hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts at msnbc world headquarters in new york. 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west. day 52 of the trump administration. trump's gate-crasher. new information this morning on how that white house intruder got so close to the president. prognosis: poor. republicans at odds in the battle over health care. will the current version of repeal and replace damage the party long term? new word today from several leading gop critics. >> if there is no evidence that any wiretapping took place, will the president apologize to president obama for making such a serious charge? >> i think -- let's not get aheaof oselves. >>o, where's the proof? congress wants to see president trump's wiretap evidence and the

intel committee members want it by tomorrow. you're fired! the new and potential fallout from the justice department's move to ask u.s. attorneys to resign, including a high-profile one from new york who actually had to be fired. and winter, it is still coming, and with a vengeance. a blizzard expected this week in parts of the northeast. we're going to break down who's going to be hit the hardest. details ahead right here on "msnbc live." but we want to begin with the political headlines of this morning and the picture out of the white house. this fast-approaching deadline which could shed some light on president trump's wiretapping allegations. we have a senior congressional aide telling the "associated press" that the house intel committee has asked the trump administration to provide evidence that president obama had wiretapped trump tower during the election, and they want it by tomorrow. it's a little more than a week since president trump made the bombshell claims via twitter and then asked congress to investigate, and this new development comes as the white house ramps up its push for the republicans' health care

proposal, which now heads to the budget committee this week. here's democratic congressman john yarmuth, ranking member of the committee, in response to vice president mike pence's visit to his home state of kentucky yesterday. >> but they're going to vote on it, and they're probably not going to win, and i don't think they have a clue as to what comes next. this not only doesn't fix anything, it makes it worse, and this is a reverse robin hood proposal. it takes from the poorest people, gives to the richest people in the form of a $600 billion tax cut. >> all right, so, him calling it a reverse robin hood proposal. well, here's how white house press secretary sean spicer talked about it in an interview last night. >> he's been meeting with members from both houses and both parties, senators, congressmen, republicans, democrats. >> would it be considered a win if he just repealed the thing and started all over? >> well, that's what we're doing, though. this is the most comprehensive repeal effort that we've seen. you've got to do it in a way that doesn't jeopardize people's health care.

>> but you're repairing it at the same time that you're repealing it. >> no, no -- well, we're repealing it, but we're also making sure we start to put in place the phase one aspects of this that ensure the american people get the health care coverage that they need. >> all right, so i want to bring in msnbc's kelly o'donnell, joining us this morning from the white house. kelly, let's break down, just based on sean spicer's conversation there on fox news, how targeted are they in their language of what they're actually trying to do? >> reporter: well, i didn't know we were talking about health care this morning, so i'm sorry, thomas. this is a multistep plan for the white house. why is it multistep? because those leaders in congress, the republicans, say that doing this in a way that puts all of the kind of wish list items in one bill cannot be passed. the reason for that follows into the rules here on capitol hill, where certain types of legislative ideas don't qualify for a budget bill. they are trying to blunt the

democrats, who are using their rules and the tactics they're allowed to use, to slow things down. it gets complicated. but you're trying to ask t white house to trust republicans on capitol hill, who will be able to shepherd this through. it's hard for the public to understand, hard for outside groups to understand. it does get complicated. but what they're trying to claim is that if they roll back some of the policies that were most objected to by republican voters and those who put trump in the white house, that they can also try to protect the health care of individuals until they can get new positions and protocols in place. one of the things that's important for people to understand is health care is a one-year contract each year, and so, the health care someone has today will extend until that contract is up. so, that is part of what's hang here. it is a tough sell. it's hard for conservatives who believe that it's too close to the obamacare plan. it's hard for democrats who don't want anything to do with this and won't give any support,

