itfor many of us this memorial day is especially meaningful, it is the first since our war in afghanistan came to an end today is the sfirs first memorial day in 14 years that the united states is not engaged in a major ground war. so on this day we honor the sacrifice of the thousands american service members who gave their lives since 9/11 including more than 2200 american patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan. all right. welcome to "morning joe." hope you all had a good mem or kral day weekend. good to be bag top of the hour. how is everybody do be? >> how are you doing? how is your mouth? >> it will be fine if i would just stop being never us. a lot of politics to talk about, so we have heilemann and

halperin with us. >> how was your memorial day. >> i don't remember. >> did you see what happened in florida? a bouncy house on the beach, this is ft. lauderdale, and it's sort of like a tornado came out of the water, what do they call it, a waterspout. and kids were in there. three of them fell out. >> oh, another one flew? >> look at that. thachkfully thankfully the kids are okay in that they will survive. two had broken bones and one is being kept in the hospital. can you imagine some we'll have a full report on this coming up. >> you remember about six months ago the bouncy house that just like flew house, it was bubble boy material except it was real. it like flew up a thousand feet up in the air. scary stuff. >> did you have a good memorial

day? >> yeah, i was in my bousncy house. jack's 7th birthday. got some legos and star are wars paraphernalia and a darth individualvader cup that says the force is with you. and jack had some pretty good stuff, too. so we'll tell you about that next hour. >> that was for you. all right. >> i'm set. >> i'm going to do the news thousand. and i really have been practicing, so i think we'll be okay. if i'm not nervous and be mocked, i can get through the news. >> you just need to relax. we all respect you as a news woman. >> thank you. in an already crowded republican field, it is set to become even larger. former pennsylvania senator and 2012 presidential candidate rick santorum is expected to announce a second white house bid

tomorrow. and former three term new york governor george pataki is expected to officially throw his name in it to the ring on thursday. and this week senator lend ziindsey graham and rick perry expected to announce their cams. any democrats want to step forward? ohio governor john kasich is also sounding more and more like he'll become a 2016 hopeful, as well. >> i'm very pleased with what we have seen over the course of the last month. i've been very pleased with what i found out on the ground in new hampshire, south carolina michigan. i'm in the process of accumulating resources. i hope people will help me if they like my you unique voice in this whole thing. skron, i'm the i'm the most experienced in the field an executive running a big state like ohio at the same time being in congress balancing the budget i was the chairman and also serving on the defense committee for 18 years.

so i'm pretty qualified for this kind of a job. >> ben carson is hoping he has new momentum after winning the straw poll. he received 25% of the vote followed by scott walker and senator ted cruz. mike huckabee received little support despite being from the south. >> look at those numbers again else not there. frontrunner jeb bush goes again southern leadership conference, jeb 1450 be should be doing well. but what would he keep saying around these here parts, you go to any of these parts and nobody is excited about jeb bush. at some point this becomes a real problem. and i know we're earl hely but nobody in the base is excited about this guy. >> he was never going to be the candidate of conservative activists. so you would not the have expected him to do particularly

well in a setting like that. but if you combine that with shf the other -- >> so third maybe. >> to me it's the whole constellation of problems. there is not a base in iowa or new hampshire, far from the donor class, no part of the republican party that seems that excited about him. he will need to find someone who is thrilled with his candidacy. >> he'll have tens of millions of dollars to spend to help get people to like him if he has a brand that people want to buy. he'll have a lot more money. and there is a reason why they spent so much time raising the money. >> do you know who else had a lot of money, too? >> phil gramm. >> exactly. 1996. and phil gramm was actually more conservative. base thought of him as more con seven difference. >> phil gramm was facing the juggernaut that was bob dole. >> that's the the thing. jeb is supposed to be the jugger er

juggernaut. >> there was an established frontrunner in dole. my point is he doesn't have to beats an establishment frontrunner. he is the establishment frontrunner. >> the other problem, if the guy can't finish in the top five at every one of these events at what point are all these people shoveling money into his coffer saying maybe this isn't the smart money? >> there is no one out there right now who is challenging jeb for their love and affection. a little bit rubio, a little bit walker, maybe a little bit kasich, but he will have twice, there's times, four times, maybe five times as much money as anybody will else. >> wild. >> part of your focus groups looked at how conservative that people want their nominee to be. and the future of the party. >> we were talking on friday about this is a party that has lost the race probably the last

six times in the popular vote. it they lose to hillary they have lost the supreme court for a generation they have lost a government for a generation. combine it with the eight years that obama has been president. how much are they willing to compromise? >> the interesting thing among the iowa voters on the republican side there was a lot more on the subject of jeb bush a lot more new hampshire voters we talked to earlier had are more ideological problems with bush. and ohio voters had more electability problems. i asked the question how important is it for the candidate to be, quote conservative, and there were surprisingly few people who said that was the most important thing tomoderates, but enthose who considered themselves conservative didn't attach themselves to that label. >> let's take a look. >> how many people will in the

room is it important that the republican nominee be a conservative? how important is that to everybody? ing on. only about half. and for the others of you for whom it is conservative isn't that important, do you want a nominee who is a moderate or could they be either moderate or conservative? >> i would like somebody moderate and not too terrifically con receiver difference. >> i think there are different levels of conservativeism. i have the part right which if you elect somebody like that good luck you'd have gridlock and same thing, just elephant instead of a donkey. >> how important is to you that the candidate that you would get behind sort of represents the future for the republican party? >> well, that's the reason we go through this whole process. otherwise we could just sit back and complain about it and do nothing. but again, i'm a senior but i'd like to see this country left in good hands for my family and,

yes, it's very important. >> you just said it was important to you, craig, talking about ronald reagan who with a obviously very successful. >> i think we need a crossover. she made a point about getting all the republicans somebody who could support everyone. people get upset, well, i'm not going to vote for him. we need somebody who can kind of cross over and bring everyone in. >> but i think you have to have a visionary, you have to have somebody that can see into the future and keep us progressing and moving forward. if you don't, we'll just stay stagnant and i don't think anybody wants that. >> so on the democratic side independent senator bernie sanders will officially launch his bid for the white house in just a few hours in vermont. he's focusing on progressive issues to appeal to the elizabeth warren wing of the party. the founders of ben and jerry's ice cream will be among those

attending. martin o'malley has an expected announcement set for this coming saturday. here is more of mark halperin's focus group with democratic voters in iowa weighing in on whether senator bernie sanders, senator elizabeth warren or anyone else poses a threat to hillary clinton. >> she has competition. she's just crushing them right now. >> are any of you worried that if she doesn't have a big challenge, it could hurt her chances of winning? >> i'd like to see an elizabeth warren or joe biden in there to run against and maybe get a little more of a race that way. >> does anyone else share bill's wish on that that she get a tougher contest to kind of get ready for the general election? >> i think bernie sanders will surprise people. he'll have a bigger voice than he's given credit for. >> why do you think that? >> i personally like his

policies. he does answer the questions. >> would you like his presence in the race to cause her to take more progressive positions? >> oh, yeah. >> do you think it will have that effect if he does well? >> yeah, i think it will. i think it has already. i think she's going to have to lean more to the left now. >> if he did have a good chance would any of you feel he'd be someone more to your liking than hillary clinton? >> yes. >> yeah, i do. >> you both would like him more if he could be the nominee? >> yeah. right now whether we like it or not, we have a citizens united america and you need to raise a lot of money and there is just so many characteristics where he doesn't stand a chance. >> raise your hand if you think if elizabeth warren got in the race and did well she could win the caucuses, raise your hand if you think she could beat hillary. >> i don't think anyone can beat hillary. >> is there anybody you think could beat hillary for the nomination or she's unbeatable? >> at this point, yes. >> charlie anybody you think

could beat her? >> no i don't, not that i've heard of. >> all right. what is this. >> mark halperin what do you think? >> it's a weird cycle. benefit from a big challenge, some himdemocrats who think that but they don't see anybody who could beat her. some resigned to the fact some edge news i can't say tick that while the republicans fight it out with 16 candidates, she can -- >> is it possible nobody jumps in? >> i think o'malley or sanders will pose a rigorous challenge to her. and make her have to debate and show her ability. >> the more isolated she is the more the people will vote for bernie as a protest vote. i voted for ron paul in 2012 because i thought all the republicans were big government republicans. you have an opportunity to protest there with bernie sanders if you think she's too

conservative, too much of a knee owe con neo con oig. and martin o'malley provides a good vote if you're tired of the way clintons have carried themselves. i think democrats will have a choice. it's not like bernie sanders is a dog catcher. he's a united states senator and martin o'malley a successful governor. >> even if you take all the clinton controversies away don't run against her on the e-mail or the found days, don't run against her on her husband's past, just on trade, just on other issues that matter a lot to progressives, she could be challenged. >> all right. let's go to the deadly storms that keep ravages parts of texas and oklahoma. 59 at least accept peopleseven people were killed and eight missing including three children mopping the dead, 18-year-old

homecoming queen who was swept away from her car by raging floodwaters. and she drove home from prom sunday. >> this can't be happening. she was a good person. she was always competitive. >> she was at prom with her date and laughing and dancing. >> she did the right things. she called 911, she called her father, but it was too much and too quick. >> unbelievable. at least 72 structures were washed away and more than 1,000 damaged after the blanco river rose to 34 feet in just three hours. the governor described the storms as having a tsunami like power that at times proved to be too much even for the most experienced first responders. >> on a cloudy and windy day in ft. lauderdale, a crowd of beach goers were surprised and excited to see a rare sight, a waterspout formed in the

atlantic actually coming ashore right in front of them. >> underwater tornado! >> at first there was laughter as the winds chased a canopy down the beach. but quickly it turned serious as winds flipped over and lifted up two inflatable bounce houses one with three children inside. police say the children were as high as 15 to 20 feet in the air when they were ejected on to the sand. >> the bounce house continued to travel across the parking lot through the median and on to the south bound lanes of a 1 a. >> it was like a movie in front of my face. >> two of the children with minor frag churs have been released from the hospital.one sk held for observation. this woman's daughter and stepson were in the bounce house. >> i was crying. i was crying and i was like, oh,

