call your travel consultant or 1-800-princess. princess cruises. come back new. and a good thursday to you, earn. i'm craig melvin. this is "the reid report." i'm in for joy reid. we start with breaking news on deflate gate, the controversy over allegations of cheating by the super bowl bound new england patriots. in about two hours, we'll bring you quarterback tom brady, facing reporters about what happened in that game sunday against the colts. and already in advance of that news conference, nbc news has learned brady addressed the matter with teammates in a closed-door meeting just hours ago. the controversy regards anonymous allegations reported by espn that the nfl has found 11 of 12 game balls used by the pats in that game were inflated below requirements, possibly to

gab a competitive advantage, making the footballs softer and easier to throw and catch. nbc ease peter alexander has been following the story closely. he joins me from foxboro, massachusetts. what more do we know about that closed-door meeting between brady and his teammates? >> reporter: well, we know the team was supposed to be here today. it's a regularly scheduled practice day, a team meeting that would normally happen. usually belleill belichick would address the team. he did. tom brady also addressed the team. he acknowledged he liked the ball a little less inflated than other quarterbacks to give him a better grip. of course, we do not know he said hey, i purposefully did this right now. that's going to be the question posed to tom brady when he speaks to reporters just a short time from now. it'll happen in an hour and 45 minutes from now. this has been moved up from tomorrow, the patriots recognizing to try to take the pressure out of this story, so

to speak. they needed to do something about it. that's why belichick spoke this morning. now brady. belichick spoke for about 8 1/2 minutes of a 12-minute news conference with a statement. this is not vintage bill belichick. he would normally be very well limited in his sound bites. he was, when reporters asked him questions, saying i have no expla in this case but he started off his statement by saying he was shocked and didn't know anything about this situation until monday morning. take a listen. >> i had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until monday morning. i've learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than i knew or had talked about in the last 40 years that i've coached in this league. >> reporter: so basically, he handed the ball off to his quarterback, tom brady, saying you'd have to talk to tom about his personal preferences for the ball. here we'll grab a ball quickly. we spoke to joe theis man, the hall of fame quarterback, the long-time washington redskin.

he told us today he went over to the washington redskins training facility to just test out these balls to see the difference between one that is legal, 13 psi, to use the technical term or 11 psi, which would be significantly below the allowable rules. he said the only way you could tell a difference is pushing on the seams. but in his words, that difference was negligible. also driving this conversation right now is the legendary commentator, the former coach of the oakland raiders, john madden. he said if these balls were deflated, that would have had to have been driven by the quarterback, tom brady. >> psi, pounds per square inch. peter alexander following it for us. and it looks like he probably played some football at some point in his life as well. good to see you. of course we will have complete coverage of new england patriots tom brady's news conference. at the bottom of the hour we'll be talking to former miami

dolphin wide receiver randle "thrill" hill. the anti-abortion rally marksed 42nd anniversary of the roe v. wade decision. meanwhile on capitol hill, house lawmakers just within the last hour passed a bill to permanently ban the use of federal funds for abortion. but that's not the bill that republicans had planned to vote on today. msnbc's luke russert is covering things on capitol hill. bring us up to speed on what happened last night and what happened a short time ago as well. >> well, craig, the gop leadership was originally going to move a bill through the house they expected to pass which would have outlawed abortion after 20 weeks. they put a thing in there that said except in the case of rape or incest. however, they had a stipulation

that rape or incest would have to be reported to authorities. that upset a bunch of republican women within the conference, saying that to have the language in there they have have to report to authorities was a step too far. it also was upsetting to some moderates within the conference that said, hey, look, we just took back the senate. we have all this power. why is one of the first things out of the gate trying to move on the abortion front, which is something that has been a liability for us in elections past? so you sort of saw this emergence of republican women and some of the more moderate voices in the conference say, we don't want to do this this is a bridge too far, can we pull this back? and leadership actually did. now, the question remains, craig, whether or not the leadership had the votes to pass the bill. they claim they did. other members i spoke to speculate they did not. nevertheless, this is not the end of this bill in particular the 20-week bill. they plan on trying to move it again at some point, perhaps when they have accumulated more time here. what they moved today was a bill they moved forward in the last

