the other considered to be a safe democratic seat. but if either party can pull off an upset, if one of those races can swing the other way, it will change which party controls the senate in the state of connecticut. oh, it's all very exciting. we'll keep you posted. watch this space. that does it for us tonight. "first look" is up next. >> today president trump is getting ready to deliver his first address to a joint session of congress. he's said to outline a budget that increases defense spending and slashes lower priority programs. plus, another wave of bomb threats targeting at least 29 jewish schools and community centers across the country. it's the latest in a growing list of anti-semitic incidents across the u.s. this year. and this morning an investigation is underway after a small plane crashed into a california home killing three and injuring two others on board. officials say the crash threw debris as far as half a mile away.

good morning, everyone. it is tuesday, february 28th. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and alex burgdorf. the president continues to craft top stage and expects to focus on renewal of the american spirit and optimistic vision for all americans. he reportededly said over dinne that the country has numerous problems but tremendous potential. here's what he told fox news last night. >> all i can do is speak from the heart and say what i want to do. and we have a really terrific, i believe, health care plan coming out. we have to understand obama is a disaster, it's way out of control. i'll be talking military. i'll be talking about the border. we have to remember that we're

getting the bad ones out, the bad people, gang members, drug lords, in some cases, murderers. >> joining us from capitol hill, national political reporter jonathan swan. hey, jonathan, good morning to you. you were in on the briefing with the white house so set the tone for tonight. >> reporter: well, the tone they want us to hear, and to be clear, not a very detailed briefing. they gave us a lot of catch phrases, you know, renewal of the american spirit, optimism, et cetera. but the most important thing is none of that, actually. it's obamacare. and two things happened yesterday, which put a lot of pressure on the president's speech today. the chairman of the house freedom caucus mark meadows came out against the house's obamacare plan, the leak draft, and so did mark walker from the much larger republican study committee. so what the republicans need is

for the president to come out and use that bully pulpit to pressure the house republicans who are saying they are not going to support the house plan. that's the most important thing of this speech. everything else is window addressing. oba obamacare is in a really fragile position at this point. >> let me ask you quickly, we got a first look at the more specific points of trump's budget, the heavy opincrease in defense spending and international programs and what have you, what else stands out to you? >> reporter: what stands out to me is that this is a government, from what i can tell, this administration is not committed like paul ryan is committed to the principle of revenue neutrality with tax reform. so, i mean, there is no sense that we've got so far that donald trump is going to reduce the national debt, either through his budget, where we're seeing, yes, huge cuts to the apa, the state department, but that money is going to be used

for defense spending. so this is not going to put a dent in the deficit. and they are saying they won't touch entitlement spending, which as everyone who studies the budget knows, is the only way to reduce the national debt. then you have tax reform. well, donald trump, we're very skeptical he likes the border adjustment tax, which is what paul ryan wants to raise a trillion dollars over ten years. donald trump, from what -- my reporting, is very skeptical about this. so we're looking at a scenario where he may make big tax cuts without paying for them. >> it's safe to say it will be an uphill battle for whoever tries to get the budget past. jonathan swan, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. more than two dozen jewish schools and community centers across the country were evacuated yesterday following a series of bomb threats in the latest wave of anti-semitic threats. the threats took place in 15 different states. no bombs were found in any of the locations evacuated. the fbi and justice department are looking at these as possible civil rights violations. in las vegas the local jewish

community center was one of those buildings targeted. it was the first time that facility received a threat. the busy section of san francisco's market street is back open after the anti-defamation league were also the victims of a hoax bomb threat last night. meanwhile in the philadelphia area, cleanup is scheduled at the jewish cemetery where 100 headstones were knocked over the past weekend. this comes over 150 headstones at a jewish cemetery in st. louis were also damaged. the white house addressed the latest wave of anti-semitic attacks. >> the president continues to be deeply disappointed and concerned by the reports of further vandalism at jewish cemeteries. the cowardly destruction of philadelphia this weekend comes on top of similar accounts from missouri and threats made to jewish community centers around the country. the president continues to condemn these and any other form of anti-semitic and hateful acts in the strongest terms. from our country's founding, we have been dedicated to protecting the freedom of our

citizens' rights to worship. no one in america should feel afraid to follow the religion of their choosing freely and openly. >> hillary clinton tweeted yesterday with threats and hate crimes on the rise, we shouldn't have to tell potus to do his part. he must step up and speak out. >> in that tweet clinton included an article on the shooting of two end can immigrants last week that left one of them dead. the kansas man accused of pulling the trigger appeared in court for the first time yesterday as officials investigate whether it was a hate crime. blake mccoy has more. >> reporter: making his first court appearance via cctv, accused shooter adam purington is being looked at whether it was a hate crime. he opened fire at two indian man in a bar in olathe, kansas. purington yelled, "get out of my country" before returning with a gun.

