are resuming their search following the deadliest plane crash in decades in france. germans, foreign ministers, calling it a, quote, picture of horror. the airliner crashed lels than an hour before its expected arrival in dusseldorf. this scattered debris is all that appears to remain of germanwings flight 9525. officials say the plane was pull v rised and the biggest parts left are the size of a small car. investigators did find the black box. they say it's damaged but should still be able to provide clues. 150 people were on board and officials at the crash site say there are no signs of life. most of the victims were from europe including 16 german high school students. two babies were also on board. the plane left barcelona at 10:00 a.m. local time yesterday morning. it climbed to a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet within a half hour, but minutes later the plane began an unexplained descent. officials say it fell thousands

of feet per men ut for roughly eight minutes. the pilots did not send a distress signal and flight radar 24 says it lost contact with the plane which plunged more than 30,000 feet by 10:40 a.m. it took crews hours to reach the crash site because of the remote location. authorities are warning of a long road ahead. at this time officials say they do not suspect terrorism and believe the crash is a tragic accident. joining us now on the phone from seynes les alps we have claudia la vania. what exactly are investigators looking for at this point? >> reporter: they are trying to answer the difficult questions of why the plane suddenly started descending 32,000 feet in only eight minutes without the pilots talking to the control tower and explain what

that movement meant. you would expect if there was some kind of loss of pressure that the pilots would call a mayday, a distress signal. that being said there was no communication and the plane descended in eight minutes to an amplitude of 6,000 feet where it crashed into a thousand pieces at high speed we've been told by the french interior minister against that mountain. they hope they're going to find some sort of answer by analyzing the first of the two black boxes that have been found from the plane, that particular black box contains the conversation with the pilots. they could get a sense of what happened there, of course. as you said it is slightly damaged, but they do think they can take it. we may hear today, this afternoon -- there's a press conference in paris from the aviation authorities. we may hear then the first details of what really happened yesterday. >> claudio, thank you very much. as claudio was saying the investigation is now under way to determine what exactly caused

this crash. for that let's bring in nbc's tom costello. tom, what are some of the most pressing questions at this point? >> hi mika good morning. this morning still just as many questions as we had yesterday, but i think the key questions as relates to the investigation really are why did this plane descend rather rapidly, a controlled descent, programmed descent. why did it descend from 38,000 feet down to 6,000 feet and why did the crew members not talk at all to air traffic control? the disaster now strewn over the french alps may have started at or near 38,000 feet. the plane only spent one to three minutes at that altitude before beginning a programmed descent, 4,000 feet per minute. unusually steep but not extreme. what puzzled investigators is why the crew never radioed a mayday. >> they didn't provide a stress call, anyway, shape or form a

problem with the aircraft. that's very unusual given that they were at 38,000 feet they would have been in complete communication with air traffic control. >> reporter: among the scenarios investigators will have to consider, was there an emergency that forced the crew to program a rapid descent, a fire or smoke or sudden loss of cabin pressure? if that was the problem, the pilots should have leveled the plane out at 10 sthou feet where there's plenty of oxygen. instead it kept descending. were the pilots and passengers somehow incapacitated perhaps from lack of oxygen. captain john cox once flew the a320. >> something obviously occurred that said as soon as they got to 38,000, within just a few minutes, they needed to come down. xat exactly that is i don't know. >> the airbus a320 is among the world's most heavily used planes more than 6,000 flying. a computerized plane with a very good safety record but there have been recent high-profile accidents. in december an airasia a320 crashed into the java sea

killing 162 on board. the cause is still under investigation. in 2009 the miracle on the hudson in new york b caused by a bird strike. everyone survived thanks to some expert piloting. this particular plane was 24 years old, had just gone through a maintenance check the day before. we can tell you that the priority for french investigators is to actually listen to the cockpit voice recorder and analyze flight data recorder. the hundreds of pieces of data on the flight data recorder. only then will they be able to say what happened to this plane because there clearly is not much in the way of evidence on the ground. on the cockpit voice recorder they'll hear the pilots talking to each other or maybe not talking to each other will tell them an awful lot. the flight data recorder will give them the specifics of every piece of how that aircraft was operating, every flight parameter over the entire course of its flight. mika back to you. >> tom cot tell low, thank you very much. as we mentioned, amongst the 150 on the crashed passenger plane, at least two babies and a number

of young children. at least 67 people on board were german and another 45 are believed to be from spain. a german school and its community are mourning the loss of 16 tenth grade students. the teens and their two teachers were returning home from a trip abroad to barcelona. more than 100 people gathered outside for an impromptu memorial service after the news broke. the deadly crash occurred just 40 miles away from the school. at a vigil for the lost classmates, one student expressed the feeling felt throughout the devastated school in just one word. >> how is the school feeling right now? >> empty. >> the arts community also suffered a loss in the crash, two acclaimed german opera singers were heading back to germany from a performance in barcelona. the 44-year-old radner was on board with her husban and baby.