and for some of the more traditional republicans, it's also been a challenge, because outside groups, conservatives, have been putting pressure. there are disagreements within the party. you've got someone like rand paul, who is in kentucky when the vice president goes to visit, and there's a disagreement there. so, it is a big lift. we've learned over the last several years that trying to do very big sorts of bills and legislation that affects people's lives very personally is fraught with all of the bumpy road of politics. will they get there? it's not a certainty yet. republicans have the numbers advantage to try to get there, but democrats are trying to shine a light on all of the failures in this plan as they see it and to remind voters that they have a lot invested in health care if they've been buying it through the obamacare system, and that is getting a response. we've seen it at town hall meetings. we've seen it from the protests and the questions that people

are asking. even those who supported republicans are saying how is this going to work and how's it going to affect me? thomas? >> kelly o'donnell at the white house, who is the best i the business and such a good tap dancern a snd morning when i throw a wild fastball at your head. >> reporter: i thought we were talking about the intruder at the white house, so i'm sorry, thomas. there's a lot of topics. >> a lot of topics, but the intruder who got close, they were able to apprehend him, correct? give us a quick 30 seconds on that. >> reporter: yes. he jumped over a fence here. that's a very serious issue. was able to get from the front side of the white house all the way to the back, attempted to get toward the south portico entrance of the white house, which would have allowed him inside the building if he were able to do that. he was stopped there, carrying a backpack. he had mace. he also had some things that are interesting to tell us about his thinking. he had a book written by donald trump. he had a letter he wrote to the president. there was no incident in arresting him. he didn't put up any resistance. but this is a serious breach that is a concern for the secret service and others.

just last month, after years of debate and planning, there has been, with some different federal agencies, a new fence approved around the white house that will almost double it in size to try to make it harder for fence-jumping. this happened at almost midnight friday. the president was home. of course, he was not harmed, but this is a serious matter. >> as it should be taken -- >> reporter: thomas. yes, yes, absolutely. >> -- seriously. kelly o'donnell, thank you for being the west in the business. former congressman charlie christ, a democrat, served as governor and attorney general. thank you for joining me today. let's go into your background as florida's attorney general and also former governor. talk about what you think of the forced resignations and one firing that is different for what we're witnessing from the department of justice. this has been a big story, especially with the attorney general from the southern division in new york having to be fired. i know that attorney general janet reno did the same thing in the clinton administration, but

is this apples to apples? >> i don't think it's quite apples to apples. it may be apples to oranges. but it's not that unusual. as you mentioned, this has happened in the past where u.s. attorneys have been asked to resign when a new administration comes into office. they have that right, and in some ways, have that duty. what i think makes this different is particularly the situation in the southern district of new york. former now u.s. attorney bharara. evidently, according to news accounts, he had several serious investigations that were ongoing dealing with some pretty high-level politicians, maybe dealing with some of the ways that they were raising funds. we won't know exactly because, you know, we're not privy to those investigations. but the thing that's kind of strange, too, is evidently, the president, president trump, had met with mr. bharara back in november or early december, i believe, and according to news accounts, again, reassured him that he would be asked to stay and stay on. and then you have this sudden

change of heart, for whatever reason -- we don't know the precise reason. apparently, people in the white house were not willing to speak publicly about why there was a call made to mr. bharara, why he was asked to resign. evidently, he decided not to accept the resignation avenue, and then later, according to twitter, apparently said that he had actually been fired. that's pretty unusual. and i imagine in the next few days or week, we'll probably find out a little bit more about what really happened and, more importantly, why it happened. >> and do you think, though, that -- i mean, as some would characterize this as an epic cleansing of certain positions, obama holdovers. and you make a great point about the fact that bharara did meet with president trump in november and was informed that he would stay on. some are concerned that maybe this is to do with high-level investigations, some of which may have to do with emoluments clause breeches for this current president. >> well, i can tell you this,

