to privatize it. >> no doubt about that. good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you, ed. always a pleasure. >> you bet. good to have you on. i count on the post office all the time. and they always deliver. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning. in. we start tonight with developing news. nationwide protests for higher wages and economic fairness. it was shaping up to be the central front in the fight for 2016. organizers say it's the largest ever fast food wage protest. they made plans for rallies in over 200 cities demanding a raise to $15 an hour. >> i live paycheck to paycheck.

by the time i get done paying bills, i don't have money to put food in the house. $15 an hour will help me out. >> this fight play out as the 2016 campaigns get under way today. hillary clinton in iowa meeting with a group of small business owners, and hitting that same theme. >> unfortunately, the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. and we need to reshuffle the cards, and begin to play a different hand, a hand that includes everybody. >> it looks to be a key fight in this election. president obama called it the defining challenge of our time. it's a big issue for some progressives like elizabeth warren, who have been noncommittal about clinton's campaign. and now we're also starting to see it from republicans eyeing the white house, like chris christie, in new hampshire calling for cuts to social security, medicare, and

medicaid. and marco rubio, attacking government spending and demanding that corporations pay less taxes. >> our debt which is a significant driver of what has made america less competitive. our regulatory systems in this country which serve as a significant impediment. we have a tax code for example, that has the highest combined corporate tax rate on the planet. we have a very serious debt problem in america. >> two very different arguments. two very different visions for 2016. joining me now is msnbc's alex sykes who is reporting live tonight from des moines. and jonathan capehart of "the washington post." thank you both for being here. >> thanks rev. >> thanks rev. >> alex day two of hillary clinton in iowa. is the campaign making a concerted effort to hit these

progressive themes? >> absolutely rev. hillary clinton definitely striking a populist tone in her announcement video, in her first day in iowa. and today she is talking about the deck being stacked in favor of the wealthiest americans. she also talked about ceo pay saying it's unfair ceos make 300 times the average worker. yesterday up in the northeast part of the state she talked about getting money out of politics. and even said she would be open to a constitutional amendment to take care of that problem. so she is definitely anticipating a kaj from the left, from progressives. of course, this is the state where barack obama derailed the presidential campaign by firing up progressives last time. one thing we haven't heard yet from hillary clinton are many specifics on policy. she has talked a little bit about paid sick leave for families, but so far she says she wants to talk to people in places like iowa possible new hampshire, south carolina as well before she rolls out policy. so we'll have to stay tuned on that. she definitely is striking the tone, the rhetoric kind of putting that message out there, wanting to shore up support on the left.

>> reporter: but jonathan when do we need to hear specifics? how long can she go without giving specifics? >> i think she can probably go for a little while longer maybe a month or so from what i've retardant and heard probably from alex in his reporting all day that she is about to -- she'll be giving a meteor speech some time in may. and that's only in a couple of weeks from now. so she's got time. remember, she is on this listening tour. and what she is doing, as we saw as i watched on msnbc's shift yesterday, she sat there and took questions from the people there at the community college. she asked questions. she asked probing questions, very detailed questions about specific things that people were doing, dealing with in asking for their advice on things. so she is going to need time to get around iowa talk to people listen to people, that will then

help inform whatever policy specifics she'll give next month. and the specifics that we're looking for. >> you know alex former democratic senator jim webb is considering a challenge to clinton. and today he took a jab at her on the issue of income inequality. listen. >> what particularly struck me is she was talking -- i listened on the radio on this -- about hedge fund managers making millions and millions of dollars and actually paying a lower tax rate than nurses and truck drivers. and i had to have a chuckle there, because i've used that example three different advertisements on the senate floor. i'm glad she is over on this side of the issue now. >> i mean how serious a problem, alex is this for mrs. clinton, that some democrats and progressives want to see more from her on economic issues? >> i think it's definitely a problem for her, right. these are not issues she is associated with. she is traditionally largely

through her husband associated with the kind of centrist wing of the party, the pro-business, the pro wall street wing of the party. she needs to overcome those challenges. at the same time i think a lot of progressives will forgive her from borrowing from elizabeth warren or borrowing from progressive members of her own party. that's what they want to see and see her adopt. because of her strength and realize she is a shoo-in for the nomination right now. i think if she borrows some rhetoric here and there, as long as she adopts the policy positions and wins the nominations and sticks to those policies i think they'll probably forgive her on that front. >> you know, jonathan almost all the republicans eyeing for the white house are opposed to raising the federal minimum wage. everyone from jeb bush to ted cruz and beyond. can that sell in a general election? >> no. if you just that on public opinion polls, where a majority of the american people want the