serena was killed and olec was shot but survived. a third man, ian, was shot trying to intervene. police arrested purington several miles away after confiding in a bartender who called 911. >> he said he shot and killed two iranian people. >> reporter: what sparked the shooting is unclear. his family tells our affiliate that the navy veteran suffered from ptsd. >> i have never in a million years thought he would hurt somebody else. >> reporter: he says it has not shaken his desire to remain in the u.s. >> that's not what this community stands for. i believe in the greater good. >> reporter: one of the widows flew to indian for burial. love now on full display in this community rocked by senseless violence. >> our thanks to blake mccoy for that report. and chairs of the congest n

congressional committee are facing questions on what they did on behalf of the white house. in their effort to repudiate a new york times story between trump campaign aide and sor associates, devon muniz reveals why he talked to the newspaper after the white house asked him not to do it. >> if you asked me to contact the white house and said, hey, can you set me up with somebody at the intelligence agencies, i would say, sure. by the way, it was one reporter, i don't know if the white house asked me to talk to you, would you think that would be okay or not okay? >> the senate intelligence committee chairman richard burr acknowledged to "the washington post" he engaged reporters at the white house's question saying what he shared didn't breach my responsibilities to the committee in an ongoing investigation.

but yesterday he declined to address criticism from democrats like senate minority leader chuck schumer. >> senator burr is on notice because what he did was wrong. and this is not the way to conduct a fair, impartial investigation that goes wherever the facts lead. >> what's your reaction from the vice chair on the intelligence committee? >> was it appropriate for you to talk to reporters about this? >> you guys have a great night. >> now to the latest on the leaked january raid in yemen. u.s. officials now tell nbc news that the mission yielded no significant intelligence and the senior congressional official who was briefed on the manner says the administration has not revealed what prompted the rare use of ground troops in yemen. petty officer chief william owens died during the raid. six other service members were wounded. at least 25 civilians including

at least 9 children under 13 years old were reportedly killed. now the pentagon did not dispute those numbers yesterday. a $70 million u.s. aircraft was also destroyed. it had previously been revealed the president approved the mission while having dinner with advisers. yesterday the white house press secretary sean spicer reiterated the mission was a success. >> the mission was successful in helping prevent a future attack or attacks on this nation. it obtained a lot of information that will help us keep safe. when you look at what the stated goal of that mission was, it was an information and intelligence gathering mission. and it achieved that -- its objectives. >> this comes as officer owen's father who is a veteran himself demanded an investigation and questioned the timing of the mission, telling "the miami harold," quote, why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission where it was barely a

week into his administration? for two weeks prior there were no boots on the ground in yemen, everything was missiles and drones. now all of a sudden we had to make this grand display? secretary spicer responded yesterday. >> i can tell him that on bhaehf of the president, his son died a hero. the information that he was able to help obtain through that raid, as i've said before, is going to save american lives, it's going to protect our country more. it is standard operating procedure for the department of defense to undergo what they call a 15-6 review. because there was a fatality and a loss of life, there's that. because there was civilians involved, that's another. and third, is because there is hardware, a helicopter that was damaged. that is a separate -- so, in fact, there will be three reviews done by the department of defense. it's something that as a s.e.a.l. that has been deployed

