hello to you. it's high noon in the east. 9:00 in the west. sean penn meeting el chapo. he lands a controversial interview with the mexican druglord. what the fallout could be for penn and the actress who helped make that happen. no maybes? >> no maybes. i'm not leaving. >> you're going straight to the convention. >> maybe that can happen. >> he's in it for the long haul. in a new interview on "meet the press" donald trump talks about what happens if he loses iowa and while he'll not stop talking about former president bill clinton's past. and absolutely gargan tu an. the powerball expected to grow to $1.3 billion. we start this sunday hour with some extraordinary new developments following the arrest of the mexican cartel head known as el chapo.

in a twist worthy of a hollywood thriller, sean penn secretly met with joaquin el chapo guzman. he interviewed him just a few months before guzman's friday night arrest. now the article written by penn was published on rolling stone's website last night. the druglord in that interview answering questions on video that had been given to him ahead of time. el chapo said he went into the drug trade as a teenager because there was no other way to make a living. there was certainly a lot more to this story. gabe gutierrez is outside the mexican prison where guzman is currently being held. that report that was in "rolling stone" from sean penn that he claims through this interview he had with el chapo goes on for quite some time. >> yeah, that's right, richard.

just when you thought this case, this saga couldn't get any stranger. this is believed to be el chapo's first public interview in several decades. and now sean penn claiming that he spoke with joaquin el chapo guzman several months ago. the stunning interview with the world's most wanted druglord posted online overnight by wt rolling stone" magazine. joaquin el chappo guzman responding to questions submitted by sean penn and kate del castillo after they secretly met with the drug kingpin following his daring escape from a maximum security prison last july. guzman admitting that drugs destroy but saying that unfortunately where he grew up, there was no other way to survive. asked if he's prone to violence, el chapo said all he does is defend himself. nothing more. the videos were taken by his associates after an hours long

face-to-face meeting with penn and del castillo atop a mountain at an undisclosed location in mexico. this photo was taken to authenticate that meeting. >> i supply more heroin, meths amphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world elchapo is quoted as saying. authorities were aware penn and del castillo were in mexico to meet with guzman. authorities were in the process of trying to locate and capture him. a planned arrest sweep was delayed to ensure the two would not be hurt. when the october raid took place, they are believed to have escaped having been alerted by local residents. we're told authorities believe that delay may have cost them the element of surprise. we reached out to sean penn but he was unavailable for comment. it wasn't until friday morning the mexican navy captured el chapo following a bloody shootout in his home state. this is though first look inside

the drainage tunnel where he tried to make his last ditch effort to escape. mexican officials are moving toward extraditing guzman to face charges in the u.s. >> chapo's going to be fighting extradition with every resource that he possibly has. >> as for penn's piece, in "rolling stone," it was agreed upon beforehand the finished piece would be submitted to the subject for approval. now "rolling stone" says that subject, in this case, el chapo, made no changes. we're told mexican authorities are investigating penn's trip, but on friday the mexican attorney general said that it was el chapo's desire to make a movie about himself and his interaction with producers and actors. that was one of the leads that ultimately and eventually led to his arrest. richard? >> gabe, thank you. live report there for us from

m mexico. coming up, how likely it was that authorities were able to eventually track and catch guzman because of these contacts that gabe was telling us about. we'll talk to a former fbi agent. that's in about 15 minutes. two days from now, the president will deliver a state of the union address for the very last time. the white house has hinted this will be the unconventional speech. dennis mcdonagh would not give much away but did say this. >> the president sat us down late last year to say, i don't want it to be a list of policy choices. we have a lot of policy. you'll hear a lot about that over the course of this year. what he wants to do is talk about a vision for the future of this country. we feel we can win this future. we feel optimist buck tic about future. and that's what you hear about on tuesday night. >> nbc's ron allen is live at the white house for us this day. ron, good morning. good afternoon to you at this

point. i understand one chair will be left empty to represent victims of gun violence, something the president wants to have there. who else will be in attendance that you have heard about? >> well, richard, the first lady's box is always the focus of some political theater for these remarks. there are expected to be about 25 guests there. many representing various issues and concerns that the president has. in addition to that empty chair for the 30,000 victims of gun violence, for example, there's a man named richard -- ryan reyes who was an activist who lost a friend and partner in the san bernardino shooting. also a man who was a syrian refugee. a civil engineer, ph.d. he made it to this country and is resettling in the detroit area with his adult children after making a perilous journey from syria through turkey to get to this country. this issue of refugees resettling here is a major point. beyond that we're also going to meet some people who will take us back to the 2008 campaign.

you may recall a man named earl smith, a vietnam veteran, who gave mr. obama a military patch from his unit back in those days that mr. obama carried around with him. and edith childs, a local city council who made up that chant, fired up and ready to go that we heard throughout the campaign. mr. obama inviting them, his aides say, because they represent a generation that mr. obama stands on the shoulders of. a lot of political theater and that image of the empty chair for the victims of gun violence will be one of the more moving things we'll see that night, along with a speech that will be a lot about optimism. that's the word we hear more than anything else. >> as you so well noted, we mark history through the state of the union address through time. you brought us back through some of the more memorable ones. we'll see what happens on tuesday. thank you, ron allen at the white house. we invite you to watch the state of the union tuesday night with

us. special coverage at 8:00 eastern on msnbc. you may have heard about this. no one won the powerball jackpot last night. the good news, though, the expected payout for wednesday's drawing, $1.3 billion. nbc's kerry sanders joins us from south florida. and here's his report. >> tonight's jackpot has climbed up to a record-breaking $949.8 million. your winning powerball number it is lucky 13 tonight. >> turns out these weren't the lucky numbers for the millions of ticket holders who played 75% of all possible combinations on that record jackpot. again, no grand prize winner. meaning powerball fever just got even hotter. after building for two months, now wednesday's jackpot will be

at least $1.3 billion. that's billion with a "b." >> i think that's more than i could spend probably. >> $2 and a drink. >> it's a dream that lives on for at least another three days after what has been an absolute ticket buying frenzy in 44 states across the country. millions of tickets being sold every hour. what does a billion dollars buy? you could get 4,000 rolls royces to take 9 million friends to disney world and feed them 250 million cups of starbucks coffee. it seems americans are a generous bunch. >> give some to charity. >> i would give my 10% to church first. >> share it with a lot of people. >> and the other big dream many had while waiting in line -- >> wouldn't have to work anymore. >> nbc's kerry sanders with that

