right now on "andrea mitchell reports," digging out. the storm that wasn't for millions in new york city was still a historic blizzard along the new england coast, cutting off power to an isolated nantucket island flooding coastal communities with high waves that froze in place. >> new england took it on the chin with this one, with tropical storm force winds and feet of snow. here in marshfield we saw the rough surf damage all of these homes along the coast, and now has encased them in ice. trail blazer loretta lynch faces a republican-controlled confirmation hearing. will they vote on her record or use her confirmation to put the obama white house on trial? >> do you agree that water boarding is torture and that it's illegal? >> water boarding is torture, senator. >> and thus illegal?

>> and thus illegal. first lady snubbed. one after another, most of saudi arabia's royals walk right on by the first lady choosing not to shake hands with a woman. and 90 seconds -- five days before super bowl sunday, the talk is about the 90-second drill. what happened to the team balls in the mysterious minute and a half behind closed doors. >> 90 seconds seems to be more than enough time in a bag that zips open, if you have the needle it doesn't make much time to make a significant reduction in the air inside the football. ♪ good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. new york city dodged the storm, but much of the northeast is still digging out today after taking a pounding from the powerful blizzard. parts of central massachusetts remain under a travel ban as

crews begin to clean up an historic snowfall of as much as three feet in some areas. massachusetts governor charlie baker is expected to tour the damage today on the south shore after a storm surge flooded some coastal communities, glazing streets and homes over in ice. meanwhile, it's a day of recovery at the nation's airports after more than 7700 flights were canceled in the past three days because of the storm. nbc's rehema ellis joins me from the boston suburb of framingham mass which got hit with 33.5 inches of snow. rehema, i don't know how you're driving in that but people there cope don't they? >> reporter: well, they are. the good thing about this andrea is that most of the main roads are clear. we've driven off to a side road so you can get a better image of what is happening for people now. as you can see from our camera that's mounted on the windshield windshield, it's about digging out the side streets, the driveways, the sidewalks the parking lots. you've got one person here

trying to do that job of digging out from the snow that's waist high in some places. then you have mounds of snow that are piled up as a result of the snowplows coming along. this stuff, we're talking about stuff coming up to the chest and in some places it's all the way up over the heads of some folks. 11,000 people throughout the state of massachusetts were without power as of this morning. good thing is it doesn't appear to be the case for people here. most people and some we just talked to a few moments ago, do have power. that's good. but they're bracing themselves now. we have very cold temperatures with the windchill feeling like it's below zero out here. and then there's talk of more snow that's on the way. kids are out of school for yet another day. maybe they're going to help their parents dig out of the snow, but i suspect, andrea they're going to end up playing in it more than anything else. >> we should note that the travel ban has been lifted for massachusetts, where you are, so we're all okay on that deal.

but also as you point out, there's another clipper system that could be headed tonight, tomorrow, the next day, a fast-moving system that could be dumping some more snow not a whole lot, but more snow on top of what is already iced over right on massachusetts, rhode island, and maine. >> reporter: and to that effect andrea i should tell you that the state officials are saying they issued only one summons for someone who violated the travel ban. there were several warnings but only one summons issued for the travel ban violation, which helped them tremendously in clearing off these streets. still, the side streets, as you can see and as we slip over here a little bit, the side streets still have an issue with snow. people are really trying to just literally dig themselves out from their houses right now. >> and rehema while you're driving in massachusetts, amtrak has restored service. limited schedules, schedule changes, so check your listings. there is train service, but air

travel is still very restricted as they're trying to get the planes into laguardia and newark and jfk and logan. rehema, what about nantucket? we know how isolated nantucket island was by this storm. hurricane-force winds, no power for 24 hours, flooding erosion. what are we hearing from nantucket island? >> reporter: what we're hearing is that they have got cell service back up. they're starting to get the power back up. but now what they're talking about is how do they get everybody back into what we consider a normal condition. because they got pounded on that island. so the governor, one of the things he reported was the good news is that on nantucket and throughout the state of massachusetts, there are no reports of any fatalities or serious injuries that are related to the storm. a lot of damage absolutely. and more than some people were expecting that they would get. but they are recovering from it. one of the things that the governor said this morning in a press conference andrea is