12 times, he knew that this was part of the job and knew what he was doing. and so we are very comfortable with how the mission was exec e executed. >> ahead of the president's address to congress, defense secretary james mattis submitted his plan on how to accelerate the fight against isis. joining us onset is nbc's cal perry. great to have you with us. we go back 30 days ago, january 28, the president said he's expecting a plan from the military establishment on how to defeat or take the fight to isis. how is it looking after those 30 days? what can we expect? >> i think we can expect something tonight. the drone war has been going on for a few weeks. this president is going to bomb the heck out of isis. here's the current state of play when it comes to i sisis when w look at the geographical landscape. we're going to look specifically at syria and iraq and the area controlled by isis, that black area there, specifically in iraq, you have mosul in the

north. we have 5,000 troops already there, the u.s. does, and in raqqah west of that in northern syria, that's the next major fight. those supply lines are going to be key to all of this. what are the numbers we're talking about? well, according to the u.s. military, 60,000 isis fighters have been killed, leaving some 50,000. those are the resources on the screen that president trump has to work with. the air bases that surround syria and iraq, we have special operations forces in syria. and the 5,000 troops in iraq. the last thing i want to show you, because this is going to complicate everything, are the russian positions in syria. russia has done the main sort of military work in syria. those little airplanes, those are now air bases, those circles are military positions and two ports are key for russia. so all of that is going to sort of convolute what is already a very complicated problem. >> so you guys are both saying drum beats of war. is there union namty of thought?

is everyone on the same page within the pentagon? >> i think the pentagon is excited for a challenge, whether or not they're in favor of going to war is another question. but you have quotes like this, joseph dunford from the joint chiefs of staff saying, we're looking at the full range of operations. and it is likely we'll see an increase of troops in iraq. >> you can imagine the irony in all of this that president trump campaigned on trying to be less of an interventionist type of president. but early on in his administration, all signals suggest the u.s. is going to increase the footprint in the fight against isis. >> how do you follow through on the campaign promise to destroy isis while having less of a footprint? >> thank you, cal perry. and coming up, we have video that shows the very minute a plane went down. and vowing to replace obamacare. those stories and a check on weather when we come back.

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welcome back, everyone. the federal aviation administration is investigating a plane crash that crashed into a home in riverside. there were five passengers on board at the time. and according to fire officials, two homes were destroyed. that plane was reportedly flying to san jose after a cheerleading competition. two women were ejected from the plane. they were taken to local hospitals. one of them was in surgery overnight after suffering severe burns. according to the local fire chief, they believe they have accounted for all residents liveri living in the riverside community neighborhood. and bill karins, a lot of things are developing out there. >> i have something cool to show you. if you think of seattle, for one thing, you don't think of snow and thunderstorms.

how about if we combine both things yesterday? extremely rare at the space needle. you can see it there struck by lightning in the middle of a heavy burst of snow. so this is officially thunder snow in seattle. pretty rare. usually only get about six to eight thunderstorms in an entire year in seattle. so that is pretty cool. as far as the severe weather goes, nothing on the maps yet. this will light up late this afternoon through this evening. the area at greatest risk is from areas of the ozarks, little rock, northwards up to st. louis. areas of southern illinois, paducah, right along the ohio river in louisville, back northwards to indianapolis. that's 36 million people at risk of severe storms. it's not going to be widespread. not all 36 million will be hit, but we'll see isolated super cell thunderstorms. we'll take you into the timing of the severe weather. here's the storm over areas of iowa and missouri. and then we're going to track the storm as we go throughout the afternoon. the little dots on here will be the thunderstorms as they begin to pop up near little rock, over the ozarks and southern illinois. the coverage is not that great,

so we won't have a ton of tornadoes, but we could have one or two strong ones once we get to the dark hours, it will be moving fast. that's when we get to the storms that could be deadly and of great concern today. later tonight through the ohio valley, the greatest concern for louisville, lexington, columbus, cleveland, maybe as far north as detroit, there's going to be wind damage during the overnight hours as thunderstorms roll on through. then by the time we get to wednesday, those thunderstorms continue. how about this? 87 million people at risk of severe storms. this storm system will be early in the morning in tennessee, kentucky and sweep all the way to the east coast. even the airports of new york city, philly, d.c. and richmond will see a strong squall line go through of thunderstorms during the late afternoon and up evening. so it will be an active two days, hopefully we'll avoid the deadly tornadoes later on today. >> bill, it's great to have you back at 100%. if you have dreamt of going to the moon, you may be able to take that trip sooner than you think. billionaire entrepreneur and ceo of spacex elon musk announced