congress, which is essentially no taxpayer funding for abortion. we should do some housekeeping. since the hiatt amendment introduced a few decades ago, there's no taxpayer funding for abortion. this is more to make that permanent and strengthen it in the eyes of a pro-life community. hence why a lot of democrats voted against it saying it was re repetitive repetitive. nonetheless, you had a group of republican women who stood up and said, this is not the terrain we want to play on right now. this is going to be harmful for us in terms of getting the female vote and the myillennial vote. >> thank you for that walk through. that was eye opening. i know you've been out there all day on the mall. what are you hearing from activists about the bill that was pulled last night? >> well advocates for abortion rights point out that not only is the heidt amendment a matter of law, which they oppose

meaning medicaid funding is not available for abortion disproportionately punishing low-income women, this interferes with the private insurance market, the bill that was just passed. that's something republicans say they don't like. it actually says you can't get tax credits for private insurance funds. so the folks here are the anti-abortion folks here. they're very much in favor of making it harder to access abortion. but they really had their hearts set on this 20-week ban. they believe that the popular opinion is on their side. they believe that this going to be the vehicle that's going to allow them to overturn roe v. wade, go all the way to the supreme court, and even if president obama said that he was going to veto it they think that this is the vehicle that they need to kind of challenge anthony kennedy. so there's a lot of disappointment here. a few activists are planning a march on renee elmer's office. another point to make here is that the 20-week ban itself, as luke mentioned, will be back and it's only this very particular provision about reporting the rape to the police

that's at issue here. and when i asked one of the activists, why is that measure important, she said well we want to get the perpetrators off the street even though most people, you know, know that the odds are very much not in your favor if you report to the police. and the other aspect she said was that some women lie about rape. she specifically mentioned the duke and rolling stone cases. just to let you know what the grassroots is saying is out here today. >> a big thanks to both of you. coming up, we'll speak with the attorney who represented jane roe in the roe v. wade case before the supreme court, attorney sarah weddington. now to cuba, where it's day two of those historic talks between u.s. and cuban officials. the highest level u.s. official to visit in many years. if all goes well an even higher

level u.s. official said yesterday he's ready to make that trip as well. >> i look forward to traveling to cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward. >> cnbc's eamon javers in cuba traveling with u.s. officials. when we spoke earlier, we talked about the conversation today essentially being split up into two parts. do we know where negotiators are with regards to those two parts? are they still in phase one, so to speak? >> well we don't know exactly where things stand now, craig, but we are getting some indication now from both the cuban sides and the u.s. sides at least that everything is going well. on the high level, officials are making the typical encouraging but very vague statements, a statement by the cuban officials, a statement in writing from the u.s. side saying everything is going fairly well so far today. but the low-level diplomacy here is going back to what the president announced and what went into effect last week on friday, which are new rules for

travelers here to cuba. what they can bring back to the united states. it's been very restricted in the past but now as of friday, you can bring back $ 400 worth of goods of any kind but also you can bring back up to $100 worth of tobacco and alcohol. and here in cuba in havana you're talking about rum and you're talking about cigars. that's the biggest question everyone has asked me when we came down here, what can you bring back for sne the answer is, with $100, you can't get all that much. we priced it out. $100 l get you about six bot lts of this havana club rum. pretty good stuff, i'm told. also, $100 will get you just four of these cigars. these are said to be spectacular. i tried one last night and almost choked on it a little bit. they're said to be really good. four cigars six bottles of rum. you can't bring it all back. you can bring one or the other. >> you beat me to it, my friend. you and i go way back. i expect to get a cigar and a

bottle of rum when you return stateside. >> this box is already spoken for. i'll get you another one. >> of course it is. thank you. cnbc's eamon javers. we've got a reid alert right now. this is from yemen, where officials say that country's president and his cabinet have all resigned after days of escalating violence at the hands of yemeni rebels. presidential officials say that the yemeni president, who's a close u.s. ally, resigned after being pressured to make further concessions to the rebels. yemen's president has agreed to some political concessions. he did that yesterday after his residence and presidential palace came under attack. now to a suspicious death at the navy base at guantanamo bay. u.s. navy captain john nettleton, the commanding officer at gitmo, has been relieved of duty after allegations he was having an affair with a woman on the base. that woman's husband was recently found dead. nbc news chief pentagon