high god my god i can't believe this. they say she gone to be okay. >> all along florida's east coast, horn 150 swimmers had to be rescued after getting caught in powerful rip currents at least five have been killed since the weekend. stiff winds, rough seas and waterspout making for dangerous holiday conditions on the florida beaches. >> that is a nightmare. that was mark potter reporting on the scene in florida. let's bring in bill karins right now for more. is it over yet? especially in terms of the flooding. >> >> no. houston last night and even at this hour, still historic flood understand way. it's funny, over the last four days it has slowly progressed across the state. two days ago san antonio, yesterday dallas late last night houston. these are live pictures houston under a flood emergency. telling people not to travel. schools are delayed, possibility

of being closed. they're calling it a 105 year flood event. radar is finally beginning to clear out. a lot of people got trapped at the basketball game, they estimate still 200 people stuck at the arena. here is the radar out of the region. starting to clear up just a little bit. so the worst is thousand behind us. this map estimates the amount of rain that has fallen and these totals just to the south side of town, widespread five to six to seven to eight inches of rain. some spots have been reporting as much as 1 1i6r78g1 inches of rain. that's like a hurg hitting practically. new orleans worst just went through you, tornado watch has been dropped. as far as the rest of today goes, we get a little bit of a break in dallas and oklahoma city. still a chance of a stray thunderstorm, but not widespread deluge storms. the worst storms today will be up in the ohio valley great lakes. i don't think we'll see many tornados. but damaging winds will be the

threat. and also we saw the pictures there of the east coast. three people drowned yesterday on rip currents along the beaches of brevard county and volusia county. still a dangerous threat for rip currents. rest of the east looks fine and almost summerlike. but pretty incredible stuff. that bounce house you have to hammer the stakes down. but in the sand stakes aren't into to hold in the sand. so just a horrible circumstance. >> i was looking back trying to remember i guess it was in 2014 up in new york one flew 50 feet up in the air. just horrifying. >> bill be thank, thank you. still had, ray mabus on the navy's role in trying to take down isis. he'll join us on set. >> and forget hechblg funddge funds and wall street. one ceo banked $156 million last

year. we have the complete breakdown. plus -- ♪ >> he beat out blake. >> i love classic music. >> what started as a run on the "voice" took journalism student on a remarkable journey. how his appearance helped finance a far reaching investigation that took him from the border of syria to the lead story in the new yorker. he joins us next with his new cover story and his own improbable story behind the piece. you're watching "morning joe." my school reunion. i don't know. who wants to play in idaho? gotta get milwaukee up to speed. we win in flint, we take the lead. we'll close the deal if we just show... when it's go, go to the new choicehotels.com. the site with the right room, rewards

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>> you have the final decision. >> you're both an extension of my taste. and i want to have the best team. i'm going with michael. >> sorry i don't know why. >> he may not have won "the voice," but he certainly becausewasn't ending his remarkable story. his thesis for columbia journalism school's master program from which he graduated just last week is now the lead story in the june first issue of the new york he. >> the piece is an investigation into european teenagers joining isis. and ben, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> mika wants to hear you sing first. >> i asked them to roll tape going into the segment of you singing. what was that, alex? that was not singing. >> after the show. >> you have a very good voice. but you did something with -- between you win anything or how did you -- >> i basically used the stipend that they sent us while we were

filming the show living in california to transition into journalism. so i used to fund travel to the turkish/syrian border. and that's where i met the father who is feesis churfeatured in the story. he was helping another be gum fire trying to go in to isis territory and retrieve his son from the ranks of isis. and they found the kid. they -- the father spoke to him and asked him to come home and he said no. but the main father featured in the story is now back this belgium as is his son who he went to syria and did retrieve earlier. his son -- the story traces his journey from being a teenage kid who in fact was also in a reality tv show when he was a young boy. >> wow, small world.

>> but how do you go from using your stipend to -- what did you do, hey mchl aa, instead of getting adult braces i'm going to get on a plane -- >> how old are you? >> i'm 24 now. >> turkish/syrian border. >> i had been traveling in the region before and working in egypt and a few other places. and after working in a refugee camp in jordan, was guided by a journalism mentor to go to the turkish side. >> so what did you find in the new yorker piece, in the investigation, what did you find was the main cause for younger europeans and others going to isis? >> in this particular group, there was a large -- this radicalization program operating

in antwerp was a highly structured ram that involveprogram. >> where was this? >> inside a rented apartment with the preacher was in contention with all the mosques. he would say the mosques weren't teaching islam and that they were all puppets of the government. and it was very intense. >> and where are you from? >> i grew up mostly in new jersey and a bit in the uk. >> so new jersey and the uk. so how did you develop this interest? >> well, i ended up in egypt in 2011. i did a very stupid thing. i chased a girlfriend to cairo during the revolution. >> we all have done that for one revolution or another. >> i first went in 2011. and then after witnessing some of the ongoing events in the

arab spring came back to prince top where i took the journalism course with a very wonderful professor amos who covered syria for npr and she guided me ever since. >> john actually chased a girlfriend to spain this '38. unfortunately she was on franco's side. >> didn't end well. >> at the age of 38. >> no no 1938. >> one of the thing has is most striking in this piece you quota guy who is a former islamist recruiter who makes the point that the easier targets for recruiting in to isis are ones without any religious background. that seems counterintuitive. you can talk about that? >> absolutely. he was specifically of the conflicts in the europe and the west. he said that they're dislocated from the traditions of the religion. and so when a charismatic group comes in and says i can teach

you the real islam and mosques are ignoring the truth, it's very alluring to these young guys. and he says mosques are puppets of the government because they won't talk about jihad. and so the recruiter in this group sent the main character in the story to the mosque that he had converted at with a list of questions that would require extremist responses to be answered. and the imam told almost this is not what we're about, this sounds like it was written by sharif and i should get away from this and that only convinced him in the and you then tis difference the recruiter's message. so once he was in it, it was only a matter of months before he had threatened to purge his school and there were police involved and it was a big mess. and then a year later he was in syria. >> incredible. the piece is in the new issue of new yorker. ben taub great to meet you. congratulations on everything. >> thank you. come back. >> thank you so much.

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joining us now for the must read opinion pages, director of the earth institute at columbia

university, economist dr. jeffrey sachs. and in washington, associate editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. good to have you both on board. >> let's start with the "wall street journal," secret agent sydney, their editorial. >> hillary clinton had the entire state department intelligence division at her disposal. yet she's consuming and taking seriously information from an analyst who knows nothing about the subject. sydney blumenthal's expertise is in political wet work and monetizing his connections in the clintons -- to the clintons. the southern gothic novel that is clinton family political history with its melodrama, betrayals and paranoia has left them dependent on insular loyalists like mr. blumenthals who opinions are never second guessed. voters should know that they will not only be electing hillary and bill and chelsea, but this will entire menagerie.

>> a lot of other things to worry about. "wall street journal" doesn't like hillary. i don't much like the libya policy that they got us into. that's the much bigger deal. >> and obviously bigger concerns about the team around them. >> you're not concerned if somebody is giving advice to the secretary of state who has business interests that could be ekt affected by the advice given and those aren't disclosed? >> that is pervasive for anybody everywhere. look, i think in is not really the story, but you there is an important story about the libya mess, how we got into it why we have a completely destabilized country. so i think she has to answer for foreign policy. that's where i would put the focus. >> you're saying because the practice is pervasive, that people try to influence the government to effect their business interests, that you're

not interested in condemning it or you don't think it's important to condemn assuming that's what happened in this case is this. >> i think the wall street journal could write 10,000 editorials like this about anybody any side. so i don't think that this particular thing is the right place to go. but as i say, i think this is going to be a foreign policy election to an important september. and there is a lot to discuss. a lot of real issues. >> gene you write this in the "washington post," once in a great while, house republicans get it right. so let me phrase them for leading a bipartisan effort to curtail the national security agency's bulk collection of data. the problem with bulk collection of phone data or any kind of private information is that it violates what many of us believe to be a fundamental principle, a search should be based on suspicion. obama has promised to reform the metadata program, but he didn't go far enough. it should just be ended.

any other secret reinterpretations of our laws must be brought to light. jobs it is to protect your family, my family from the next terror attack, you say it's a mistake for us to retreat at this time. >> well, that's true. but i have to stand with rand on this one. you know, what the intelligence community has not done either openly or apparently in confidential briefings is point to it a single instance in which this bulk data provided the basis for an investigation. in fact it's too much data. they're collecting so much information and such a huge database that it becomes useless. if you try to know everything, you end up knowing nothing. i just think this is -- and it

is intrusive and not what the constitution says. >> how is it intrusive? >> doesn't the constitution protect us against unreasonable search and seizure? >> is it unreasonable for the federal government to have my phone numbers and the people that i've called on a computer that an individual never sees unless it links up with a suspect that they're going after? >> well, i think it's unreasonable. >> what is unreasonable about it? >> well, number one, there have been abuses of this data which are detailed as far as -- there are a lot of redactions so you can't tell exactly what happened. >> what kind of abuse? did they go out and see who is a. guy was calling, what game he was going to bet on? what abuse is this? >> well, no, they looked at the private interactions and phone calls records of individuals who

shouldn't have been looked at the. that's all we can tell from this redacted report from the justice department's inspector general that came out last week about the program. i think 2007 to 20009. even the fisa court that makes secret interpretations of our laws which is just outrageous everyone the fisa court got an angry and said what are you doing here. >> first of all, on the fisa court, would you rather us do it in the town square? i mean you say it's outrageous. fisa court handles a lot of delicate information. and don't get me wrong, i want the intel committee its to be in on all of this stuff. i think congress should -- there should be a balance with congress. but i don't want this aired out

on television. >> obviously there is lots of stuff that shouldn't be aired on television. and that should be held closely within the intelligence committees and intelligence community. have a right to know is what our laws say and mean. and to me the most startling revelation that came out of edward snowden was that in fact the patriot act had been re-enter prettied by the fisa court to allow this bulk collection data without anybody knowing -- >> so you have a problem and help i'll ask jeffrey this -- >> fundamental to the rule of law that we know what the law says. >> so if congress were able to get language in a bill and pass it, would you be concerned then? >> excuse me? >> if congress were able to get language that would allow this sort of data collection in a bill and get the president to sign it, would you be okay with that is this that? >> well, i would oppose it, but that would better than having it

done in secret and no one knowing that that's what the law says could happen. sglu >> you talked about potential abuses. if in a perfect world there would be a situationabuses would it be okay with you? >> not with the constitution we have. i just think this is -- this goes into a zone of privacy that has traditionally ben respecten respected. if we're not going to respect it anymore, i think that's a big decision that we ought to make country and it shouldn't be made for us. >> i think it would be fascinating to look at a breakdown demographically of how people feel about this. i do not assume e-mails, texts, phone calls to be private. i suspect that everybody has access, everybody can see it.

and i know for sure that they're not -- people at the nsa are not going, well, who did markham principal call last might. it's so massive. >> why do you think that by the way? i bet they are. >> you think they have an enemies list? i don't think they have time. >> absolutely. and i think -- >> you think they have an enemies list at the nsa and if you say something they don't like, they will see who you've been calling? >> oh, certainly if it's international calls, i have no doubt about it. absolutely no doubt about it. and i've been told reliably how many intelligence services are listening in on calls high level calls. no doubt. and it frightens me because we're in a new kind of world because of technology where they can much with a everything and see everything. and if you're not afraid of it i am i think eugene's completely right on this. it's terrifying. >> interesting you're tire filed -- >> by the way, i'm scared of google facebook and all of it. >> that's in the private.