that considering the amount of snow they got, he says the state came out of it in relatively good shape. andrea andrea? >> rehema ellis, you are the best. thank you so very much. thanks for being with us. and deflategate looming over bill belichick and his team ahead of the big game this sunday on nbc. but the patriots coach is avoiding new questions about the controversy by striking a tone familiar to reporters. >> we're just focused on seattle this week. that's it. so it's all about seattle. it's all about us getting ready to play sunday. and that's where all of our attention is. not really worried about the rest of that. >> nbc's ron mott is live in sunny, warm arizona. you deserve that ron. >> reporter: my wife just reminded me how much snow we have. she says she can barely get out of the house. i am -- >> a little guilt trip. >> reporter: i am with all the new englanders in spirit. back to this you saw bill belichick there didn't want to respond to questions yesterday

at media day. the owner of the team robert kraft, when the team landed on monday, made it clear he wants the nfl to apologize to his franchise if they don't find any wrongdoing in this whole situation because of what he says tom brady and bill belichick have gone through since this all broke the monday after that afc championship game. and what this all comes down to now is the league apparently has been given surveillance video taken from the inside of the gillette stadium that shows this locker room attendant carrying both sets of game balls, one for the colts and one for the patriots, into a bathroom. he apparently emerges 90 seconds later and took the balls out on to the field and they remained there for the remainder of the game until there was that problem toward the start of the third quarter. so the league has got to try to find out exactly what instruction -- now, he has been interviewed. they have to find out what he was told who told him to deflate these balls if in fact that happened. and they have to interview tom brady. he's the one who is at the center of this investigation

because, as you saw in that press conference he had last week, he made it clear how he likes his balls, and when he gives the balls over to the attendants for inspection he doesn't want anybody touching them. if that's to be believed that this person then went into a bathroom and these balls came out of the bathroom two pounds lighter, the league is going to want to know if this person acted alone or if he was acting because of someone telling him to do that. so tom brady has not been interviewed, as we understand, by the league. bill belichick, we're not sure whether he's been interviewed by the league about this whole story. the league investigator, ted wells, who also led that investigation into the locker room bullying with jonathan martin and richie incognito, is headlining this particular investigation and says it will be at least several weeks before this is all said and done. a lot of questions between now and when this investigation is over. >> and ron, i know you're not the science guy, but we understand that the nfl's top

super duper lawyer ted wells, they've contacted columbia university's science department. there were previously tests done at carnegie melon in pittsburgh. but this was all done to determine whether belichick was correct on sunday when he said the cold temperature would deflate the balls as our tires get deflated. i don't know why that wouldn't have deflated the colts' balls at the same time. but i'm not a scientist. i don't even play one on tv. i don't know if you can. >> reporter: that's a critical distinction here. if the colts' footballs showed the same sort of deflation rate as the patriots' football then i think maybe that's a more sort of believable scenario that these balls sort of deflating organically because of the cold temperatures. you got to keep in mind that two hours before the game these balls must be presented to the officials, and then they go from there back on to the field where they essentially sit out in the elements for 3 1/2, 4 hours. they are taken off the field at

halftime. so while bill belichick was trying to explain how their balls and the tests the patriots apparently conducted in the wake of this that they showed about a 1.5 pound per square inch deflation rate, trying to simulate the conditions from that game on sunday night. it was in the 40s and raining. and that's what they say they got. now, one would suspect that if the colts' balls were in the same conditions and even if they were inflated to the higher end of the range, which is 13.5 pounds per square inch that you would see them at 12 or so if the belichick science worked on the same balls for the colts. and that would put the colts' balls also under the league minimum, which was not the case when they went back. the officials checked all of the balls at halftime apparently, and that's when they discovered that a good number if not almost all of these patriots balls, were below the 12.5 pounds. >> ron mott at some point we're going to talk about football.