correspondent jim miklaszewski joins me now. how was all of this uncovered? >> even for the u.s. navy this is really a strange case. this is about two weeks ago when the body of a civilian employee at the u.s. navy base at guantanamo was found floating in guantanamo bay. and it was during the navy's investigation into that death that investigators reportedly uncovered an alleged affair between the wife of the dead man and the commander of the base captain john -- the commander of the base. anyway what they did is then the navy immediately relieved the captain of his command. not because he was found to be guilty of anything but because any time in the navy if there is some wrongdoing even a hint of wrongdoing, they will be relieved of command.

now, we have to emphasize here that no charges have been filed. nobody has been formally accused of any wrongdoing. but navy investigators are now looking into not only the alleged affair but whether there was any wrongdoing or foul play in the death of that employee from gitmo, craig. >> jim miklaszewski for us from the pentagon. thanks as always. coming up mitt romney jeb bush scheduled to meet privately in utah today. will they pull straus over who gets the gop's presumptive nomination? nbc's kelly o'donnell will have more on that later. also, more on deflate gate. how much more trouble could it spell for the league and the poster boy for the nfl, as well america's favorite quarterback, tom brady. brady holding that news conference to address the controversy in less than two hours. you can stick with msnbc for that. that coverage beginning at 3:45.

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and welcome back to this thursday edition of "the reid report." two republican heavy weights at the party's political center will soon meet face to face. mitt romney, who last week sent some signals he may be open for yet another run at the presidency and jeb bush, who has announced that he will actively explore a bid for the white house, will meet in utah later today at what one aide describes as a, quote, previously scheduled social meeting. let's bring in kelly o'donnell. are we buying that that it was a previously scheduled social meeting? is that really what this is? what are you hearing? >> well i am hearing that it was previously scheduled, and we can presume it will be social. it takes on a new context

because mitt romney had this on the calendar with jeb bush prior to mitt romney going out quite as far as he has in exploring a third possible run. as you pointed out, jeb bush has taken some more formal steps with an exploratory committee and his right to rise pac. he's certainly gaining a lot of momentum in some of the elected officials that we talked to. there's a lot of friends of jeb up here on hill as well as some strong supporters who have known mitt romney for a long time. but you've got two power centers in the republican party. and what's interesting, too, is if one were to cancel this meeting, that would certainly look back. and for both of them whether they both run or perhaps they get a sense of each other today and determine something, there's value in having this meeting. there's value in us talking about this meeting. we can't discount the importance of the buzz associated with this. now, jeb bush today already tweeted when he was leaving the airport, thanking the delta crew that was taking him to salt lake

city, utah. and noting that there were reporters milling about at the gate where he was taking off. people kept catching a picture of him on the other end as well. so some of the social media buzz. if you remember, there's a real difference in these two. now, they're of course big names in the republican party, but when jeb bush was governor of florida, he never really had a tough primary contest. he has been talked about as one of the major voices in the party for a long time. mitt romney has been through lots of bruising contests and he's in possession of all the vetting documentation he had on his short list of running mate choices from 2012. so they have a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of their own party, the donors and how things might play out. i don't expect we'll get a very thorough readout of this meeting, but the fact it's happening is certainly notable and interesting. and maybe sometime down the line if one or both of them don't run, maybe we'll learn more, and if both of them do maybe it'll

play out again at some point and we'll have a sense of what today's sort of meeting of the minds was about. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell. it is all quite fascinating. thank you so much for breaking it down. and now, three things to know on this thursday. in an interview with "billboard" magazine malcolm jamal warner who played bill cosby's son, theo talked about for the first time the sex assault claims against the iconic median saying in part quote, just as it's painful to hear any woman talk about sexual assault, whether true or not, it is just as painful to watch my friend and mentor go through this. i can't really speak on any of the allegations because obviously i was not there. the bill cosby i know has been great to me and great for a lot of people. former "tonight show" host jay leno also addressed the controversy in a question and answer session during a conference of television executives in miami last night. >> i mean i don't know why it's so hard to believe women. i mean, you know, you go to

