has the audio, or hey, no matter where you are, if you have shareable stuff from town halls in your town, please send to it me. it for us this hour. "first look" is up next. i'm mary story from fayetteville, and i am not a paid protester. >> i don't really care if anybody here is paid or not, y'all are kansasans and i want to hear from you. >> you want to stand there and expect us to be calm, cool, and collective. what kind of insurance do you have? >> okay. it was another night of empassioned town hall meetings for lawmakers across the country. while some are facing the rowdy crowds, others are ducking constituents. plus, despite a deadline to clear out, dozens of dakota access pipeline protestors are

defying orders and setting fires. and the trump administration is rolling back transgender bathroom protections. now gay and transgender rights advocates are accusing the president of violating past promises. . good morning, everyone. it's sthurs, february 23. i'm alex witt. this time far from the shadow of washington, d.c. last night senator tom cotton of arkansas drew more than 2,000 people with long lines waiting to get into his springdale event. what began as a cordial and filled with applause with people who filled from hours away meeting quickly drew contentious. >> i would like everyone who is affected by the affordable care acts and affected by health care to stand up.

my family has been in the ozarks since the 1800s. we are historically a republican family, we're a farming family, we're an nra family, we're an army family. aside from inheriting their patriotism and their work ethic, i unfortunately inherited an incurable genetic connective tissue disorder. i qualify for medicare but unfortunately two of my doctors who are the only doctors in a 500 mile radius who are familiar with my condition accept medicare. without the coverage for pre-existing conditions i will die. will you commit to replacements in the same way that you have committed to the repeal? >> thank you, katie. let's take a couple more comments or questions about health care. >> answer the question.

>> katie, while i'm committed to is making sure -- making sure that people -- people with conditions as serious as yours or young, healthy people all have access to affordable quality personalized care. >> okay. not all have been so contentious like frank lucas's meeting in oklahoma. meanwhile, there is frustration in some communities over lawmakers who are not holding town hall meetings. earlier demonstrators took to the streets of houston demanding ted cruz hold one. he was met by constituents, some in support, some clearly frustrated. >> it's so important that we allow every montanans voice to be heard. that's why we have the freedom to assemble, freedom to be heard. >> why don't you spend a

meeting. >> this morning i spent some times with schools in helena, we had this press conference. i wanted to be here to stand with these outstanding leaders in montana. this is very important. a supreme court nominee comes up very infrequently. let's not forget a basic point of this last election. hillary clinton lost by 20 points in montana. donald trump won in a landslide in the state and -- and -- and while every voice must be heard in montana, the reality is the people of montana rejected hillary clinton and voted for donald trump. >> and with that he left amid jeers and chance of do your job. people are confronting their legislators not doing enough to hold town halls. in nevada they faced pointed questions about health care at a business luncheon. >> the new york -- >> i am doing my job. i'm here meeting the

constituents. how do you think it's going so far? i welcome your input. >> joining us now from politico, daniel lipman. i want to take a listen to what white house press secretary sean spicer had to say about things. >> some people are clearly upset, but there is a bit of professional protester manufactured base in there. when you look at some of these districts and some of these things, it is -- it is -- it is not a representation of a member's district. that necessarily just because they're loud doesn't necessarily mean that there are many and i think in a lot of cases that's what you see. >> you hear something similar from robert gibbs back in '09 but do you think this white house runs the risk of underestimating what's going on out there? >> yeah. it's in their interests to say that these are paid protesters, that these don't represent real people, but clearly there are millions of people who are opposed to trump's agenda. you know, hillary's margin was over almost 3 million people and

those are -- those millions include people in red districts and red states and so these people are coming out in force and saying, we have to stop the trump agenda. and they're going to take my grandma's health caraway. >> i've been fascinated by the issues that have been raised at many of these town halls. one of the issues republicans campaigned on was the issue of health care which they thought they were going to repeal. it's become such a topic at these town halls. >> it was contentious. >> you're hearing the stories of people standing up. they feel like it's one thing to promise to repeal obamacare, it's another to try to do it. you have these 20 million americans who have got health care and through no thought of their own what are they going to do? tick them off. say we're going to repeal it and don't do it? >> to replace it, what is out