report. bone-chilling weather is threatening today's game between the vikings and seahawks in minneapolis where temperatures as low as 2 degrees below zero are in the forecast making it one of the coldest nfl playoffs in record. let's go to minneapolis where mike seidel -- who have you got around there? some people who like football? >> yeah, that's right. the diehard vikings fans out here. and it is cold. we started off at 10 below. right now 6 below zero. notice the difference? >> no. >> windchill 25 below zero. here's the thing. kickoff is in about an hour. and if it's 3 below or colder it will be the coldest vikings home game on record. they played for over 30 years in the dome and go into the new dome next year. it will be one of the top five or six coldest nfl games on record. every nfl game you think about

the freezer bowl in cincinnati, the coldest game on record, the ice bowl in green bay. right now 6 below zero. the sun is out. how many of you are on the north side of the stadium. that's where the sun is going to be hitting. north side? >> i can tell you, richard, i don't feel any warmth from the sun. very low sun angle. only goes up 23 degrees above the horizon. it's a matter of layering up. is it a guy or a gal? i can't tell. do you know how many layers you have on? >> six. >> that will do it. do you feel anything? do you feel warm? >> yeah. >> what's your secret? >> well -- >> a flask. >> what's your secret besides that thing? >> warm ear the foot warmers. foot warmers. >> works everywhere. >> warmers everywhere. >> head warmers, body warmers. everything. >> there you go. just layer up. it's mind over matter.

and the seahawks have never played in a game colder than 16 degrees. so we're thinking vikings take this just because of the cold weather. >> just because they can handle it. >> back to you from minneapolis-st. paul. >> they can handle it just because they can handle the cold weather. to politics now. just weeks before the iowa caucuses, a new poll showing the republican race there is closer than ever. the nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll shows ted cruz's lead over donald trump narrowing to just four points well, within the poll's margin of error. campaigning in the hawkeye state last night, trump addressed the closing poll gap and a uniquely trump way. >> i love iowa. we've done really well here. the polls have just said we're even. you're the only one where i'm even. we're winning every single national poll. we're winning every single state poll. we're even here. that's not going to happen,

right? we don't want even. even is no idea. even is no good. i have a feeling we're going to surprise a lot of people on february 1st. >> not even as of our latest poll. just an hour away in waverly, iowa, cruz held his own rally. saying about trump, he can toss whatever attacks he wants. for more we bring in "new york times" political politics reporter jeremy peters. good sunday to you. you know, one of the things as you looked at the poll numbers, you probably notice that was ted cruz, right? and the last time that we polled iowa, ted cruz took just 6%. at this point, he now holding a lead at least by the numbers that we've got. 28-24 within the margin of error. what would you say is causing cruz's big jump here? >> i think a lot of it has to do with ben carson's slide. remember, he was one of the

leaders in iowa for a long time. as he made a number of stumbles, as people started to question his grasp of the issues, especially foreign policy and he began to look like less of a serious candidate. a lot of those people, the evangelicals which make up almost 60% of the electorate, have broken for ted cruz. ted cruz has been campaigning in the state pretty good. especially in the more conservative rural northwestern portions of the state. it's having a real impact. i was on the ground there this week. everybody was talking about ted cruz's bus tour. >> as we -- so the bus tour itself, as he's been going city to city, it's been working out well. you're seeing more of an attraction towards cruz as opposed to, i don't like trump? >> right. you have seen trump's numbers slip a little bit, but what remains to be seen and the big question hanging over the republican nomination right now is, will those people who say they are trump supporters turn

out and caucus. the caucus process is very different from going out and pulling a refer like you would in a primary. whether or not these people actually show up is the issue. >> all right. so i want to look at another number here. when we look at potential caucusgoers because the numbers we were showing earlier was likely caucusgoers. we see that he overtakes cruz with potential caucusgoers. this is trump here. when we look at that number. 26 to 24. and as you know so well, the question really is, who is peaking at the right time and who has the momentum? as we get close to three weeks to iowa, who would you say is peaking or getting close to that peak at the right time? >> i can tell you, i think some of marco rubio's supporters of looking at ted cruz's numbers

and not fretting all that much about it. they think he may be peaking and that's coming too soon. we're still three weeks from the voting. the unresolved question is as in 2008 as you saw with president obama drawing all these new voters in to the caucus process, does trump do something like that? there's not really been an up tick in voter registration. people can register on the same day. that may not mean much. for now there doesn't appear to be a lot of hard evidence that trump is converting those supporters into voters just yet. >> i want to touch on this because you wrote on it recently. when you were saying here that marco rubio has a drive-by campaigning style, and you wrote this, too light a footprint anywhere will leave many voters there resentful, but he may risque raising hopes that could be dashed with potentially devastating consequences.

the rubio camp says he's just being efficient in the way he's traveling. which side of this argument are voters seeing? are they seeing a rubio that is working hard or is not? >> they are getting a lot of exposure from him. exposure to him in local media. and this is by design. he has concentrated his visits in the larger media markets like des moines. the question is whether voters somehow resent the fact that he doesn't appear to be hustling as much as ted cruz. >> and what i can't answer for you is whether or not voters look at that and see somebody who isn't working hard enough or whether they say, okay, that's all right. i'm not voting for cruz. i'm not voting for trump. marco rubio is my guy. >> thank you so much. coming up, help in the works for

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an update fo a story we've been following. a woman suspected in multiple jewelry store robberies has been arrested. the same suspect is believed to have carried out at least six robberies in five southern states. now to mexican druglord joaquin el chapo guzman. he could soon be drougbrought t united states to face trial. guzman was captured in mexico friday. six months after escaping from prison. this story of his arrest is complicated today by the publication of a story in rolling stone detailing a meeting between el chapo and

sean penn. let's bring in clint van zandt. what a twist to the story now, clint. nbc news has learned from a trusted source that authorities were aware that sean penn and the actress that was reportedly in this meeting, kate del castillo were in mexico to meet with el chapo and elchappo's desire to make a movie about himself was one of the leads that eventually led to his arrest. when you try to put together what we know today, how likely the authorities were able to eventually track and catch guzman because of these contacts, as has been said. >> we look at vanity, vanity, vanity. you think of over the decades and centuries how many people has that brought down? now i'm sure sean penn may have delusions that he's actually

going to play el chapo in the movie. what we care is what happens with probably this greatest druglord in the world. according to former u.s. drug czar barry mccaffrey, only about 5% of serious crimes are ever handled by the authorities. nobody is ever convicted. part of it is the influence of these druglords. these drug gangs. if you count the soldiers that el chapo has supporting hum and other druglords, that equals the standing military of the entire country of mexico. so a lot needs to be done. part of that is getting el chapo out of mexico where he'll probably get another get out of jail card somehow and into a supermax prison in the u.s. where we can guarantee he's going nowhere. >> clint, those details you brought up, in addition to that, as you know, it took mexican