saudi arabia and need two women to testify against a man. here you need 25. >> bill cosby has never been charged with a crime, and through his attorneys he's denied all of the allegations in the past. a local state of emergency has been declared after a massive fire engulfed a new jersey apartment complex across the hudson river from new york city yesterday. officials say the fire destroyed 240 units an left as many as 500 people homeless. two people and two firefighters were hurt. the cause of the fire is being investigated. and the number of people in the united states that have become infected with the measles has now grown to 70. the outbreak, which has been linked to two disney theme parks in california has spread to five states and mexico now. health officials have warned against visiting the affected parks. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms?

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it is time for we the tweeple. the michael brown case sparking twitter debates today. "the new york times" reporting thenitis department of justice is not expected to fault officer darren wilson for civil rights violations in the ferguson case. many are shocked. when wilson shot and killed ferguson teenager michael brown in august, it sparked national protests against police brutality, especially targeting african-americans. wilson maintains he was in mortal danger at the time of their confrontation. on the rachel maddow show last night, one of the times reporters who broke the story explained the reasoning behind the doj findings. >> it's a very high threshold to make one of these cases. they basically have to show that there was malice in the intent of darren wilson. and what they say is when they look at the evidence that's not there. >> this has a lot of folks tweeting today. quote, the doj has offered a shameful conclusion in the michael brown case we must continue our march to freedom. this user tweeting, this finding

from a black u.s. attorney general under a black president of the united states tells you there was nothing racial about wilson's actions in ferguson. attorney general eric holder who has the final say, has not presented his decision and the justice department's civil rights investigation into the ferguson police department on the whole continues. you're also weighing in today with your decision on the ongoing deflate gate scandal, as you debate if tom brady really deflated the footballs. you're recasting the patriots. this has been one of our favorites today. the deflatriots in mock logos. some folks have a lot of time at work, poking fun at the team. some of you think the scandal has run out of steam. this user complaining about competing hashtags. if i have to choose i prefer

#ballghazi but i prefer to neither hear ever again. we'll have much more on deflate gate coming up in a few minutes. nascar star jeff gordon, the rainbow warrior himself, is trending today as well with his announcement that this will be his last season. it is the 23rd season for the sprint cup driver. he has 92 career wins. the racing legend tweeted himself today, i'm proud of the career i've hadand knew this day would come but i'll be involved with team hendrick for many years to come. you're supportive but not happy to see your hero retiring tweeting, this is a sad day indeed with not a dry eye for jeff gordon nation. you can use the rieders hashtag. we're on facebook, twitter and instagram. we're also at msnbc.com. and now this. how the legalization of marijuana in colorado and washington state is making both a positive and negative impact

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series of questions based on an espn report saying that 11 of 12 game balls provided by the patriots were inflated below requirements, possibly to gain a competitive edge. this is how brady's coach, bill belichick, responded to those claims this morning. >> we have cooperated fully, quickly, and completely with every request that they have made continue to be cooperative in any way that we can. i have no explanation for what happened, and that's what they're looking into. >> jason page is the host of "up late" with jason page on nbc sports radio. good to have you, sir. randle "thrill" hill former nfl wide receiver and also of course played at the u as well. good to see you, sir. jason, let me start with you here in the studio. this is what john madden hall of fame head coach john madden

nfl commentator, this is what he said. nobody, not even the head coach, would do anything to a football unilaterally such as adjust the amount of pressure in a ball without the quarterback not knowing. it would have to be the quarterback's idea. this is john madden yesterday. is it reasonable to believe at this point, then that tom brady, the poster boy for the nfl himself, is behind all of this? >> yes. i mean look you're talking about the derek jeter of the nfl. especially in boston and in sports circles in boston. it's absolutely feasible to believe that tom brady absolutely spearheaded this. look, we had brad johnson talking about paying $7,500 to ball boys in the super bowl over a decade ago to have them scuff up footballs just so they'd be to his quality and the way he wanted them to be. why wouldn't tom brady be doing the same thing? >> is this a common practice throughout the league? >> sounds like it is. if you listen to a lot of