other headlines around the world. major news we begin in washington where president obama announced tuesday his plans to delay a withdrawal of u.s. troops in afghanistan. appearing alongside afghan president ashraf ghani at the white house, president obama said instead the u.s. will instead maintain its troop forces in afghanistan through the end of 2015. >> afghanistan remains a very dangerous place. insurgents still launch attacks including cowardly suicide bombings against civilians. president ghani has requested draw downtime lines. i've decided we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of this year. we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help afghan security forces succeed so we don't have to go back so we don't have to respond in an

emergency because counter terrorists -- because terrorist activities are being launched out of afghanistan. >> this announcement comes as spring fighting season in afghanistan begins the effects of which are already being felt. on tuesday 13 civilians were killed when gunmen opened fire on a bus traveling on one of the country's main roads. as for u.s. military casualties in afghanistan, just over 2,200 american troops have been killed there since 2001. israel is strongly denying that it spied on nuclear talks with iran to gather classified information to urge u.s. lawmakers to oppose a possible deal. prime minister benjamin netanyahu's office called the "wall street journal's" allegations, quote, utterly false and accused the u.s. officials sourced in the story of trying to undermine ties between the two countries. several members of congress also denied any government including house speaker john boehner who said he was, quote, shocked and baffled by the report. president obama said he would not address intel engines

matters with reporters but defended how talks with iran have been conducted. >> we have not just briefed congress about the progress or lack thereof that's being made, but we alsos briefed the israelis and our other partners in the region and around the world. if, in fact an agreement is arrived at that we feel confident will prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon it's going to be there for everybody to see. and people are going to be able to lift up the hood and see what's in there. >> president obama also said the hopes are dim for peace in the middle east because netanyahu said he opposed a two-state solution and that their differences are over policy and not personal. >> i have a very businesslike relationship with the prime minister. i've met with him more than any other world leader.

i talk to him all the time. he is representing his country's interests the way he thinks he needs to and i'm doing the same. this can't be reduced to a matter of somehow let's all hold hands and sing kumbaya. this is a matter of figuring out how do we get through a real knotty policy difference that has great consequences for both countries and for the region. >> we'll dig into this later on "morning joe." let's turn to business now. u.s. stocks fell for a second straight day tuesday after nearly eclipsing an all-time high. the nasdaq dipped back below 5,000 with the dow dropping 104 points. a big deal is in the works as 3g capital is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire kraft food groups after the firm landed heinz two years ago. cnbc's geoff cutmore joins us life from london. what can you tell us about this potential major deal? >> reporter: it seems the

appetite for processed cheese in america is flagging. i think that tells you an awful lot about why kraft is on the table right now. i don't know whether you guys are just getting healthier, but it seems that the maker of mac and cheese is seeing flagging sales growth right now, and 3g opportunistically looking at this business and saying, you know what, there are some brands in here that would work quite well with the heinz stable. they're looking at a $40 billion deal here and cued us to the "wall street journal" for breaking this one. keep your eye open for this big processed cheese deal to get done. moving you along, fascinating nusz for google here. they're getting a new cfo. it looks like it's going to be ruth pour rhett, once described as the most powerful woman on wall street. she was the cfo of morgan stanley. she comes into google at a time when people are scratching their head a little bit and saying how is this business going to deal

with the slowing growth in search and ad revenue. maybe ruth porat has the answers here. a new cfo coming in at google. let's look at greece. sources telling reuters the country could run out of money as soon as april 20th. can athens and eu leaders come to an agreement before it's too late? >> reporter: it's a scary date isn't it? once again it starts to put a deadline in as far as these negotiations for greece to get a new deal. you know the story here the new greek government has said we want to change the narrative as far as austerity is concerned, and the european union at this point still continues to make the case well you've got to do some of the heavy lifting, too, we cannot finance your debt. there is talk of a new package being on the table before monday. maybe we'll get some progress on this. otherwise, it looks like it's going to be very tough for greece up to this april 20th

deadline. back to you. >> geoff, thanks very much. still ahead on "way too early," a first look at surveillance video showing secret service agents hitting a white house barricade. congress wants to see more. is the secret service holding back? senator ted cruz has made it his mission to defeat obamacare. will it change his own family's health insurance situation force him to make a change of heart? it doesn't make much sense if he's on it. those stories and more on weather when "way too early" comes right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ in my heart i do believe we shall overcome some day ♪ >> black and white together.