there to do so? we hear it's coming a people are hearing repealing health care will happen before it's replaced. is there any chance of that happening? >> there's a real divide between the trump white house and conservative congressional republicans. trump himself says we have to make sure these people are protected and i think all of these protests and town hall meetings, they are giving an indication to republicans on the hill that you have to find the replace part before you repeal it. one interesting part of town halls is it's not just those meetings. you're hearing millions of calls come into these congressional offices. i talked to one chief of staff for republican congressman, they said they've had to increase from two to ten people just to handle all those constituent calls. >> what? >> that's an indication i'm sure is true in other congressional offices. >> it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. great to have you with us.

>> thank you. >> sounds good. this morning after a standup. authorities are closing in on the remaining protesters on the standing rocks sioux reservation. yesterday was the deadline to get off the land. some of the tents were schett on fire as demonstrators left the area. according to the governor of north dakota they believe 25 to 50 people are still in the evacuation zone. for more on that we want to bring in call perry covering the story. >> reporter: good morning. yesterday deadline day came and went and we saw only a small number of protesters arrested. certainly not what we were expecting. authorities had said they were going to clear the camp yesterday just after the deadline. that did not happen. one of the things that may have slowed it down, there was a negotiation between authorities and a small group of protesters who wanted to be arrested as they put it, symbolically. the protesters, according to authorities, did not show up at the appointed time and place.

that seemingly slowed down the day. unclear what the hundreds of law enforcement will do. again, they say they want to clear the camp but they're coming up against some hardened protesters who seem willing to stay at that camp despite the threat of being arrested. now those who do choose to leave on their own, many of them will come here to the capital in bismarck. there are processing centers. some don't have the money that they need to get home so they're offering free bus tickets. if you are trying to get back anywhere in the lower 48 states and you left the camp yesterday, today you're likely to be processed out and put on a bus home. we'll have to see how things shake out. certainly tensions are running high. everybody expected this to be resolved. >> call perry, thank you for that report. protests rung up outside the white house after the latest move from the trump administration. hundreds demonstrated against president trump's decision to cancel the federal rule to let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice, a 2016 directive from the obama, justice and education

departments. said that schools which refused could lose federal funds risking billions from some states. a federal judge in texas issued a nationwide ban. according to the "new york times" he was opposed by education secretary betsy devos who has supported lgbt rights. the paper reports that sessions pushed devos to relent. after getting nowhere, he took his objections to the white house because he could not go forward without her consent. president trump sided with his attorney general, republicans said, and told ms. devos in a meeting in the oval office on tuesday that he wanted her to drop her opposition and devos faced with the alternative, resigning or going against the president, went along. >> the conclusions everybody in the administration is agreed upon. there's no daylight between anybody, between the president,

between any of the secretaries. >> democrats denounced the president's move. u.s. senator caramel lahair ris said revoking federal protections for transgender students is an appalling decision. shame fp. washington governor said schools in his stlat continue to protect transgender students. and "america's got talent" star jackie ivancha tweeted to the president about her transgender sister saying, you gave me the honor to sing at your inauguration, please give me and my sis the honor to meet with you and talk transgender rights. while this ruling lets them decide how to treat trans students and he said barring transgender people from bathrooms is discriminatory.

>> if caitlyn jenner were to walk into trump tower, you would be fine with her using any bathroom that she chooses? >> that is correct. big move to create new bathrooms. first of all, i think that would be discriminatory in a certain way. it would be unbelievably expensive for businesses and for the country. leave it the way it is. i will do everything in my power to protect our lgbtq citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. believe me. i have to say as a republican it is so nice to hear you cheering for what i just said. thank you. >> trump later told fox news he wanted states to decide bathroom laws.