>> you should stay under your sheets. >> i'm absolutely frightened by the fact that we have no privacy anymore and we have no idea until someone like snowden comes along and en giveven gives us a glimpse of what is going on. this is a new world and new kind of surveillance. >> also a new kind of threat. >> they're watching you, believe me. >> you say it's a new kind of surveillance. it's also a new kind of world after 9/11. you have people that work together and put a dirty bomb in times square and kill a million people in an instant. so yes, it is a new world and there are new threats. >> and we end up losing basic freedoms over ift. and if we don't have a proper debate, people won't even have a

clue as to what is going on. if it hadn't have been for snowden, we wouldn't have any idea of any of this. >> we're having this debate security versus freedom. i will say i agree procedurally do not enter pretty it in such a way that allows do you this. i would support mass collection of this data but it's got to go through the proper channels. you have to pass language that actually enables the nsa do and approved by the courts. >> and when snowden came out, the nsa chief just lied blatantly. of course it was shocking. maybe that's their job. but how can we even have a discussion when there is no truth? >> i think we should hold the nsa chiefs to a different standard. any more than i would want winston churchill in 1944 -- >> snow, stayjoe, stay with us.

>> you're screwed, no, i don't want that. up next obama at war. first look at the new front line investigation into the administration's struggle to deal with isis and the civil war this syria. time upon a once people approached problems the way same. always start at the starting. and questions the same asking. but that only resulted in improvements small. so we've got some ideas new. garbage can create energy. light can talk. countries can run on jet engine technology.

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president obama did not want to be starting another war. >> u.s. decisions about syria ignite a bigger threat. >> it was all in motion and at the last minute the president blinked. the more hardened jihadists are calling the shots. moderates have largely been pushed aside. >> president obama finds himself exactly where he didn't want to be. >> obama at war. >> that was from the documentary obama at war premieres tonight. with us now writer and producer and correspondent martin smith.

bill clinton may be judged for rwanda 50 years from now. who knows. i think there is a greater and greater chance that it will be syria that will be seen as a problem from hell to quota current u.n. secretary for pram. and a barack obama that he just missed. >> every president seems to get a genocide on their watch. and this is an enormously difficult series of decisions that took place about whether to intervene or not to intervene, just what to do about the situation at the back end of this, the outcome has been the emerge against of isis. some would argue that is directly the result of our decision not to intervene, to back so-called moderate rebels. some would say, no he didn't -- >> the president drew a red line and ignored it.

why? >> the president wanted very much to stop assad and there was a general feeling early on in the administration that in fact not much needed to be done that dictators were falling from tunisia and egypt, arab spring uprightings were rolling through the region. everyone believed assad only had a few months. and here we are the war is in its fifth year, 220,000 dead half the population displaced. >> and you've been critical of the united states for some time for contributing to assad's -- to the chaos. >> when the president said in the spring of 2011 assad must go, we were on set together and i said thinking it seems

to me. by weakening him we opened up much more chaos. and to my mind, it was a kind of ill thought out policy like libya, as well, which is this this idea wishful thinking, now we can put regimes in that we'll like in each laysplace and we have just a huge, huge mess that we have helped to create inadvertently. >> one of the things you do at frontline so well is to look at things in the recent past and things that have covered and sometimes overcovered. in this episode if will this work in this work, what are the key revelations that we didn't know? >> i think when you put everything in context,will this in this work, what are the key revelations that we didn't know? >> i think when you put everything in context, what we do at frontline well i think is put it all together in greater

context. you get to the back end of this story and you see how difficult it's going to be to defeat isis. i sat down with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. general dempsey. i said why can't you do more to slow isis. well, we can't bomb them because they melted into this civilian population this allepo and other places so we didn't have any good targets. we really haven't figured out how to counter them. and i think it's putting all that this context is the contribution of the program tonight. >> that's what you do better than anybody. america's longest running investigative documentary series. they of course have won every price you could win for broadcasting awards. 69 emmy awards, 17 peabody awards. almost as good as you know our track record here. >> exactly. obama at war premieres tonight at 10:00 on pbs. check your local listings.

it will also stream online pbs.org/frontline. martin thank you very much. coming up -- >> dr. sachs is scared. do you want us to get somebody to check under your covers? >> i know they already are. >> he should talk to my dad. >> charges against the "washington post" weren't enough already, now disclosing the trial to the world. we'll talk to the journalist's brother about his fight for a free his brother from prison.

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are you ready for some baseball? a couple nice catches over the weekend. pirates at bat against the marlins in the second inning. >> that was hit well to right. at the wall. leaps and he makes the catch. >> wow. he hit the wall. also miami's john carlos stanton -- look at that. whoa. >> poor thing. >> not poor thing. he's good. anyway crashes the wall. pittsburgh goes on to win 4-2. and one dodger fan finds himself grabbing a home run ball in l.a. saturday. take a look.

>> oh, my god, yes! ? wait. who caught it? >> it's it actually the second time this year. look at that. and he filmed it. second time this year catching both on camera. what a self indulgent -- >> home run will be televised in the future. >> exactly. coming up first official democratic challenger to hillary clinton will launch his campaign in just a few hours. and the already crowded gop field is -- >> how many more can there somebody. >> a lot more. >> any democrats, jump in. where are you? hello? >> plus u.s. goes into damage control after startling comments about the fall of ramadi.

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they really break the ice. help people along. welcome back to "morning joe." john heilemann, mark halperin and eugene robinson are still with us. how are you all doing this morning? >> gene, did you have a good memorial weekend? >> very nice memorial day weekend. very quiet and peaceful. getting warm here in washington. >> and you've been sitting there for quite some time. do i sound okay gene? >> you sound fine. you look great. >> then i'll to thedo the news. >> so gene learned to lie this weekend. we start with developing news overnight out of iraq. iraqi forces are launched an effort to rekrameclaim anbar province and the u.s. tries to assure iraq of its support after a scathing and i dare say appropriate comments by defense secretary arrestshton carter who

committed a great blunder by actually telling the truth in washington, d.c. vice president joe biden promised additional training and equipment in a phone call with iraq's prime minister he also prized iraqi fighters for their sacrifice and bravery. the call was that one day after iraq's prime minister criticized secretary carter for saying iraqi fighters are to blame for the fall of ramadi. >> iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they were not outnumbered, they vastly outnumbered the owe poepposeing force, and yet they failed to fight, they withdrew from the site and that says to me and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis to find isil and defend themselves. >> somebody accidentally telling truth? somebody knows that's the truth.

politicians running around coming on this show saying, oh, well, best way forward is to retrain the fighters -- i sound like bill clinton suddenly -- no, in iraq they collapsed in 1991, they collapsed in 2003. you cannot find a single time going back to the iran/iraq war where they didn't dissolve and run away. >> and one question people were asking last week is whether the administration would need to do a reset on its approach towards iraq and its policy. and i think what you have there in, ash carter is an expression of the frustration president obama feels which basically the straem strategy is right, but it needs the iraqi fighters to fight and if they won't do their part there is nothing the u.s. can do to save them. >> so secretary carter also says it's possible that the white house will consider a new strategy for the fight against isis. moving on to politics now this

week an already crowded republican field is set to become even larger. do we have a count on this? >> 19? >> i think we'll get to 19. >> rick santorum is expected to announce a second white house bid tomorrow. and former three turn new york governor george pataki expected to officially throw his name into the ring on thursday. and next week lindsey graham and rick perry plan to announce their expected campaigns. ohio governor john kasich is also sounding more and more like he will run, as well. >> i'm very pleased with what we have seen over the course of the last month. i've been very pleased with what i found out on the ground in new hampshire, south carolina michigan. i'm about in the process of accumulating resources. i hope people will help me if they like my sort of my unique voice in this whole thing. john, i'm the most experienced in the field with being an

executive running a big state like ohio dealing with problems like cleveland at the same time being in congress balancing the budget i was the chairman and also serving on the defense committee for 18 years. so i'm pretty qualified for this kind of a job. >> and ben carson is hoping that he will get momentum after winning the straw poll at southern leadership conference. he received 25% of the vote followed by scott walker ted cruz senator graham and mike huckabee received little support despite being from the south. but huckabee still generating headlines for saying the president should not be required to follow a supreme court ruling. >> the notion that the supreme court comes up with a ruling and that automatically subjects the two other branches to following it defies everything there is about the three equal branches of government. the supreme court is not the supreme branch. and for god sake it isn't the supreme being. it is the supreme court.

we are sworn to uphold the constitution and the law. and it has to be consistent and agreed upon with three branches of government. one can't overrule the other two. that's all i'm saying. we learned that in ninth grade civics. but i'm convinced a lot of ivy league law schools must have for gotten that simple basic civics lesson along the way. >> i went to an sec law school. >> how did that go for you some. >> went really well actually. i think he had one branch that makes the law, you got oneome. >> went really well actually. i think he had one branch that makes the law, you got oneme. >> went really well actually. i think he had one branch that makes the law, you got onee. >> went really well actually. i think he had one branch that makes the law, you got one. >> went really well actually. i think he had one branch that makes the law, you got one. >> went really well actually. i think he had one branch that makes the law, you got one branch that executes the law. and one branch that interprets the law. >> mr. scarborough. >> we'll skip past that part. >> he's not totally wrong. >> he's not? >> well, the other two branches have do something in response. >> exactly. but until they pass

constitutional amendment, the court does actually -- >> i have to say the john marshall precedent still holds. >> i applaud him regardless of his ideological positions, i applaud him for pointing out that if people want to change something that the supreme court does, there is a political way to do it. >> yes, there is. >> suggesting something slightly more controversial than that though in that commentary. >> gene robinson you want in i'm told. >> it sounded like he was saying that the other branches could ignore the supreme court. that's what it sounded like he was saying. and that is more controversial. that's wrong. >> i have to go back to school. >> they can't ignore it, but there remedies. >> just like the supreme court doesn't have control over the armed forces for instance. they can't usurp -- >> can don't you go making it up, you ivy league pin head.

