if nobody said anything about it. is that now changing? is it your sense that's changing? >> well actually, this has been a concern for leadership in particular for about a week or so. since this happened, they've looked at this and said if he can come back in and in the first couple of days clear the decks with this thing. make a couple of statements and get it out of the way, everything will be fine.

their question is, if they come back and there are more revelations, more questions that come up about what he was talking about, it is concerning them. tactically, they did not want to get rid of him before tomorrow. they want to make sure boehner is back in his speakership role. they don't want another leadership election because that opens up the possibility of having a conservative member potentially make a real run at taking over a spot. they don't want to have to replace him if they can avoid it. but i think the thing they are now realizing is this is sucking the oxygen out of the room for them and keystone and the immigration issue they'll try to deal with next week and a couple other things they want to do at the front end to demonstrate, they bilityl -- the ability to govern. >> in terms of how to move forward, scalise released

semiself contradictory and evolving statements when the news broke. in recent days he's stopped talking altogether. the most recent news is that the latest scalise explanation that he was there talking about this tax thing that he was opposed to may not hold water because that tax thing hadn't been introduced in the louisiana legislature at the time he made this speech. is it expected he can do something else himself to put this to bed? they can't really hide him rnd a bushel. >> he can't follow david vitter's playbook. he's the whip and has to be able to be out there. leadership and other members privately have said to me if he can find that route to do this and get this out of the way in the next day or two, i think they are going to be okay with him being there. he's going to be damaged. the longer this is hitting him,

the harder it's going to be for him to be the whip. and again, raising money is a big part of leadership and it is kind of tough to go to people and ask for money when you've got sort of a david duke albatross hanging around your neck. it's not a good look. >> it's not. doesn't actually leely sound good in any language. john stanton for buzzfeed thank you very much. appreciate you being here. i will say david duke anybody in the news business knows is one of those fringe guys who thrives an publicity. i think he has never not returned a press call. the press is what is his life blood. i don't know if there is -- this is a guy who loves to be in the news and loves to sls name out there. if he can do that by drip drip dripping more names out there in response to the way scalise is being treated, i'm sure he wil. this story is not over by a long

shot. we'll be right back. a price tag! danger! price tag alert! oh. hey, guys. price tag alert! is this normal? well, progressive is a price tag free zone. we let you tell us what you want to pay and we help you find options to fit your budget. where are they taking him? i don't know. this seems excessive! decontamination in progress. i don't want to tell you guys your job, but... policies without the price tags. now, that's progressive. sunday dinners at my house... it's a full day for me, and i love it. but when i started having back pain my sister had to come help. i don't like asking for help. i took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. so my daughter brought over some aleve. it's just two pills, all day! and now, i'm back! aleve. two pills. all day strong, all day long. and now introducing aleve pm for a better am.

major: ok fitness class! here's our new trainer ensure active heart health. heart: i'm going to focus on the heart. i minimize my sodium and fat... gotta keep it lean and mean. pear: uh-oh. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium... and phytosterols, which may help lower cholesterol. major: i'm feeling energized already. avo: new delicious ensure active heart health supports your heart and body, so you stay active and strong. ensure. take life in.

daughter: do you and mom still have money with that broker? dad: yeah, 20 something years now. thinking about what you want to do with your money? daughter: looking at options. what do you guys pay in fees? dad: i don't know exactly. daughter: if you're not happy do they have to pay you back? dad: it doesn't really work that way. daughter: you sure? vo: are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab.

when your time in elected office is done you have to go somewhere. consider virginia's crusading attorney general ken cuccinelli. we learned he has moved on after losing the last governors race in virginia. he is now an oyster farmer. ken cuccinelli now a partner in an oyster farm in the chesapeake bay. ken cuccinelli oyster farmer.

interesting choice. but not every politician gets to pick his or her next act. tomorrow in federal court, the governor who ken cuccinelli served under as attorney general will get his new gig handed to him by a federal judge. federal prisoner doesn't sound nearly as fun as oyster farmer but that's bob mcdonnell's career track unless his scratching clawing, last ditch effort to avoid it somehow saves him. that soap opera just ahead.

well, a mortgage shouldn't be a problem your credit is in pretty good shape. >>pretty good? i know i have a 798 fico score thanks to the tools and help on experian.com. kaboom... well, i just have a few other questions. >>chuck, the only other question you need to ask is, "what else can you do for me?" i'll just take a water... get your credit swagger on. become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. fico scores are used in 90% of credit decisions.

they're still after me. get to the terminal across town. are all the green lights you? no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on. quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable.

