having the temerity to read those words anew. "first look" is up next. i was walking my dog by the dollar store, and i saw a big old black -- i heard the noise coming, it sounded like a freight train. and i look in the sky and i see debris. eight tornadoes rip through southern alabama. we'll have a look at the damage left behind. and democrats are voicing their arguments over jeff sessions as one senator is silenced. and will president trump's travel ban be appealed today?

we'll tell you what happened last night. good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, fib 8th. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. >> no deaths have been reported but at least 25 people were sent to local hospitals for injuries. the video you see there appears to show one tornado moving along the highway. the governor dispatched the nation national guard to help local and state police. crews have been responding to calls for help. some of these areas were badly damaged during hurricane katrina. overnight president trump tweeted out, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in southeastern louisiana affected by today's quick tornadoes. we'll get a look at this from meteorologist bill karins. we are looking at the chance for overnight storms, how does it

look this morning? this was the radar yesterday morning from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. it was during the morning hours these storms formed right over the top of new orleans. they intensified. the damage that you saw was the east new orleans area. on radar this looked like a big tornado and it was a big tornado. the only saving grace was that it was an ef-2 tornado. this was huge, but it was not the intensity of the joplin or tuscaloosa tornadoes. this was an ef-2 with winds of 111 to 135 miles an hour. that's the difference between injuries and fatalities. the storms have died off, so we're looking better here. now we'll look at the northeast storm we'll deal with tomorrow. i'll have details on that coming up. we appreciate it. for the second night in a row, the senate democrats launched an all-night talk-a-thon in the move against jeff sessions.

this is the same move that took place against betsy devos on saturday night. senator elizabeth warren was barred from speaking on the floor after mitch mcconnell said she had broken senate rules. >> they are mothers, daughters, sisters, fathers, sons and brothers. >> mr. president, mr. president -- >> the majority leader. >> our colleague from alabama is warned by the chair. senator warren, quote, said senator sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens. i call the senator to order under the provision of the rule 19. >> mr. president -- >> senator from massachusetts. >> mr. president, i am surprised that the words of coretta scott king are not suitable for debate in the united states senate.

i ask leave of the senate to continue my remarks. >> is there objection? >> object. >> i appeal the ruling. >> the objection is heard. the senator will take her seat. >> i appeal the ruling of the chair and i suggest the absence of the corum. >> let's bring in edward lawrence joining us live from d.c. senator warren is now barred from speaking for the rest of this debate over sessions nomination? >> yes, she broke rule 19, which was to impugn the character or conduct of another senator saying they are unbecoming of a senator. she was trying to read the coretta scott king letter. what senator warren did after that is left the chamber of the hall floor, went to another room and read the letter live on social media. and that led to a #letlizspeak, which is trending on twitter.

so the letter was written. it was talking about how senator jeff sessions who was then u.s. attorney in alabama used his power of his office to depress the black vote down in alabama. so that's what she was trying to get into record. it never got onto the record of the senate floor. but elizabeth warren did read it on social media. >> she said she will not be scienced. edward, thank you so much. after the tooth and nail fight, betsy devos was sworn in. there was a 50-50 tie and mike pence became the first vice president to break the tie on a cabinet appointment, calling it the easiest vote he's ever made and raising the question of what did democrats gain from this fight? >> the fact that we had to get to the point where the vice president had to be pulled in to overcome the democrats historic and part zap log-jam of the

president's qualified nominee is another glaring reminder of the unprecedented obstruction that senate democrats have engaged in throughout this process. >> i thought we had some chance. we realized even if we didn't to make the point that secretary devos is so anti-public education was an important point to make. the public outcry was enormous. millions and millions of calls jamming up the switchboards of democrats and republicans alike. and we have an obligation, obviously, to try to overturn some of these nominees who are among the -- it's about the worst cabinet i have seen. >> and president trump tweeted last night, it is a disgrace that my full cabinet is still not in place. the longest such delay in the history of our country, obstruction by democrats. and this morning we're awaiting word from a federal court on whether president trump's order barring entry from people in seven countries should go forward. last night lawyers for the justice department and for the states of washington and