let's go to this republican field. right now on my count, because i did go to an s.e.c. school, looked like about 47 people running to president. on the republican side -- >> 16 and counting. >> it is turning into just straight out anarchy like one of the fight scenes in an elvis hawaii movie where somebody says something to elvis' girl and next thing, everybody is fighting on the floor are and you got the camera over the set and like -- ♪ -- all fighting each other. that's what this is turning in to. >> i'm using the roller derby metaphor. everybody is going around the track and people like rick santorum and rick perry and gormg george pataki and lindsayey graham may not be the frontrunners, but i think they can affect the

debate. you never know where the pileup will be. and issues matter in this race. and all four of those guys have stuff to say about issues that could really affect the debate. they may not end up being the nom these nominee, but they can impact what gets discussed. >> jeb was supposed to be the breakout guy and it's not happening. i don't see about anybody in this field really capable of breaking out. i think this -- to me right now it looks like a war of attrition. especially if you have a debate where everybody gets just 15 seconds to talk. mika, is my talking bothering you? >> no but here's the thing. you do have this thing where you talk to someone and you are like about to let them go and then you burst out with somebody else. >> are you done, can i finish? >> yes, you may. >> what say you? >> if it was the case that jeb bush hoped raising a lot of money would scare anyone from running against him, that is obviously -- that hope is not

materialized. this will be a big unruly field. it looks like it could be a war of attrition, although as we know, get to iowa new hampshire, somebody wins those races and suddenly the field even if it's 15 or 16 we have not seen that before, but presumably the field will widow. and who those, maybe jeb bush -- >> but usually you punch two or three tickets out of iowa. now with 20 people in the race there is no doubt there will be at leaset 10 to 12 people saying i can go on to new hampshire and i can go on to south carolina. >> absolutely. i mean, the person to come out of iowa is not going to be jeb bush, it will be somebody if in this huge field. and we don't know who that will be. i just think the fact that jeb bush isn't scaring anybody away from this race is bad news for him. and i think the bush campaign ought to be trying to figure out why that is.

he's supposed to be the big foot who will raise all the money and suck all the oxygen out of the air. >> the thing gene said about not scaring anybody, there is no shock and awe over his fundraising. but nobody is awed by scott walker and marco rubio. there is respect but the reason why somebody like john kasich is looking at this closely there is not the one person in the field who is seen as formidable to the point where they can't stop them. >> or even as a frontrunner. this is a race without a frontrunner which is unusual for this party. >> you have a lot of good candidates here. there is not a standout who you go, man, they can get in front of a camera and talk on the issues and are comfortable with themselves and comfortable with the issues. and comfortable with where they are in their career. that person is not out there. >> but that's the process of getting out there and the friction between them. >> sure would be good to have

somebody start that way. >> two other stories that are kind of interesting was b.b. king poise on thattedoned by his closest aids. that's what who of his daughters allege. they say family members were prevented from visiting their father in hospice care. king's bed was examined by a nevada coroner following allegations of foul play in his death. test results are expected to take eight week. in affidavits from the daughters, they each say their father was murdered. the blues singer died may 14 at the age of 89. nbc news reached out to the aides who declined to comment. their attorney has called the allegations ridiculous. >> that t. soundit sounds so implausible to me. b.b. king had serious health

challenges for many years. he was not a young man. he had been in hospice care. i think that's really unlikely. but who knows. a great mystery, who killed b.b. king. >> also in music news it's been 45 years inside assignsimon and gar fun kell split up and art can't understand why. he said it was nothing he would have done. pretending to address simon, garfunkel says how can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world. what is going on with you, you idiot? how could you let that go jerk? >> garfunkel says he be friended him when they were both kads because he felt sorry for his shorter height and said that -- mika is laughing. 45 years later still being that

bitter. you like that? nothing like a little bitterness to get her going. >> touched a nerve there. >> i don't know. but anyway, he said his overcompensating for simon's pa na pal i don't knowic complex created a monster, but he says after saying all of this crap that simon and gar fun kell reunion is still possible.fun kell reunion is still possible. >> you imagine paul simon reading that interview saying yeah, i miss artie. >> seriously, i think garfunkel had it backwards. simon made garfunkel. he had a beautiful voice and could sing simon's songs, but -- >> i'd like you to name all the

great compositions you can think of. go. >> well, i don't know. >> there are none. >> i don't know who i wrote "all i know." it is a beautiful song. but paul simon is one of the great songwriters of our time. he's remarkable. >> very strange statement. >> art gar fun kell had remarkable moments, but -- >> obkay. thank you. >> gene, thanks a lot. you were agreeing with us on that smackdown? >> absolutely. it is time to get over it. but i guess he will never get over it. >> donefunny little statement. >> garfunkel list is zero. simon wrote them all. threats on international flights. was the same source responsible? >> and still ahead, jerry

ferreira is here to discuss the return of entourage. first bill karins has a check on extreme weather out there. >> flash flood emergency just dropped for the city of husouston. all schools have been closed for the houston area today as expected they will keep the kid home until all the floodwaters are completely receded so they can see how bad the damage was. one location picked up 10.5 inches of rain in one night alone. look at the radar we have cleared it out in the houston area. just one thunderstorm up to the north of there. we still have one flash flood warning out, but that's it. even beaumont and lake charms has charles has improved. so today we will see a good chance of strong storms, but they will be located further to the north up in the great lakes which is great, also the ohio valley, and it does look like possibility of isolated storms in oklahoma. so today's forecast very warm

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fbi investigating a series of phoned in threats against passenger flights over the weekend. >> officials say the calls were hoax, but while telephone threats to airplanes are common, this one included multiple flights. joining us from washington justice correspondent pete williams with the latest. there good morning. these calls came in rapid success to local police departments around the country.good morning. these calls came in rapid success to local police departments around the country. all from applarnt the same caller a man, he warned chemical weapons were on board more than a dozen flights most coming to u.s. airports from overseas.

passengers on this air france flight realized something was wrong when emergency vehicles surrounded their plane the moment it landed. >> i was scared. it's pretty clear when the plane isn't allowed to come to the terminal something is quite serious going on. >> reporter: two fighter jets like these escorted the flight. scrambled after a series of anonymous phone calls early monday claiming that 14 commercial airliners were carrying chemical weapons. it was searched and nothing hazardous was found. >> they were very efficient. i have to admit, officials say the list included nine other flights to the u.s. from delta to british airways, from united and paris on delta. flights landed as scheduled at airports. authorities determined early on that the hoax called were not credible, but passed words to

the airlines to be extra cautious.caller also mentioned five international flights. they also arrived with nothing hazardous found. so now the hunt is on for the man who made these calls. it is a serious crime, one man who tried it recently was sentenced to eight years in prison. mika, joe. >> all right, pete williams, thank you very much. >> now to the political playbook. you have a story that will go up later today about the so-called hillary effect. what is the hillary effect? >> this is a sneak peek at a story that will be up on politico later. we found out democrats were trying to recruit candidates using the hillary candidacy as a lure saying between the historic element of her candidacy is a force multiplier

that will help. >> is it working? >> it is. they're getting a lot more interest from candidates. that is part of the reason why the hillary campaign has paid staffers now in 50 states party building in part to help out these house candidates who will help her. now, republicans as you might guess are saying bring it on. yes, she will help in some places but there are other places that hillary clinton will depress turnout. she's no barack obama. and so yes they will benefit from the rallies and victory centers, but she won't turn out the kind of coalition that they will need. >> certainly not going to be brahm's coalition. no doubt about it. mark hal brin are democrats excited about running on the same ticket with hillary. >> much more positive than negative if you look at all the blue states like new hampshire, ohio et cetera where there are contested senate races and

republican incumbents potentially in-dangered. >> there is a contested race in that which is usually a republican state. but a lot of concern in 2016 that you usually get the more democrats out, 300,000 or so more than republicans. and hillary is fairly popular in florida. that's a senate case that will be open because marco is leaving sflp two other factor, one is female vote. that could be a huge factor. and the other is president clinton. if he's all into campaign for her, imagine him doing rallies in florida and ohio. >> if republicans think they can win, and i don't think they do but if they think they can win in 2016 by nominating the most hard right candidate in state after state after state, they're sadly mistaken. '16, they're going to -- they can't nominate the type of people they nominated in '10 and

'14. they're going to have to find in a lot of these states candidates that can get the conservative base but can also pull in independents moderates and some democrats. >> she will not have the same coalition that president obama had, but she will almost certainly do better with women than he did. and she could do as well or better with hispanics than he did. she was a better candidate with hispanic voters than problem has been. she could very well -- she got challenged with african americans and challenge with young voters, but she has the another way to put together a big coalition that could help out especially in swing states. >> mike allen, thank you very much. coming up, big changes could be in store for the u.s. navy. secretary of the navy ray mabus joining us next to explain. plus former navy s.e.a.l. brandon webb brandon webb here with stories that show us what it truly means to be be a hire row.

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31 past the hour. joining us now, secretary of the navy ray mabus. >> one of the longest serving secretaries of the navy. >> according it my statistic top five. but moving up fast.