quarterbacks around the league aaron rodgers has tried to talk about getting an advantage by having it overinflated. quarterbacks are particular in how they like their footballs. >> we have two balls here. one is close to we think, official. the other has been deflated. in just a bit, we're going to do a little simulation. randle let me bring you into this conversation. when you're in the league was it common place? >> well the quarterbacks definitely want the balls a certain way, but what we would do is either -- i hate to say it like this but we would either spit on our gloves and then get it kind of like sticky, or, you know, some quarterbacks actually will use chewing tobacco, spit on their hands. i think it's totally legal, but what brady has done he's kind of like the captain kirk out there on that field. he gets things the way he wants them. >> do you think this is as big of a deal as people are making it out to be? or do you think that this is much to do about nothing? >> no it is a very big deal. it definitely gives a wide receiver and/or a quarterback an

autded advantage. and it causes problems. it's a ripple effect. you want to definitely have, you know, great integrity in a game. right now for the nfl, this is definitely an integrity check. >> what pressure jason, do you think this is going to put on roger goodell? >> tons. i mean look it's easy. he screwed up on rey rice and the elevator. there's a lot of people who are upset about that. >> but here's the thing. it's not like he can suspend tom brady for the sumper bowl. that's not going to happen. >> correct. that's kind of the problem. a lot of people are speculating that the suspension, whatever happens for this whether it's bill belichick, whether it's tom brady, whether it's ball boys whatever it's going to be is going to be for next season. a lot of people are going to say, by that time the patriots could be super bowl champs. then the ends justifies the mean means anyway. >> what would be a suitable punishment? you look back to spy gate in 2007, correct me if i'm wrong, they lost a first-round draft

pick fined roughly $750,000. there are some folks who have surmised that they made a calculation and just realized it was worth a roll of the dice. >> it is but i think belichick's going to get hit harder with this. i think there will be a suspension for him for next season. he can say all he wants, i didn't know what was going on there's no way. this is a guy who has his finger on every single piece of this organization. there's no way bill belichick didn't know. >> randle we're going to toss these footballs in here. while we're doing that i want you to explain to our viewers at home who have not held footballs as often as you have the difference between a ball that is inflated at the regular level and the difference between a deflated ball and what that means for the quarterback and what that means for the receiver and for our viewers at home this is the silver ball the one that's regular. and this is the deflated ball. you go out deep. rand l, walk us through the difference between the two balls. >> when you're talking about just surface contact, you know,

put your hand on a wall. that's what a harder ball is going to feel like. take your hand and put it on your thigh and squeeze your thigh. you're definitely going to have a better grip on your thigh. it gives a little bit, and you can get more surface on that particular object. >> do you feel that ball there, jason? >> this is the less de -- >> no. >> that's the regulation one. you dropped that one. here's the deflated ball. tell me if there's a -- that was a bad spiral. >> that was terrible. >> does it feel -- >> yeah this is much -- i mean i would like to know exactly how much this is deflated but on a wet day, you think about this for a second. on a wet day, snowy day, cold day, that is -- that's significant. >> randle is the difference as a receiver from your standpoint is it noticeable? is there a marked difference between the two? >> yeah definitely. and usually you can see it when you're going from the east coast

to like maybe a mile high type of stadium where the pressure is higher. then the ball boys or equipment managers definitely have to take some of the air out of the ball. you want to be able to have a good grip. the more surface area of your hand you can get around that ball and squeeze it tightly, the better. when you're talking about bad weather, it's definitely an added advantage. >> here's the thing. this is what a lot of folks haven't been talking about. a deflated ball did not make that big of a difference on sunday, did it? they blew out the colts. >> that's where everybody is missing the point on this. they obviously did this in more than one game this year. they beat the jets twice by just a couple of points this year. they beat the ravens by slimmest of margins. a lot of ravens players have said, we think they were using deflated footballs in that game as well. it's not just this game. it's a pattern of behavior by this team and by this organization. >> no one likes a cheater. >> nope. >> randle really quickly, what do you think a suitable punishment would be? >> well i don't know. when you talk about some guys