there is a game on sunday. we'll all be watching. that's another story. thank you, ron. and up next the first big test of the republican senate as loretta lynch faces the president's critics controlling that judiciary committee now. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. they're coming. what do i do? you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it. now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪ ♪

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the president's nominee for attorney general, loretta lynch, is in the hot seat in washington today. confirmation hearings began this morning before the senate judiciary committee. this is the first confirmation hearing in the new republican-led senate. democratic new york senator chuck schumer from her home state urged his colleagues to consider lynch's qualifications not president obama's policies. >> if we can't confirm loretta

lynch, then i don't believe we can confirm anyone. >> but lynch has been facing some tough questions on the very divisive subject of immigration. nbc justice correspondent pete williams joining me now. pete thank you very much. she is very well qualified on paper, and she seems to be handling these questions. but i wanted to throw to a little bit of sound from jeff sessions from alabama, questioning her about the president's immigration policy. >> do you think that a person that's anybody that's here lawfully or unlawfully is entitled to work in america? >> well senator, i'm not sure if i understand the basis for your question as to whether or not there's a legal basis for them to work or not. >> i asked you -- we're talking about rights. who has the most rights? does a lawful american immigrant or citizen have the right to have the laws of the united states enforced so that they might be able to work or does a person who came here unlawfully have a right to demand a job?

>> certainly the benefits of citizenship confer greater rights on those of us who are citizens and than those who are not. >> pete, you've watched a lot of these hearings. how is she doing? >> well i'd say the hot seat is mildly warm, andrea. going into this the assumption was she'd be confirmed. there's been nothing so far to derail it. just to follow up a little bit on this matter of citizenship and working, she eventually said that citizenship is a privilege that has to be earned and that she didn't see any right to sue for job discrimination if someone who was here whose deportation had been delayed under the obama policy if they tried to sue and an american citizen was for the same job. on the very first question that the republicans asked today with charles grassley the new chairman, was about the immigration policy. here's the way she framed her answer. she said she's looked at the justice department's legal opinion, and she thinks that it

is a reasonable one for favor of the president's proposal although she notes that the justice department rejected some things that the administration wanted to do. a couple of other notes here andrea diane feinstein praised her for being a combination of velvet and steel. and it's also pretty clear that she is while at the same time being respectful of her predecessor, her presumed predecessor eric holder, she's gone out of her way to say i'm not eric holder and i want to work with the committee. >> pete there's also a personal story here, the narrative. this is a woman from north carolina who got a full scholarship to the university of north carolina but chose to go to harvard instead. here she is talking about her parents. >> my mother who was unable to travel here today, is a retired english teacher and librarian for whom education was the key to a better life. as a young woman, she refused to use segregated restrooms because they did not represent the america in which she believed.

my father is a fourth generation baptist preacher who in the early 1960s opened his greensboro church to those planning sit-ins and marches, standing with them while carrying me on his shoulders. >> and pete she said her brother is a fifth generation baptist preacher this this continuous line. it's quite a biography. you mentioned eric holder. her sorority sister at harvard was sharon malone eric holder's wife. so there are a lot of connections here. >> right. and i think these are all reasons why it's going to be very tough for people to vote against her. >> and pete when she faces these questions about eric holder and his record what they wanted to know is will she be independent as attorney general, or will she veer toward being the president's lawyer. this has been an issue not only in this white house but certainly in the bush white house. her answers were that she would use her own judgment. she was right down the line on that. >> right. there were several republicans who quoted -- who said that eric

holder once described himself as the president's wing man. she said the job of the attorney general is to be independent and sometimes to give the people you work for the answer they may not want to hear. >> pete williams thank you very much. as you continue to follow the shearing. a judge in south carolina has tossed out the conviction of nine black men 54 years after they were arrested for sitting in at a whites-only lunch counter. they were a group of student protesters known as the friendship nine. >> i remember being grabbed by my belt and thrown to the floor and dragged out of the store. >> by who? >> police officers. >> the part that got me is when they put me in the cell and closed that door and that clang, you can still hear it. you can still hear that clang when they close that jail door. you know you was in there then. >> instead of allowing civil rights groups to post bail for them, the friendship nine opted to do a month's hard labor.