authorities, what, six months to find and arrest guzman. and during that time, penn and del castillo, the actress that allegedly put this meeting together. they were able to meet with guzman. guzman was able to do a video interview. and according to the "rolling stone" article, the interview is quite something. do you believe this is an embarrassment for mexican law enforcement as it looks like sean penn and del castillo were able to get direct connection with this most wanted man? >> we have to hear the rest of the story. part of it may be, let's hope there was a james bondian type of locator in the heel of sean penn's boot or something that allowed authorities to track him or trace him. sean penn is no journalist. he has nothing to hide behind saying this was a journalistic interview. he had to submit to questions in advance. he had to submit the final interview for approval. this is nothing other than el

chapo getting a lot of advanced publicity for the movie that he wants to be made about himself. my only hope is that when he watches that movie, he's in a u.s. prison and he gets to watch reruns over and over because he goes nowhere but a u.s. prison. >> as you bring up the point of el chapo being in a u.s. prison, there's the question of sean penn. afp reporting that mexico wants to talk with penn over this meeting that you and i are talking about. report that nbc news has not confirmed as of yet. could this latest development, this report, this "rolling stone" story, could this be a problem for sean penn? >> well, we have to see. we have to see if he either willingly or unwillingly may have provided some type of information. look. he may not have said x marks the spot where i met el chapo yesterday. but sean penn or somebody else

in their entourage may have given up the name or description of one person at that meeting. the authorities may have identified that person's cell phone, and that could easily have led to the identification, the location. so the rest of the story is still to be told but there is going to be people in hollywood, probably to include sean and others, that are going to be taking bows one way or the other. >> what a 24 hours we've had on this story, clint van zandt. thank you for your perspective, as always. >> thank you. tighter than ever with three weeks to go before iowa. the new numbers from an nbc news poll on the race between bernie sanders and hillary clinton, very close.

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unavailable. let's bring in nicky novak with "young hollywood." it's only been 24 hours. now we have a reported meeting with none other than sean penn and el chapo sitting down. many have said this is an odd hollywood story. you've seen many of them over the years. from your perspective, in this one, a renowned star able to secretly meet with one of the most notorious fugitives aided by a telenovella actress. when you look at this being put together, it's a big movie day in hollywood. the golden globes tonight. what kind of traction will this have as you are out there talking to all of the movie stars? >> it's interesting because he had his big event last night. help haiti home. and this story broke a few hours before, and apparently nobody talked about it at the event. he still raised $7 million. madonna, his ex was there.

leonardo dicaprio. you can imagine that ricky gervais is quickly writing a joke for tonight. he's not one to stay away from this controversy. last year sean penn created controversy at the oscars when he award the best picture oscar and he made a green card joke. i think sean penn may be the mastermind behind his own pr. >> that may not be surprising given his history. >> this is hollywood. >> he does have a film this year. got to do something. >> so well said. you read the article here and just for our viewers, in the "rolling stone" story he says, i took some comfort in a unique aspect of el chapo's reputation among the heads of the drug cartel. el chapo is a businessman 50 and open resorts to violence when he deems to advantageous to himself

or his business interest. penn seen as being somewhat polarizing in hollywood. and he is making statements that some may say you've got this completely wrong, sean penn. do you think this will affect his standing in hollywood at all getting future gigs? >> you use the word polarizing. this is going to make the people who like him and support him are going to support him even more. and others are definitely going to go in the other direction. i don't know if it will affect his film rolls. he's seen as a legend in hollywood. even though he's been out there and had some controversy. he's also been very elusive. you don't see him out a lot. he only comes out and talks when it's something he's passionate about. however, that statement in itself you just read, the justification of violence saying, he only resorts to violence, only part of a drug cartel and he doesn't instigate

it. anybody on the fence might head towards the side of sort of staying away from him. it could tarnish his reputation in the short term. in the long term, remains to be seen. >> may be call the member of the second brat pack. he's holding true to that name. >> yeah. >> this is a name i have not heard of but you might know here. and that's kate del castillo. the individual, the mexican telenovella actress who what we hear is the person that put together this meeting with guzman. who is she? >> she is a mexican-born actress. a telenovella actress. played in a soap opera where i think she played a drug lord in the soap opera. she was on "weeds" here that death with a drug story line. it's ironic. apparently she tweeted support of him in 2012.

and that sort of instigated a meeting between the two of them and sean penn wrote that guzman was enamored with her and spent much of the interview putting his attention towards her and that it seemed like he had a romantic interest in her. so we're going to learn more and moire about her. one of those people that i definitely interviewed her before and know who she is but people are going to be talking about her a lot more now. >> what sort of person is she when you interviewed her? >> sweet. seemed very sweet. before something like this comes out, you don't really hear about her political views or her social views. i just interviewed her for a project, and i know she's been on "csi miami." she hasn't had a huge presence here in hollywood, but, like i said, very sweet and nothing controversial came out of her mouth when i interviewed her. >> such's hollywood story. nicky novak -- >> you can't write this stuff. >> no, we cannot. indeed it's being written for

us. nicky novak with "young hollywood," thank you. we'll see you next hour as well. thank you for coming in. now to politics. the state of the union address tuesday. that will be the president's last. be ready to hear a lot of positivity from a president who must now think about his legacy in office. a lot of hand pumping as he walks down the aisle of congress. with me now is jonathan alter, author of "the center hold, obama and his enemies" and columnist for the daily beast and many other things. as we hit number eight here, so this has been the question. will he go to policy? try to get down into the issues he cares about or will he be looking at, this is my last, eighth time, as i was saying earlier. the fist pumping and looking forward about his legacy and what it will mean for the country? >> it will be some combination. the white house has indicated this is not going to be a laundry list kind of speech.