>> a lot to talk to you about. fleet week. first on the news of the day, the secretary of defense ashton carter warning that iraqi troops will not be able to defeat isis until they develop a will to fight. that got criticism, maybe some push back. but isn't it true? >> i'll come at it from my job. what pie job is to make sure that the president as he sets policy about what our strategy will be in iraq or anywhere else has all the options that he needs. and from the navy and that reason core standpoint whatever he decides, we can get there fast. >> are the iraqi troops a good partner for the u.s. navy and that reasons? >> i think that the marines that we have in there today train,

navy folks we have in there today train. i think they're doing a great job in terms of training the iraqi troops. in terms of -- >> can the iraqi troops be trained in a way to secure their own country? >> if they can be trained, marines and s.e.a.l.s will train them. >> we've been trying to do it for a while. >> on this iteration, no not the for very long. >> obviously the navy and certainly the marines played a big role in liberating iraq are making sure it was secure. how difficult is it for you and the men and women who serve with you to see the fall of ramadi and see the destruction sweeping across iraq? >> it's really hard. because so many people lost their lives.

so many people were wounded so many marines particularly all across iraq. but to watch that sacrifice, to watch that effort come unraveled, is pretty tough. you talk to marines away the fleet that have done it. >> how do we stop isis? >> well, one of the things that the president has the first strike capability was naval air and we're still there. still doing that. but i think that the president has it right we can help in terms of air strikes, we can help in terms of training. but eventually the fight has to be on the ground with the iraqis. >> i'll ask you about a longer range threat china. is the united states doing enough to keep competitive with china in terms of the pacific

theater and on the sea? >> absolutely. we're building the fleet. on 9/11, 2001, we had 316 chips. by 2008 after a wildup we were down to 278 and shrinking. five year before i became secretary, we only put 27 ships ss under contract. my first five year, we've put 70. we're building a fleet to above 300 ships. we'll get there by the end of the decade. we're shifting at least 60% to the pacific. and you can make a really good argument that the pacific and the whole world economy is doing as well as it is because the united states navy because we've kept those sea lanes open. and we are -- we will have the size fleet with the types of ships that we need and the types of aircraft that we need to counter any sort of threat,

freedom of navigation freedom of the seas freedom of trade. >> we talked before about your length of tenure. you've been in this job for six years. one of the biggest focuses is your role in terms of answering the cause of women in the navy in terms of everything from retention to recutementecruitment to changing the uniforms. did you come into the job thinking that would be something you would focus on? what brought you to that cluster of issues? >> well, i'm the father of three daughters who lobby me pretty hard every day. and with good reason. i've been in the navy in late '60s, early seventh. and i haven't done anything particular with the navy since then until i came in. but we don't have enough women. we simply don't have enough women in the navy or the marine corps. we're boosting recruiting. we have over 27% now coming into the naval academy. and we're trying to make it more

family friendly. we lose too many women. so we're doubling paid maternity leave. we're doing a career initiative program so you can take up to three years off. and not hurt your career. we're extending child care hours. we're promoting based on merit and it's not just for women. that's across the force. >> let's write in also former u.s. navy s.e.a.l. and best selling author brandon webb. "among heros, true story of friendship and heroism." you profile some of the best and brightest and some men that you had a very personal relationship with wholess lost their lives. >> i was inspired after writing a memoir about my time and having a lot of family members

reach out and say, look i've never heard that story about my son or brother. and i lost my best friend glen doherty in the attacks on the consulate in benghazi libya. and glenn was really the catalyst behind the book. >> tell us about glenn. >> glenn and i were new guys on s.e.a.l. team 3, went to snirp train sniper training together and remained close friends when we both were out. was an uncle to highmy kids. so losing somebody like that it just hit me that unless i tell these stories, their legacy and the story of these amazing men just will not be told. so that was the inspiration behind the writing. >> why don't we talk about mike bearden. >> he was a big brother to everybody and would put himself last in everything. and that's kind of what i want people to get out of this book

was telling these stories about these guys that influenced my life in a positive way. and hopefully the readers walk away and can take some of these positive traits that have influenced my lives knowing these heros and improve their own lives by reading these stories. >> another hero is john j.t. tomlinson, described as the human labrador. >> yeah j.t., all his friends would describe him just as that a human labrador. just very intelligent loyal guy. i first head j.t. when he came through the s.e.a.l. sniper program when i was his instructor and i picked him to be the class leader. one of the best students in class leaders to ever come through the course. just an amazing person. and that photo that went around the internet of his dog, hawkeye, laying next to his coffin for the rehand der of the funeral service just says it

all. >> you also knew chris kyle. not in the book, but said he was also a friend and one of the best at what he did. >> yeah, chris i think goes without saying he was one of the finest marksmen that s.e.a.l. sniper program has ever put through the course. and just an amazing person. these guys all have incredible stories and families that are left mind to pick upk behind to pick up the pieces. so i think it's important to share the stories with mirkamerica. we're losing some of the fine he is men and we owe to these guys to tell their stories. >> mr. secretaryhe is men and we owe to these guys to tell their stories. >> mr. secretary what should americans take from this, what should they remember, what should they do moving forward. >> we've had a lot of people that gave their tomorrows for our today is what you should remember. that their families all across

this country that sent off a son or daughter to fight. and never came home. and so memorial day is a great time to have barbecues and take the day off on a long weekend, but the real purpose of that day is to remember those people who allow us to have those days. >> secretary may bus,bus, thank you so much. >> and we thank you so much for your service sir. the book is "among heros. anne meara passed away over the weekend. we'll take a look back on her career, how she influenced her son, ben stiller and her last appearance here where she talked about her secret to a long marriage that lasted over 55 years. she said a lot of it went down to 40 years of counseling. sometimes the present looked bright. sometimes romantic. there were tears in my eyes.

and tears in my eyes. and so many little things that we learned were really the biggest things. through it all, we saved and had a retirement plan. and someone who listened and helped us along the way. because we always knew that someday the future would be the present. every someday needs a plan. talk with us about your retirement today. why weigh yourself down? try new aveeno® sheer hydration. its active naturals® oat formula... ...goes on feather light. absorbs in seconds... ...keeps skin healthy looking... ...and soft. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results. time upon a once people approached problems the way same. always start at the starting. and questions the same asking. but that only resulted in improvements small. so we've got some ideas new. garbage can create energy. light can talk. countries can run on jet engine technology. when you look at

problems in ways different you new solutions find. ♪ ♪ ♪ where do you get this kind of confidence? at your ford dealer... that's where! our expert trained technicians... state of the art technology and warranty parts keep your vehicle running right. it's no wonder we sold more than 3.5 million tires last year and durning the big tire event get a $120 mail in rebate on 4 select tires. ♪ the network that monitors her health. the secure cloud services that store her genetic data the servers and software on a mission to find the perfect match. and the mom who gets to hear her daughter's heart beat once again.

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mourning of loss of anne meara. she passed away on saturday. she of course was wife of jerry stiller and mother of ben and amy stiller. she was matriarch of one of the great american comedy families and half of the popular '60s duo stiller and meara. for her work this shows like 1970s hit rhoda, we all remember rhoda around here and anne and her husband jerry stiller were on "morning joe" back in 2012 and they told us how they met. >> this is a great american love story, the two of you. is that fair to say? >> grow up. >> no, but i want to -- i say that because i want to go back

to the beginning. >> 58 years. >> high i'm 82, he's 84. and i say 58 and 38 of those years in therapy. >> not a bad percentage. but i want to go back to the beginning. if i have this right, it's a love story forged on stolen silverware? >> yes. >> is that a true story? >> it is. but he exannual rates it. off came talk or something. >> let's have on camera talk. what's the real story? >> we met at an agent's office. he was dating a tall girl he wanted to do a comedy act, but she wasn't as funny as me. >> no, she was not at funny and she wanted to dump me because i wanted to do more than comedy with her, and she knew it so she introduced me to this young woman at a casting agent's office, and there she was this little girl who went into the agent's office two seconds later, she pops out crying.

i said what happened. she said he chased me around the room. and i said to my pal why did you chase that little girl around the room. and he said because i liked her and now it's your turn. so anyway frrksom there we went down to the cafeteria because she was still crying. >> it doesn't exist anymore. and that's the thing about growing older. land marks are all gone. >> yes. >> anyway and we went and had coffee. >> i bought her a cup of coffee and that's all i could afford really. and i said can i pick up the check. she said forget the check, pick up some silverware put it in your pocket and let's get the hell out of here. >> my roommate and i, we needed another set of silverware. >> and did he do it? >> of course he did. he want to sleep with me. >> ben tweeted yesterday, thank you so much for all the kind words about anne. all of us in our family feel so

lucky to have had husband in our lives. she was 85 years old. so sweet and so nice. still highway,ahead, entourage is back. jerry ferrara is with us. he has a look at the new movie. and how clubbing helped him get ready for the role. what do you think of when you think of the united states postal service? exactly. that's what pushes us to deliver smarter simpler faster sleeker earlier fresher harder farther quicker and yeah even on sundays. what's next? we'll show you. hey america, still not sure whether to stay or go to your people? ♪

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i want to take you out. >> so why all of this talk of doing business? >> this guy got in my head telling me there's no way to be interested me. >> other man way to inflins. >> especially this guy. >> turtle shy. he likes you. promise you could care less about business. >> everybody in the town has an angle. >> let me prove. you want to take me in the ring? i'll let you beat me up. >> let me. >> i won't fight back. >> you couldn't last 30 seconds with me if your life depended on it. >> the guys from "entourage." >> what happens? >> a look at new movie in theaters wednesday june 3rd. with us now, one of the co-stars of "entourage," jerry ferrara. >> not in character for this interview. >> no, i'll do you a favor, i'll be jerry. >> you're not going to do the

ari gold jeremy piven thing, so rude to me. >> dropped f bombs. >> horrible. >> maybe he'll make it up next time. maybe you don't have him back. >> maybe so. >> i don't think he'll come back, i called him a bad name. he didn't like it. >> oh. >> our ari doesn't talk that way. >> he's too scared to come back that's what i have to say. >> you know ari? >> i do i don't yes, i'm a client there. >> good. >> i've gone to hang out with the real ari. a great guy. that's a trip. >> that's a lie. that's a lie. ari's a crazy guy. on his treadmill at 3:00 a.m. and texts us. anyway, glad to find out, quickly, we're all huge "entourage" fans. seen every one. what are we going to see in the movie. >> more of what we did on the show. for the fans of the show we think the movie's going to hit for them. but we really tried hard to make it a standalone as well even if you only checked in on the show from time to time or even if

you never saw it a great device brings you up to speed who these guys are, what you might be in store for. >> is there time travel? >> no there should be. obviously promised hoverboards too from "back to the future ii," no time travel. >> the thing i'm most -- i'm really interested in the movie but you lost 60 pounds. >> i know. i was going to say it. >> congratulations on that. >> how did you do that? >> how did you do that? >> you know really slowly. one of the hardest things i've ever had to do. i was just about to turn -- >> good answer. >> i don't remember a challenge that -- it was a change of life. wasn't like i want to lose 15 20 pounds to look a certain way. i changed everything about what i ate, what i drank, how i slept. i started off only able to walk on the treadmill 30 minutes at 3 miles an hour. now i'm running the seven. >> the weight. >> one point in my high i was about 203 pounds i'm only 5'7"