vice president pence made a surprise visit to the jewish cemetery where nearly 200 gravestones were vandalized over the weekend. the vice president walked the grounds of the cemetery just outside of st. louis yesterday touring the damage and even helping to clean those grounds. his visit comes one day after president trump condemned the recent yup tick and antisemitic acts as he faced criticism for not speaking out earlier on the matter. the vice president reiterated the president's condemnation. >> there's no place in america for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-semitism. i must tell you, the people of missouri are inspiring the nation by your love and care for this place, for the jewish community in missouri, and i want to thank you for that inspiration, for showing the world what america's really all about. >> following the vice president's stop the anne frank center which had been critical

of president trump's response to the vandalism praised mr. pence for his visit. still ahead, despite some record warm temperatures for this week, it's bawl to change for several areas across the country. scientists have found seven earth-like planets. >> so cool. >> absolutely. we'll talk to one expert about that major discovery and geek out a little bit. we have that story and much more this morning.

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let's find out what's going on weather wise with meteorologist bonnie schneider to tell us. it's kind of nice here today, no complaints for sure. >> things are going to be changing for so many, alex. we have snow across wyoming, nebraska, idaho. this is the beginning of a big storm ramping up tonight. winter storm alert, a blizzard watch for parts of iowa today. watching for the storm to really produce a lot of snow starting

tonight with the bulk happening on friday. heavy snow. 18 inches in southwestern sections of the state of missouri. we'll be watching for some of that heavy snow in minneapolis a little bit less. it will change from yesterday's record high temperatures. something else to mention about the storms that we're going to be seeing is a severe weather threat, and that is for indianapolis all the way through friday. strong damaging storms. and potentially tornadoes. watch out for downpours of rain. the temperatures will be too warm for that area. and looking at the forecast for the weekend, just to let you know, this is all moving to the east. we will feel the rain in new york, not snow. temperatures are too warm for that. i did some reporting about the possibility of a solar system. take a listen. >> when you consider distance, the closest star other than our sun is 4.4 light years away.

we can travel at about 35,000 knots an hour. to get there 4.4 light years, it's about 86,000 years. that's the closest. >> the possibility that we're not alone in the universe is exhilarating and the possibility that we are alone in the universe to me is terrifying. >> one year later we may be one step closer to fulfilling that dream. astronomers from nasa and the european southern observatory have announced the system of trapis 1. three exowe planets are located in a habitable zone. they could contain water. it's really exciting, guys. >> absolutely fascinating. ph.d. candidate in astronomy and somebody way smarter than the

two of us. thank you very much for joining us. we're trying to kind of comprehend the numbers involved with the distances we're talking about. >> right. >> how soon can we start booking air travel? >> i think you should probably wait about 500,000 years. >> okay. >> assuming we don't get any fast data. >> you were saying it's about 40 -- >> 40 light years. >> in miles, in actual miles what are we talking about here? >> billions. like tens, hundreds of billions. >> you were saying that's close. >> it is. in terms of space. we've found exo planets that are hundreds of light years away. even that's really close in the universe. >> what do we do with this information? >> right. well, so this information is exciting for a lot of reasons. like lewis said, there are three planets in the habitable zone, and that means even if one of those planets doesn't have the right composition to hold life, there are still two other options and two other planets we

can look at. >> how do we go about looking at them? how do we get this information? >> it's based on a method called transit photometry. when it passes in front of the star we can study how much light it blocks and figure out the size of the planet and some of the other characteristics of the system. >> you and i were talking a little bit before you came on the set. >> a lot more. >> you were talking about how you guys kind of geeked out about this. >> oh, yeah. >> first of all, can we say you got the report a day or two beforehand. >> you just did. >> yeah. >> excited about it, right? >> yeah. my advisor at columbia had a watch party so we could watch the press release. >> i can safely say even though we don't know much about it, we're all excited. alex had a watch party. >> i had to rewind the story from nightly news. i have to see that again. it is exciting. >> moiya, thank you for joining

us. >> thank you. still ahead, a shouting match broke out on the basketball court and louisville rick pitino seemed to lose his cool. louis has that story coming up next in sports.