minnesota challenging the ban, depending their arguments in a telephone hearing with judges on the ninth circuit. the trump administration's attorneys were pressed for the months'-long vetting procedures were insufficient. the state department had to acquire about the powers of the presidency. 130,000 people from around the world and in the united states listened live to that broadcast. meantime, the department of homeland security was on capitol hill defending the rollout of the administration's travel ban on the seven majority muslim nations. >> this is not a muslim ban. in saudi arabia, egypt, lebanon, have systems within their countries that are, in our view, fairly reliable. although we're looking, in terms of their internal vetting, police records, things like that. the countries that are on the

list that put on the list by the last administration don't have those. there are countries in chaos, countries in collapse. in retrospect, i should have, this is all on me, by the way, i should have delayed it just a bit so that i could talk to members of congress, particularly the leadership of the committees like this to prepare them for what was coming. >> all right. joining us here on saturday is msnbc's cal perry. good to have you with us. the white house is making the claim that there have been a lot of terrorist attacks not covered by the media, not getting enough attention, how does all that play into the argument that they are making why the ban is necessary? >> they are creating a narrative. unfortunately, it's a false narrative. we met at 4:00 a.m. covering the paris attack. i had been there for 12 hours. we have covered the attacks. the other thing is there is a wave of attacks in europe. is that true? we pulled information from the institution of peace, this is a

nonprofit thing called the global terrorism index. five countries account for three-quarters of all deaths in the world. those are afghanistan, iraq, nigeria, pakistan and syria. on the list that the president has put forward to the media, iraq, nigeria and syria don't appear on the list. we'll take a look now at terrorism from the last 15 years. iraq, nigeria and afghanistan account for the vast majority of terrorism deaths around the world. if you look at countries, if you were going to base a travel ban on countries that see the most terrorism, here are the top ten, not the seven put forward by the president. here are the top ten, the last thing i'll leave you with is deaths by region. again, we have heard there's a sweep of terror across europe. it is not true. in the past 15 years, 98% of attacks, 98% have taken place outside the united states and western europe. >> can you say that it's the novelty of having these attacks

on western europe? because they are not the norm by your graphics here. i think that is why the focus, it's more unusual. >> it is more unusual, they are probably more recently and garner more coverage from the national media. but what is the narrative the administration is trying to paint? they are painting the narrative that people are affected by terrorism are westerners, but a vast majority of those killed by terror in the world are muslims. >> cal perry, thank you. the u.s. army corps of engineers will grant the final permit needed to complete construction on the dakota access pipeline that will include drilling under a disputed portion of land that runs from south dakota into north dakota. the army also announced that it will not be preparing an environmental impact statement that would evaluate the potential effects of the pipeline. the project has been net with monlgts of p-- months of protess arguing over the potential contamination of drinking water for the indigenous people living

there. the cheyenne river sioux tribe released a statement saying, quote, while the federal government choodsed to disregar the laws made to govern themselves be, we will dismiss those made between law and culture. and police say 44-year-old william boyette and 37-year-old mary rice were found hiding in a hotel in west point, georgia, yesterday after someone noticed a stolen vehicle they were seen driving. they were wanted in connection with four killings of women in florida and alabama. shortly after being discovered, boyette led rice out of their hotel room where she was quickly taken into custody. they heard a single shot and found boyette inside and dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. all right. still ahead, bill karins is checking on the weather after new orleans was ripped apart by tornadoes there.

and now the northeast is preparing for a major storm here. and the patriots get to celebrate their super bowl win with 1 million fans, but the star wasn't quarterback tom brady. we'll tell you who it was. we'll have those stories and much more coming up next.

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welcome back. work continues throughout the region in the gulf. 12 tornadoes went right through the area in louisiana and in scott county, mississippi. many homes simply pulverized. lots of people still without power this morning. let's bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins to give us a sense of how it is shaking up today. >> there it will be fine. the cleanup and everything else, nice weather conditions. all eyes are on the next big storm, the nor'easter, that will be a high-impact, fast-moving