thomas, having been attorney general of florida, the third largest state in the country, we had a lot of investigations ongoing while i was there. obviously, i departed of my own volition and ran for governor and won in 2006, but the important point there is that if you have ongoing investigations of a significant nature, and it sounds like that was the case here, dealing with significant public servants, perhaps, if that's the truth, if that was happening, and all of a sudden, you pull, you know, the legs out from underneath this sitting united states attorney who was conducting those investigations, then you have to wonder, what's the underlying reason for why that's happening, and is it for good or for not so good? and we just don't know. and i can also tell you as a former prosecutor that you don't reach conclusions before you investigate, and it would seem to me whoever is named as the successor to mr. bharara would have a duty, and frankly, an obligation, to pursue those

ongoing investigations and find out what was happening in each and every one of them before we can move forward in a positive way, i think. >> and sir, right now, speaking of moving forward, let's talk about the conversation that's being had around the country about president trump and the update, repeal and replace of obamacare. this is what the president had to say about it on friday. listen to this, please. >> we must act now to save americans from the imploding obamacare disaster. '17 would be a disaster for obamacare. that's the year it was meant to explode, because obama won't be here. that was when it was supposed to get even worse. as bad as it is now, it will get even worse. >> so, sir, is obamacare imploding? is the president correct about that? and what changes to the health care policy really do need to be made to continue to make it work where we've seen mistakes happen through it? >> well, i don't think that the affordable care act, or

obamacare, is imploding. i think that what's happened is that people have realized how many good pieces there are within that plan, comprehensively and thoroughly and intelligently thought out by the president, president obama, and his people. obviously, there are problems with what's happening on the republican side with trying to replace it, repeal and replace, as they like to say. what looks like it's imploding on the launchpad is this new plan, and that is bipartisan in the way that that is happening, not only democrats like me, but also republicans, on the far right, as a matter of fact. i think the freedom caucus is pretty opposed to it as well. so, you're seeing, you know, collateral damage on both sides of the aisle in what they're trying to put through as it relates to health care in america, and i think i know why. i think there are several reasons. number one, this is bad for seniors, thomas. it's bad for seniors in that this new act, if allowed to pass, would allow prices and

premiums from insurance companies to raise by 5%, to rise by 5% on senior citizens. number two, it's bad for women. it essentially guts planned parenthood, something that's very important to women across the country for a multitude of reasons, of course, for women's health care, but also cancer screenings and other things that are important. and finally, and i think most disturbingly, it's bad, it's really bad for poor people and the disabled, in terms of how it handles medicaid. medicaid is there to help the poor and the disabled have health care, and it would take away hundreds of billions of dollars from medicaid at the outset, and then it would do more damage by saying, we're not going to allow medicaid to expand again. now, what does that do? that hurts the most poor people in our country, and it hurts the disabled in our country. you know, it says in the book that we will be judged by how we treat the least among us, and it is obvious to me that whoever wrote this thing is nottreating the least among usel and will

have to answer to a higer power someday. >> it is a big sell going forward. on a personal note, i just wanted to say, i'm a pro fan person, such as yourself. i always have a fan. do you have a fan with you now, because i'm hearing a little wind, maybe over the microphone. >> yeah, it's a banner day. i actually have two with me today. >> you are smart. >> so, i'm very happy and very comfortable. >> all right, well, mine is not on currently. i am seeing it across the studio, and anna, we need to work on this, okay? he has two fans, i have none. >> always need a fan. >> democratic congressman charlie christ of florida. and two fans. i am definitely going to go by your fan. the northeast is bracing for a major snowstorm that is expected to dump heavy snow from washington, d.c., to boston. the national weather service issuing a blizzard watch for millions of people. joining me now, msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider. so, bonnie, yes, just talking about a fan right now. >> i was just going to say, step