when i'm lying. >> i almost didn't recognize him. >> he's just -- >> i saw some of the old -- >> what was it like to play jackie gleason. >> you look great. >> talk about the plot. obviously things went terribly wrong for vince. >> i love people who get medaine. >> so awesome. >> we argue all the time actually. we hope secretly he became like a cult classic. >> my gosh go he's never had time to do it on the show to make it like a secret cult classic. >> you could have done. so it goes terribly well. vince is in actor's jail. everything's on the line in the movie, right. >> good way to put it. not a lot of people know about that. there is an actor's jail, a director's jail, where the billy walsh character went into. >> are we going to see billy? >> of course. >> thank god. >> he has to be. >> you see his pablo escobar

tattoo. >> maybe i should see this. >> my god. >> i think i should go to this. >> you'll have fun. a lot of fun. >> i'm not much of a. culture buff. >> how's -- what happens to e? >> eric character's about to have a baby with sloane. >> really. >> about to enter fatherhood, i guess the ultimate sign the "entourage" is growing up. the only thing that could rip it apart, a cool younger enkour raj. >> i assume a huge amount of character development on drama. he's like you know he's changed a lot over the course of the show. >> let me tell you, though he really does -- his story line in the movie is extremely important and also pays off probably. i like to say it's like a sports term, it's a walk-off home run. >> really? >> now i definitely want to see the movie. >> where's the premiere? >> big one in l.a. we have a screening tomorrow

all of our families can watch it. >> when does it premiere? >> tomorrow here friends and family screening. and then l.a. next week. >> next week. >> you want to go to l.a.? >> ari, we're going to call you. we'll see you in l.a. next week. >> ari gold is one thing, you are another. very sweet. >> wonderful. >> thank you. >> i will accept that. >> take that. thank you so much for being with us. >> wednesday june 3rd. thank you for joining us. jerry ferrara. good luck, it's going to be great. i'm going to go. want to go to the screening? >> i have to get you caught up on some of the -- understand billy walsh and -- >> metaphor for life. >> more of the must-see iowa focus groups. how conservative republicans want nominees to be. parents don't want to see. what caused the bounce house to go flying with children still inside? seems to happen every six months. maybe keep your kids out of there. >> stay out of the bouncy house.

>> they don't hold down. >> not meant for god or man. stay out of those bouncy houses. kid: hey dad, who was that man? dad: he's our broker. he helps looks after all our money. kid: do you pay him? dad: of course. kid: how much? dad: i don't know exactly. kid: what if you're not happy? does he have to pay you back? dad: nope. kid: why not? dad: it doesn't work that way. kid: why not? vo: are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab

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♪ ♪ millions under threat from tornadoes, high winds and more catastrophic flooding. >> i would describe its a flood of biblical proportion. nothing like we've ever experienced. >> the fbi is looking into a series of phoned in threats against commercial airline flights. >> air france jet from paris escorted by two air force f-15s

and landed at jfk. >> no bombs on board, all clear. >> when you see the police you see the federal agent, whoo! >> after a tense weekend of protests "the new york times" reporting the city of cleveland has reached a settlement. >> resolve what the justice department says was a pattern of police misbehavior. >> this coming a day after protests erupted when a white police officer was cleared in the fatal shooting of two unarmed black suspects. >> the victim's family a case of justice denied. >> it's a tragedy because nobody is being held accountable. >> the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. >> the government has announced an operation to retake ramadi and the rest 0 western anbar province from isis. >> standing in front of the american people. >> we need to have a strategy. there is no strategy. >> welcome to "morning joe" hope you had a good memorial day weekend. good to be back. top of the hour. how's everybody doing? >> good. how are you.

>> fine. >> how's your mouth? >> it's going to be fine if i stop being nervous. >> good morning. how was your memorial day weekend. >> excellent thank you for asking. >> uh-huh. >> i don't remember. >> well, that makes sense. did you see what happened in florida? >> no. >> the bouncy house. remember -- you know bouncy houses. >> they fly away. >> this is on the beach and this is ft. lauderdale and it's like a tornado came out of the water, what do they call it? a waterspout. and kids were in there. >> my god. >> and three of them fell out at over two dozen people in the air. >> another one flew? >> look at that. thankfully the kids are okay in that they're going to survive. two had broken bones, and one's being kept in the hospital. can you imagine? a full report on this coming up. you remember about six months ago the bouncy house that like flew away? it was bubble boy material. >> it was different. >> except it was real.

it flew up a thousand feet up in the air. scary stuff. >> yeah, it is. did you have a good memorial day? >> yeah. i was in my bounce yo house. >> you were not. >> i anchored. i'm heavy enough to copekeep that down. jack's birthday. jack's 7th birthday. >> your son is 7. >> got some legos and some "star wars" paraphernalia and darth vader cup where you put your chocolate mill income and stirs it up automatically says "the force is with you." my god. >> and jack got some -- jack got some pretty good stuff, too. tell you about that next hour. >> that's for you? >> i'm set. i'm set. >> i'm going to do the news now. >> okay. >> and i have been practicing so i think we're going to be okay if i'm not nervous. >> okay. you're talking about it -- i think you need to relax. we all respect you as a news woman. go ahead, veronica.

>> crowded republican field set to become even larger. former pennsylvania senator and 2012 presidential candidate rick santorum is expected to announce a second white house bid tomorrow. and former three-term new york governor george pataki's expected to throw his name into the ring thursday. this week senator lindsey graham, texas governor rick perry, plan to announce their expected campaigns. how many are there? >> a lot. >> any democrats want to step forward, hello? ohio governor john kasich is also signing more and -- sounding more like he'll become a 2016 hopeful as well. >> i'm very pleased with what we have seen over the course of last month. i've been very pleased with what i found out on the ground in new hampshire, south carolina, michigan. i'm in the process of accumulating resources. i hope people will help me if they like my unique voice in this whole thing. you know john i'm the most experienced in the field with being an executive running a big

state like ohio dealing with problems like cleveland at the same time being in congress balancing the budget. i was the chairman and also serving on the defense committee for 18 years. so i'm pretty qualified for this kind of a job. >> meanwhile, ben carson is hoping he has new momentum, after winning the straw poll at the southern republican leadership conference. he received 25% of the vote, followed by governor scott walk somewhere senator ted cruz senator graham and former arkansas governor mike huckabee received little support, despite being from the south. >> also, look at the number who else not there. >> front-runner jeb bush. >> front-runner jeb bush goes again, southern leadership conference, jeb should be doing well. but john heilemann what we say around these parts you go to any of these events and nobody's excited about jeb bush. some point, this becomes a real problem and i know we're early,

but none -- nobody in the base is excited about this guy. >> he was never going to be the candidate of conservative activists. >> right. >> you would not have expected him to do well in a setting like that. if you combine that with the -- >> third maybe. >> or again, to me it's the constellation of problems. there's not a base in iowa there's not a base in new hampshire, apart from the donor class, no part of the republican party that seems excited about him. and he's going to need to find someone thrilled about his candidacy if he's ever going to be the nominee. >> still has tens of millions to spend to get people to like him if he's got a brand people want to buy. he's going to have a lot more money. there's a reason they spend so much time raising money. >> you know who had a lot of money? >> phil gramm. >> 1996. more conservative. the base thought of phil gramm. >> i thought phil gramm was

facing the juggernaut that was bob dole. >> that's the thing. jeb's supposed to be the juggernaut and just -- >> el work but there was a front runner in '96, established front-runner. >> jeb's supposed to be the front-runner. >> my point is he doesn't have to be the establishment front-runner. he is the establishment front-runner. >> the other problem, if the guy can't finnish the top five in every one of these events where the base goes what point are all of these people shoveling money into his coffer saying maybe this isn't the smart move? >> there's some unease but no one out there right now who is challenging jeb for their love and affection. a little bit walker maybe a little bit kasich. he'll have twice, three times four, five times as much money as anybody else. >> man. it's wild. >> john you have actually on the topic, part of your focus groups looked how conservative

that people want their nominee to be. and the future of the party. >> we were talking on friday about this is a party that has lost the race probably the last six time in the popular vote. if they lose to hillary, if they lose eight years to hillary, they've lost the supreme court for a generation they've lost a government for generation, they've lost washington for a generation, combine it with the eight years that obama's been president. >> yeah. >> how much are they willing to compromise? >> the interesting thing among the iowa voters that we talked to on the republican side is that, the surprise in some ways there was a lot more on the subject of jeb bush a lot more new hampshire voters we talked to earlier had more ideological problems with bush and the ohio voters had more electability problems with bush. on the conservative moderate thing i have to ask, how important is it for the candidate to be quote conservative, whatever that means to you, and there were surprisingly knew people who said that was the most important thing to them. there were moderates in the

room, and those who considered themselves conservative didn't attach a lot to that particular -- that label. >> iowa voters, let's take a look. >> how many people in the room is it important that the republican nominee be a conservative? how important is that to everybody? okay. only about half. and for the others of you for whom conservative isn't that important, do you want a nominee who is a moderate or just -- or could either be mod raid or conservative? is moderate what you're looking for. >> i'd like somebody moderate and not terrifically conservative. >> there's a different level of conservatism. you've got the far right which if you elect someone like that good luck you're going to have gridlock and the same thing, just you know elephant instead of a donkey. >> how important is it to you that the candidate that you would get behind represents the future for the republican party? >> well that's the whole reason

we go through this whole process, otherwise we can sit back and complain about it and do nothing. but again, i'm a senior but i'd like to see the world and country left in good hands for my family and, yes, it's very important. craig, you said it was important to you after talking a little while about reagan who was a -- who was obviously successful -- >> a crossover, you know she mad a point about getting all of the republicans, somebody that can support everybody. you know people get upset, i'm not going to vote for him. we need somebody who can cross over and bring everyone in. >> right. >> i think you have to have a visionary, you have to have somebody that can see into the future can keep us progressing and moving forward. if you don't, we'll just stay stagnant and i don't think anybody wants that. >> so on the democratic side independent senator bernie sanders will officially launch his bid for the white house in just a few hours in vermont, with lots of ice cream on hand.

foe cutcusing on progressive issues to appeal to the elizabeth warren wing of the party. the founders of ben and jerry's ice cream among those attending the kick-off event and former maryland governor martin o'malley has an expected announcement set for this coming saturday. here's more of mark halperin's focus group with democratic voters in iowa weighing in on whether senator bernie sanders, senator elizabeth warren or anyone else poses a threat to hillary clinton. >> she has competition, she's crushing them right now. >> any of you worried that if she doesn't have a vigorous challenge, it it could hurt her chances of winning? >> i'd like to see elizabeth warren or joe biden for her to run against and get a little more -- more of a race that way. >> is anyone else share bill's wish on that that she get a tougher contest to get ready? >> i think bernie sanders is going to surprise people. he's going to have a bigger voice than given credit for and -- >> tell me why you think that, john.