storm thursday during the morning through the daylight hours in the northeast. we are still dealing with yesterday's storm, what is left of it. careful in boston northwards up into maine, plain old rain. temperatures warmer in southern new england. 40 million people are under the winter storm warning. some of the 40 million will set record highs today. it will be a roller coaster. it will be warm and beautiful, it will be hard to believe a snowstorm is coming. and then temperatures will crash and the snow is going to fly early tomorrow morning. so 40 million people. that's a lot of people here. and it's one of the first big snowstorms of the winter for this up region. we'll take you through the timing, 2:00 a.m. thursday morning, snow, steady and heavy in areas of central pennsylvania and through west virginia. notice this is rain in washington, d.c. as we forward the clock to 5:00 to 6:00 a.m., this is the beginning of the morning rush hour. heavy snow will be in the baltimore area, philadelphia, starting in new york city. that's for the morning commute. again, a mixture down here in southern new jersey and areas of delaware. then going through the noon hour, the heaviest snow from new

york city to hartford to boston. this is the peak of the storm here for southern new england and long island, ending in philadelphia over in d.c. by the lunch hour. then for the evening commute, the heavy snow is over in new york city, hartford is just about done, but providence, boston and cape cod will be getting it good. how much snow does this mean? the six inches is the purple. that's a big six-inch swath. some areas will be higher. a few spots could be at 12. there's a narrow, heavy band inclundiding a thunder snow out this. philadelphia will be right around four to eight. new york city six to ten. and boston to cape cod, that's the area that could be the highest totals with the possibility of a foot. >> just so you know, on the site you can hear a pin drop. we're paying quite close attention. thank you, bill. now to a cyber attack for those who have connected their

thermostats and home sprinkler systems to their wi-fi networks, they could be vulnerable to cyber crooks. tom costello is here with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. three out of four home wi-fi networks are vulnerable to a hacker. so why would anyone want to hack into my tv or coffee maker? that is not what they are after. so visit the johnson home in san francisco -- >> i tap the red circle and it unlocks and i walk inside. >> reporter: is to walk into a living app-controlled smart home. >> the lights automatically come and the heat does as well. >> reporter: alexa helps turn on the music jam, the doorbell -- >> hey, daddy, how are you doing? >> reporter: in all, 50 connections in this home. but the more connected the greater risk. >> we are hoping ourselves to vulnerabilities and to hackers.

>> reporter: usually through the in-home network that comes with a weak default password. to show how easily it can be compromised, james lyon sent me to a colleague's home near boston. by the time i pressed the doorbell, he had already hacked in watching my every move on the in-home security cameras and cracking the alarm system. why would anybody want to hack my doorbell, refrigerator or thermostat? >> it's more of looking into more interesting sources of information. >> reporter: financial information. once he hacked the wi-fi, he hacked my e-mails and bank accounts. >> we can see anything you type anywhere on your computer. >> reporter: to protect yourself, create separate wi-fi networks, one for computers and the other for appliances. use complicated long passwords and two-step verification log-ins. both amazon alexa and google home insist they are secure. >> it's a little overwhelming sometimes to realize everything is talking and communicating,

but the truth is, it's all under my control. >> reporter: jason invented that door lock and the app on his phone and is vigilant about keeping his wi-fi hack-proof. when experts talk about long and complicated passwords, they are recommending that you mix languages and numbers or run lyrics together from a song like "somewhere over the rainbow" or "obladi oblada life goes on." something difficult to find out. >> good advice. thank you, tom costello. and bill belichick tries to celebrate by starting a chant, but it didn't seem to fire up the fans. louis has that next in sports. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade. i'm in vests and as a vested investor in vests

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this morning, you probably cringe that the head coach bill belichick's "no days off" chant yesterday in boston. an estimated 1 million people showed up to celebrate the dramatic super bowl li victory over the atlanta falcons. it's the fifth super bowl win for the patriots. tight-end rob gronkowski didn't have any receptions in the game side lined with an injury, but he call in plenty of beer cans tossed to him from the adoring crowd which he chugged and spiked. he did it for the fans. >> i wasn't planning to be that crazy but the fans asked for it. i had to chug beers. i had to. this is unbelievable. i love them so much. i love this team. i love the city of boston. it is unbelievable. >> he had to do it. he's a beast. the falcons are making