their no-bail example would come to be followed by other civil rights demonstrators throughout the south. one other note about the history in this case. the judge who presided over today's session is the nephew of the judge who sentenced the nine black men back in 1961. nbc's mark potter joins me now from rock hill south carolina. mark, you interviewed them. this has to be a very emotional day for them. >> reporter: that's the exact word andrea. it was a very emotional and powerful day here at the courthouse in rock hill south carolina. this was an attempt to correct an injustice from the civil rights era. as you noted, that occurred 54 years ago. this all began on january 31st, 1961, when nine students from nearby friendship college and a civil rights organizer came together at a five and dime at a lunch counter in downtown rock hill to engage in a sit-down protest against segregation. they walked through an angry crowd. they barely got a chance to sit down. as you just heard, they were quickly grabbed up by police

dragged out the store, across the alley, and into the jail. now, they drew a lot of attention because nine of those ten men decided not to pay the bail not to pay the fine. they took the sentence as you noted. 30 days at hard labor. they didn't know at the time that would electrify and reenergize a civil rights movement. it became known as the jail no-bail strategy. and so they are now seen as not only heroes of the civil rights movement but pioneers that helped the movement go along into its next phase. the prosecutor today here in the courthouse turned to the men, saying that representing the state of south carolina it was his duty to apologize to them for the way they were treated back then and in the years that followed. he very vigorously supported the emotion by the defense to have the charges overturned and the judge agreed to do that again in a very powerful and emotional session here for the courthouse behind me. >> and mark i know you probably

couldn't see this although you have looked at this footage, but we were also playing the original black-and-white footage. they were not only dragged off, they were pounded, their heads were beaten by uniformed sheriffs and others -- other whites in the crowd. >> reporter: that video that you're referring to is an archival video of another incident, but you're right. they were not treated well. when they were put in the cell, david williamson said he was slammed up against a door, slammed up against another one. they would clang the doors loudly to frighten them. when they went into hard labor, they would be moving piles of dirt, sand cutting weeds, working on private farms, doing all kinds of things to try to demean them. but they said they kept their spirits and they sang songs and they endured it. now they're being seen as heroes and really being applauded here in this community today.

this courthouse was -- it's a big courtroom. and it was overflowing today. the emotions were overflowing. it was a big moment not only for rock hill but in many ways for the country. >> mark potter thanks for bringing it to us. and the fbi is investigating a new round of threats made against passenger planes. dozens of online threats now have been made this week including several tuesday night. one tweet targeted several delta flights, saying the four planes will explode in ten minutes. three of the targeted flights landed hours before the tweets were even posted. two others landed shortly afterwards. another had not even taken off. five other flights made emergency landings over the weekend after similar threats were posted on twitter. the fbi has said that all threats are taken seriously and will be investigated.

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national security advisers to saudi arabia yesterday. he was signaling the importance of the white house improving tense relations with this royal family after the death of king abdullah. it was this image of saudi princes studiously avoiding shaking hands. look at them walking by. they shake hands with the president, walk by the first lady along that receiving line. that stirred a lot of talk back home even though the new saudi king did shake the first lady's hand. nbc's foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin is here to discuss. first of all, let's get rid of all this social media comment. the first lady was under no obligation. in fact, to the contrary. diplomats, american and western diplomats, angela merkel as well as three female secretaries of state, none of them covered their heads with the royal visits because westerners are not obligated to.