minimum wage raised. you bumped in with shots of protests by fast food workers around the country. these are folks who would probably be more in tune to the economic message that will come most likely from the democratic nominee. and so it would set up an incredible contrast between the democratic nominee and the republican nominee when you have the democrats saying raise the minimum wage. let's do something about income inequality. let's close the gaps. and then you have the republican nominee who says no to all of that. >> alex the controversy surrounding mrs. clinton's e-mails are back in the headlines. i understand it's an issue in iowa. "the new york times" reports that congressional investigators asked her about it two years ago. is this going to keep cropping up over and over? should the clinton campaign be worried about it? >> well it's definitely going to keep cropping up reverend,

no matter what they do about it it's sort oft outside their control. the support came out this morning. hillary clinton appeared several times today. reporters asked her several times. she did not address it personally. her campaign is saying that this was a routine letter from the house. it was sent to all cabinet officials. so they didn't really think much of it. they note that the response from the state department came several months after she left. so they say they did nothing wrong. and they say essentially there is nothing new here. but in recent days republicans have telegraphed that this e-mail issue is going to be at the center of their pushback on hillary clinton's campaign. it's going to keep coming up again and again and again. just yesterday at her event, the republican party of iowa, the state party was handing out bright orange sheets of paper poking her on this issue. they were wearing t-shirts that said nerd squad. they wanted to highlight her issue. there was a protester at her event on it. it gets at an issue that republicans want to advance that she is untrustworthy, that she is connected to the scandals from the '90s. and it's all part of this package that we don't want to

have again. i think at this point it's mostly a republican issue. it hasn't filtered down to democrats here in iowa. but republicans are certainly going to make that happen. >> alex seitz-wald thank you for your time. this at the top of president obama's agenda today. one day after equal payday, the president traveling to north carolina where he said pay equity is about all americans being treated fairly. >> the whole point of equal pay is people doing the same job and getting paid less. i guarantee you the majority of republican voters, they support equal pay for equal work. but when it gets to congress, somehow it becomes a political issue. >> joining me now is lisa stone,

chief community officer of she knows media. she was with the president in charlotte today, moderating the discussion. lisa, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me reverend. >> reporter: how critical are these economic issues for women in your web community and among women voters at large? >> you know i have the opportunity to speak with millions of women across america every month. and i can tell you that while we don't all vote alike, there are two areas that are emerging that certainly bring us together across political parties. one is that we are working very hard to get ahead and do as well as we can to take care of our loved ones. and the other thing women are focusing on is we want better support from our government and from our employers. >> you know lisa a recent pew poll found 77% of women believe this country needs to make changes to give men and women

equality in the workplace. and 63% of men agreed. 77% of women. it's overwhelming. what kind of changes do they really want to see? >> you know we surveyed american women over the past couple of days leading up to the obama town hall. and we did in fact find that the majority are very much in support of the paycheck fairness act, and very concerned it has not passed four times in a row. i think that the other key factor we heard was they feel like their entire family is not being supported by the current system. from the time they have an unpaid maternity leave to the point where they then have to figure out a way to pay for child care and god forbid they have an overnight shift or work a second job, that makes affordable child care even more difficult. when you layer on to that the fact that women are on average

making 78 cents on the dollar or much less if you're a woman of color, and you end up with a level of frustration there is a sense that the system is not being fair to american families. because hen we bring home the bacon, we're filling gas tanks and refrigerators for our men, as well as for our children. >> now, you know another real woman's issue is raising the minimum wage. because 56% of minimum wage workers are women. their average age is 35 years old. and 28% of them have children. what would an increase in the minimum wage mean to women and their families? >> well you know i think an increase in the minimum wage for american women in our families would have a massive effect particularly given that today 40% of american children live in families where women are either the primary breadwinner or the sole breadwinner. and we know what that means. that means that if she gets sick or if one of the children has an issue, then it's very quick that

the wheels come off the bus. fundamentally, i think we have to think about how we take care of the next generation of workers and students in the american economy. if we are building an internationally competitive workforce, then doesn't it make sense to invest in the first five years of a child's life since we know increasingly that his or her mother is going to be working outside the home. >> lisa stone, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you so much. still ahead, what was he thinking? we'll tell you about protest behind that -- on capitol hill. the stunning verdict in the aaron hernandez murder trial. why jurors took seven days to find him guilty. and what happens next. also a dramatic new push to get a vote for loretta lynch. and chris christie's surprising new interview with

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why would anyone fly a gyrocopter into restricted airspace over capitol hill? it's the story everyone is talking about. we'll tell you why the pilot did it ahead. but first, the new twist in the loretta lynch fight.