personnel changes following the loss. steve sarkisian will join the offensive coordinator replacing kyle shanahan hired as the 49ers coach on monday. he replaces lane kiffin after the loss to clemson in the college football championship last month. he only had one month of prior nfl experience back in 2004. and news reports falcons' defensive coordinator richard smith is not returning in that role last season. the atlanta defensive line coach brian cox will be replaced. they are cleaning house. and to the nba last night, dirk nowitzki as dallas hosted the trailblazers bringing up the clutch go-ahead three-pointer with three seconds in regulation. but trailing by one, portland has the final say in this one. >> going in, splits two

defenders and got it off with .3. unbelievable shot-making here at the end of the game. it's over, port lland has won i. >> look at this game-winner before the buzzer. portland takes it 114-113. a close one there. >> goes claim. thank you, louis. a handful of republicans are speaking out after senator elizabeth warren was silenced on the house floor. mike barnacle is here to talk about the end of an era in senate civility. and asking for permission for the u.s. to run anti-terror ground missions. we'll get a live report on that. stay with us.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. here are the top stories. >> at least two dozen people were injured after tornadoes swept through new orleans. the damage is substantial. we'll have more from the gulf coast in a bit. and president trump is set to address a joint chiefs of police meeting today. they claim that the nation's murder rate is the highest it has been in 47 years. while it has risen a bit over the last year, the fbi rate shows it near the lowest point in 50 years. after a bitterly divided confirmation fight, betsy devos begins her first day on the job by delivering a speech to

department staff. it comes just one day after vice president mike pence assuming his role as president of the senate saved her nomination by casting the tie-breaking vote. and reaction is pouring in from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after elizabeth warren was barred from speaking on the floor last night. she was silenced after mitch mcconnell accused her of breaking rules during the debate over the nomination of jeff sessions as attorney general. saying she impugned his character. the republican senators bemoaned the loss of decorum in the usually collegiate body. >> turn on the news and watch parliaments around the world where people throw chairs at each other and punches. and ask yourself, how does it make you feel about those countries? it doesn't give you a lot of confidence about the countries, and i'm not arguing we are anywhere near it tonight, but we are flirting with it. we are flirting with it in this body and we are flirting with it in this society. we are a society incapable of having debates anymore. >> i listened to her for quite a

while and she didn't have a good thing to say about a fellow senator here. and i frankly don't think that's right. that's the thing that really bothers me. everybody on the other side knows we have the votes to finally do this. and yet they are treating it as though this is something they have to try to win, which they're not going to win. and in the process, treating a fellow senator with disdain. it's wrong. the fact is that we have to treat each other with respect or this place is going to devolve into nothing but a jungle. >> and senator sessions' confirmation vote is expected to take place later this evening. join us on the set, msnbc contributor mark barnacle. put it in perspective, is this the worst it has been or has it

been worse? >> it was interesting listening to senator mcconnell and senator rubio on the floor yesterday. none of them had much to say when the republican congressman from south carolina told the president of the united states, and shouted out, "you lie" during a state of the union address. the senate is broken. politics in washington is broken. this is the equivalent of telling senator warren to go to your room without dinner because she read an excerpt from a letter written by coretta scott king in 1986. but it's just more proof that nothing is going to get done in the hopelessly fractured united states senate in washington, d.c. >> and i'm curious because, do they have to say, does the senator have to come to the floor to say what they are going to bring? >> no. >> so how does mcconnell reach back in the archives to get this rule, something that has been violated, it seems so antiquated. >> under the rules of the senate, you cannot personally attack another member on the floor. you can't vilify another member

of the united states senate. senator sessions is still a member of the united states senate. >> and what was the argument that was made by senators mitch mcconnell and others that simply reading the letter is impugning the character of senator sessions? >> well, it was the letter and she used a direct quotation from the late senator kennedy during senator sessions prior hearing to become -- in the 1980s, when senator kennedy referred to him as a disgrace to the justice department. >> all right. >> it was a personal attack. that's the way they view it. >> interesting enough. mark barnacle, thank you for that. now to the latest in the president's travel ban that remains on hold. lawyers for both sides, the justice department and the state of washington, grilled over the phone by panel of three federal judges who will now decide whether to reinstate the ban. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is following developments for us. pete, good to have you with us, lounge before we get a ruling? >> reporter: ayman, we could get the ruling from the appeals court in the next few days.

here's the issue for the three-judge panel. should the president's executive order on immigration stay on hold while both sides prepare for a trial about it in a couple of weeks? the justice department lawyer said the courts can't second-guess the president's finding that the seven countries covered by the order pose a high-risk of terrorism. so the government said it should be allowed to enforce it now. well, a lawyer for the states says the order harmed their residents breaking up families and stranding students and faculty from the universities, sensing some skepticism from the judges, the justice department lawyer did offer a compromise, let the government enforce the order but limit it just to people who don't have visas who need to be screened. that means it wouldn't apply to people who got visas and came here and want to travel and come back or who got stuck overseas and want to return. if the government loses and the trump order remains on hold, the justice department will undoubtedly go to the supreme court and try again. ayman?