outside, thomas, you'll get that cold air that you need. >> i'll chill down accordingly. but what's going on with this storm? what can folks expect? >> we are definitely looking at a monumental storm, and it may be a record-breaker for many, especially because it's happening in march. 58 million people will be impacted by this storm from monday night straight through wednesday. and remember, the bulk of it happening on tuesday. so, a blizzard watch for new york city, long island, coastal connecticut, rhode island all the y up into boston. that means we're going it see blowing and drifting snow and heavy amounts. let's break it down hour by hour, starting with monday night. heavy rain across the virginia area, into the carolinas. and notice you start to get that wintry mix coming through into washington, d.c., and some light snow along the jersey shore into atlantic city. the storm will gain strength on tuesday as low pressure pushes offshore, so we'll see that threat for coastal flooding. and there will be a very tight gradient in new jersey, for example, where you'll see the heavier snow, where you'll see that mixing with rain, and that's evident right in the middle of the night, where the snow starts to begin to really crank up in new york city.

then by tuesday morning, we're looking at a full-fledged storm. the low is offshore. still has a ways to go. and notice the proximity to the coast, because that's going to make a big difference in terms of how much snow we get, how much mixing we get in areas like coastal massachusetts, the east end of long island. but this is really going to be a snow-maker for so many. eventually, we'll see the snow start to push more towards the boston area into northern new england by tuesday night, but we're not going to see this storm push out of here until wednesday. and eventually when it does, that's when we're going to see kind of what we have left. so, the snow begins on monday night, continues through wednesday. the heaviest amounts through here, along the i-95 corridor. some areas may see a little bit less as you head further to the east, but the air is cold enough and the storm is vigorous enough, thomas, that we're going to see big snow from this system. >> all right, bonnie, a lot of work ahead for you. thank you very much. i appreciate it. talk to you again shortly. >> sure. going silent. why the president has not said more about the wiretapping incident since his tweet last week. more on that conversation coming up next. holding you back

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could you explain why the president hasn't asked the fbi chief about this directly? >> i think we spoke very clearly about what we would like to happen last sunday and i'm going to reiterate it. we believe that the house and senate intelligence committee have the appropriate forum and process and staff to look into this matter and report back. >> so, there we have white house press secretary sean spicer once again getting hammered with questions on the president's allegations accusing his predecessor of wiretapping trump tower during the campaign. joining me now, francesca chambers, white house correspondent for the "daily mail," and pamela levy, correspondent for mother jones. great to have you both with me. francesca, you asked that question. so, is it possible the white house engaged with the white house but they're not disclosing it just yet?

>> that is one possibility, thomas, but the white house has said prior to that that president donald trump did not speak to fbi director comey, which was prompting my question, why? why hasn't he just called him up and asked directly? i've been told by white house staffers, however, that it's most likely because it would be seen as inappropriate and that it's something that the office of legal counsel would frown upon, although that has not been directly stated to reporters in the white house press briefing. that's what i've been hearing behind the scenes. >> all right, so pamela, the fbi and other administrations have certainly crossed wires before and have had to course-correct. so, specifically, with the wiretapping allegation from the president and the people that can then clear it up, those being within our intelligence community, how should this process be working? because the deadline is on with the house intel committee wanting to see the president's evidence by tomorrow. >> yeah, i mean, this really feels like a situation where the

president sent out some tweets, he's been unable to produce evidence for those tweets for over a week now, and he's now putting the burden on our intelligence community and on congress to sort of come up with the answers for this. and i think at this point, it really should be incumbent on the white house to point everyone in a direction that they're actually looking. and it doesn't have to be, you know, if this is, you know, top secret it doesn't have to be in the public, to the press necessarily, but everyone else is sort of looking around and saying we don't have this evidence. they're publicly denying that this happened. and so, it comes back to the president, who according to news reports read an article on breitbart news and then sent off these tweets. >> so, francesca, as i'm saying, the deadline tomorrow, house intel committee wants the proof here. the president can unclassify anything that he would want and put that out to the public or send it out via tweet. is there a consequence if there