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today was a pretty normal day in the u.s. senate. there were a few hearings a vote to go to a budget conference, and a photo op with the iraqi prime minister. plenty to do but not super busy. and there was plenty of time to confirm loretta lynch as our new attorney general. but once again, majority leader mitch mcconnell refused to schedule it. we've talked about how it's been more than 150 days since president obama nominated miss lynch. but think about this. the senate judiciary committee voted to confirm her 48 days ago. for 48 days she has just been waiting on a floor vote. that's double the time the last seven attorney generals had to wait combined. it's unconscionable. that's why today my civil rights organization the national

action network spearheaded by janaye ingram, the executive director, and other groups and persons are fasting, fasting to push for miss lynch's confirmation. the whole country should be watching this issue. senator mcconnell's wrong. and everyone should know it. joining me now are congresswoman sheila jackson lee, democrat of texas, who serves on the house judiciary committee, and ari melber msnbc's new chief legal correspondent and co-host of "the cycle" on msnbc. >> good evening. >> thank you for having us. >> you went to senator mcconnell's office to try to figure out why he won't schedule a vote. what happened? >> we did reverend sharpton. we did that before the easter recess, and really the week of good friday. as you know, that is a weak and

a day of sacrifice and reflection. and so we went to ask a simple question why an american we didn't say an african american or a woman, why a qualified american in this day and time could not have a simple constitutional vote on the floor of the united states senate. well qualified, confirmed by the house judiciary committee, engaged in an intensive debate and question and answer by all of the members. in fact i was there as each member prior to a vote expressed their support and opposition. and i will tell you, the opposition was particularly harsh. but she withstood all of that and she got a vote. and she has now been held up hostage longer than seven members who were nominated for the united states attorney general in this history of the united states of america combined. and that's the question we asked, and that's the question we raised with the majority

leader mcconnell. >> ari, what impact does the delay have on the justice department which ms. lynch is supposed to lead? >> well it obviously holds her back from being able to exercise any authority. so even though preparations are being made in that department the chief spokesman there for eric holder recently departed to join the clinton campaign there was an expectation that the incoming attorney general if confirmed would bring in that person, their own choosing. they would make decisions about enforcement priorities. eric holder has done a lot in the so-called smart on crime initiative to change certain enforcement priorities with regard to nonviolent drug charges. those kind of things take time. none of that can start as long as this person is being held up. and as you mentioned on the program before there are now on record a public 51 votes for her confirmation. >> right. >> so this is not a situation where the senate is leaning against someone, which is their constitutional right, and they can hold the vote. this is a situation where

apparently you have someone who is supported but is facing months and months of obstruction which just kneecaps the justice department, puts it a little bit of a freeze on certain issues although traditional law enforcement situations continue under attorney holder. president obama hosted a gospel concert last night at the white house and sat next to loretta lynch. i wanted to play this. >> so there is no question the president is sticking by his nominee, congresswoman. >> there is no reason, reverend sharpton, that he should not. he made an excellent choice. and ari, congratulations to you. let me add to the litany of things that this very qualified future attorney general should be handling. in addition to the legislative issues that we deal with congress from smart sentencing, there is a voting rights act

that needs to be authorized. the department of justice is in many courts across the nation started under eric holder protesting and petitions for the voting rights act to be affirmed for redistricting to be done fairly under section 5 of the voting rights act. in addition, there is quite a bit of need for oversight. as many of you have heard, we've had some issues with law enforcement, such as dea, secret service, and we've just had these kind of hearings going on in the united states congress. a strong leader at the helm is needed. and she is a strong leader. and so what the senate is doing, and what i've said in really denying loretta lynch due process. what they're suggesting is women and the women members of the united states senate who believe they're jeopardizing a woman's right to choice in this addition to the human trafficking bill which i'm very supportive of they're asking women who just got the vote less than 100 years ago to make a choice between a dynamic leader of the department of justice and their push that they have done over the centuries for the right to choose.