i have a cold with terrible chest congestion. i better take something. theraflu severe cold doesn't treat chest congestion. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. [breath of relief] oh, what a relief it is. everybody remembers the initial invasion of iraq in 2003 as a pretty fast strike. u.s. forces overwhelmed the iraqi military almost everywhere they could find them. saddam hussein was toppled in a matters of weeks, right? but five days into that initial invasion there was a disaster. there was a human disast are for u.s. troops an the ground and a political disaster for the bush administration at the time. a small unit of american troops in nasiriyah was ambushed by saddam hussein's iraqi military.

the u.s. convoy apparently took a wrong turn and headed straight into an iraqi military position. four u.s. troops were killed in the attack on that convoy and five american troops were captured. the ones who were captured were then paraded on iraqi television. these were american troops effectively prisoners of war forced to appear in propaganda videos then broadcast all over the world. iraqi tv outlets also cast images of the bodies of the american troops killed in that. this video of them parading american prisoners was sort of a shock to the american people in the very first week of the iraq war in march 2003. when it happened it prompted a very direct and very stern warning at the time from president george w. bush. >> if there is somebody captured and it looks like there may be i expect those people to be treated humanely. i expect the p.o.w.s to be treated humanely.

and just like we're treating the prisoners that we have captured humanely. if not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals. >> i expect those people to be treated humanely just like we're treats those prisoners we have captured humanely. an march 23rd 2003 talking specifically about those american troops captured by the american military. that same day as president bush was warning thois who mistreat prisoners will be treated as war criminals. that same day, half a world away, u.s. personnel were hours away from completing their 183rd waterboarding session of captured khalid sheikh mohammed. any mistreatment of captured u.s. troops would constitute a

war crime. march 24th the next day, khalid sheikh mohammed underwent his 15th straight day of torture at the hands of his american captors. but that day, one day after president bashush gave that public warning, that's the day that khalid sheikh mohammed's torture abruptly finally stopped. why did it stop on the 15th day? we don't know. could just be a weird quirk of timing. president bush's assurances to the world in march 2003 that the u.s. treats our prisoners humanely that was very publicly challenged a few months later. the international committee of the red cross wrote a letter saying essentially we have a list of prisoners you're holding and torturing at undeclared prisons around the world. at black site prisons. they said we know you have prisoners in country x that you are not giving us access to as the red cross. you are mandated to give us

access to prisoners by law. we know you aren't doing it. that letter from the red cross went to the u.s. state department. and the state department at the time appears to have been flabbergasted by this allegation. the state department sent a delegation to geneva to red cross headquarters. they said it was u.s. policy to encourage all countries to provide access to the red cross for detain eye snineedetainees, including the specific one in question. he went as far as ordering the u.s. ambassador in that country to demand that country provide full access to the red cross for all prisoners being held in that country. so the red cross says to the u.s. government you have prisoners in country x that you aren't giving access to. the state department says the u.s. always gives the red cross access to our prisoners and we demand country x do the same thing. while the state department was doing that what we now know is

the cia was telling that same country to deny the red cross access to the cia's prisoners who were being held in that country. one of the bombshell revelations from the senate report on cia torture during the bush administration was that the cia was essentially conducting a separate foreign policy on its own. often in ways that were directly contradicting what other parts of the u.s. government were doing oir trying to do. the state department was telling other currents do x and the cia was telling those same countries, no. do not do x. and the state department had no idea why this was happening. according to the senate report in two countries where negotiations on hosting new detention facilities were taiking place. they told local officials they should not inform u.s. ambassadors in those countries about what was going on. so you're an ambassador trying to do your job and the cia is

tell'ing that other country to keep things secret from you. you are an ambassador trying to negotiate about the most important things in that country's relationship with the united states and something incredibly sensitive and incredibly politically potent is being negotiated by the cia with that country. you aren't allowed to know about it. how can you do your job. if the cia is doing it in what sense were they acting as part of the american government? we're now about a month out from the torture report being made public. the chair of the committee publicly issued some specific recommendations for how the u.s. government should try to prevent what happened during the bush administration from happening again. among the recommendations, u.s. ambassadors in countries where the cia is at work should be kept fully and currently informed with respect to all cia activities in that country. senator dianene feinstein advising that going forward all principal members of the president's national security

council should be informed of all significant covert action and programs that are being conducted. and not just the principles but the lawyers in their departments as well for obvious reasons. that's an important point. one of the things that's come out in the years since the bush presidency is there were officials warning what was going on with the cia torture program wasn't right. one of those officials was philip zellko deputy of state for condoleezza rice. he authored memos inside the state department in 2005 and 2006 toward the end of the torture program. memos that argued the program which had been under way for years was likely against the law. joining us now is philip zelikow, counsel to the state department. a trusted adviser to condoleezza rice. current lie on leave from the university of virginia where he's a history professor. thanks for being here.