is not any type of evidence provided to the house intel committee tomorrow? >> absolutely, especially if the house intel committee comes out and says that the white house missed their deadline. i think there is one possibility here where the white house may have information that we haven't seen, which is what they have suggested repeatedly, because he has access to classified information the public doesn't. they could give that to the house intelligence committee, which could come back and say that they have received it, but because it's classified, the public can't see it, but there is one date that you need to circle on your calendar, and that is march 20th, because that is when fbi director james comey will be going before the intel committee in the house in a public venue, and this will be a huge topic on that day and there will be many questions about th this, and i suspect that is the first opportunity we'll have to get the answers we've been seeking on this matter. >> so when we think about that, pema, between now and then, how many people on the hill and folks that you've had access to really feel that this is going

to be, as francesca points out, a pivotal moment in maybe figuring out innuendo from fact? >> yeah, i think it's going to be a very big moment. i think that, you know, comey, obviously, he has come before congress several times over the past year, and i think, you know, this time he's coming to talk about what he knows about the trump administration, not the obama administration or hillary clinton. i think he really wants to get this right, especially after he's come under so much criticism from democrats in the past. and i think, you know, the folks in congress, the folks on these intelligence committees, they take their job seriously and they want to make sure they're not being taken for a ride here. >> and the last thing i want to get your reaction to, and francesca, let me ask you. we have president trump's confidante, roger stone, admitting to "the washington times" that he engaged privately with a person behind the hacking of the dnc, insisting that chats were innocuous, but he also appears in the circus with john

heilemann at the russian tea room where he admits to having a mutual friend and a back channel to julian assange. so, is there something more here to come out from roger stone and his behavior behind the scenes? >> well, he has repeatedly said that they have a mutual friend that he has received information from and stated it as a legal back channel, and so, he says that he's done nothing wrong here. i think the key thing is that he does not work at the white house. he did not work for donald trump after 2015. he was dismissed. and so, if that is the case, it's not clear how often he is talking to president donald trump or white house staffers at this point and what people at the white house may know as a result of his conversations. >> all right. we'll wait to see what comes out of all of this. again, that date to circle, march 20th. francesca, thanks so much. pema, thank you. appreciate your time. another question we'll be exploring in a bit, white house democrats are threatening to pull out altogether of the russian investigation.

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good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. and at 32 past the hour, this is what we're watching for you. the northeast bracing for a major snowstorm to begin late tomorrow night, and it's expected to dump heavy snow from washington, d.c., straight north to boston. the national weather service has already issued a blizzard watch for new york city and boston. that takes effect tomorrow night. msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider is going to keep us updated on this storm throughout the day. now we dive back into the first 100 days and new reaction to president trump's wiretapping claims. these are allegations. the house intel committee is asking for proof of by tomorrow. here's what senator john mccain

said moments ago. >> the president has one of two choices -- either retract or to provide the information that the american people deserve, because if his predecessor violated the law, president obama violated the law, we've got a serious issue here, to say the least. i have no reason to believe that the charge is true, but i also believe that the president of the united states could clear this up in a minute. all he has to do is pick up the phone, call the director of the ci cia, director of national intelligence and say, okay, what happened? because they certainly should know whether the former president of the united states was wiretapping trump tower. >> so, meanwhile, health and human services secretary tom price is pushing back on chief concerns of the republicans about the updated health care bill, and here's what he told my colleague, chuck todd, moments ago on "meet the press." >> i firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we're going through, understanding that

they'll have choices that they can select the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and their family, not the government forces them to buy. >> you believe your system's going to add an additional 20 million over the 20 million that have had expanded coverage? you really believe that? >> we believe that -- i believe and the president believes firmly that if you create a system that's accessible for everybody and you provide the financial feasibility for everybody to get coverage that we have a great opportunity to increase coverage over where we are right now, as opposed to where the line is going right now, where people are losing coverage and we're going to have fewer individuals covered than we do currently. >> so, if i heard him correctly, an additional 20 million to the 20 million who are already covered. i want to bring in krystal ball and robert traynham, former bush/cheney senior adviser. so folks understand the next hurdle for the republican health