welcome back. time now for sports and march madness is right around the corner. last night syracuse may have paved its way into the ncaa tournament hosting tenth ranked duke. game time in the final seconds of regulation, take a look at

this. >> five seconds to go. >> pay attention to the clock. gillan. got it! syracuse wins! >> are you serious? >> the bank is open for the orange's john gillian who hits the game-winning three-pointer lifting them to a 78-75 signature win against the blue devils. let's go to berkeley. off to a slow start managing only 16 points in the entire first half, but oregon rallies back in the second taking their first lead in the game. the final minute before the golden bears notch things back up. >> time-out. let's see if they use it. hands off to brooks. four seconds left. brooks with two. brooks for three and the win. hits it! >> oregon's brooks sinks the go-ahead three with two-tenths of a second. hang on to beat cal 68-65. in chapel hill, north carolina,

number eight tar heels topped louisville 74-63 making its case for a top seed in next month's ncaa tourney. the real drama came at the half when cardinals head coach rick pitino had to be restrained during a verbal altercation with a unc fan sitting courtside. he eventually cools off and heads into the tunnel and the fan was ejected from the game. >> it didn't look like a fan. there were officials around him. >> when you get to that level you have seen everything. >> and heard everything. >> yeah. just block it out. >> absolutely. all right. still ahead, we've got more on the outspoken constituents turning congressional town hall meetings into must-see tv. plus, as the trump administration cracks down on immigration, top officials are in mexico hoping to soothe those tensions. those stories and more coming up next. stay with us.

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welcome backs, everyone. i'm alex witt along said ayman mohyeldin and louisberg door of. officials will try to remove the final protesters refusing to leave the camp where they've been protesting the dakota access pipeline. it's been going on for a year. it was the final act of defiance for protesters who set the camp on fire. the deadline to leave was yesterday. major developments in retaking mosul from isis. they're storming the city's airport. the runway has reportedly already been destroyed by isis but still represents a key

strategic location and would cut off important routes into the city. iraqi forces recaptured the eastern portion of that city last month. and we are just learning about an unannounced visit that senator john mccain made to syria last week. the senator's office said he traveled to the northern city of kobani to meet with kurdish troops and fighters trying to retake the de facto capital of raqqah. it came during a regional visit that had the armed services chairman stopping in turkey, saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. the trump administration has made a huge change in the schools on rules. pete williams. >> reporter: alex, the trump administration notified the nation's public schools and the supreme court that the obama administration didn't give enough consideration to the role of the states and local school districts in deciding how to handle the transgender issue. >> this is not over.

>> reporter: it's a big reversal slowing the push for transgender rights that zoomed ahead under president obama. the federal government took back a directive issued just last may that told public schools to let children use bathrooms that match their gender identity. the move is a blow to mimi lemay who has a transgender child. >> as a vulnerable child, he deserves to go to school every day and feel safe and be affirmed as who he is. >> reporter: the government now says a federal law called title 9 that bans sex discrimination in public schools does not apply to transgender children because gender identity isn't the same as sex. it's a victory for a dozen states that sued to block the obama order. >> you don't want to be intermingling the sexes, young boys and young girls on school trips, school locker rooms, school showers. that's clearly a violation of privacy. because of the justice department's legal u-turn, they will drop their challenge to

north carolina's law that cost the state millions in lost business. when that was filed loretta lynch had an emotional message for the transgender community. >> we see you, we will stand with you and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. >> reporter: the move could undercut gavin grim's case going to the supreme court next month. both were based in part on the obama administration's reading of title 9. back in boston mimi says she's worried. >> we can't give equal access to students in schools, then what's going to happen to all the public access laws. >> reporter: the letters to school won't have an immediate effect because the obama directtive had been blocked by the courts and the trump administration tells schools that they must still protect students, including lgbt students from discrimination, bullying or harassment. >> pete williams, thanks for that. the white house apparently needs more time to rework the travel ban after the original

order was blocked by the courts. the president said expect the new version this week. now the white house says it won't come nm next week. on saturday secretary john kelly said it will be a tighter, more stream lined version of the first. compare that to stephen miller's description. he's the chief architect of the order which was stopped dead in its tracks. >> nothing was wrong with the first executive order, however, there was a flawed judicial ruling that was erroneous. fundamentally you're still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country but you're going to be responsive to a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court and those will be addressed. >> stephen miller coming out last night and saying on a news program that the new ban will be just like the old ban. he described any differences as of a minor or technical nature. i can tell you, he just served up the aclu's opening line in any argument against the new