it is an unfair it is a destructive approach. and i would ask the majority leader to put general lynch, if i might say, on the senate calendar tomorrow, friday saturday, or sunday to be able to stop this hostage-taking. and frankly, the image to the world that an african american cannot get confirmed and a woman on the floor of the united states senate. >> now, ari, republicans have come up with all kinds of excuses about the delay. but the truth is it's all about going after the president. the national review's rich lowry wrote in politico quote, when should they confirm her? never. the senate shouldn't confirm any attorney general nominee from whatever party or whatever race ethnicity, or gender identification who believes that the president can rewrite the nation's laws at will. is this what -- that we're really dealing with? is this it? >> you're pointing to rich lowry

who is considered sort of a card carrying establishment-respected conservative voice. and that is if you take it at face value, a fairly extreme statement, that you wouldn't enforce a top law enforcement official ever. i don't know how you would go about governing the country. as for the immigration issue, what is interesting about it rev, is that people of good will can disagree about the constitutionality of the executive actions regarding immigration. right now, though, they're on hold as a judge reviews them. and they go up on appeal. it doesn't even connect to, that which was of course the original claim that somehow this would be used as a bargaining chip. the process will play out. the president has said if he is rejected he'll abide those laws there is a substantive mechanism whereby messing around with this attorney general nomination does anything in actuality to effect what they had claimed they cared about, which was the immigration order. >> well this is a very important story. we're going stay on it.

congresswoman sheila jackson lee, and good luck on the fast to you and janaye ingram and the lady leaders that are leading this. and ari melber congratulations again. >> thank you. >> and thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you for having us. >> be sure to watch, ari, by the way, not only in his new role, but on "the cycle" weekdays at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. coming up former nfl star aaron hernandez found guilty of murder. what the jurors are saying tonight. plus 68 years ago, jackie robinson broke the color barrier in baseball and became an american hero. we celebrate the player and the civil rights icon ahead.

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straight ahead, a former nfl star found guilty of murder.

we go inside the jury room ahead. plus chris christie just spoke to nbc's matt lauer. hear what he says about hillary clinton. and a chopper defies a no-fly zone, sparking a security scare on capitol hill. who was behind it, and why did it happen? stay with us. it's so shiny. i know mommy. but it's time to let the new kitchen get some sleep. if you want to choose wisely choose angie's list. with in-depth reviews, an exclusive scoring system and real people standing by to help, you can get a finished project that you'll love. pretty. call, click or download the app for free today. ♪ introducing the new can-am spyder f3. with a cruising riding position and the most advanced vehicle stability system in the industry... you'll ride with a feeling of complete

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do you have something for pain? i have bayer aspirin. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my back. i mean bayer back & body. it works great for pain. bayer back & body provides effective relief for your tough pain. better? yeah...thanks for the tip! now to the high drama in massachusetts court. and a fallen nfl star guilty of murder. former new england patriot aaron hernandez will spend the rest of his life in prison. the verdict, guilty. >> is the defendant not guilty guilty of murder in the first degree, or guilty of murder in the second degree? >> guilty of murder in the first degree. >> madam foreperson by which theory or theories deliberate premeditation and/or extreme

atrocity or cruelty? >> extreme atrocity or cruelty. >> hernandez's mother and fiancee broke down and hugged each other as the verdict was read. and at the same time just feet away, the mother of the victim semi pro athlete odin lloyd cried too. right after the verdict came out, lloyd's family spoke to make sure everyone knew how special he was. >> the day i laid my son odin to rest i felt my heart stop beating for a moment. i felt like i wanted to go into the hole with my son. >> when my nephew was gone last year march the first thing i did is picked up my phone to

call my brother and tell him he had a nephew. and even now after hours of labor i reached my phone to text him to let him know he had another nephew. >> it took the jury seven days to decide hernandez was guilty on every charge including murder, gun, and ammunition charges. but on the murder charge alone, the judge sentenced him to life in prison without the chance of parole. he walks in to prison where he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars. joining me now, criminal defense attorney eric guster and former prosecutor and host of judge faith, faith jenkins. thank you both for being here. >> thanks rev. >> i want to hear from both of you on the verdict, starting with you, faith. >> i -- i think the jury got it right. but i was still surprised by the first degree murder conviction.