care plan on capitol hill is the house budget committee coming up this week. if it passes there the measure goes on to a full house vote, but it feels like republicans have this opportunity to fix some kinks in our health care system and what obamacare currently represents. but robert, do you think that they are missing or mismanaging what they can actually do and accomplish? >> no, i don't think they're mismanaging it. look, i think we should step back for a second and realize that the american people spoke in november, and they said they want something different. republicans now are in the driver's seat, and now we have a responsibility to explain to the american people exactly what our vision is and what our program or our solution to the problem is for health care reform. i don't know if secretary price is right or not. i don't know the answer to that. but i applaud him for sticking his neck out there and saying, look, you know, we believe that we have to, or possibly we could insure millions more people than we could under obamacare. that's a rosy scenario. and if, in fact, they do that,

two years from now i think we're going to be sitting here praising the republicans for doing that. so, i give them an "a" for trying. i give them an "a" for vision. now the question becomes, or rather, it's an incomplete, as to whether or not they can actually implement on the promises that they said they were going to do. two years from now in 2018, we will then decide as a country as to whether or not the republicans actually delivered on what they said they were going to do. >> right, yeah. so, it's ramping up -- >> yes, we will. >> -- back to the midterms. just to go over secretary price's statement, saying "i firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we're going through," also adding in to chuck todd's question about 20 million more being added to the 20 million, he said "i believe and the president believes firmly that if you create a system that's accessible to everybody and you provide the financial feasibility for everybody to get coverage, that we have a great opportunity to increase coverage over how it exists now." what's your reaction to that? >> sure, and we'll all have candy, unicorns and puppies, too. i mean, this is not possible.

and the proposal that has been laid out not only doesn't expand coverage, but analysts are saying that 10 to 15 million people are likely to lose coverage. now, the benefit that the administration has or that republicans have had for a long time is that they can promise the sun and the moon and the stars because they in the past didn't actually have the onus of governing and having to come up with something that made any sense. and now that they have put this plan together, which no one seems to like and is truly a sort of dog's breakfast kind of a plan, we see that there is no way that they can match reality with the promises. so, you know, they're likely to fail. it is unlikely to pass. they're hoping that they can blame this somehow on the democrats. voters are not going to buy it when republicans are in control of the presidency, the house and the senate. it's funny, thomas, because in a lot of ways, they're making the same mistakes that democrats made. we shouldn't have tried to get everybody on board. we shouldn't have tried to work within the current system. we should have just gone forward with single-payer, with medicare

for all, which would have actually provided insurance for everybody and would have within more exciting for our party and would have been simpler and easier to defend. republicans have tried to please everybody and have ended up pleasing nobody. their plan makes everything worse. every complaint they've had about obamacare, from rising premiums to not covering enough people, this plan from the republicans actively makes this thing worse. they should have gone with their more extreme, free-market version. at least then their base could have had something to get excited about, and they could have coherently argued for it ideologically. >> i think we've all found ourselves in lives trying to please everybody and then we disappoint everybody because of that. so, robert, would you say that the republicans could be overplaying their hand, especially since there are so many gop critics to the way that this process is being fast-tracked? >> i don't think they have a choice. look, for the last four to five years, republicans have been saying repeal, repeal, repeal, replace, replace, replace. i think to krystal's point and

my earlier point, republicans are now in the driver's seat, so they have to deliver on something. but the question really is, is whether or not the freedom caucus and some of the conservative think tanks out there are going to embrace this new plan, particularly from a cost perspective, because look, the reality is that the freedom caucus consistently has said that this is a job-killer, that this is -- we can't afford this from an economic standpoint. and from the proposals that i've seen over the last week or so, most conservatives are not on board with this plan because they view it as obamacare-lite. >> i want to switch gears and talk about what's taking place on that date of march 20th, when we expect the fbi director to be giving testimony on the hill, and we know that vern democrats now have threatened to pull out of the russia investigation if, as they put it it's not done in a legitimate way. krystal, wouldn't this be kind of shooting themselves in the foot if they were to kind of scatter over an issue that they feel has merit? >> no, i don't think so.