>> glad to be here. >> you were counsel to the state department at a critical time. did this happen where state department and specific ambassadors did not know what the cia was negotiating with other countries and did not know what the cia had told other countries to keep secret from the rest of our government? >> yes, that did happen. the information about that in the senate report is accurate. it happened in the early phase of the program. especially in 2002 and 2003. >> when did the state department learn how it was sort of being hoodwinked here and what was the reaction inside the department? >> one of the ambassadors had gotten some information about the existence of the program, challenged, asked for something from the secretary of state letting him know it was okay. the white house -- this is in the senate report. the white house was then obliged to make sure that secretary powell who was secretary of state at the time and deputy secretary richard armitage were

briefed. then they could talk to the ambassador and ask him to basically go along with what was being done by the administration at that time. that was in one of the countries in which there was a black site. in general, the identity of the countries in which these black sites existed was kept secret from everyone in the administration. it's not at all clear that president bush himself knew which countries were the locations of black sites. there was a sense in cia that if you don't know then you can't say anything untrue about it. >> the implication is that the decision to keep president bush and potentially vice president cheney in the dark about which countries had these facilities was essentially a deliberate decision in which the president and vice president knew that there was something they should not know. they, thereby at least implicit lie, the implication is

consented to not knowing. it seems different with regard to the state department. there's this one damning line in the torture report where basically an internal cia memo says the white house says that colin powell should not be informed about these things. he shnts be briefed. he'll blow his stack if he is briefed. is it your sense the state department didn't have the opportunity to opt out of knowing this information in the same way that other senior parts of the administration did? >> that's fair. one of the -- there's a technical point that is missed a little bit in senator feinstein's recommendation when she talks about telling people about covert actions. that's current policy. the technical point that a lot of people don't understand is when this program was first proposed it wasn't proposed as a covert action but an intelligence collection measure. the arcane point is the bureaucratics for how to get

approval for doing an intelligence collection like running an espionage operation is not the same as getting the policy approval for a covert action which is a policy measure. because this was presented as a matters of intelligence collection it circumvented the usual covert action approveal procedures and circumvented the secretary of state. >> did go through the proper procedures for being an intelligence collection measure? >> those procedures are very simple. the intelligence agency decides it wants to do it and if it thinks it's important enough it asks the president for permission. that's what they did in this case. and the president base ically asked two questions. he sid -- asked the cia, one is this effective and then asked the attorney general two, is this legal? the attorney general says it was legal and the director of the cia said it's effective, and the president, after months of circling around this said well okay then. >> philip zelikow, i have a feeling with those

recommendations coming out now, obviously, there were no recommendations in the initial report, but with these recommendations coming out now there will be some policy reckoning not with congress but within the administration. as that happens i'd love to talk to you more about this. >> thank you rachel. we'll be right back. t-bones you. guess what: your insurance company will only give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. [cheering] everything okay? we're here because you're about to have a heart attack. pete's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

rma. checking your credit score is for chumps. i have great credit. how do you know? duh. you know those change, right? tattoos don't change. try credit karma. it's free and you can see what your score is right now. aren't you a little bit curious? i just got my free credit score! credit karma. really free credit scores. really free. i have got to update my ink. i was not expecting to get a ford. we went around the country talking to people who made the switch to ford. it felt nicer than my bmw. good gas mileage... ecoboost makes a four cylinder engine feel like a six cylinder. my dad went and turned in his lexus and got the exact same car as me. he had to have it... i'm very happy with my escape. i don't know if i'll ever not buy a ford. make the switch to america's favorite brand. check out special offers on ford escape at ford.com or see your local ford dealer. ♪

okay. nothing naturally occurring drops off this much from one year to the next. but this just happened. and that very dramatic story is next.

if you are one of the declining number of people in this country that's in a union, then your union goishtnegotiates on your behalf. if those negotiations come to an impasse, your union might, as a last ditch bargaining option organize a strike. for example, right now 1800 union unionized employees of fairpoint communications in new england are on the 81st day of a strike. that company and its workers have a disagreement about how much to cut employee benefits. when neither side would budge, the workers wauked out. workers at public surface jobs go on strike it can cause more chaos. in 2013 employees of the transit system in the san francisco bay area went on