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♪ ♪ 46 past the hour. fresh off his announcement for president, senator ted cruz is making a surprising admission. his family is signing up for obama kaefrmt his wife heidi is taking unpaid leave of absence from goldman sachs, so cruz is going on the market. >> we're transitioning, we'll be getting new health insurance. and we'll presumably do it through my job in the senate. we'll be on the federal exchange like millions of others on the federal exchange. >> you will be getting obamacare effectively? >> it is one of the good things about obamacare is that the statute provided that members of congress would be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of americans so there wouldn't be a double standard. >> like an obamacare commercial. i love it. secret service director joseph clancy was back in the hot seat on capitol hill as we got our

first look at video of the latest incident involving agents to come under scrutiny. police video played at a house hearing shows the agents slowly entering the complex during a suspicious package investigation. clancy says the video shows the agents driving at a very slow speed and brushing against a plastic barrel without any damage. lawmakers grilled the agency's director for saying it could not release secret service video for review until an internal investigation is complete. >> why can't congress investigate what's in its jurisdiction while the ig does what's in its jurisdiction? >> congressman, i'm sure after the oig's investigation -- >> i don't want to wait until after because that makes me think that you believe that congress's constitutional responsibility to provide oversight is subservient to the ig, and surely to the lord you can't believe that. my question is how will providing that to mr. cummings

and mr. chaffetz jeopardize an investigation with spesity? >> i'm happy to show that video all day and be available at all hours of the day and night to show that video, but at this point we cannot release that. >> clancy also says the secret service will now keep video for seven days after the agency was criticized for possibly deleting some footage after 72 hours. >> oops. >> no, no no. that's hard to believe. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill? >> severe storms today. may even talk tornadoes today. that's a change from our winter snow and ice. things will warm up on the east coast in the days ahead. last night a lot of hail reported in missouri. the strong storms raced through indianapolis a little bit ago. the only area not completely done is in wisconsin as far as snow. in indianapolis the heavy rain is over for you. cleveland, an umbrella morning for you as you head out the door. now let's talk about today's

slight risk and severe risk areas. this area of orange is what we now call an enhanced risk of severe weather. it's from oklahoma city to tulsa, through fayetteville. that's the area of greatest concern. the storms will form really from about 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. it's late day storms as it's getting dark. those storms will head towards fort smith this evening. not expecting a widespread tornado outbreak but we will see a few. look how warm the southern half of the country s. this is the warmest we've been. 80s in oklahoma. 51 in chicago, not feeling bad. in the northeast, one more cold morning and then we're going to warm it up. we may even see 60 tomorrow. new york city up to boston. so that's good. unfortunately your weekend is going to be much colder. >> goodbye bill karins. still ahead, "american sniper" star bradley cooper set to make his directorial debut. that doesn't mean he's standing

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with lewis. lewis? >> thanks mika. "mad man" start jon hamm recently completed rehab for alcohol abuse. he reportedly checked himself into a facility last month. his reps released the statement, quote, with support of his long time partner jennifer west felt he recently completed treatment for his struggle with alcohol addiction. hamm has won legendary praise for his portrayal of john draper on "mad man." the final season debuts may 5th. bradley cooper is in talks with warner brothers to make his first directorial debut in the remake of "a star is born." according to deadline hollywood, the hope is for cooper to star alongside beyonce. directing and starring is a tough thing. i'm sure he'll do a good thing. warner brothers has had a long eye on beyonce there, and she's

going to play an aspiring actress with big hollywood dreams. this spring and summer cooper will appear in "the elephant man" in london after a successful broadway run. >> i've seen it lewis. it's so good! it's unbelievable. the guy is an unbelievable actor. >> he's really good. he'll probably make a good director. >> didn't like those things in the beginning, i guess that's how you break in "wedding crashers," "a list." >> it turns out one of taylor swifts fans discovered while studying for the sats, increasing using lyrics as an example of bad grammar. you had one job to test people one job. come on. you're better than that princeton review. for that part they reached out asking the pop star to pick a

grammar loving fan to score tickets to her next show. i think it's all in good fun. i know s.a.t. prep can be a real pain. >> this is the one thing i'm glad doesn't actually become public people's s.a.t. scores. >> i know. mine weren't good. >> mine were not good either. >> we made it anyway. we should ban the s.a.t. i'm against it. thank you, lewis. let's get a preview of what's coming up on "morning joe." we're live in the french alps as investigators try to determine what caused that german passenger jet to plummet 32,000 feet in eight minutes without sending a distress call. former chairman debra hersman and tom costello help guide us through the investigation that's moving forward right now. plus the nation's longest war gets even longer as president obama slows the timeline for bringing u.s. troops home from afghanistan. what's behind the change in course? we'll talk exit strategy with long time cia official who

directed the 2001 invasion. also katy couric and emmy award winning filmmaker ken burns are here to discuss a new ground braking documentary on cancer. we'll also ask them about angeline gentleman joely's decision to undergo another surgery. that coming up next on "morning joe." you can find a new frontier. there's nothing stopping you and a lot helping you. technology that's with you always. this is our promise. it's never been better to wander because wherever you go, you'll find us doing everything we can, so you can.

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the scenes there really terrible. it looks from the helicopter almost like those white specs could be snow. they're not. they're the tiniest debris from that plane. nothing bigger than a car was found. >> that was msnbc's bill feely from france. this morning there are so many unanswered questions. why would there