having prosecuted circumstantial evidence cases in new york this was not an easy case for the prosecutors. you have no eyewitness who is willing to testify. there were two other people there. and you have no murder weapon. so you're going in with an uphill battle. and then you're concerned about the celebrity aspect of the case. is there going to cloud their judgment? and then there is this disparity of information, rev there is what we know about aaron hernandez, and then there is what the jury got to know. so much information was kept from them. for example, the real motive in the case that the prosecutors wanted to argue that odin lloyd knew about a double homicide that aaron hernandez committed. the jury never got to hear about that motive. so the question in their minds, and i'm sure this is what kept prosecutors up at night how are we going to prove to this jury why he did this? because that's going to be a key element for him. here he is. he is this rich famous athlete. he's got the world at his footsteps. and why would he kill his friend? i'm sure that was a key issue

for them. >> eric? >> and this being a circumstantial case, just like faith said it was a very tough case for the prosecution. i've defended people with circumstantial cases. and we as defense lawyer just hope that we can reach one or two jurors as holdouts which i thought it was going to be a hung jury. i did not think they would get a conviction. but the key piece of evidence in this case were the shell casing with the gum on it, which put him at the scene, which caused the defense attorneys to have to say that he was there. and then the video of his -- at his house with him having a gun on him. so you have him at the scene of a crime with a shell casing with his gum on it as well as a pistol on his person on video. >> but deliberations lasted seven days. many people started to wonder if he could be found not guilty because they took so long. what happened inside that jury room, faith? >> well listening to the jurors talk about this today, they started from the beginning. and they just started going back through the evidence. they say they did what they were

instructed to do what we want jurors to do. they didn't form an opinion until the end of the trial when they heard all the evidence. and that is so important, especially as a prosecutor when you have these cases. it's not one piece of evidence. it's not one witness. you know you have to take everything every piece of evidence, put it all together in a circumstantial case. look at those jurors and argue to them based on all of the evidence, there is only one conclusion you can form here and that's that aaron hernandez committed this crime. >> but seven days, eric? >> seven days. but the trial lasted for months. >> right. >> so i did not necessarily expect it to be a very short deliberations. but when you have a mountain of evidence, they put hundreds of exhibits in, dozens of witnesses. and the jurors had to go through each one of those and discuss those things. so like i said i was shocked that it was a guilty verdict, especially when the time started ticking day one, two, through seven. i thought it was going to be at least hung, not necessarily guilty. the prosecutors did a very good

job piecing it together. >> now, you mentioned, i want to put this to faith first. the major piece of evidence was the surveillance video of hernandez holding something, looked to be the gun. but they never found the murder weapon. are you surprised they got a conviction without the murder weapon? >> no. because they obviously discounted a lot of -- look at his girlfriend's testify. he told her to remove a box from the home. then she takes this box. she dumps it in a dumpster. and we talked about it before. say she has no creditability. then she takes the witness stand and argues and testifies in front of the jury i have no memory whatsoever where i took this box. this is a heavy box. she looks like she can barely carry it. and then she has no memory of it. the jurors were able to see through that. they know. >> the jury talked about the decision to keep hernandez off the stand. listen to this. >> would it have made a difference to you had he taken the witness stand? >> depends on what he had to

say. >> yeah. >> were you hoping he might? >> i don't think we ever expected him to, to be honest. >> eric would you have put him on the stand, especially knowing the defense attorney admitted he was at the crime scene? >> that's a tough question. that's one of the toughest decision as a defense lawyer to make. well, it's actually the defendant's choice to take the stand or not. but as a team to decide whether a person takes the stand, it's very tough. because under cross-examine, people will break down. and he will admit things. and other things will go into evidence, prior acts and evidence. they will come into evidence and really sink him a lot quicker than what happened here. >> well it's quite a story. eric good news of the, faith jenkins, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. ahead, it sent security scrambling. a chopper landing in front of the u.s. capitol. what was the pilot thinking, and

why wasn't he stopped? also new comments from chris christie talking to nbc's matt lauer. speaking out about hillary clinton. conversation nation is next. i have a wandering eye. i mean, come on. national gives me the control to choose any car in the aisle i want. i could choose you... or i could choose her if i like her more. and i do. oh, the silent treatment. real mature. so you wanna get out of here? go national. go like a pro.