travel ban in court. it was, well, judge, you blocked the old ban for these reasons and the government has already conceded through mr. miller who's in charge of this process the new ban is basically the same so it should be blocked, too. >> and amid accusations and high tension town halls are ginned up or driven by protesters. more contentious members all day with members of congress off for recess and back in their home district. tom cotton faced questions over his plans for legal immigration. >> of course you and your husband and your children are welcome here. my legislation wouldn't affect you at all. you say your husband first came on an h 1 b program, right? my legislation doesn't affect a single employment-based visa or green card into this country and once you have a green card it still gives preferences to spouses and to unmarried minor children, and i think that we need to reform a lot of the

programs. like the h 1 b program. it sounds like your husband came here, got an education, is very high skilled. those are the kind of visas that we want to give out under the h 1 b program. >> despite night after night under controversial crowds, tom mcchlintock hasn't shied away from people. >> they filled the auditorium and steps outside. top of mind, where the u.s. is going and what congressman tom mcclintock is going to do about it. >> we're not paid we're not an narcotic k annarchists. >> we'll be judged on our ability to vastly improve the health care system. >> reporter: whatever hostility seen here is a far cry from the pros tests in roseville where

police provided him with an escort out of the building. >> bring back in reporter from politico, daniel lipman. great to have you back. we see these images on a daily basis now. are we going to see this translate into the choices that these representatives are going to make? is it going to have an impact on policy? >> i was talking to some congressional aides and they say there isn't that much guidance from the white house as to what exactly to say and so i think when you have thousands of constituents showing up at these town halls and calling your office, you're much more hess tent to do things that would totally piss them off. so politicians, they care about their self-interests. while they won't become liberal and totally reverse themselves, they will work within the caucus and try to find ways to mollify some of these people because they don't want to face these angry town halls every time they go back to their district. that's just not fun. >> if they're having to choose

between donald trump's wrath on twitter or calling them out by name as he's done against some members of congress or the constituents, which way do you think it's going to lean? >> i think a lot of congressmen on both sides of the aisle, they don't have the backbone like senator john mccain who's kind of served our country for so many years that he doesn't really care what people say about him. and so -- and i don't think that trump is going to single out individual republican members on twitter because i think paul ryan and reince priebus, they're going to tell him, this is not productive. just invite them in to talk to them. >> you mentioned twitter and i'm curious about, look, that's the way that donald trump will directly communicate with constituents. he has millions of followers on twitter. is there guidance from the white house, campaign, an ongoing attempt to try to get him to rein in on that? >> my friend tonya palmeri said

she talked to former campaign aides. the best way to make sure he doesn't tweet that much is to present good coverage of what he's doing in the campaign and the white house to him because he's a very visual person. he watches a lot of television, but he also reads printouts of articles. so if you pull up pieces from the daily caller and breitbart saying everything is going well, then he's less likely to, say, you know -- >> wake up and start tweeting? >> yeah. >> daniel lipman, great to have you this morning. we look forward to playbook. take care. >> thank you. apple announces plans to complete a massive project first started by steve jobs. wait until you see it. plus, the president sends his secretary of state and secretary of homeland security to mexico. the white house sending those heavy hitters despite the claims that relations with mexico have never been better. the president and twitter to remind you of something the

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top administration officials are meeting with mexican leaders today even as the white house cracks down on the southern border. secretary of state rex tillerson and secretary of homeland security john kelly will meet with president nieto today. it comes as the mexican government pushes back at the new u.s. immigration policy which will have those who illegally cross the border sent back to mexico even if they're mexican. here's hallie jackson pressing the administration yesterday. >> reporter: obviously there have been tensions, right, between the mexican president and president trump. is this a cleanup job? >> no.