taking tours around the moon. the trip could be available in the next two years. musk says the company accepted a, quote, significant deposit from two private citizens. the trip will take place after spacex begins regularly carrying nasa astronauts to the international space station. health training for the first passengers are set to begin this year. seems pretty risky to me, alex. >> i'm kind of curious to know what the meal plan is going to be on that flight? is it going to be more than just peanuts or -- that's a long flight. >> no. i would totally do that. >> i would not do that. >> okay. well, still ahead, the 2017 nfl combine begins today. where this year's fastest prospect may just walk away with his own island? we have that story next in sports. (vo) do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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time clocked by chris johnson back in 2008. the catch potential participants would have to do wearing a particular pair of adidas brand cleats and continue to rep the shoes for the entire season. and the fine print says adidas can just pay the athlete $1 million instead. that's not bad. to the nba one year ago today, steph curry tied the record for the most three-pointers in the game. golden state came away with a 119-108 win against the 76ers. curry tied the nba record for most three-point attempts without sinking a single one going 0 for 11 from the three-point line in the game. take a look at this. >> connell, talk about three-point shooting. wow, how about that, curry the air ball. ♪

>> curry is 0 for 11. >> that's a lot of missed shots. after the game curry explained why he had an off night. >> the weather man said there was a low pressure system. i forgot to adjust to the air. >> the when it doubt, blame it on the weather. and the hawks' dwight howard was ejected in their win against the celtics after earning a pair of technical fouls. first for shoving a player, and later for taunting after hanging on the rim following a big dunk. but it was what he did on his exit from the arena that was truly dastardly. he looked like he was going to give his jersey to an excited fan, but he fakes her out. i wonder why he did that.

>> that was hurtful. >> the other thing is, despite the warriors having that horrible performance, they are still the earliest team in nba history in playoffs. that tells you how good they are. still ahead, president trump is set to release a budget outline today, but are top republicans going to get the hi into the plans? it's looking up not down. it's feeling up thinking up living up. it's being in motion... in body in spirit in the now. boost. it's not just nutrition. it's intelligent nutrition. with 26 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. all in 3 delicious flavors. it's choosing to go in one direction... up. boost. be up for it.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. we are starting off with the top stories. dramatic video of the very moment a small plane crashed into a riverside, california, home killing three people and injuring two more. officials say that plane was flying to san jose after a cheerleading competition when it went down. the survivors are in critical condition. officials say they believe everyone in the neighborhood is accounted for. and a native american tribe fighting the final bit of construction on the the dakota access pipeline are due in court today. a variety of tribes are suing to keep the pipeline from running near the missouri river. they say it threatens their religion which runs along the river water. and tonight trump will focus on renewing the spirit of

optimism. among the policy topics he's going to discuss, repealing and replacing obamacare, securing the borders and something democrats can support, infrastructure. well, president trump is outlining a major shift in federal spending priorities with a $54 billion swing to defense spending offsetting it we conservati with equivalent cuts. after a visit to the white house, the president wouldn't say whether he supported the top line numbers. >> we just processed -- we have not processed them yet. as you know with a new president coming in, you get top lines and you get the budget later on. this is exactly how this system is supposed to work. we're very excited that they are actually giving us these numbers this early in the process so we can move forward with processing our budgets. >> the president made clear that he doesn't want to touch the budget are. you comfortable with that?

>> replacing obamacare is entitlement reform. thank you. >> it's the largest proposed reduction since the early years of the reagan administration. the reductions in non-defense spending follow the same model. that's the president keeping his promises and doing exactly what he said he was going to do. when you see these reductions, you'll be able to tie it back to a speech the president gave, or something the president has said previously. >> joining us now from capitol hill, political analyst and co-author of "game change," mark halperin. thank you for being with us this morning. >> good morning. >> the budget is expected to be center stage in the president's speech tonight, but what is the tone he's going to try to strike tonight? and who here is his audience, members of congress or the broader american public? >> the budget is an opening bid. even though the president's party controls both sides of capitol hill, there's going to be a lot of debate about that. i think the question people are most liking at tonight is does the president say things in a style and in a manner that

reaches out beyond just the republicans in the hall? although there are differences as suggested between the president and his own party on some issues, this presidency seemed to have the promise at times candidate trump seemed to be building a different kind of coalition. a coalition that spanned across both parties to some extent. and changed things potentially around the world. and talking about domestic policy, talking about foreign policy, can he bring people back to the possibility that this was something more than just a polarizing presidency, the type we saw, with the last three presidents. >> mark, i want to get your take on the interview the president gave to fox news. he talks about all those town halls that we all saw boil over this last week. let's take a listen. >> it turns out his organization seems to be doing a lot of organizing to the protests that a lot of the republicans are seeing around the country and against you. do you believe president obama is behind it? and if he is, is that a violation of the so-called unsaid president's code?