in the past, not just president obama but earlier presidents have laid out an ambitious agenda where they satisfy all the agencies of government with what they've got on their to-do list. and bill clinton in particular used to give those kinds of speeches. obama has as well. he's not going to do that. it will be more thematic. there will be some specifics. things he really cares about. you know he's going to come back to the gun safety issue. it's quite likely that he'll talk about, you know, the challenge to do more on infrastructure, use these low interest rates we have to invest in america's future. but a lot of it will be not a victory lap but a more detailed description of this state of the union of barack obama. for a long time he didn't want to brag about the economy because a lot of people were still hurting. the recovery was slow. it was blowback in twint 12 when

he was running for re-election against him saying too many nice things about the economy. now things really have solidified. unemployment is very low by historic standards. when you think about it that's it was 10% the first year he was president? >> i remember. >> now less than half of that. inflation is in check. the fundamentals of the american economy are very strong. you can expect he'll brag about that. >> home sales are good. consumer confidence is good. all these things are in the green. will he do these things because he's thinking of, i want to support and help the democratic candidate? that's certainly in the mind, i know, of many, how might his speech set it up for hillary clinton or bernie sanders? >> so he has to have a democrat succeed him if he wants to have any sustained legacy as president. because a republican president,

any one of them, will repeal efrk he's done. just vetoed their repeal of obama care a couple of days ago. so he will do whatever he can to be succeeded by a democrat. i think he believes that it's not likely that the united states is quite willing to elect a socialist as president. so he's not going to specifically endorse hillary clinton, but a lot of his people are working for hillary clinton, and he clearly thinks she's the better bet to succeed him. and the important thing is not who agrees with him more, although hillary does, but who has the best chance of being elected president. every single thing he's done requires sustained effort by a successor. ongets that note, the new nbc news poll out just this morning coming out of iowa. we look at the numbers. it's where the first caucus will be held. where the first voting will be happening. it's a caucus. and it found the president's

approval rating amongst registered voters is at just 40% there. can he move the needle? >> i think that finding reflects the kind of tone deafness that he's had on the terrorism issue in the last few months. and he tried to address this in an oval office speech. not very successful. it was his second kind of unsuccessful effort to get in tune with where the american public is on this issue. you will see him make a third effort in the state of the union to convince people that he is responding appropriately to paris and sanbernardino. that will entail a good chunk of that foreign policy part of his speech. >> why is it a week earlier? why a week earlier? >> you know, i'm going to say something we don't say very often on television. i don't know why they are doing it earlier. >> jonathan alter does not know.

this is not like you, jon. it's sunday. you have a couple of days. jonathan alter, thank you so much, my friend. imagine having clean drinking water for you or your children. now new help is on the way for the city of flint dealing with lead contaminated water. 3 you owned your car for four years,

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water. moments ago the state announced starting tomorrow five locations with a complete suite of water resources. bottle water, and filters and tests for lead. it's not quite over. we talked to a doctor yesterday who said even when the water gets back on track, the medical problems will begin to emerge in three to five years. fix the water and then start dealing with the health problems. >> appreciate that. less than a month before voting starts it appears it's still anybody's game. coming up, new polls from iowa and new hampshire show just how close the presidential race is. sometimes those seats are out of reach, costing an outrageous number of miles. it's time to switch... to the capital one venture card. with venture, you'll earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day.

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the new neck and neck in a new nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll. ted cruz and donald trump right there, too. polls have them virtually tied as well. joining me is former dnc chairman howard dean. also former republican congressman tom davis, author of "the partisan divide." thank you both for being here. i'll start with you, chairman dean. that new poll when we look at bernie sanders, hillary clinton in iowa, as well as in new hampshire, they are within the margin of error. neck and neck. and the question might be, who is surging at the moment? who has the movement and the energy that will take them fourth as we get closer to that voting day? >> hillary has closed the gap greatly in new hampshire. bernie is starting to close the gap in iowa. i think it's impossible to say. i am supporting hillary, and i am very happy with where she is right now.

>> you look at the numbers here, congressman davis. the poll found an incredible surge on the republican side, too. we stay on the democrats here for a second. what is it that stands out for you when you look at the democratic side? when we did theoretical matchups with hillary clinton and bernie sanders against any potential republican nominees, we found in these two states that bernie sanders does better than hillary clinton. what do you make of that? >> i think hillary clinton has a built in constituency. bernie is the new new thing. he's not been vetted as much as hillary clinton has over the past two decades. she has much higher negatives, and i think you see sanders having a higher appeal to votedevoted e ers. >> another part of the poll we found interesting here, chairman dean, is that in terms of who had the most support, it

continues to be bernie sanders with the young and when it came to hillary clinton, those in the 54 -- 50s range. what do you make of that? >> these polls are very interesting. and i remember the polls very well this time 12 years ago. >> still too early? >> if polls meant much -- >> yeah it is early. especially fluid in iowa. you don't know who turns out until the night of the caucus. >> iowa as well as new hampshire and it is the super independent state is it not? because you can vote for either one of the two sides up to the very point of pulling that lever. to your point, the fact that it's so close onny in democratic side in new hampshire, is this, therefore, mean that it is pretty much set with the numbers we're seeing right now when we do look at new hampshire on the

republican side in that trump 30 percentage points and rubio 14 percentage points at the moment? >> you look after rubio, it gets packed in new hampshire. you have find candidates. kasich, christie, pu ii ichrist. they're all right together. you may hold more independent voters and democrat leaning voters in the democratic primary that crossing over into the republican primary. that may hurt some of the more establishment or centrist republican candidates in new hampshire. if you think iowa is -- >> to you, chairman, as donald trump makes the push to tack the former president, will there be any former spillover that may assist bernie sanders in the votes there? >> well, the people that i know on both sides think it actually helps hillary. every time somebody has tried that in the past, people believe

it's unfair and they flock to hillary. women especially. i don't think without looking at the cross tabs in a poll like this, there's no way you can know that. there's lots of different theories. if i were donald trump, i couldn't do that. he's taking on the best politician since franklin roosevelt. not likely to win this one. >> who has the better ground game, governor? >> i don't know that either. that's more on the republican side. both bernie and hillary have better ground games. i think hillary's is better probably in both states a little bit. that's going to make a difference. that's the big question in iowa. trump is leading iowa again for the first time in about six weeks. can he deliver it? i have no idea. >> congressman, with that question of who has the better ground game if you are the republican, either trump or cruz or rubio, who would you be more worried about at this moment based on the polling? it's so close in both states

when we look at the democrats. >> if you look at the polling in iowa among all republicans, trump does better. but the likely voters, it's cruz. that reflects the fact that cruz is better organized. trump brings a lot of energy to the republican contest. you look at the crowds he's attracting. even in vermont he had people out the door and around the block. if he can translate that organizationally, he becomes very difficult to defeat. and the $64,000 question is, will he be able to do that? in iowa, it will be the first test of that. harder to get people out and stay a whole evening in iowa. if trump can do that, it's going to make him stronger in new hampshire, south carolina and becomes a juggernaut. >> tom davis, thank you, as well as form or dnc chairman howard dean. thank you both so much for your perspective. sean penn lands an interview