being suspended for the whole year just for the allegation, and you know there's something wrong here i would hate to be on the one to call that particular suspension. but something definitely has to be done because you're talking about the integrity of one of the greatest games in the united states the nfl. >> jason page randle "thrill" hill, we'll leave it there. before people start tweeting i want everyone to know i didn't play football growing up. i played baseball. i played basketball. i was not a football player. >> i won't hold it against you. >> thank you so much. >> neither will i. >> yeah you will. thank you, sir. of course we're going to have complete coverage of new england patriots quarterback tom brady. that news conference coverage will start on msnbc at 3:45. coming up next, i'll talk to the lawyer who successfully argued the landmark roe versus wade case about the fight that continues some 42 years later. (soft, calm music.) hi, you've reached emma. i'm out of the office right now, but will get back to you just as soon as i possibly can.

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42 years ago today the united states supreme court delivered a landmark 7-2 decision that would forever change the landscape of women's health care in this country. and still four decades later, the national debate over a woman's right to an abortion rages on. in the nation's capital today, thousands of anti-abortion advocates are marching to the stems of the supreme court, part of an annual march for life protesting the roe versus wade decision. meanwhile on capitol hill there appears to be in end in sight to the battle over what continues to be an emotionally and politically charged issue. sarah weddington is a former texas state legislator who represented the woman known as jane roe in the landmark roe v. wade decision. let me just start, sarah, with your reaction to the group of republican women who led to the 20-week ban legislation vote being pulled last night. do you consider that a small

victory? >> i consider it an important victory. you know one of the oddities about looking back in history is there were so many republicans who were pro-choice like barry gold water, like both of the fords. i could name so many others. and so the kind of republican official party stand today is so different than the moderate republicans of the time of roe versus wade. >> that's an interesting -- >> those women were courageous. i didn't mean to cut you off. that's an interesting point. what do you think led to that? what led to the switch? >> well i think within the party, there were a lot of people who were so much posed to abortion regardless of the circumstance regardless of the woman's priorities that they put pressure on the politicians within the republican party, and the party started changing in response.

what really changed the public opinion was in part because so many women who got pregnant didn't want to be pregnant weren't in a good circumstance to have a child were going to mexico or illegal places ending up in what we call the iob wards, infected on stetbstetrics. so all of the doctors being trained in medicine at that time ended up having to spend part of their training in those iob wards. they said, we have got to change this. so the texas medical association, the american medical association, lots of medicine -- medical professionals were saying this is terrible. we have to change it. and so we did. >> the number of people who support or are against abortion today remains within a 10% margin of where those rates were back in 1975. this is a graph depicting that.

this is according to a 2014 poll conducted by gallup. what's been your observation, your personal observation, over the past 42 years since roe versus wade? sfwl >> well, first, it has been constantly in various polls and other things found that the great majority of people in this country say that should not be the government's decision. it should be my decision. it should be the woman's decision. and that's still the case today. it's just that people have forgotten in some ways the horror stories of pre roe versus wade. so part of what the march is doing today is reminding people of how much force there is behind trying to see that abortion is no longer available to anybody regardless. here in texas, we have a situation where those opposed to abortion can't make it illegal

because of roe versus wade, but they have tried to make it unavailable by passing all kinds of restrictions. and the 20-week restriction that the republican -- those in charge of the republican party had introduced and wanted to get voted on today, none of the medical professionals, they all say, but that's not accurate. that's not -- 20 weeks is not what you say. so you get a lot of people who are not -- sorry. >> no i'm sorry. earlier this week in the state of the union address, i think a lot of folks were somewhat caught off guard when we heard president obama say that abortions in this country were nearing an all-time low. are you surprised by that and to what can we attribute that? >> no i'm not surprised. i think it's partially that contraception is much more available. the planned parenthoods have