>> no, i think he is behind it. i also think it's politics. that's the way it is. look -- >> but bush wasn't going after clinton. clinton was going after bush. >> well, you never know what is happening behind the scenes. you're probably right or possibly right, but you never know. no, i think president obama is behind it. because his people are certainly behind it. and some of the leaks, possibly come from that group. you know, some of the leaks, which are really very serious leaks, because they are bad in terms of national security. >> so barack obama's people inside the white house are behind the leaks? >> well, look, the fox interviewer there teed the president up and played to a not surprising reaction from donald trump. you say, you think barack obama is doing this to you? there are some loyalists and some careerists inside the government who are leaking, in part, to damage the president. but as i said on "morning joe," yesterday, a lot of the leaking bothering the president is coming from people inside the administration trying to help him, who are frustrated they can't get their message out and

impact his behavior any other way. but i don't think it's the least bit surprising knowing donald trump observing it, teed up by the interviewer to say, do you blame barack obama for this? yeah, i'll blame them for pretty much everything at this point. >> mark, i want to say cop greats on re-upping the circuit on showtime. >> thank you. >> we'll see you coming up on "morning joe." president trump is learning how complicated america can be and several top republicans are expressing concerns over the draft bill to begin repealing and replacing the affordable care act. congressman mark meadows, the chairman of the freedom caucus and congressman mark walker, the head of the conservative republican study committee, say they don't support the bill in its current form. opposed to the tax credits, intended to make insurance more affordable, they say it's just another entitlement program. this is part of the president's schedule yesterday, asking insurance company ceos to help, quote, save americans from

obamacare just an hour after raising eyebrows with this remark to republican governors. >> we have come up with a solution that's really, really, i think, very good. now, i have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complicated subject. nobody knew health care was so complicated. >> many in congress knew that, but nevertheless, many reporters were hosted at the white house last night for dipper. justin gray said much of the conversation with the president said that replacing health care will take a while. and last night new jersey congressman bill pasqa lrl talk about the meeting. nancy pelosi responded by saying, house republicans made themselves accomplices to hiding

president trump's tax returns from the american people. while republicans stonewall an independent investigation, democrats will continue to demand the truth. and wilbur ross was confirmed as commerce secretary last night. he was a concern for some lawmakers during his hearings though he has promised to release his assets. he will plan to overhaul trade deals like nafta. meanwhile, the confirmation of president trump's pick for deputy commerce secretary could be in trouble. four sources familiar with the matter reportedly told cbs news that nominee todd ricketts is having difficulty separating from his financial ties, he currently ups the chicago cubs. the requirements and difficulty of divesting from these family

business ties could force ricketts to withdraw. >> i'm not going to discuss what we did internally. i'm going to say we did our job about making sure that when people, reporters had questions, we let them know what subject matter experts were available to discuss the accuracy of the story. >> and john brennan who led the national counter terrorism center under president w. bush described these findings as unusual. >> when you were serving in the white house, if they called you and said, we have a story, we need you to talk to some reporters? >> no, i never did that on behalf of the white house's request. the white house never made that question of me. particularly if it's an investigation that by invocation deals with members who may be

associated with the individuals that currently reside in the white house. >> brennan said he welcomed the white house's investigation of leaks. meanwhile, the president weighed in on stories in the media and whether the sources from inside his administration were legitimate. >> i fully understand -- when they make stories up and create sours, because sometimes the sources don't exist, sometimes they do. i'm not saying all sources, but i believe a lot of the sources are made up, a lot of the stories are made up. i believe the stories are pure fiction they pull out of air. >> we talked earlier about the president's plan to unveil his budget to congress and the emphasis on defense spending. well, yesterday he defended the need criticizing the u.s. military while speaking to a group of governors at the white house, saying that america is incapable of whipping wars. joining us onset, cal perry. so he wants to add more to the defense budget, but obviously you have to pay for it somewhere