>> all right, thank you for that. while the trump administration is warning because of a threat because of the court order blocking the travel ban, speaking to a house committee yesterday, homeland security john kelly's comments echoed the national adviser continue ledol rice' smoking gun. >> it is entirely possible someone coming in whether during this stay or the quarter action or previous to this period, but it could do us harm. >> but you don't have any prove at this point? >> not until the boom. >> not until what? >> not until they actively blow something up or go into a mall and kill people. >> and white house press secretary sean spicer said the president is not trying to put fear into the american public but to remind them to be vigilant. >> it's becoming too often we're seeing these attacks not get the spectacular attention they deserve. and i think it undermines the understanding of the threat that we face around this country.

i think what we need to do is to remind people that the earth is a very dangerous place these days. that isis is trying to do us harm. and that the president's commitment is to keep this country safe. well, the u.s. army corps of engineers has announced it will grant the final permit needed to complete construction on the controversial dakota access pipeline. the army announced the 30-year easement for the project yesterday to allow for completion of the last quarter mile or so of the more than 1100-mile project. that connects oil production to areas in north dakota to a crude oil terminal in illinois. that's going to include drilling under a disputed portion of land that runs from south dakota into north dakota. joining us onset, msnbc's cal perriment you' perry. you're the guy to talk to as you've spent a lot of time out there with protesters. this is a quarter mile left but it goes under a river. >> we're talking under the missouri river. >> how can they stop it? >> the point you make is the point that needs to be made that realistically protesters won't

be able to stop the less quarter mile of pipeline under the missouri river. they physically won't be able to get there. there's only a few hundred left and the oil company has every reason to get this done as quickly as possible. now, the tribe, the standing rock sioux tribe, say they will fight it in court and fight it after the pipeline is operational. but if you're fighting for ecological protection, once that pipeline starts pumping that oil, it should become about protecting the pipeline. >> yeah. so this is something, the only recourse they have is to go to court. >> right. >> and if that. they can't stop this because the army corps of engineers said green light, they can start doing this when, today? >> this morning. i expect the energy company is drilling this morning in north dakota. look, this is about native americans and the variety of agreements that have been rolled back over time with the u.s. government. that is what they will tell you. that's why they have chosen to fight this in the courts. the other thing is they want their reservation back. you look at the pictures, people from all over the country came, a lot of them brought trash,

which has now stayed there. and so the tribe wants to get on with daily light and wants to continue, it wants to do this in the courts. >> msnbc's cal perry, thank you for that. the white house is responding to the ongoing and escalating tensions with iran this morning saying further actions and sanctions aren't off the table. >> this president's not going to sit by and let iran flat-out -- its violations to the joint agreement, but he will continue to take action as he sees fit. the president's also made clear time and time again that he's not going to project what the actions will be. and he will not take anything off the table. but i think iran is kidding itself if they don't realize there is a new president in town. >> this comes after iran's ayatollah said he won't be afraid of president trump while calling for the response to donald trump's comments this friday at the end of the iranian revolution. joining me from tehran is ali

arouzi. there's a lot of talk given what this friday will look like given the comments of the supreme court leader there. do we have a sense of what the response will look like? and do you get a sense the government in tehran will change the policies, not launch any more missiles, as a response to president trump's comments. >> reporter: >> well, as you mentioned, the revolution turns 38 this friday and that means a big anti-american rally and anti-israeli rallies. and it gives those a loyal to the system a revolution. it's an important day for the ruling system, a sort of d-day for them. and the anniversary is always a day off to allow for large crowds to participate. i think this year it will take on much more of a meaning amid tensions with america and iran. yesterday the ayatollah tweeted sort of a call to rally saying iranians will respond to trump's rallies on friday and show what their position is on threats