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time now for conversation nation. joining me tonight, mike.com's liz plank, msnbc contributor jimy williams, and caroline

terainy. thank you all for being here tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> we go back to the strangest story of the day. a small helicopter landing on the west lawn of the u.s. capitol. you can see it flying down the national mall in this cell phone video obtained by nbc news. it sparked a lockdown in the area. but this landing was no accident. the pilot was doug hughes, a postal worker from florida, in his 60s, who was flying to protest for campaign finance reform. and he told the tampa bay times about his plan before he took off. >> i'm going to violate the no-fly zone nonviolently. i intend for nobody to get hurt. and i'm going to land on the capitol mall in front of the capitol building. i'm going to have 535 letters strapped to the landing gear in boxes. and those letters are going to be addressed to every member of

congress. >> according to the newspaper, at the root of hughes' disdain is a supreme court 2010 decision in citizens united. hughes was arrested by capitol police and the faa is investigating the incident. jimmy, pushing for campaign finance reform is a goal we all share, but this show sure is the wrong way to go about it. >> well it's not very smart. listen, you may remember several years ago when dylan ratigan was on our network, and we were trying to get money out of politics. and we went full bore into it and we ran up against it in the people in the building behind us. but at no time were we ever considering flying a gyrocopter or anything of the sort near the capitol dome. because that's how you get killed. and this man, for all of his intentions and they are good they're foolish.

they're foolhardy. i'm not saying he set back campaign finance reform, because he hasn't. but if anything he didn't make a fool out of the congress. he just landed himself in jail. and he may go for a long time. because this is against federal law after 9/11. >> he flew liz, all the way from pennsylvania today to do this. >> i mean, it makes the secret service look bad. it makes the capitol police look bad. >> right. >> and the fact that he was able to make a statement about this and then go about doing it and no one knew is a little odd. i have to agree with jimmy, look campaign finance reform is a very important issue. but no one is talking about campaign reform today. everyone is talking what the heck a gyrocopter is. so i think the message was certainly lost with the means. >> carolyn, i agree with the message, and i've engaged in civil disobedience. but this is way on the other side of that. and the other point here is i

mean, couldn't he have dealt with this in a way that would have been more appealing to trying to turn things around rather than the story be how he did it and how bizarre it looked and how he made the security look. i mean somebody could have gotten hurt. what happened to security? he told the tampa times what he was going do. how come no one knew about this? >> he told the tampa times. he also e-mailed. i have absolutely no idea. it's more of an embarrassment on them. he has a great message. i really applaud his message. what he said to the tampa times is admiral. we all want campaign finance reform. it's something hillary clinton even addressed. i'd be interested to see what she thinks. but it's not quite the right way of going about it. but i applaud his message. at least we're all talking about it. hopefully after today we'll be talking about the actual issue as opposed to the means he wanted to do deliver the issue. negative, doubt about it.

matt lauer just wrapped up an exclusive interview with governor chris christie. >> she is a forgone conclusion it seems on the democratic side. >> she is a forgone conclusion in 2007 matt. so was rudy giuliani a forgone conclusion in 2007. you know we've had lots of forgone conclusions in american politics. >> so who do you see on the horizon the democratic side that could jump up and derail mrs. clinton's run? >> i don't know. barack obama was down 37 points at this time in 2007 to hillary clinton. so i don't know. again, it's about performance, matt. the president of the united states, agree with him or disagree with him, has twice performed pretty well as a candidate. and he performed very well against secretary clinton before she was secretary clinton. right? so i don't know what is going to happen on the democratic side. mrs. clinton is going to have to perform. she is going to have to earn the nomination. nobody is handed these things. this is the nomination for president of the united states. you got to earn it. you got to earn it and perform.

the people are tough on us as well they should be, if you're going to be president. >> you can watch the full interview tomorrow morning on the today show. so caroline your reaction to christie on hillary. >> well you know, what is he saying really? sort of empty, isn't he? that she'll have to earn the nomination. even she has some proven track record time in office in a way that really he should be aspiring to. i mean the last few headlines we've seen of chris christie have all been scandal-related. we've had bridgegate of course. we had the brouhaha over the new jersey pensions. so when he is talking about hillary clinton having to earn the nomination, well let's just put it this way. she is laying out her agenda when it comes to equal pay for women, which is a big checkmark in my opinion. i think it's a big move forward. she is talking about campaign finance reform. she is talking about obamacare. she is talking about issues that are really mattering to voters. when he is talking about earning the nomination i think he is absolutely right. but he should hold the mirror up to himself. he is going to have to earn it