>> they're not expected to. so i think anyone who's saying she didn't do it and was thumbing her nose at the saudis is extremely removed from reality. that's never been the norm for any official visit by a world leader or a member of a delegation. she's not required to. there are norms in saudi arabia. certainly they have all kinds of problems when it comes to women's rights and dress codes and stuff like that. this is not one of them. >> now in terms of dress codes, we are told to wear either long skirts, long wide pants, long jackets, flowing clothes. that is considered respect. >> yeah absolutely. >> and she did. >> yeah and saudi arabia has a strict, you know, dress code when it comes to the public space, what women can wear in public and what they can't. in that tradition and in accordance with saudi law, modesty is a very important part. so they have these, you know, impositions on how women can dress. muslim women have to cover their

hair. they have to wear the veil. they have to wear a long black coat. some people see that as very draconian, certainly oppressive. at the same time, it's part of saudi tradition and culture. it's the norm and saudi arabia imposes it. other countries do as well. >> it is the law, by the way, in iran. people have questioned when i'm in iran and reporting and i have my head covered, it's the law. the minute you enter iranian air space, the pilot gets on and says ladies cover up. everyone does. >> in previous cases when the secretary of state like hillary clinton and others have traveled to muslim countries, if they're visiting a mosque or a holy site, they're wear the head dress. same thing when you go to the vatican. you'll see that they'll put that on as well. there are some tradition and things imposed by law. everything context chulized. >> i referred to the importance on this relationship. john kerry tweeted out an extraordinary picture from his flight because he picked up most of the delegation who were joining the president. the president was flying from

india. kerry was at rahm sign it air force base in germany. if you look at this picture, it's coni did rice jim baker, sandy burger steve hadley, you know, this is a who's who of american foreign policy over decades. republican and democratic. and significantly it's the republicans who have had really closer relations with the saudis. the saudis have been very dismissive of especially the obama white house. >> and that goes a very long way in a place where relationships matter. the fact that you have this bipartisan relationship and delegation coming to saudi arabia to pay tribute to the late king, try to restart the relationship with the new king i think, is a testament to the long-standing relationship between saudi arabia and the united states. as you said when you're able to bring that many people from a diversity of political spectrums and ideas and administrations

here in the u.s., it speaks a lot. i know that's definitely not lost on the saudis. they will certainly appreciate that in a culture that's steeped in tradition. that goes a long way. >> and angry that we haven't done more against assad and mubarak. let's talk about jordan. jordan has said they will trade this convicted suicide bomber woman who was supposedly helping in the blowing up in 2009 of the wedding party. she's been in jail. the demand by isis is to turn her over. they said that they would turn her over in exchange not for the japanese hostage who's been threatened with death but for the jordan yan pilot. >> yeah there's a few significant developments here. one is the jordan yans are saying they're willing to release this woman convicted for her involvement in a 2005 attack. what it says is that isis' roots in syria really go back to iraq. this woman was a very close associate, and her brother was a

close associate. her family her tribal connections go back to iraq. the fact isis is demanding her release gives you a sense there's a strong connection between what they're doing and what's happening in iraq. the fact the jordanian government is addressing the issue of releasing this pilot, it's not yet clear if isis even said they're going to swap the pilot in exchange for this convicted terrorist. what they have said is they did release the japanese hostage. so now the ball is back in isis' court. apparently there are some indirect negotiations taking place behind the scenes according to a member of the parliament. they're saying that they're hoping to try to get both the japanese hostage and the jordanian pilot in exchange for this woman. it's a lot of uncertainty. unfortunately, the clock is ticking. >> ayman mohyeldin thank you so much. >> my pleasure. and coming up next politics. hillary clinton agrees to testify about benghazi we're told, again. what will that mean for 2016? you're watching msnbc.