from america. so we can expect big crowds, anti-american crowds, burning of the u.s. flag, and the ruling establishment here, ayman, doesn't usually respond very well to threats. comments like all options are on the table and you're not allowed to do missile tests usually pushes them to do these things much more than often. i don't think we'll see a de-escalation in iran, but they will pick their words more carefully not to stoke flames amongst the trump administration. >> ali arouzi, thank you very much for that. . the trump administration spooks the drug industry with talk of medicare reform. and we'll continue to follow the devastation in southern louisiana and mississippi after the massive tornado outbreak. we'll get a live report from new orleans. plus, bill karins is tracking the major winter storm heading our way up the east coast. we're back in a moment. constipated?

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welcome back on this busy wednesday morning. we'll get right to bill karins tracking a major winter storm and all the tornadoes in the south. >> yeah, here are updated snow totals coming up in a second. but first to north orleans and what happened yesterday. we'll bring in our affiliate kelsey who is there where we saw the big wedge tornado. it's amazing we didn't see any fatalities. >> reporter: that's right. the city says they only had 31 injuries in all this destrikes. just giving you a look or a taste of what hit this area yesterday, this is marquise street in new orleans east. this is the area hard-hit by hurricane katrina and the residents hit again. you can see this home here has parts of the roof ripped off. this is kind of what we have been seeing, what we can see, all through this area. it's really dark still. thousands of people still without power in this area. but when our headlights and

camera light hit debris, you can see stuff like this, piles of wood, insulation from one of the homes here. we even saw someone's trampoline that had been lifted out of a backyard and dropped onto a corner. a lot of damage back here as you're see right now. but just kind of giving people a sense of security. we are seeing the national guard posted around this neighborhood. we are seeing nopd in the area. but still very early on, so dark, you can't understand the full extent of the damage. and city officials are still working to get that. but just a look at some of the damage in the new orleans east area right now. again, an area already hard-hit and rebuilt after hurricane katrina. of course, we'll be monitoring the situation all day long and bring you guys the latest locally and online and social media. but this is a live look in new orleans east right now. bill, back to you. >> kelsey, thank you so much for that picture there. and just an erie darkness in the background to say it all. 25 people injured. no fatalities. we'll get you into the snow forecast for the next big weather event. this is the nor'easter and the

snow prediction map. the purple is six inches from the pittsburgh area to all of pennsylvania, all of southern new england and really from baltimore northwards, albany, new york, south wards and to the coast. worst timing for washington, d.c. you go from mostly rain, a burst of snow at the tail end, that's why we have you at one to two inches. north of there, we'll start to get cold enough for more snow. two to four in the baltimore area. worst timing for you is right around 5:00 to 8:00 a.m. philadelphia, four to eight inches. new york city, six to ten. the worst timing for this, it will be a heavy burst of snow. there's only a four to six-hour event. for you it's during the morning hours until lunch hour. for the afternoon into the evening drive, that's going to be hartford, providence and boston. and the highest totals possibly out here towards cape cod, somewhere near providence to the boston areas, louis. it's a high-impact short event. this is not a long duration nor'easter. this is going to be four to six hours of very heavy snow. you don't want to get trapped on the roads at that time. >> bill, bracing for a snowy new

york. we'll turn to business where drug prices went negative after white house press secretary sean spicer said president trump supports medicare drug price negotiations. cnbc's louisa bojesen is joining us live. merck and allergen too many a drop yesterday. >> yes, they did. the u.s. is one of the only countries in the world where directly regulated medicine prices is not taking place. we see that a lot of places outside the u.s., but in the states not so. a senior citizen suffering quite a lot from this as they tend to use more medication than younger people. rising costs seen both in drugs as well as in health care overall. but again, sean spicer saying that trump now supports the medicare drug price negotiations. so we'll be keeping an eye on the drug companies when they open today after the drop yesterday. and general motors has

52,000 hourly workers taking home bonuses of up to $12,000. a lot of money. why? because they had a record year at general motors. 2016 you saw a $12 billion profit in north america. remember that these payout negotiations took place in 2015 with the united auto workers union. profits in north america up 9.9% for gm. >> good news for gm. louisa bojesen, thank you so much. new fallout from the special botched operation in yemen. and replacing obamacare could go into next year, but house speaker paul ryan has something else in mind. we'll explain. what are you doing? getting your quarter back. fountains don't earn interest, david. you know i work at ally. i was being romantic. you know what i find romantic? a robust annual percentage yield that's what i find romantic. this is literally throwing your money away. i think it's over there. that way? yeah, a little further up. what year was that quarter?