and pay for it somewhere. >> the budget goes hand in hand with that. so exhibit a, the following sound bite. take a listen to president trump yesterday. >> we have to win. we have winning wars again. when i was young in high school and college, everybody used to say, we never lost aer with a. we never lost a war. you remember. and now we never win a war. we never win. and we don't fight to win. we don't fight to win. so we have to win or don't fight it at all. >> so we're talking about specifically an increase of $54 billion for defense spending. we can throw up the basic numbers there. your total budget, $603 billion. there's your $54 billion increase. how does this compare? this is a 10% increase. i want to mention a letter written by 120 retired generals and admirals that goes counter to what president trump is trying to do. and in that letter we have people talking about the importance of the peace corps. talking about the importance of the state department.

>> dpiplomacy. >> yeah. >> general james mattis said, quote, if you don't fully fund the state department. i need to buy more ammunition. so the generals are talking about how soft diplomacy is important. there's the letter with big names on that letter. certainly the president is not going to be able to ignore that. when you look at the cadre of people around him, like general mattis, they are looking at that letter. >> you have to add general allen's name to that. he was the presidential envoy to the global coalition to try to stop isis. and that's what is behind all this, it's all a pointed attack on stopping isis. >> yes, and h.r. mcmaster with experience on the ground, we have talked act it in iraq, experience in afghanistan. this group of generals surrounding president trump, they are not strangers to combat on the ground. and how it is reflected here on the united states as those from the fifth fleet. this letter strikes to that, to the descent inside the west wing

on diplomacy. >> cal perry, thank you very much. still ahead, more than 36 million people are at risk of severe weather today. we have bill karins covering that. and then there's this -- >> yeah, we are still talking about that. plus the story behind the oscar affair. we'll tell you who is falling for the sword to the best picture mix-up. stay with us. this is the silverado special edition. this is one gorgeous truck. oh, did i say there's only one special edition? because, actually there's 5. aaaahh!! ooohh!! uh!

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with accelerated retinol sa. clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in just one week. wrinkles? your time is up! rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots. rapid tone repair. neutrogena® see what's possible. president trump, jimmy kimmel, he tweeted crude comments. he insinuated that you are racist. what is your response? >> you know, it just seems the other side, whenever they are losing badly, they pull out the race card. and i have watched it for years. in fact, i did pretty well, much better than past people in the republican party in the recent election, having to do with hispanics, having to do with african-americans. i did pretty well or i wouldn't be sitting here. if i didn't get numbers that were at least as good or better

i wouldn't be sitting here. >> that's president trump weighing in on the oscars. he also blamed the best picture flub on the show focusing too much on politics. meanwhile, the firm responsible for certifying the oscar votes is taking full responsibility for the mix-up. pricewaterhousecooper said they gave the presenter the wrong envelope. ironical ironically, it's the employee who said earlier this month, you have to, quote, make sure you're giving the presenter the right envelope. they gave them the envelope for best actress in a leading role instead of the best picture. his partner and he didn't move quickly enough to fix the problem. he said this year we, quote, failed. >> we'll be talking about this for the next 83 years. >> something tells me next year's oscars will have some moment of comedy to do with this. >> a little change with the rules.

we'll get a check now on the weather with meteorologist bill karins. hi, bill. >> this is a -- not really weather-related but science-related. look at these pictures from italy. this was cool from overnight. one of the most active volcanos on the planet. last night it put on a pretty amazing show of active lava flow and everything else going on. we'll bring you back home where we are concerned with weather today. we mentioned this earlier, about 36 million people at risk of severe storms. we are heading into the severe weather season getting out of the winter season. we didn't have much of one. 36 million at little rock, st. louis, paducah, memphis, indianapolis. that's the area of greatest concern. besides the severe weather threat today, we really need to pay more attention and start talking more about what happened this winter and the lack of winter in many areas. this is just some of the february facts. dallas did not drop below 32 degrees the entire month of february. that's extremely rare. and how about what happened in chicago? they had no snow on the ground for two straight months, january and february. that's never happened before.