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wrons once a secret handshake. now a secret hollywood twist. how did sean penn find el chapo before authorities did? bernie sanders and hillary clinton neck and neck. what's keeping the races so close there? going to buy a lottery ticket? >> yeah. >> give some to charity. help family members. >> lady luck pulls a powerball no-show. next jackpot a $1.3 billion whopper. a good sunday to you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." i'm richard lui. 1:00 in the east, 10:00 in the west. we're going to start with some xroo extraordinary new developments starting with el chapo. "rolling stone" revealing, actor

sean penn secretly met with joaquin el chapo guzman. he interviewed him just a few months before guzman's friday night arrest. the article written by penn was published on "rolling stone's" website just last night. the druglord in that interview answered questions on video that had been given to him ahead of time. "rolling stone" saying the final story was subject to approval by chapp io who did not ask for an changes. chapo said he went into the drug trade as a teenager because there was no other way to make a living. all of that just in part. gabe gutierrez is outside the mexican prison where guzman is being held and has the complete story on this. gabe, good day to you. >> richard, good afternoon. this is truly a remarkable story as you mentioned. this is believed to be el chapo's first public interview in several decades. mexican authorities are now investigating this trip.

and sean penn says that he interviewed joaquin el chapo guzman while on the run a few months ago. the stunning interview with the world's most wanted druglord posted online overnight by rolling stone magazine. joaquin el chapo guzman responding to questions submitted by sean penn and mexican soap opera star kate del castillo. after they secretly met with the drug kingpin following his desperate escape from a prison last july. guzman admitting that drugs destroy but saying unfortunately where he grew up there was no other way to survive. asked if he's prone to violence, el chapo said all he does is defend himself. nothing more. the videos were taken by his associates after an hours-long face to face meeting with penn and del castillo atop a mountain at an undisclosed location in

mexico. this photo was taken to authoenticate that meeting. i supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than any one. meanwhile a trusted source says authorities were aware penn and del castillo were in mexico to meet with guzman. authorities were in the process of trying to locate and capture el chapo. a planned arrest sweep was delayed to ensure the two were not harmed. el chapo and his security team are believed to have escaped having been alerted by local residents. that delay may have cost them the element of surprise. we reached out to sean penn but he was unavailable for comment. it wasn't until friday morning the mexican navy captured him following a bloody shootout in his home state. this is the first look inside the drainage tunnel where guzman tried to make his last-ditch effort to escape. mexican officials are moving toward extraditing guzman to

face charges in the u.s. >> chapo guzman is going to be fighting extradition with every resource that he possibly has. >> the question right now is how much did penn's interview either help or hurt the overall operation? on friday, the mexican attorney general said that it was chapo's overall desire to make a movie about himself that was one of the lead, as well as his interaction with producers and actors. one of the leads that helped track him down and lead to his arrest. richard, back to you. >> gabe gutierrez in mexico, outside the prison where guzman is being held. let's bring in the author of "the last narco."

nbc news reached out to sean penn overnight but he was unavailable. as we look at this story here, malcolm, and you read through the article and what sean penn has written in "rolling stone," were you at all surprised that el chapo here, joaquin guzman, allowed this to happen? and why? >> i'm not surprised that he allowed the interview to happen. people have reached out to him before. i reached out through sources to get an interview for my book, but i didn't push very hard because i was less interested in him than in how people live under organized crime. the question is really now what -- why chapo reached out? what does he stand to benefit? one thing that struck me, i don't know exactly the laws, but if i'm right, criminals can

benefit, they can profit from their crimes through movies or their relatives can. and i think chapo is at a point right now where the authorities over the last six years or so have seized his assets throughout the world from mexico to colombia to argentina, and even eastern europe. and i wonder if he's at a point where he's thinking, how can i make money that i can guarantee will safely go to my family. he's always said he wants his family to stay out of the drug trade. >> he's called a billionaire. why he might need money is in question here. have you contacted guzman for your book? have you interacted with him before? >> no, i never interacted with him before, nor did i really push for that. i was much more interested in the law enforcement side of things. and i have actually, when i used to work at "newsweek," we were

scooped by sean penn there. i think he got an interview with grand ayatollah sistani in iran. and it doesn't surprise me. he's always had a knack for getting stories and/or doing things that other people would like to do but are tied down by their daily jobs. getting chapo just wasn't that crucial to me. >> malcolm, as you were going through your book, and you got to know and understand who guzman is, is there anything in the article that sean penn wrote that stood out to you? >> not particularly. nothing in the interview. the things that chapo said, we all, everyone already knew. you -- that's -- you could find that from testimony, people who have talked to him and known him. there's plenty of that available. i think -- no, the most interesting thing in the

relation stone article was, as often is the case with some of these things, how he got there. the whole saga of how he got the story. the story itself, you know, a great mexican publisher who p s passed away recently did an interview with a crony of chapo's a new years ago. and it was the same story. you don't get much from the guy himself. it's very hard. i'm not surprised that the interview was controlled by chapo. i'm not surprised that he was asked to, you know, that he reviewed it before publication. there's a lot of buzz on twitter and among journalists whether it's ethical. when you interview a guy like that, you don't necessarily make the rules. >> right. malcolm, while nbc news has confirmed authorities were aware penn was in mexico to meet with

guzman, we also understand the linchpin of this penn/guzman meeting was a telenovella star, kate del castillo. have you heard of her before, n what do you make of that detail that you -- that detail, her being the one that brought the two together? it looks like our connection there with malcolm, author of "the last narco"has been lost. but if we get a reconnection, we'll try to get back to him. reflecting on that article written by sean penn about el chapo, joaquin guzman and his perspective on getting that interview and developments are in that story. now to how the penn/el chapo story is playing out in the press. it's dominated the upper fold of the "new york times." the drug lord and the actor.

a secret huddle in the jungle accompanied with that's picture of penn and el chapo shaking hands. hollywood hopes sunk chapo is on the headline on the bottom half of the "l.a. times" front page. the "boston herald" has "penn pals." and variety reports on sean penn's appearance at a beverly hills fund-raiser. when asked to talk about el chapo, the actor said, i can't, and then walked away. plenty much more to explore on this story throughout this hour and there may be a legal fallout. did sean penn and that mexican actress break any laws here in the united states or in mexico? we'll talk about that in about 20 minutes. to politics. a new poll shows the clinton camp may be on the ropes and ted cruz is on the rise. sanders is in the lead in new hampshire. he's within striking distance in iowa, too. again within the margin of error. effectively tied. ted cruz has made a dramatic