strike. hundreds of thousands of people who commute by train had to find different ways to get to work. that's generally the idea of a strike. makes life so bad for everybody involved that everybody rushes back to the bargaining table to help everybody out. some unions just aren't allowed to strike. police unions and firefighters are prevented from striking. if cops walk out, who takes care of public safety? who responds when there are crimes committed? who is going to do their jobs if police officers won't? to the state and city governments allowing police to walk off the job in protest would, a, hand them far too big a bargaining chip and it would be dangerous for the public. in most places it's banned by law. right now in america's largest city, police appear to be doing the closest thing they can to an illegal strike. in the two weeks since nypd officers rafael ramos and wenjian liu were murdered

there's been a dramatic drop in police activity in new york city. this is the number of arrests made during christmas week and new year's week a year ago. and this is the same time period this year. the number of arrests plummeted, dropped by 50% from this time last year. these are the numbers for arrests. these are for people being issued criminal summons. this year compared with last year summons down 90%. police just aren't doing this work anymore. and it's everything. this is the drop-off for moving violations speeding tickets. this is the year to year drop-off for parking tickets. the drop-off from what is normal policing to what is happening now is incredible. after those two officers were killed last month, a memo attributed to the police union advised officers to not make arrests, quote, unless absolutely necessary. now that the numbers are in the

union is denying this huge decline in arrests and summons and tickets is any sort of coordinated action. must be a coincidence. some kind of fluke. police in america's largest city are mad at politicians and the new york mayor in particular because they feel they don't get enough support for what they do. right now it appears they are just stopping much of what they do. for two weeks running now. the police unions are denying that's what they are doing. plainly that's what they are doing. if you don't want the police arresting people and ticketing people then the police giving up doing their jobs might seem like a good thing. but if you think police play a role in keeping a big city safe then what new york police are doing right now, without admitting they are doing it is a pretty radical form of holding a city hostage. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return

with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. i've smoked a lot and quit a lot but ended up nowhere. now...i use this. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know you that former pro football player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything? unh-uh. number 44... whoooo! forty-four, that's me! get some cold cuts... get some cold cuts... get some cold cuts! whooo! gimme some!

geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. whoo! forty-four ladies, that's me! whoo...gonna get some cold cuts today! what's in a can of del monte green beans? ( ♪ ) grown in america. picked and packed at the peak of ripeness. with no artificial ingredients. del monte. bursting with life. ♪ [epic music] ♪ introducing aleve pm...

the pm pain reliever. that dares to work all the way until... [birds chirping] the am. new aleve pm. it's the first to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last all the way until morning. new aleve pm, for a better am. out of 42 vehicles... based on 6 different criteria... why did a panel of 11 automotive experts... ... name the volkswagen golf motor trend's 2015 car of the year? we'll give you four good reasons the all-new volkswagen golf starting at $17,995. there's an award winning golf for everyone.

tomorrow is going to be a day of high drama in a courtroom in richmond virginia. at 10:00 a.m. proceedings will start in the sentence of virginia republican governor bob mcdonnell who was convicted of 11 felony corruption charges. the first virginia governor in history to be indicted let alone convict forward crimes committed while in office. two things to watch here. first, nobody knows how much time he's going to get. a federal agency looks at the conviction and sentencing guidelines and makes a recommendation for how much time the convict should get. in mcdonnell's case the recommendation is a 10 to 12-year sentence in prison. if he gets that sentence federal prison will say that sentence is long enough he wouldn't be allowed to sifsh it in minimum security. he'd be in the kind of prison you'd imagine whin you think of prison. the defense side says they don't want any time in prison despite the 11 felony convictions. they say he should just do

community service. they've turned in over 400 letters asking the judge to be lenient because mcdonnell is such an excellent guy. the prosecution has said yes, we're sure he's a great guy and a great character. the vast majority of the nation's governors are good hard-working civic minded people. not one of them would claim those characteristics are a license to commit bribery without fear of jailtime. that's the tenor of the fight between the defense and the prosecution that's part of the reason there's dramatic tension about what's going to happen tomorrow morning. the other reason everyone is expecting drama is both sides are going to call witnesses to make their case for what the sentence should be tomorrow. bob mcdonnell is expected to plead his case to plead not to be sent to prison. nobody knows who else is going to get called to please for him or to plead for him to get sent away. one former virginia governor says he's been asked to prepare a statement in case he gets call

tomorrow at the hearing but nobody knows who is going to be there. nobody knows what anybody is going to say. at the end of that hearing, the judge will declare how long governor bob mcdonnell will have to serve and where. and then next month we'll go through it all again with the governor's wife when she gets sentenced for all her felony convictions. that hearing starts tomorrow in richmond, virginia. it should be a very dramatic scene. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. it's not officially a bird. >> i think it's adorable. >> a member of the st. louis county grand jury that heard testimony about the police