i think that's absolutely the right approach. and you see they are absolutely willing to work through this process. many have called for a separate 9/11-style commission. that would be ideal. but they're hoping that some patriotic republicans are going to step up and actually try to get to the bottom of what happened here, which is an incredibly serious matter. i mean, let's just take aside whether or not the trump campaign actively co-inclu lly colluded with the russian government, with robert stone allegedly having connections with this russian hacker, but putting that aside, we're talking about russia meddling in our national presidential election. i don't care where you are in terms of your partisan affiliation, that should be something that's deeply concerning as americans. so, if republicans aren't taking that seriously in these investigations, democrats should absolutely step away. >> and so, robert, how should republicans play this, because there are major concerns that gop critics, gop leaders who

have been critical of this have obviously don't want to demean their president, and they are holding all the cards in this, but wouldn't they like to really know the truth about what russia means? >> absolutely. we all want to get to the truth of this. look, i was pretty passionate last week on your program, thomas, and i think most republicans and democrats -- all americans are passionate about this. let me just say two things very quickly. one, i don't think the democrats should call the game even before the first pitch has been made. i think they really should look at the facts, look at the truth, and follow the truth and follow the facts, and i would say the same thing for republicans and to get to the bottom of this. this is real and this is serious. i mean, i view this as tantamount to fundamentally trying to alter the pillars of our democracy, and i would think, and i would hope that congressional republicans and democrats would put their partisan hat off and put their american hat on and say, let's figure this out for the benefit

of all americans and for our 2020 elections, but just as importantly, for democracy for future generations. >> why do you think folks are dragging their feet over this? i mean, you said take off these party hats. i mean, shouldn't that be the approach to this? i mean, the no-labels approach to figure out exactly what the heck happened, if anything happened, so that this administration, if cleared, can move on from this specter and the innuendo that this is going to cloud over it for the next maybe four years? >> i honestly think, thomas, that a lot of people are just confused. i think they're just confused and trying to figure this out. i think they're afraid to really -- >> do you think people are just dumb-struck by the fact that it could happen and they're unwilling to admit that this could have just easily happened? is that their hesitation? >> i think so. i think this is right out of hollywood. i think this is something where no one actually thought this could happen and that it's actually unfolding in front of us. i think a lot of people are afraid of the president and the

power of twitter. i think a lot of people are afraid to get this wrong. i think a lot of people are afraid to look in the mirror and say, wow, you know, how do i figure this out? i think people are really, really afraid, and i think congressional republicans and even some congressional democrats are just in shock, and they're trying to figure this out as we go along. >> right. and i would imagine most americans are probably consistent in the fact that they would not want to have some type of retribution from the president for telling the truth. >> well, and no one should have more of an interest in getting to the botto all of this than president trump and his administration, if this is truly all smoke and no fire, then they should want as credible a commission as you could possibly have sorting through the evidence and exonerating them. what are they afraid of i think is the real question here. and as republicans are cagey, and as they try not to expand

this investigation, as they want to keep it in a partisan context and not go forward outside of that republican and democratic context, it just makes you wonder, what are they so afraid of, what are they try to hide here, why don't we do this in the same way we did the 9/11 commission so that it would have as much credibility as possible? and then we can absolutely move forward if nothing is found. >> or just show us your birth certificate, and by that i mean your taxes. >> tax returns, how about that? >> i just mean your taxes. a simple catch phrase, show us your taxes. thank you. it's never been seen publicly before, surveillance video in a new documentary on the mike brown case in ferguson. the story and how it's telling it with new significance, because it was never released. and then at the top of the hour on "a.m. joy," the backlash against tryin care. how sarah palin has blasted it. whether it's bringing cutting-edge wifi to 35,000 fans...