climb to the top himself. gained nearly 20 points in the hawkeye state. political editor carrie dan joins me to break it all down. good sunday to you. a lot to pull from these numbers you have been going through for us on this sunday. and the rule seems to be if you are getting attacked in this election cycle, you are probably a serious threat. let's play a clip of donald trump talking about cruz and the so-called birther issue. >> he has to solve this problem. because the democrats will sue him if he's the nominee. if ted is the nominee, he will be sued by the democrats. according to one of the great lawyers of the country, at harvard with strong opinions on this, the whole thing has not been this matter as he said, this matter has not been determined. >> all right. he's going after cruz. a little nervous perhaps then. >> that's right, richard. this latest poll we have,

specifically numbers in iowa, show ted cruz has surge and become a real threat to donald trump in that state. cruz is up 20 points since october. clearly donald trump has been going after ted cruz on several issues. the citizenship matter for ted cruz has been percolating since last march when ted cruz first announced his run. this came up in conservative media. trump has pushed it to the forefront. trump is going after ted cruz on issues that resonate in that key state of iowa. he's been calling ted cruz a flip flopper on the immigration issue and talking about cruz's position on ethanol. something that voters nationwide may not care a lot about but republicans in iowa do care about cruz's position on that. one thing that's worth specifically noting about trump versus cruz in iowa. cruz is up about four points, still within the margin of error but up on ted cruz. when you look at likely caucus gt goers, people most likely to

go on the polls on that night. donald trump is performing better than cruz when you expand the electorate. one thing he wants to do is blunt the impact of cruz and take him down a notch but donald trump wants to boost the electorate. get more voters who don't traditionally come out to the caucuses. >> on the democratic side, numbers are so close in both states. within the margin of error. and hillary clinton reflected on the latest poll numbers. let's get your reaction. >> these polls go up, they go down. i stay pretty focussed, as i think we all should on what we have to do to build on the progress of the obama administration. but go even further. and that's why i've outlined a very significant agenda to raise wages and to take on the gun lobby and to be making america safe in every way that i can. and those are some of the differences that i have with my primary opponents.

>> listen to what she's saying in response to the numbers that just came up in the nbc news/"wall street journal" and marist. did she expect it to be this close in the cycle despite how well she's doing in national polling. >> you should look no closer than the attacks, specifically on the gun issue. she's going to take on the gun lobby. she's been clearly trying to create some daylight between her and sanders on the gun issue, bringing up in an interview on "hardball" earlier this week about those differences. she's been trying to take that issue which is salient with the democratic base. calling for sanders to apologize for his past positions perhaps sptsing gun manufacturers. and also look at the surrogates going out on the trail for clinton. lena dunham out in new hampshire along with abby wambach. chelsea clinton will be going

out. bernie sanders is doing better with younger voters than hillary clinton. clearly the campaign in brooklyn is trying to address that issue by putting out younger, more millennial supporters who can talk about clinton's record to an audience that perhaps wasn't paying as much attention in the '90s when bill clinton was president. >> you have hypotheticals you also put together. when you look at hillary clinton versus bernie sanders against a potential republican nominee, it appears that bernie sanders would do better in most of those matchups. what did you make of all of that? >> definitely correct that bernie sanders is doing betters than hillary clinton in head-to-head mauchs against donald trump and some of the other candidates as well. he's performing much better with independent voters than hillary clinton is in those matchups. one caveat about head-to-head matchups, and we learn a lot about polling like that. hillary clinton has been r

relentlessly under attack by republicans. there are headlines about their newest salvos against her. bernie sanders has not been subject to the same volume of attacks from the other side and opposition research. that's starting to change as he's doing better in the polls. you're hearing donald trump going after sanders as a socialist and he's kind of crazy. clinton a numbers may be depressed, and i think bernie sanders approval ratings, a little more fluid going forward. >> carrie dann, thanks again. the powerball jackpot hit world records. $1.3 billion is the expected payout for wednesday a drawing. kerry sanders is in florida. some people's dreams got a lot larger. >> think about it this way. it was surprising news that nobody won but it's also good news because we can still get a chance to win this record jackpot. $1.3 billion.

so big that it doesn't fit on the billboard there. to give you an idea how much money we're talking about. we're talking about 1.30000000. so let's say you're the sole winner. you take the cash option. you get $806 million. you get that in $1 bills and put that in stacks that are 20 different stacks. i'm going to put it under my mattress. you mattress is 17,000 feet up into the air. that's how much money we're talking. i don't know how to quantify $1.3 billion. in one word i'd say absurd. that's a lot of money. >> that's a lot of money and a lot of people want a piece of that. that will be a mattress to be had. kerry sanders, thank you. president obama is preparing for his last state of the union address. new word on people who the president will be honoring tuesday night. t... may not always be clear.

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president obama will stand before congress and the nation tuesday night to deliver the very last state of the union address in his presidency. when he does, some very specific guests will be in attendance there. the first lady's box will be filled with more than 20 special guests. nbc's ron allen is at the white house with the details. ron? >> good afternoon. the night is always filled with political theater. the first lady's box, the focus of some of that along with the pageantry of the president's entrance. and a lot of that is meant to send a political message, the guest list. this year the focus will be in one case an empty seat. meant to symbolize 30,000 people

killed by gun violence every year, according to the administration. this is clearly an issue that the president feels very passionately about. we've seen that in the past week. and so there will be an empty chair to represent those individuals who have lost their lives. we're also going to see ryan reyes who lost his partner larry kaufman in the san bernardino shooting. we'll also see a man from syria, a professor who is a refugee who came to this country and resettling wute ining with his the detroit issue. immigration, migration. there's been calls to stop the immigration of refugees from coming into this country while the administration says they'll admit some 10,000 syrians in the coming years. also a number of people who will take us back to 2008, the year the president was first elected. earl smith who gave the president a small patch from his brigade that the president kept

with him during the time he was campaigning, and edith childs who coined the phrase, fired up and ready to go. south carolina counselor who again gave us that phrase that echoed throughout the campaign. these two people, the administration says, represent a generation that president obama says he owes a lot to. he's standing on their shoulders. they'll be there as well. one of the enduring images will be that empty chair in the first lady's box on the occasion of the president's last state of the union. a speech that is going to be nontraditional. it's basically going to be what president obama thinks he has accomplished over the past seven years. how far we've come, in his view, and where the nation should be going. >> thank you, ron. nbc's ron allen at the white house with a preview of the state of the union address on tuesday. you can watch right here on msnbc. a philadelphia police officer ambushed in the line of duty remains hospitalized today. doctors are working on repair

nerve damage to officer jesse hartnett. he was shot in an ambush-style attack thursday night. the suspect wounded by hartnett as he fled the scene was arraigned saturday. adam reese is in philadelphia with more. adam? >> richard, good afternoon. eight counts, including attempted murder, assault and illegal possession of a weapon. all related to that brazen ambush that you saw on tape early friday morning as he ru rushes to the car of jesse hartnett, wearing a white robe firing five times. he reaches into the car and firing three times, striking him in the arm. the officer is able to get out of the car and give chase and fire back. he did it in the name of islam. yesterday they were at his home taking out evidence to see if there's a connection between him and isis. he's currently being held without bail. i spoke to the police