>> you know just -- i mean i personally like his policies. i like -- he answer -- he does answer the questions. >> would you like his presence in the race to cause or to take more progressive positions? >> oh yeah. >> you think it will have that effect if he does well. >> 0 yeah i think it lpwill. i think he has. >> if he did have a chance would he be someone to your liking more than hillary clinton. >> i do. >> you both would like him more if he could be the nominee. >> whether we like him or not we have a citizens united america and you need to raise a lot of money and -- there's so many characteristics where he doesn't stand a chance. >> raise your hand if you think elizabeth warren got in the race and did well she could win the caucuses, raise your hand if you think she could beat hillary. >> i don't think she could beat hillary. >> i don't know if anyone can beat hillary in the caucuses.

>> okay. anybody you think could beat hillary for the nomination or she's unbeatable? >> at this point, yes. >> charlie, anybody you think could beat her. >> no i don't, not that i've heard of. >> all right. what? >> mark halperin what do you think? >> it's a weird cycle. mika thinks hillary would benefit, country would benefit from a big challenge and some democrats think that but don't see anybody who can beat her and they're sort of them resigned to the fact enthusiastic about the fact, while the republicans fight it out with 16 candidates she's going to be able to consolidate her support. >> is it possible no one jumps in at all? >> i still think the vacuum will be such that o'malley or sanders will pose a rigorous challenge to her and make her have to debate and show her ability. >> the worst -- the more isolated the more people will vote for bernie as a protest

vote. i vote ford ron paul in 2012 i thought the republicans were big government republicans you have an opportunity to protest there with bernie sanders if you think she's too conservative, too much of a neocon. martin o'malley provides another good government vote if you're turned off by some of the ways that the clintons have carried themselves and taken care of their -- i mean i think democrats are going to have a choice with these two. you do have -- you know it's not like bernie sanders is a dogcatcher. he's a united states senator, and martin o'malley a successful governor. >> if you take all of the clinton controversies around her, don't run her on the foundation, don't run against her on her husband's past justed on trade, other issues that matter to progressives she could be challenged. >> all right. let's go to the deadly storms that keep ravaging parts of texas and oklahoma at least

seven people were killed in tornadoes and historic flooding over the holiday weekend. eight people are missing, tragically including three children. among the dead an 18-year-old homecoming queen who was swept away in her car by raging floodwaters as she drove home from prom sunday. >> it can't be happening right now. she was a good person. she was always competitive. she was at prom with her date and you know laughing and dancing next to her. >> she did the right things, called 911, called her father but it was too much and too quick. >> unbelievable. officials in wimberley texas say at least 72 structures were washed away and more than 1,000 damaged after the blanco river rose to 34 feet in 3 hours. the governor described storms quote, having a tsunami-like power that at times proved to be too much even for the most experienced first responders. >> let's bring in bill karins for more on all of this.

is it over yet, especially in terms of the flooding? >> no. houston last night, even at this hour still historic flood under way. it's funny, it's going over the last four days just slowly progressed across the state, two days ago it was austin's turn and san antonio. yesterday it was dallas. last night, houston. they're telling people not to travel. schools are delayed at least two hours with the possibility of being closed. calling it a 1 in 500-year flood event on some of the bayous. the radar's finally beginning to clear out after historic rains. people got trapped at basketball game. estimate 200 people stuck at arena, don't have anywhere else to go. here's the radar out of the region. starting to clear a little bit. worst is behind us. this map estimates the amount of rain that has fallen. these totals to south side of town widespread 56 7, 8 inches of rain some spots reporting 11 inches of rain in one storm

system last night. it's like a hurricane hitting practically. new orleans, storms went through you. tornado watch dropped. as far as the rest of today a break in dallas and oklahoma city. there's still a chance of a stray thunderstorm but not widespread deluge storms like we just got done with. the worst storms up in the ohio valley, great lakes. i don't think we'll see many tornadoes. that risk is low. but damaging winds the threat. we saw the pictures of the east coast. three people drowned yesterday in rip currents along the beaches of bavard county. dangerous rip county threat today. be careful of florida beaches. the rest of east looks fine and almost summer-like. >> a "the washington post" reporter scheduled to go to trial in iran for alleged espionage. his brother's going to be with us talk about his fight for freedom. inside the magic factory. a rare look at george lucas' special effects studio. i've got to call all of my boys. they'll love this. the film make who are changed movies forever.

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♪ ♪ ♪ freedom is mine and i know how i feel ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn♪ >> beat out blake to win ben taub. >> i love classic music. love to work with you and have you on my team. >> he wasn't ending his remarkable story. ben taub's thesis for columbian journalism school's master's program which he graduated last week is now the lead story. >> can you believe it? >> in the june 1st issue of "the new yorker." journey to jihad an

investigation into european teenagers joining use sis. ben, thank you for joining us. >> mika wants to hear you sing first. >> i asked them to roll tape going into the segment of you singing. what was that alex? that was not singing. you will do that after the show for me? okay. you have a very good voice. did you win anything? >> so i basically used the stipend that they sent us while we were filming the show living in california to transition into journalism. i used it to fund travel to the turkish/syrian boarder in 2013. >> holy cow. >> that's where i met the father who is featured in the story, and what he was doing at that time was was helping another bell began father try to go into isis territory and retrieve his son from the ranks of isis. and they found the kid, he was in a house near isis territory and they -- the father spoke to

him and asked him to come home and he said no. but the main father who is featured in my story is now -- he's back in belgium, as is his son, he went to syria and did retrieve earlier. his son's name the story traces the journey from being a teenage kid who in fact was also on a real tv show called "move like michael jackson." small world. very small world. >> oh wow. >> but how did you go from using your stipend to like hey, ma i'm going to use my spiptipend and instead of getting adult braces i'm going to get on a plane and go to the turkish/syrian boarder. >> how old are you? >> 24. >> the turkish/syrian border a leap. >> i had been traveling in the area before working in egypt, belarus and a few other places. after working in a syrian refugee camp in jordan guided by

ajournalism mentor to go to a small town on the side. >> awhat did you find was the main cause for younger europeans and others going to isis? >> in this particular group, this radicalization program that was operating in antwerp sent 50 young kids to syria -- not kids they were teenagers, 20s, early 30s. and does a highly structured program that involved a basically semester-long course where they started with introduction to islam and graduated ---er. >> where were they learning this? >> inside a rented apartment in antwerp, run by a militant preacher, who was very much in contention with all of the mosques. they -- he would say the mosques weren't teaching islam and they were puppets of the government. it was very intense. >> where are you from? >> i group up mostly in new

jersey and uk. >> how did you develop this did new jersey and the snuk. >> yeah. >> how did you develop this interest? >> oh, well i ended up in egypt in 2011 i did a very stupid thing. i chased a girlfriend to cairo during the revolution. >> oh. >> that will do it. >> we all have done that for one revolution or another. >> had you been to egypt before? >> i first went in 2011. after witnessing some of the ongoing events in the arab spring, came back to princeton, where i was doing undergrad, took a journalism course with a wonderful professor, deborah aim amos and guided me ever since. >> great to meet you. >> thank you, ben. come back. >> good job. still ahead on "morning joe," they're not the stars of the show but they are getting paid like they are. media executives are pocketing record salaries. leaving "wall street journal" in the dust. we'll break down the top ten

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♪ it's 30 past the hour. after 308 days in an iranian prison the trial of "the

washington post" reporter started in tehran this morning. "the new york times" reporting the court has adjourned for the day. the trial on espionage charges was closed to the public. his mother who traveled to iran to be present at the trial, was barred from the courtroom. "the washington post"'s efforts to secure a visa to allow a senior editor to be present in iran have gone unanswered. executive editor said yesterday, quote, no justice in the system not an ounce of it. and yet the fate of a good innocent man hangs in the balance. iran is making a statement about its values in its disgraceful treatment of our colleague, and it can be only horrify the world community. joining us now from washington jason's brother, ali rezaian. have you heard anything from the trial this morning? >> the trial is a secret trial, it's illegal for anything that's coming out of the proceedings to be discussed. but you know what i do know is that they did adjourn, jason was

there without either his wife or my mother being able to be present in the trial, which is we were hoping for. we know he was planning to go in and, you know put on a strong defense, let everybody know that he's not guilty that he's innocent of all of these charges and go through that process. >> any reason that he was given or the lawyers were given for secret trial? >> you know they didn't give any reason. it's at the judge's discretion. there should be some kind of national security reason but in this particular case jason, there's never even an allegation that jason had access to secret information or anything like that. it really i think, in my opinion, has to do with showing that -- covering up the fact there's no evidence against him for these charges. >> what are the specific charges that he's being tried under right now in iran? >> so obviously the primary one that they've claimed is espionage. >> why do they claim -- what do

they claim was taken. they haven't claimed that he's taken anything. they said he was trying to gather information about the iranian foreign and domestic policies. so just generally, you know -- >> being a reporter? >> -- trying to understand what was going on. it's ridiculous he was acting a reporter in that case. they also suggest he put out propaganda and that he acted against the state in some other way. >> any reason that your lawyer thinks he's been specifically targeted? there are many western journalists that go to iran and do the same or even less than what your brother has done. why is your brother a target of this regime? >> you know i think part of the fact is that he's a dual national. the fact that our father was iranian and born over there, even though we were raised in california, it gives them much more latitude in what they can do.

for example, for ten months jason's had no consular access to protecting power, the swiss in iran. anybody else who was another nationality or you know a pure american would be able to do that. >> ali, if your brother's found guilty do you have a sense of what the punishment is that he might face? >> what we've been told if found guilty on all of the charges, it could be 10 to 20 years there are four separate charges, some of them are more significant than others and there's certainly an opportunity for them do the right thing, realize that there's no evidence to support the larger charges, even they decide to convict him on one lesser. >> what is the state department what is the white house, what is this administration who many believe have been kowtowing to the iranians desperate for a deal that most of america's allies into of the middle east thinkses a disaster what has

this administration been telling you about trying to do a deal and telling americans to trust a regime that would grab a "the washington post" reporter off the street throw him in jail lock him away and put on a secret trial when he's an innocent man? what has this administration told you? >> you know we've heard from the administration since the very beginning is that they've had direct communications with the iranian foreign ministry those are ongoing and in parallel with the nuclear negotiations but they're not part of those negotiations. it's not a matter of trying to swap jason for a reactor in that case. and our position is that you know jason is totally separate from that. there's no reason he should spend another day in prison. he should be released immediately and not wait for us to do a deal or not do a deal five weeks from now -- >> how about he comes home and we'll talk?