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house speaker paul run ryan is vowing congress will place to b obamacare this year. >> the legislating is going to be done this year. we are going to be done legislating with respect to health care and obamacare this year. the question is, how long does it take to implement the full replacements of obamacare? >> mark sanford is preparing to introduce the obamacare bill replacement by next week. it will be a modified version of the repeal bill sponsored by rand paul of kentucky. and the u.s. is going to run

special ops in yemen. yemen is also one of the seven nations listed in president trump's travel ban. joining us live from london, nbc news foreign correspondent lucy cavanaugh. lucy, good morning to you. let's talk a little bit about how much of a set-back this is to president trump's promise to be tougher on terrorism? >> reporter: hey, ayman. it is difficult to say because we don't know exactly what the president means when he promises to be tougher on terrorists. he still has a number of tools at his disposal in yemen. the u.s. is relying on drone strikes in the country. those are still permitted according to the report as well as the work by the military advisers who help with intelligence. in terms of the yemeni anger over the terrorist strikes, i have reported and been to village where is the drone strikes have taken place where

civilians were killed. and quite frankly, those kinds of attacks have created lot of blow-back over the years turning parts of the population against the u.s. so while last month's raid may have sparked this particular move, i can tell you the anger was there long before. and there may be a little bit of a political gangsmanship going on here. this is a country, keep in mind, that has been devastated by the ongoing war between the militants and the saudis. the saudi-led coalition has been constructing air strikes across the country with u.s. support. civilian casualties mounting. that created lot of anger toward the u.s. as well. and what's more, you have the humanitarian disaster as a result. millions of people unable to put food on the table, no medical supplies, and an effective blockade. policy questions aside, millions of civilians are trying to survive, not just the war but this hunger crisis, too. >> yes, certainly a complicated situation worsened by the humanitarian crisis.

lucy kavanov, thank you for that. still ahead, a look at the days happening in the day ahead. >> and "morning joe" is just minutes away. senator john thune will join them to talk about senator warren being shut down to talk about jeff sessions. and more on the arguments from the big appeals court hearing. that and much, much more are coming up next on "morning joe." ♪ heigh ho! ♪ heigh ho! ♪ heigh ho! ♪ heigh ho! ♪ heigh ho! heigh ho! it's off to work we go ♪ ♪ heigh ho! heigh ho! ♪ ♪ heigh ho! heigh ho! ♪ ♪ heigh ho! heigh ho! it's off to work we go ♪

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you guys all remember president obama, right? yeah. because i'm not sure he remembers us. >> that is president obama himself killing it, enjoying life, as a former president. i want you to look at this, he took kite boarding lessons in the british virgin islands last week as a guest of richard branson at the exclusive island. >> it's nice to see barack obama cutting loose, just relaxing. he's the former president so he still has secret service all around him, don't forget that. he's so excited.

he was like, i turned off my phone, canceled my twitter, this is what i call obamacare-free. >> obama really going for it on the kite boarding. i love it. >> obama was the coolest president, you have to say that. and house democrats are kicking off their annual retreat. they are expected to lay out the party's agenda and message going forward. that meeting is the first big one for the party since hillary clinton's election loss in november. and betsy devos is set to deliver remarks to education employees following the contentious confirmation vote. vice president mike pence was forced to break the first tie. and the supreme court nominee will be back with lawmakers including democratic senators. flake, cotton, blumenthal and

mccaskill. >> that does it for us. "morning joe" is starting right now. mr. president, the suggestion word of the great coretta scott king would voc rule 19 rule 19 to sit down is outrageous. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." we have so much to get to. >> i don't get it. tom hanks says, i don't get it. it just doesn't make sense. >> well, we are going to make sense of it this morning. >> i don't get it. >> we have veteran columnist mike barnacle. i'