really good professional availability of contraception, of information. i think a lot of people are taking more responsibility for their own circumstances. the help is available now. so more people are trying to say, i just can't afford to have a child right now. i'm not in a situation where i should. and so i think a lot of it's people taking more responsibility. >> where do you think we will be on this issue 42 years from now? >> oh i wish i knew. i'm really happy today because roe versus wade is still very much the law of the land. i'm disappointed that there are so many legislators and now here in texas all the key figures in politics are against roe versus wade. we're going to have a very difficult time trying to keep

the line so that women can still make those choices. and that's true in many states. and so once again, we are seeing women here in texas where there's no clinic available for them or they have to drive long long miles. one of the judges on the fifth circuit in a case very recently it was a woman, i'm sorry to say, said what's the big deal about women having to drive 150 miles? after all, in texas, the speed limit is 70 or over and it's flat. well it is hard for women who have to miss work who have families they're trying to take care of. there are a lot of complications. i think those opposed to abortion being available don't want to recognize how difficult it is for women in many circumstances. >> sarah weddington former texas legislator who represented the woman known as jane roe in roe v. wade 42 years ago. thank you so much for your time today, ms. weddington. do appreciate you. >> craig, thank you. after the break, we will go

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the establishment of diplomatic relations really does not have a checklist or a template that one has to follow every time. it is done by mutual consent of the two countries, and it is a relatively straightforward process. >> that was assistant secretary of state roberta jacobson just a few moments ago speaking at the adjournment of talks between u.s. and cuban delegations. she described those talks as normalization talks. she said they were positive, productive. jacobson is the highest-ranking u.s. diplomat to travel to havana in some 38 years. now to the terrorist group

isis. as japan struggles to contact the group, which is holding two japanese citizens secretary of state john kerry and his counterparts met in london today, touting what they say is the overall success of the allied effort against the terrorist group also known as desh. >> in recent months we have seen definitively the momentum halted in iraq. and in some cases reversed. >> nbc's katy tur is covering that allied conference for us in london. >> craig leaders from 21 countries gathered today at 10 downing street here in london to talk isis. among them john kerry, british prime minister david cameron. secretary of state said the international community has made significant gains in the fight against islamic state militants, that they've killed thousands, including they believe half of the group's leadership. as of now in iraq and syria,

isis controls an area roughly the size of great britain. the president of the body thanked the coalition for supporting iraqi troops in the fight. between those ground troops and the 2,000 air strikes, they've been able to retake about 270 square miles of territory. still, there's a lot of concern about the group's ability to recruit new fighters especially through its social media presence, not to mention the flow of significant funding to the group. authorities in great britain have been warning the public about potential threats and attacks here targeting landmarks and busy areas within london. right now the terror alert level is at severe which means security officials believe an attack is, quote, highly likely. it has been at this level, craig, since last august. >> nbc's katy tur for us in london. that is going to wrap up things for "the reid report." i'm craig melvin in for joy reid. "the reid report" returns tomorrow at 2:00 eastern. be sure to visit us online as well.

thereidreport.msnbc.com. up next though, "the cycle." if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is.

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] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® tom brady breaks his silence this hour. we're breaking ours right now. good afternoon. i'm abby huntsman. as we come on the air today, cheating accusations against the new england patriots are proving bigger than the super bowl that they're less than two weeks away from playing in. this hour right here on "the cycle," we'll hear from quarterback tom brady, and he's got some explaining to do after head coach bill belichick put this ball so to speak n his court this morning. >> when i came in monday morning, i was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. i had no knowledge whatsoever of

this situation until monday morning. i had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and the process. in my entire coaching career, i have never talked to any player staff member about football air pressure. that is not a subject that i have ever brought up. i have in explanation for what happened. >> here's what we're all asking ourselves this afternoon. did the patriots cheat? according to our cycle poll on msnbc.com that has more than 3,000 votes so far, most of you say the team knew exactly what was going on. for more let's turn to nbc's peter alexander, who's in the middle of the action in foxboro. peter, what we do know is that brady moved this presser up a full day. what are folks around there including the players making of that? >> it's a good