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it's not too soon to talk 2016 starting with the 2012 republican nominee. mitt romney may make another run for the white house. he says he's considering it. but he has not won over publishing king maker rupert murdoch. lawmakers say hillary clinton has agreed to testify to that special house committee reinvestigating benghazi. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza and capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. what's new is old again, what's old is new again. let's talk first about the rupert murdoch tweet about all of this chris. about mitt romney, yeah. >> well, first of all, as my colleague who works with me has just posted something pointing out that rupert murdoch tweets a lot about almost everything. so this is not a one-off.

but look i think it speaks to a skepticism that exists. i don't think it's everyone but does exist particularly among people who were sensibly for mitt romney last time around that he's been there, done that and didn't wind up winning. everything that i hear though andrea, suggests romney is making lots of calls and is sort of encouraged that he could raise the kind of money he would need to run again. i remain as i have been stunned by this but everyone i talk to who isn't rupert murdoch suggests he's moving toward it. >> and let me quote from that tweet of rupert murdoch's. "let's be clear know and like mitt romney as a very nice person, but he had his chance and seemed to lack big vision for this country." kelly, you've got some excerpts from a speech that romney is going to be giving tonight. i guess in mississippi. >> yes, mississippi state

university. he is going to take on both president obama, but notably hillary clinton, in his remarks. and having come through the 2012 period as being so criticized for his own words, the infamous 47%, we're going to see him talking more about the middle class and that conservatives have ideas that should be able to help lift people out of poverty. so it is a speech that really sounds like a man seriously contemplating running. and when i've talked to people who have been supporters of mitt romney's, who understand there is a lot of skepticism about him running again, we certainly heard that in iowa when i was there is over the weekend. many of the conservative grassroots types who are not natural mitt romney fans to begin with don't want to see him run again, but those who do point to a couple of things. if hillary clinton were to be be the nominee, you would need someone with a lot of experience, both as a candidate and in sort of world events to run against her. they think even though he failed before that he has learned from that experience and that he's

got the resources to build enough of a war chest to compete against her. so that's sort of the way they look at how could a third time be effective. those are some of the metrics they point to. but we'll hear at a student event tonight romney talking about his views that the middle class needs to be a focus. that's somewhat different than you would have heard him in the 2012 version. and he will certainly take on hillary clinton specifically for her work as secretary of state. that will play out. >> and in fact you know, the middle class and that new economic emphasis because of all the criticism of the so-called 47% line but on hillary clinton he is going to say, according to the excerpts that they released secretary of state hillary clinton cluelessly pressed a reset button for russia which smiled and then invaded ukraine, a sovereign nation. >> zing. >> and that's important because -- yeah zing. what hasn't been really getting enough attention, i think, is what russia is doing.

russian-supported separatists are doing right now in ukraine. it has heated up. they have violated the cease-fire. there's major trouble. also that hillary is now agreeing, according to democratic congress members, to go in front of the benghazi committee. so her track record as secretary of state is going to come under close examination. >> and we've talked about this many times. hillary clinton's greatest strength is that she's hillary clinton. her greatest weakness is that she's hillary clinton, which is that she's been around a long time. she has a long record to look through. i do not think her secretary of state record has been looked through with the exception possibly of benghazi has been looked through as much as it will be if and when she runs and if and when she's the democratic nominee. and i do think foreign policy is going to be -- i never thought i'd say this. i think foreign policy is going to be a major strain both in the republican primary to differentiate candidates as well as in the general election as we

try to in the post-obama presidency figure out what is our right place in the world. we've sort of gone back and forth between george w. bush and barack obama. where are we in this new and evolving world of new and evolving threats? so i think her experience there can be helpful, but her record there, depending on how it plays, can be -- i don't want to say hurtful, but certainly a topic for republicans in that race. >> chris cillizza kelly o. thanks both to you. back on capitol hill joaquin castro coming up next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips rma. checking your credit score is for chumps. i have great credit. how do you know? duh. you know those change, right?