i think the presidents spoke again. the foreign ministers had several contact with our staff. i would argue that we have a very healthy and robust relationship with the mexican government and mexican officials. i think they would echo that same sentiment. i think the relationship with mexico is phenomenal right now. >> paul ryan visited the border saddling up on a horse before riding off. president trump had said his proposed border wall will help stop the skyrocketing overdose rate in the united states driven in large part by an increase in narcotics coming in from mexico, but as nbc's jacob soberof found out, smugglers are putting u.s. authorities to the test every day. >> reporter: this is the san ysidro port of entry. it is the busiest land border crossing of the world. every day 50,000 vehicles, 20,000 pedestrians and untold

loads of narcotics make their way to the other side. while president trump said he wants to build a border wall where there isn't one to keep it out, this is the front line. >> that's one of your agents that stands out here to look for suspicious activity? >> correct. once he sees something, he'll initiate contact. >> reporter: the dea says most narcotics are driven in hidden in vehicles through what mexico's drug cartels call plazas like mexicali, juarez and san ysidro. one thing they all have in common, they're all areas with a border wall. >> what we're looking at is in vehicle was pulled into secondary screening at san ysidro at the port of entry and it got a positive hit from the canine, from the dog. it appears that in the dash is some sort of narcotics hidden in the vehicle. they started to pull out bags of i guess we don't know what yet,

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. just keeps coming. do you know what you've got there? >> yes. >> what have you got? >> methamphetamine. >> is that a normal load? >> we could get up to another five, six loads today and that wouldn't be abnormal for zblus why if you're a cartel do you want to send drugs like this through a legal port of entry? >> drug smugglers feel their opportunities to mix in. >> translation, they think they can sneak it by you? >> right. >> reporter: in the shadow of an existing border fence, a reality check. >> just shows how complex that situation really is. our thanks to jacob soberoff for that report. turn to business now. where the fed released minutes showing that a rate hike could be possible. cnbc's carolyn roth joins us. they cite the economic policies as a potential raise in the rates. how are the markets reacting to

this? >> the markets were pretty mixed. we saw another record close for the dow, the ninth one in a row. the nags dak and s&p were a fraction lower. the dollar seesawed a little bit. the message from the fed is we're going to be hiking rates once again fairly soon. what does fairly soon mean for the markets? it may be in the month of may. that's the most likely now. it may be as early as march. as you said, the fed spent a lot of time during the last meeting, the first one since trump took office, speaking about donald trump, though they never mentioned his name, talked a lot about the impact of lower regulation, lower taxes, higher domestic spending. let's talk about tesla. the electric car maker said its mass market model 3 sedan was on track for volume production by september. investors hoping this will be the turn around for the company which is still burning a lot of cash and still not profitable. meantime, shares in the company rose on the back of the earnings yesterday. q4 revenues better than expected but the loss, that was a bit

wider, that forecast. staying with the auto sector, car loss gon, the ceo of nissan. he is staying on as the ce off of renauldt. back over to you. >> live from london. thanks so much. tech giant apple is getting a new home. yesterday the company announced it will spend six months starting in april moving 12,000 employees into its brand-new glass encased facility. the 175 acre ring shaped campus will be called apple park. one of co-founder steve job's final projects. the campus will feature a 1,000 seat theater named after jobs. apple park will run entirely on renewable energy. it will include a 100,000 square foot fitness center as well as 2 miles of walking and running paths not to mention an orchard and running and pond. it will be home to the world's

largest naturally vent lating. a law seeking to stop people from suing over their age. imdb removes an actor's age if requested. the injunction came after the database filed a lawsuit attempting to invalidate the legislation declaring it was a restriction of noncommercial speech. the sag who lobbied for the stoppage said we look forward to the opportunity to prevent evidence how this will eliminate the age discrimination facilitated by imdb.com. >> i still can't get over that. >> apple park? >> what the percs are going to be inside. >> pretty incredible. let's get a check on the weather. pretty incredible for the middle of february, bonnie schneider.