>> exactly. what does it say about dealing with i regime a bloodthirsty regime, who by the way shoots people dead in their streets in 2009 and lets young women bleed out in the streets? but what does it say about a regime that yanks reporters off the street throws them in jail and has secret trials? can we trust this regime on anything big or small? mark halperin next question to you. >> you said the talks are separate. but would you like them to be linked? would you like the administration to use the leverage of the nuclear talks. >> why is it okay they're separate? >> given that we don't know what's going to happen with the talks, i certainly don't want to be in a situation if something happens in the talks and they break down we lose the opportunity to continue the conversations with jason. you know as a brother obviously i don't want anything to happen until he comes home. i would like to go get him tonight and give up the rest of my schedule for that. but you know i don't have

control over that. our government is the one that sets that. i think really our hope is that as the president has spoken out more, as other folks have and folks like yourself it's become a bigger issue in the last couple of months. >> iranian hostages held 444 days unjustly and and now this american, this american citizen, this "the washington post" reporter, has been jailed unjustly for 308 days. i find it hard to believe that the white house, that this administration, can't do something to free an innocent man. i just don't get it mika. i do not get it. there are no deals. there are no talks as long as you hold our american citizens hostage. >> i completely agree with that i'm think what you see right here is the very difficult position family members are in when they have hostages being held in a situation like this where he's being charged and put

in a secret trial, they're probably too afraid to be too critical about government. >> release our hostage. >> but we can. >> release our hostages and then we will actually start talking about whether we want to did a deal with you or not. that really should be the framework. i don't understand why it's not. >> you didn't say it but we did. thank you very much for being on the show this morning. >> thanks for having me again. and calling it out. please, anybody out there, #freejason follow us online. >> good luck. >> thank you very much. much more "morning joe" ahead. the new "jurassic park" film how it became a water shed for the movie industry.

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you can't say that word. >> yes, i can. >> the associated press. >> that's pretty good. >> thanks. >> out with its latest ranking of the highest paid ceos in america. >> good job. >> and six of the top ten earners all have something in common. they come from the media world and the a.p.'s business editor lisa gibbs joins us now. >> lisa. we hear that media's dying, old media's dying. >> yeah. falling apart. it's like an iceberg. >> these people are rich. david, who used to hang out here in a cubical at nbc, making $156 million at discovery communications. what did he do? >> that's his takehome pay. >> he signed a new deal arc degreeagree to stay with the company for six years. how does he make that much money? why is he -- >> shark week. >> why his making more money

there than say, les month vez or brian roberts. >> when he signed that deal a lot is coming in the form of stock. the high paid ceos, that's one thing they have in common. they're primarily getting paid in stock and option awards. the idea is if company does well for investors they'll do well too. >> wow. a name on the list who may be the only name where nobody's going to go, gee, why does he get paid so much money, less moonves moonves. he makes $54 million. and i would guess most cbs investors are would say good on you ex les. >> right. media stocks have done twice as well as the rest of stocks in the s&p index over the last five years. there are a lot of investor whose would say you made a lot of money for us we're happy. >> bob iger making a lot of money for disney "avengers" movies, "starwars" movies

loaded for bear. >> right. one name marissa mayer one come to crack the top ten. >> we hear she may not be able to last at yahoo! had all of these problems but one problem she does not have cashing $43 million of checks. >> it's a lot of stock. again, you know -- >> what has she done on the job that's been successful? >> well -- >> that is not fair. that is not fair. >> no i guess the question is are there some -- like you talk about les being productive. >> number one in prime time. >> are there surprises on this list where it's like why? >> marissa mayer is a big why, right? >> i don't know. >> because we've -- a lot of people are suggesting she's not long for the yahoo! world. >> i was saying to mika what's interesting to me, as much as we can get outraged over these numbers when it comes to investors being outraged it doesn't seem that they are. you don't hear a lot of

controversy or you know very rarely is there a lot of buzz. >> yahoo! making money for shareholders? i mean -- >> crickets on this topic. >> it is crickets. >> bob iger worth every penny for what he's done for disney. >> no doubt about it. >> yeah. >> no doubt about it bob iger again, look at series that they're doing. they're printing money. the same with les moonves. >> brian roberts who owns comcast, that owns this company, comcast, they got a daytime job, they're doing all right, too. i guess the story here is that there are media companies that have figured out how to navigate the shark-infested waters and are doing pretty damn well. >> shark week. >> if i say the average ceo makes 200 times the average american is that something that bothers you all, should it? >> mark halperin does that bother you? >> it bothers me.

too much, too big a gap. >> john heilemann, does it bother you? >> it does bother me in principle principle. the media business is not most portable business in the world. it's true some stockholders have done well on some of the stocks. but relatively speaking it's surprising that media should be the reward of media should be so great because the profit margins are not that fantastic. it's not like these are companies that like the tech sector where you have google explosive growth that kind of thing. it's weird there's this degree of concentration of wealth in this -- >> the reason why, it's a wild west. if you make airline engines you can see how ge makes area line engines. if you're les moonves, takes over cbs, david letterman is making fun of your network and pretty soon you're king of the hill and dominate or if you're igor and see what's happened with disney and "avenger"

movies, made over $1 billion for "avengers 2" and "star wars" you say i can't hire anybody off the street to do that. >> no. >> right? so because it is so volatile, maybe that's why they're with -- >> lisa gibbs, thank you very much. >> lisa. >> thank you. >> next thank you. >> most associated with "star wars" but george lucas helped bring more than 300 movies to the screen. how his special effects company creates 40 years of magic for generation of movie lovers. time upon a once people approached problems the way same. always start at the starting. and questions the same asking. but that only resulted in improvements small. so we step a took back and problems turned these inside-up-down to approach them newly.

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♪ >> freeze. >> get rid of it. >> i'll be right here. >> you are neither dead nor dying. what is your purpose here? >> jack sparrow sent me to settle his debt. >> i'm not looking for a friend. i'm looking for a jedi master. >> jedi master? you seek yoda.

>> you know him? >> take me to him i will. >> i thought he was going to lift the ship. that was a few of the films of george lucas' industrial life magic helped bring to screen. the latest issue of "wired" goes inside the factory to help celebrate the 40th anniversary. jason tanz. lucas did, "star wars" changed everything. >> sure. >> but what he did in his northern california dream factory just changed everything about the way we watch movies. >> absolutely. every sort of landmark achievement and visual effects traced back to the airplane hang gar in los angeles where it started. when he first got the contract to do "star wars," basically, he did not have the technology to make the film that he wanted to make. was not physically possible to make the kind of movie he wanted to make. so they had to innovate and build models and figure out new ways of filming so it would like

immediate and direct. he wanted to make it look like world war ii footage, that intensity for space battles. >> and here we are 30 years later, 30 40 years later, we're going to get all of the full effects in "star wars 7." of course everybody's scrambling around to get any crumbs they can about what's being made. you look even at the first trailers that have leaked a lot of emotion, you know incredible effects. it's like a homecoming for a lot of people. >> mark? >> were they technological geniuses, creative againgeniuses obviously both. >> that's a leading question. we have a big orel history of the making of ilm and the 40th anniversary. a number of different director says what makes them so special, they care about story, characterizationer, the art of film making and every movie they start new to say it's not enough to it rate on what we've done

before. we need to make something that's totally different and real there is time. >> i'm most taken with the one thing from the story which indicates that george lucas hopes to do a remake of "howard the duck." >> yes, yes, he's a dead ender on "howard the duck." >> want to perfect it? >> he said if we had today's technology back then "howard the duck" would have been a huge hit. >> howard the digital duck. >> i think there are other lucas films they could have gone back to do maybe 1, 2, 3, first choices. so is george lucas more of a steve jobs? is he a generalist that has the big idea or is he the guy that gets down and, you know when the circuit board and the soldering iron and puts the bores together. >> i say he's a little bit of both. first and foremost a filmmaker and artist but also a tinker and a guy really interested in exploring new frontiers and

hiring the people around him -- the people he degree up working with francis ford coppola, brian depalma, not people you think of as big special effects wizards and created this industry. >> "american graffiti" how did he stumble into "star wars"? >> a movie he always wanted to make. his friends thought he was nuts directors i was talking about. he'd have big story meetings jedis and crazy mythology, no one's poeing to follow this. >> how funny that is? >> yeah. but so there is a core story, he's a big fan of joseph mitchell and the hero's journey and all of that stuff. there's a lot of roots in classic storytelling but it's the visual effects that make it come to life. >> i don't use this joe, you don't know what it is, but potephoto shop. >> yeah. yeah. >> heard of it. >> americans who use photo shop many many times. >> who would do that? >> stop it god. >> it came out of somebody

tinkering -- an employee -- i can't talk -- >> photo shop. >> that's right, photo shop was a side -- as was pixar. >> photo shop came out of lucas? >> project but a side project that was built by an ilm engineer. crazy. >> it really is. that is something that's changed everything. >> the new issue of "wired" is out now. jason tanz, thank you very much. >> guys -- >> very patient. >> very patient than does it for this morning. we want to thank you so much for being with us. if it's way too early, it is "morning joe." stick around "the rundown" picks up cov average after a quick break. see you tomorrow.

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support and vital medicines. at our infusion centers or in patients homes. we help them fight the good fight. cvs health, because health is everything. good morning, i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin "the rundown" with breaking news on the extreme weather in texas. take a look at this. massive flooding. several areas in houston under water as we speak. the city schools and mass transit shut down. houston affiliate kprc is flying above surveying the historic flooding. hundreds of houston rockets fans are stranded at the toyota center here's the mayor on the today show last