and he has a darn long way to go. >> putting aside our views on christie, earning the nomination. is there some validity to that jimmy? there are progressives. there are people in the party that are seemingly a little uncomfortable or unsure. >> yes, she does have to earn it. but here is a word of some -- some words of wisdom to my fellow progressives. i don't know what part of hillary clinton that is not progressive. she is pro-choice. she is pro marriage equality. she is pro civil rights. she is pro voting rights. she is pro-environment. she is tough on wall street despite the fact that she was the two-term senator from the state of the new york. i'm not sure exactly how much more left -- by the way, the left is the mainstream of the country at this point in time because every one of those issues a supermajority of americans agree that those should be the policies of this nation. >> so liz, is it about her being more aggressive? is it about style? what is the source of the discomfort? >> i think the source of the discomfort is that she is the

only person who is running right now. and so some people might feel uncomfortable with that. and i think there should be a contender. and i think ultimately she will earn that nomination. but i think for democrats, it's about thinking and remembering that in order to protect president obama's legacy we're going to need someone like hillary. we're going to need someone to protect pro health care reform. every person running for the republican nomination has promised to repeal. >> jimmy, can christie resurrect his political ambition in terms of running for president? >> to put it in political terms, he is no lazarus risen from the dead. he may be elected twice as a governor from a blue state you. look at his poll numbers, they've downgraded his state from a credit ratings perspective. and set aside the bridge scandal. set aside the state pension problems set aside all that that man right there is the

bully in chief. and i can promise you he will not under any circumstances do well in the genteel state of south carolina where i was born. >> liz, jimmy and caroline, thank you for joining the conversation. >> thanks rev. straight ahead, he faced racial slurs and death threats. how jackie robinson changed america forever, starting 68 years ago today. please stay with us. do you have something for pain? i have bayer aspirin. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my back. i mean bayer back & body. it works great for pain. bayer back & body provides effective relief for your tough pain. better? yeah...thanks for the tip!

coming up, the moment that changed america's pastime and america itself forever. the anniversary of jackie robinson's first major league game. what it meant then and what it means for the fight today. (son) oh no... can you fix it, dad? yeah, i can fix that. (dad) i wanted a car that could handle anything. i fixed it! (dad) that's why i got a subaru legacy. (vo) symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 36 mpg. i gotta break more toys. (vo) the twenty-fifteen subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. look like this. feel like this. look like this. feel like this. with dreamwalk

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finally tonight, 68 years ago today, civil rights history was made on a baseball field. jackie robinson forever shattered major league baseball's color barrier at 28 years old, and he did it in the face of death threats, racial slurs. he was spit on cursed at. in a 1972 interview, he described what it was like to play in one city. >> went to philadelphia in the early years. you couldn't stay in the same hotel. you had to find your own accommodations. and then there was ben chapman, and some of the other phillies who were really the worst kinds of guys that we ran into the

kind of taunts that they yelled out were vicious and uncalled for. >> america has come a long way since then. today marks the seventh consecutive year. players and coaches wear number 42, robinson's number which was universally retired in 1997. i was at yankee stadium last year when the team honored nelson mandela with a plaque in celebration of jackie robinson's day. when robinson passed away in october of 1972 one of my mentor reverend jesse jackson gave the eulogy. >> he was medicine. he was immunized from god by catching the diseases that he fought. the lord's arms and protection enabled him to go through dangers seen and unseen and he

had the capacity to wear glory with grace. >> and that grace lives on with his family. two years ago, jackie's children joined me to remember their iconic dad. >> it was important to him as to us that he be just dad. and he worked really hard to be available to us and to have privacy at our home. he wasn't a social man. so when he wasn't traveling, he was home. he brought us into the civil rights movement by us going on marches together as a family. >> the other part of his life was completely dedicated to challenging social injustice and inequality and brutality as it was in the south with the bombings of churches. >> he was much more than a celebrity. he changed american culture. he opened doors. he broke down barriers. i was always admonished by my mentors, reverend wyatt t.

walker, reverend jackson and others that it's not only that you fight, but how you fight. he fought with dignity and grace. one will never know how much he took to get where we and all of us have gotten because of him. because he took it we all know what we as a nation have received. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. the attack on hillary. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in san francisco, and hillary clinton out on the road in iowa has come under attack air attack. darrell issa is now comparing her to the only president forced to resign. >> as richard nixon discovered, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up. in this case, her destruction