and that's chicago. heading into chicago winters, right? how about atlanta, the warmest february on record, looks like a sure bet. there are many other cities in the top five for warmest februarys of all time, including areas like richmond and norfolk and washington, d.c., possibly even up to new york city. and it continues for the last day of february. record highs possible today in columbia, memphis, paducah, indianapolis, just short, and chicago a degree or two short. and then we start march with incredible warmth all the way up the east coast, near record highs, new york, boston, d.c., norfolk and raleigh. so we're getting done with an incredibly warm winter. and especially in the eastern half of the country, guys. we didn't have a lot of snow and the temperatures have been really almost spring-like all winter long. >> i know. and then there's the west coast. >> well, that's a different story, because they had a blockbuster winter. >> unbelievable. bill, thank you for that. still ahead, the company that runs some of the nation's most popular jewelers is now the subject of a major class-action lawsuit. plus, the scandal that claimed the career of south

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welcome back, everyone. south korea's special prosecutor's office announced this morning that it will indict samsung group chief jay lee for investment involving the

impeachment of president park. it also includes samsung's vice president and evp. now, in addition to bribery and embezzlement, lee was also charged or will be charged with committing perjury before parliament. lee and samsung deny any wrongdoing. and uber continues their investigation into the company's biggest jewelers that are facing an investigation of their own. louisa bojesen is here with the latest on the allegations they are facing. >> lots and lots of people are involved in this one. we are talking about sterling jewelers behind the jared jewelry chains. they fostered a culture that led to sexual harassment and discrimination. you have some 250 people who work directly at sterling that have made statements, both male and female, they allege that

female employees were routinely groped, demeaned and urged to cater to their bosses sexually in order to stay employed. this happened in the late '90s and in the 2000s as well. a spokesman for stilling says this is investigated and there's no ground to the statements and it doesn't reflect the current culture. they operate 1500 outlets currently across the u.s., but the class-action case is still unresolved as well. it now includes 69,000 women, both current and former employees of sterling. and it also includes people who talk about being underpaid as well. i just want to also mention, a top uber exec has now resigned after failing to disclose a prior sexual harassment claim at google where he worked previously. of course, this is really bad timing for uber because last week they found themselves in a separate sexual harassment case. a woman blogged about her experience at the company and that caused a lot of storm within the company. and they are also facing a

lawsuit from the self-driving company owned by alphabet about claims of stolen technology. and now the top exec didn't disclose his previous sexual harassment case at google as well. not looking good for them. >> louisa bojesen live from london, thank you so much. and coming up on "morning joe," a packed live show from washington, d.c. tom perez, senator john cornyn and elijah cummings join joe and mika. "morning joe" is just moments away. im bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes... priority boarding... and 50,000 bonus miles. everything you need for an unforgettable vacation. the united mileageplus explorer card. imagine where it will take you.

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before we toss it over to "morning joe," we'll bring you a check on the stories you'll hear about in the day ahead. >> president trump is set to give his first major address in front of a joint session of congress. kristen welker has a preview from the white house. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: louis, good morning to you. president trump working on the address he will give late into the night. the senior administration officials say expect an optimistic speech. he's going to talk about what he perceives to be his accomplishments so far, creating jobs, pulling out of tpp.

he's also going to talk about his plans moving forward. on health care, on tax reform, and, of course, on the budget. expect a heavy focus on national security and defense spending. senior administration officials also say this speech is to some extent a compilation of the conversations he's had in recent weeks with law enforcement officials, union representatives, health care officials. now, all of this comes as this white house continues to deal with mounting questions about russia, the calls growing for an independent investigation into whether there was any contact between trump campaigning and russian officials. louis, back to you. >> kristen welker from the white house north lawn, thank you for that report. and ahead of his speech tonight, president trump is expected to sign new executive orders. one will call for the epa and the army corps of engineers to roll back the order of the obama-era clean water regulation. the other would make historically black colleges and

universities a priority for the white house. and they are set to celebrate fat tuesday today in mardi gras as the season comes to a close, but more security is going to be on hand after the truck rammed into a crowd of revelers just this good morning. it's tuesday february 28th. welcome to "morning joe." we're live on capitol hill. >> this is very nice, mika. very nice of mark halperin to let us film from his apartment. it's unbelievable. >> tonight will address congress on the first time with us on set. we have political analyst, executive producer and co-host of showtime's the circus mark halperin