>> it is. in wyoming bracing for a blizzard. casper and south dakota getting hit and into iowa. this will be a big winter storm for many. it will produce the threat for severe weather, meaning possibly tornadoes, at least isolated super cells are likely to develop on friday for the midwest into indianapolis, cincinnati, and into louisville. breaking down the storm looking for snow into the parts of the upper midwest. eventually the rain will work into the mid east. light snow showers into chicago. overnight friday night towards saturday morning. it's amazing the temperatures. they're dropping by 30 degrees from what we're seeing today to what we're going to see by saturday. the forecast for this afternoon, 66 in new york city but near 80 in raleigh. 75 in atlanta and st. louis, 71. that will quickly cool down. as we look towards friday's forecast, stay mild at least through the end of this week. so i guess we'll enjoy it while it lasts because we still have to get through the first part of march where it may turn colder in the east, alex. >> thank you, bonnie schneider.

still ahead, from gitmo to the battlefield. new questions about a suicide bombing carried out by -- carried out by a former released gitmo detainee. we're back with that story. ♪ heigh ho ♪ heigh ho ♪ heigh ho heigh ho it's off to work we go here's to all of you early risers, what's up man? go-getters, and should-be sleepers. from all of us at delta, because the ones who truly change the world, are the ones who can't wait to get out in it. becashis it dna or olay? us trul20-something skin. new olay total effects fights seven signs of aging to help

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there are reports that isis is claiming that a british former detainee at guantanamo bay has carried out a suicide bombing at a military base in iraq. >> joining us from london is lucy cavanof.

what more can you tell us about this? >> reporter: good morning. isis releasing a chilling photograph of the man they're claiming is one of their fighters. they're calling him abu a abu al bertani. he's a 50-year-old british citizen. his background is a bit merky. he was captured on the afghanistan/pakistan border. he was handed over to the taliban and freed and turned over to american troops which is how he ended up at guantanamo bay. he said he was tortured while at the detention facility, released in 2004. ended up suing the british government along with some former detainees. they reportedly got financial compensation in a settlement, but there are reports that he may have left this country to travel to syria in order to join isis and now the group claiming that he is, in fact, one of their soldiers who carried out a suicide bombing near mosul on sunday. i should stress we haven't been

able to independently verify this information, but according to reports he allegedly drove a car bomb towards an iraqi army post southwest of mosul detonating it and killing himself. alex? >> it's extraordinary. that photo corresponds with the timing it looks like he's in that car. >> it raises all kinds of questions about gitmo and whether it should be shut down. still ahead, looking at the stories coming up. he's only been in the office for a month, the president's ratings hit a new low. terry mccall live and tom cole joining us. morning joe is just moments away.

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plus they help protect from harmful blue light. both indoors... and out. enjoy life more comfortably. enjoy life more richly. live the good light. find an eyecare professional at transitions.com before we toss it over to "morning joe," we're giving you a check on the stories you'll be hearing out in the day ahead. president trump expected to talk more policy at the white house as some of his cabinet members work to repair relations with one u.s. ally. nbc's hallie jackson has more from the white house. >> reporter: hey there, louis. good morning to you. here's what we can expect at the

white house. the president will be meeting with business leaders to talk about deregulation, trade and taxes. all of it happening as one of his top cabinet members, secretary of state rex tillerson, is across the border down south visiting with the mexican leadership along with homeland security chief john kelly. that actually promises to be really interesting just given the tepgs that is have arisen between the united states and mexico over the promise from president trump to build that border wall and make mexico pay for it. that said, press secretary sean spicer insists that the u.s. and mexico have a phenomenal relationship. we're going to find out much more about that relationship after this visit. louis? >> hallie jackson from the white house north lawn. thanks for that report. it's day two of cpac so expect some big names including vice president mike pence. he's the headliner for the day and senator ted cruz expected to speak. and ringling brothers and barnum & bailey circus rolls

into new york. it's going to close. >> the end is near. >> that does it for us on this thursday. i'm alex witt. "morning joe" starts right now. close. that does it for us on a thursday. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i'm mary story from fayetteville and i am not a paid protester. >> i don't really care anybody here is tight or not, you all are kansans and i'm glad to hear from you. >> you want to stand there with him? expect us to be calm? cool, and collected? what kind of entrance do you have? >> some people are clearly upset but there is a bit of professional protester manufactured base in there. when you look at some of these districts and some of these things, it is -- it is -- it is not a