commissioner. >> what can you tell us about the investigation and this suspect edward archer, that you have learned since early friday morning? >> we're still working with the federal authorities trying to see if there's any nexus between him and others. we haven't uncovered that yet. we don't know if he was radicalized on the internet. some of this is all speculation. we're working very hard to figure all this out. >> the commissioner just visited with him. hartnett has a broken arm. it's shattered. he says he's in critical but stable condition. his father says he's got a long road ahead of him but certainly he is happy to be alive today. richard? >> adam, thank you for that report. adam reese in philadelphia for us. it's a crisis of poisonous water. new help is coming for people in flint, michigan. with my diabetes. i do my best to manage. but it's hard to keep up with it. your body and your diabetes change over time.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." i'm richard lui. we're following developments in the aftermath of el chapo. sean penn secretly met with joaquin el chapo guzman. interviewed him just months before his friday night arrest. the article written by penn is published on "rolling stone's" website last night. nbc news reached out to penn for comment but he was unavailable. the druglord answered questions on video given to him ahead of time. guzman was asked if he was prone to violence. his answer in spanish was this -- >> let's bring in defense

attorney, former prosecutor and "weekend today" legal analyst karen desoto. thank you for being here. will sean penn be brought in? will he face questions? >> did he have a duty to report? he didn't have a duty to report. should all of his information, video be turned over? those are two different questions. we have federal and state law. and there is a statute. 18 usc section 4 that says if you have knowledge of a commission of a felony, and conceal it, you can be charged with a crime and that follows with up to a three-year penalty. that's not used, very rarely used. it's used for public officials or people within the authority. but, it could be used to hang over your head to get information. he was there interviewing -- this is sean penn. he's an actor, not a trained news journalist. how far have we stepped away that two actors are meeting with one of the most destructive people. the carnage, death, murder,

mayhem in this man's week. sean penn doing that, not just safety issues, but this is serious. >> what is the likelihood that he'll get charged? >> the likelihood is very slim. 18 usc section 4 is used very rarely. however there is information that not only did he have knowledge. what did he tell authorities? did he have a duty to report to the united states? at what time did he do that and did he conceal that? even when you have journalistic privilege or shield laws, there are exceptions. if you make yourself witness to a crime. this is very serious. even with serious news journalists, this has to be done meticulously and carefully. this is a dangerous, serious situation. sean penn as an actor and a soap opera star going over to mexico to confront somebody like this, this isn't the movies or tv. this is real life. >> he's not a journalist. what may be the next step in this, if any, when it comes to

sean penn and the legal ramifications? >> certainly, he is a witness to a lot of interesting information. >> he can be call in for various cases. >> for aiding and abetting. everyone involved in that scene down there in mexico. 6 to 9 states, federal and state charges. this is not a joke. the mexican government, it's been reported, that they assure the united states that when they imprisoned him this time they could keep limn in prhim in pri. if he gets extradited and which prison he falls into, this is serious. >> talking about sean penn in the united states. what about in mexico? and they having this interaction reportedly there in that country? legally, what might the two face? >> just for the -- >> it's interesting because we don't have information on what they were aware of and who they told and when. to the extent of -- she might have reported it. he might have reported it, but it looks like from what we've

seen from the article and the information he is given that he was wary ever people tracking his movements and concealed it with burner phones. this is what's been reported. how far they went, who knew what and when and ultimately it was el chapo wanting to do a biography and wanting to put himself in the movies and tv that led to his capture. but who knew what and when is a serious issue for the authorities. >> they've just added another chapter to the would-be movie. >> they did. >> karen desoto, thanks so much. new polling from nbc news and "the wall street journal" poll shows bernie sanders pulling ahead of hillary clinton in new hampshire and besting her in a hypothetical matchup. this is within the margin of error. the sudden loss of ground has put the clinton campaign on edge, even sending out an e-mail entitled nervous. the clinton camp released this ad on saturday. take a listen. >> think about it. >> i would bomb the [ bleep ]

out of them. >> one of these republicans. >> carpet bomb them in oblivion. >> could actually be president. >> sit down and shut up. >> enacting their agenda. >> our wages are too high. >> defund planned parenthood. >> their background dangerous. so ask yourself, who is the one candidate who can stop them? hillary clinton. >> for more on this, let's bring in heidi pris boyzbola. what did you think of the ad? >> it speaks to the argument hillary clinton is trying to make. i'm the more electable candidate. she didn't mention bernie sanders by name, but you are increasingly on both sides of the campaigning seeing the punches starting to land harder and elbows starting to get sharper. she's known all along, her campaign has known all along that things are going to tighten up in iowa. the nbc poll is more reflective

of probably the situation on the ground there. why? it's of likely voters. in iowa that means something different than a lot of other states because of their unique caucus system. you have to be committed and come out and spend the entire night on a cold winter night in a fire station or wherever else. a lot of times that means you are talking about the core supporters of each party. the core aggressive supporters who support bernie sanders. i think they'll probably still -- hillary will still probably pull it out in iowa, but it's going to be closer than her team had hoped. >> what do you think we'll see from hillary clinton and her camp? the sharper elbows are coming out. we saw at the end of the week how hillary clinton got on the phone, did what we have been calling, something that trump has really introduced to this cycle where lead candidates can get on the phone and be interviewed. in previous cycles, this would not be seen. we'd see only in front of

camera, video interviews with networks, cable networks and/or broadcast networks. and she really -- this is a new phase for her in the way she is campaigning. >> i know firsthand that her campaign is probably frustrated with the lack of media coverage they've gotten. they are trying to run an issues campaign. no one noticed but she's putting out every week a different policy proposal. for example on alzheimer's or autism or paid maternity leave. it's getting no ink. what is getting the attention? it's donald trump and his media savvy approach to doing these types of interviews. he makes himself, even though he has a cam pawn that's really running against the media in many ways, he makes himself so available to the press in this way. it's very fair to attribute or credit him now with that new phenomenon you're seeing all the candidates have to follow along and make themselves more accessible. of course as a member of the

press, that's a good thing. >> that's a good thing. we look at bernie sanders. he has such wide acceptance, at least from the poll numbers we're getting from the younger voters and hillary clinton has that challenge of addressing that voting group. how crucial will that be as we look at new hampshire and iowa? >> i think it's very important. and that's why, as well, in this new poll that nbc had coming out, i think you see some of the numbers slanted towards bernie sanders because that is being driven by some of these younger voters especially who also often identify themselves more as independent voters. so that's the critical voting bloc that the inside clinton campaign headquarters, they are very worried about going forward. you also go back to 2008. that wias a critical coalition for barack obama. that demographic is often counted as unreliable.