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ring ring!... progresso! it's ok that your soup tastes like my homemade. it's our slow simmered vegetables and tender white meat chicken. apology accepted. i'm watching you soup people. make it progresso or make it yourself house republicans are attacking the department of homeland security's appropriation with amendments to defund president obama's immigration orders facing an uncertain future in the senate. speaker boehner is considering another vote on more legal action against the white house. the president's executive

actions have been a big part of loretta lynch's confirmation hearing today. >> if a person comes here and is given a lawful right under the president's executive amnesty to have social security and a work authorization card what if somebody prefers to hire an american citizen first? would you take action against them? do you understand this to mean that those who are given executive amnesty are entitled as much as anybody else in america to compete for a job in america? >> well, i don't believe it would give anyone any greater access to the work force, and certainly an employer would be looking at the issues of citizenship and making those determinations. >> texas democratic congressman joaquin castro joining me from the hill. thanks very much. immigration front and center. what about this new republican lawsuit? >> well, you know this is of course the second major lawsuit that the house republicans

filed. the first one was on the affordable care act. i think the next time we do t.o.r.t. reform we ought to include congress in the bill. this is not the way to go about challenging the president on his policy issues. so i think quite frankly it's a farce. >> at this stage, though you've got the defunding of homeland security. jay johnson, the secretary, says there are major problems with border security and other issues. not funding this department, they're going to run out of money. >> that's right. they're playing a very dangerous game of chicken here by first of all trying to float a bill that they can't get support on and also running up against a deadline to fund the department of homeland security given the fact that the united states as we've seen faces growing threats of terrorism in our country and abroad. so i hope that the republicans will get their act together and get behind a bill a bipartisan bill that, we can support. >> but you are completely

outnumbered on the house side. more so than ever. historic numbers of republicans elected. what options do you guys have? >> well we're going to keep pressing our point. you know we invite republicans, as the president has, to work with us, to come up with a bill that has support on the right and the left something that most folks in the middle can support. you know, part of their problem right now is that not only are most democrats against this almost exclusively actually but there are also a lot of republicans, tea party republicans, that are not for it. that's the reason a big part of the reason that the bill didn't hit the floor. and so i think the responsible thing for them to do in order not only to pass it through the senate but get it the president to sign it is instead of moving to satisfy the far right, move closer to the middle. work with us so we can get it through the senate and get the president to sign it. >> joaquin castro thank you very much congressman. always good to see you. more from new england as the region tries to thaw out, but another storm might be heading

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and we have more now as the northeast continues to clean up from that blizzard. crews in marshfield massachusetts, began repairing power lines today after the seaside community took a real beating from a flooding waves, the ocean coming up over and the storm surge. that's where we find miguel almaguer. it was incredible last night. tell me how marshfield is doing today. >> andrea good afternoon, it's still a frozen tundra out here. they're not doing much better than they were doing yesterday because things are so cold. i want to show you some of the damage. this home was really in the bull's eye of that storm that came in. this is tim maddox's home. where you saw the monster waves breaching over the home literally blasting right through his property. he was home when this happened. he suffered some pretty serious

injuries to his face. but luckily, he survived without any major injuries. he's actually at the home now. we spoke to him earlier today. he said it was quite an experience. and he wasn't the only homeowner here that was here when this all went down. the waves started crashing in this neighborhood around 10:00 yesterday. the sea wall gave way, homes were literally flooded with sea water. that ocean ripped right down this street. several properties have some very serious destruction here. this town was hit for 14 hours with blizzard-like conditions. it wasn't just the snow and the powerful wind but the flooding that caused so much damage here. the damage spread far and wide in worcester, there was more than 30 inches of snow in boston, 2 feet of snow. but, again, it was marshfield that took the direct brunt of this storm. many folks here say they are lucky to be alive. they say they will rebuild. but that process is going to take quite some time, andrea. as a matter of fact, at this hour, the power crews out here trying to restore electricity to this area most folks can't