they showed they can show up and make a big difference. if hillary clinton becomes the nominee is her campaign able to take those sanders supporters after what may be an increasingly ugly final few weeks and get them as excited about her as they've been about bernie sanders. that's going to be a big challenge for her campaign. >> thank you so much. appreciate your time. heidi przbila. for those of you who have not heard, no one won the powerball last night. zero. that means wednesday's jackpot will be a record-breaking, pull out you're calculator $1.3 billion. the lump sum, $806 million. could even go higher. to check your tickets. you could have won a smaller prize like only a million. last year 114 prizes worth at least $1 million went unclaimed. unclaimed. overall about $2 billion in lottery prizes go unclaimed each year. ♪

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the united states has 5% of the world's population. and 25% of its prison inmates. from the far right to the far left, presidential candidates are now saying this number has to come down. and it will sure lly be a part the conversation tomorrow night at the democrats black and brown presidential forum in iowa. jacob saforov looked at one discussion that will move the needle the most. >> we've heard presidential candidates talk about this idea of reducing sentences for nonviolent drug offenders as a way to bring down america's prison population. this has widespread support. here's something not many presidential candidates are talking about. it's not just people convicted of possessing pot or cocaine who are filling our prisons to the max. if candidates want to knock america out of its spot as the number one uncarserator in the world they have to look at inmates voters may not want back on the street. i'm tauk talking about violent

offenders. it's already happen, at least here in california, as i saw firsthand. >> i'm jacob. >> paul. >> nice to meet you. >> when paul rodriguez was 17 he was convicted of shooting sboon occupied building and assault with a firearm. >> 15 years to life. >> how do people that get life attached to their sentence don't ever have a chance to get out. >> yeah, but a lot of laws are changing for people. especially because we're so young or whatever. if you were a certain age, your mind isn't fully developed. they take that into conversation. >> is paul a good example of who you're trying to help here? >> he's exactly who we're trying to help. these long sentences are unreasonable. it's equivalent to putting someone in the corner for 40 years and punishing them for who they were at 17, 18 years old and having them stay in the corner. after a while you forget while you're in that corner. >> to help inmates with life

sentences get paroled they've been offering community college classes, an initiative president obama is backing. deandre hill is serving a life sentence for a first-degree m d murder when he was 19. want to give me the tour? what do you have down here? books, magazines? >> these are things i have. curriculum. i have students. >> programs like the one at solano face the hard reality that it's not super popular with voters. the alternative is prisons getting too crowded to accept new inmates. prisons that serve as extremely costly retirement homes for inmates. many inmates are lifers. they may have been sentenced for their crimes when teens or in their 20s. this line behind me are most like lly senior citizens in lin

to get medication. >> how many years in the system? >> 38. >> rules are a lot different now. >> yes. >> there's people that that now have a chance to walk out of here. a lot more than we did before. >> reporter: do you think by taking some of these programs you might have a shot? >> i'm positive i do. >> victims and family members affected by crimes like the ones committed by the inmates i spoke to, don't necessarily want to see early releases. opponents ever funding higher education for inmates that i they reward criminal behavior. the idea of rejoining society even for violent crimes did not used to be a crazy thought and as or politicians got, quote, unquote, tough on crime, we ended up with more inmates. we're faced with the decision on whether to build more prisons or rehabilitate and release those with long sentence. >> thank you so much for that report. wall street is coming off its worst start to the year ever. so what can we expect tomorrow? .

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the first week of 2016 has been a decidedly mixed bag with regard to the economy. the dow, the nasdaq, and the s&p 500 all down as of friday's close as unemployment went the other way, hit a seven-year low. in this january roller coaster ride, a sneak peek of what's to come. joining us is katherine rampell. it's something you watch very closely. this is an interesting factoid i want to share with our viewers first. it's said january can predict the rest of the year. you have heard it before. with the accuracy of 87%. >> we don't really know what the mechanism is. >> okay -- >> it might just be correlation -- >> sure. >> -- and in the same way that like who wins the super bowl is said to correlate with whether the market goes up or down. >> we've had the first week, and it's the worst week first week we've ever had. >> yes, that's true. >> why? >> i would say in short china, but otherwise more generally

global forces. the u.s. economy looks quite good. it may not feel that way to a lot of americans, but in comparison to basically every other major economy, the united states is doing very well. very low unemployment, very low inflation. vehicle sales are up. housing market is looking pretty good. basically on paper we look pretty steady, and in comparison to europe, to japan -- >> gas prices. >> gas prices are very low which is good for consumers, not as good for some u.s. businesses but good for consumers, and in comparison to basically every other major economy, you know, even though it doesn't feel great here, at least it's not as kind of sucky as it is everywhere else. >> when we see the market drop like that, 6%, we have a lot of institutional investors and we have you and me investors. what does that pmean for our 401(k)s long term. that's what people are concerned about. we didn't have a great q4 and q1 at least in the first week isn't looking so pretty. >> i would always caution not to panic based on any one day or

one week's news. >> sure, i like that. >> panic or celebrate. it goes both way approximates. >> what do you do? just stay with what you've got? >> that's my view. i have many years left, knock on wood, until retirement, so i can afford to do that. >> i have four days until i retire so i'm watching it. >> i understand why it might be a greater cause for concern, but, look, in the united states the economy has so far been pretty resilient to these issues abroad. even though things don't look great in china, we don't actually export that much to china -- >> we have to remember though manufacturing is something that although we're not number one anymore, we're really close to being number one, and when we look at the u.s. auto industry coming out of the midwest, it had a record, banner year. >> they did very well. like i said, on a lot of these different metrics, the united states looks pretty good. the question is how battered will we be by the other forces around the world. >> thank you so much for coming up. >> thank you. >> that wraps up this sunday edition of week ends with alex witt. stay with us for headlines and

breaking news throughout the day. up next, "meet the press" with donald trump. i'm richard lui in for alex witt. have yourself a very good weekend. ♪ but i can't come home right now... ♪ ♪ me and the boys are playing.♪. ♪ ... all nig♪t text beth, what can i do... [siri:] message. pick up milk. oh, right. milk. introducing the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. and i quit smoking with chantix. i decided to take chantix to shut everybody else up about me quitting smoking. i was going to give it a try, but i didn't think it was going to really happen. after one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts

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