return home because there's no power, which means there's no heat. but they are trying to get ahead of the next storm, which is going to hit here probably some time between thursday and friday andrea. >> and miguel, back in boston, some samaritan, anonymously shovelled the finish line at the marathon. and the boston police want to know who that person was. they tweeted that out. the picture of the finish line, which had been shovelled. so there's sort of a moment there in boston, as well. and we could show you just the finish line from the boston marathon. pretty amazing. >> yeah certainly people coming together in boston and in marshfield all around this area to kind of dig out and clean up, andrea. >> okay. thank you so much miguel almaguer. >> you got it. >> and joining me now is police chief william pitman again. thanks very much for being with us. i understand power is back on. you're joining us by phone, i think, though. >> yeah. good afternoon. lost track of time.

yep, power is on to a good portion of the island at this point. >> what do you know about the damage so far? i know you were worried about erosion but also worried about damage, structural damage to homes, have you been able to inspect? >> yeah we've just completed our damage assessment preliminarily. we still have an aerial assessment taking place right now. what we found really surprised us. the east bluff, which is ensconced, susceptible to a lot of erosion appears to have a lot of exposure to a project that was designed to try to protect the bluff. we don't have a real assessment as to the effectiveness of it at this point. but it did take, wash away a lot of sand there. the south shore, which there were some homes along the south shore, we were concerned about. we haven't been able to reach the area where the homes are. so we've got a coast guard conducting an aerial assessment

for us as we speak to try to identify the problem areas. >> well you've got outlying areas, i don't know if it's south. have you been able to get to those homes, as well? they're right on the water. >> yeah well when it's a bit of a problem -- but we know there weren't any people out there. in the areas we're concerned about. so because we had done assessment prior to the storm. but, again, that's an area that the helicopter, the crew in the helicopter would be looking at. and we'll make some determinations based on their report as to where we need to put our efforts in the plowing and access after this. so as soon as i hear back from them, we'll be making our afternoon plans. >> well chief pitman best to you and all the crews, the coast guard, as well everyone helping out. we know there are a lot of historic homes, and we hope that everyone there is safe. and that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online, on

facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. ronan farrow daily is up next. it's time for the "your business "entrepreneur of the week." a gaping hole in the health care industry. once you leave your doctor's office, who is there to help you stay healthy day-to-day? so she launched an app which connects people with health coaches who are by their side 24/7. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. >> brought to you by american express open. for ideas to help you grow your business. ness 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.

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so help protect your eye health with ocuvite. 1:00 p.m. on the east coast 10:00 a.m. on the west. we made it through the snow and ice, now we have to see if congress defrosts. hooergs what here's what you need to know on that front. kicked off today in the senate judiciary committee. the president's pick for attorney general u.s. attorney loretta lynch from brooklyn spent hours in the hot seat. the hearing's expected to reconvene in half an hour. attorney lynch began with an olive branch. >> i look forward to fostering a new and improved relationship with this committee the united states senate and the entire united states congress. a relationship based on mutual respect and constitutional balance. >> lynch is seeking confirmation at a time when the job is shall we say, not the easiest in the country. the justice department is

embroiled in questions about police brutality, presidential executive power. the senator started with the easy stuff. >> do you believe that the president has a legal authority to unilaterally deford the deportation in a blanket manner in the country illegally and grant them permits and other benefits regardless of what the u.s. constitution immigration laws say? >> the ultimate responsibility of the department of justice is to always when presented with issues by the white house or any agency to review those issues carefully. to apply the relevant law and make a determination as to whether or not there's a legal framework that supports the requested action. >> nbc justice correspondent pete williams following every beat of this hearing. pete, it's good to hear you. any surprises so far? >> no not really. what she's basically said about the immigration policy is a nuanced answer. what she says is i didn't have