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new allegations today in the case of michael brown, the st. louis teen shot by a police officer nearly three years ago. at the time, police said brown had robbed a convenience store, but a new documentary reveals a never-before-seen surveillance video that disputes that story. the filmmaker says the video shows the teen swapping marijuana for the cigerellos with the store clerk. nbc news has not verified the filmmaker's claim that marijuana was traded. the video was recorded hours before the shooting. an attorney for the convenience store and its employee gave this statement to "the new york times" -- "there was no transaction. there was no understanding, no agreement. those folks didn't sell him cigarellos for pot. the reason he gave it back is because he was walking out of the store with unpaid merchandise and they wanted it back." yamiche alcinder reported on the story for "the new york times" when it happened. i want to go over a few points first, warnings for our viewers, as well, because the footage has not been authenticated by the

st. louis county police and also has been edited by the filmmaker and we cannot confirm how they obtained it in the first place. so, we don't know, yamiche, why this video has only surfaced just now, but that doesn't answer the question of what happened between the officer and brown, but how does any of this information confirm or change the context of your reporting at the time? >> well, this video is critically important because it goes to how police characterized michael brown. three years ago, i was at the press conference where they released the video and started talking about this encounter that brown had hours before his death, and they said, essentially, that you know, he had strong-armed somebody at this store, and it called into question whether or not he was someone who was then forceful, someone who might have an intent to then have an argument with a police officer that may have somehow contributed to his death. so, really, it tells us that the police in their investigation were picking and choosing how to characterize this person. and while the head of the county police department, the st. louis county police department is saying it was news to him, his

spokesperson is saying that they made the calculation not to release this video, this part of the video, because it was something that was not relevant to the case, which, of course, calls into question, if this part of the video of the video isn't relevant, a couple of hours later when he's coming back for the second part of that encounter, how is that relevant if this one isn't. >> well, it does call into question a lot of those contrasts of what video would be considered germane and appropriate and finding all the facts about this. obviously if this films claim is proven to be true and there was some type of illegal transaction that went on before that was consensual, what does that do to the police and how they reported their interaction with the officer and what happened to michael brown? >> well, essentially, darren wilson has been cleared. i would venture to say as a reporter who covered this for years that it's not going to change. that he's not going to somehow

turn around and be indicted. there is a civil case and the family can say in the civil issue that the police had some malice toward their son, that they tried to essentially assassinate his character and probably win some damages that way. really in the actual idea of the case, it really doesn't give us much of anything because if that second part still happened, if he did strong arm somebody and had this altercation and then darren wilson was given this information and he's then having this attack, of course darren wilson claims that michael brown reached into his car, was reaching for his gun, that he was transformed into, quote unquote, a demon, if all that stuff is considered to be true still, then darren wilson has nothing to worry about. >> and as you point out, darren wilson, the grand jury decided not to indict him in respect to this shooting. there's a different benchmark of the family trying to prove the damages, the different proof that it would need to secure some type of civil judgment from a judge. >> yeah, and i think -- i mean

also i think there's so many people. this case, ferguson, sparked so much for so many people. so to have this come out three years later, when we're still, i think, wrestling with the idea of what does it mean to be an african-american man in america, how should the police treat you and how do you characterize people when they are victims of either -- or even get into altercations with police officers, we could have learned all of this and there would have been the exact same characterization of michael brown. people could say he was in the store and shouldn't have been doing this and shouldn't have been making this exchange. the idea is people think you never get the whole picture of an african-american man in this country, so i think that's what this boils down to, is whether or not the police can treat him fairly. even if the shooting is justified, can you just say, hey, here's all the stuff we have about this kid. can we lay out all the facts. a lot of people think african-american men don't get that. >> i think a lot of people will be curious to see this great

documentary. great to see you, especially in person. coming up straight ahead, we'll dip back in our coverage about the coming nor'easter with many states in the northeast bracing for the biggest storm of the winter. my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

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let's get you up to speed with the northeast bracing for a major snowstorm. msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider tracking everything. what's the latest and who's the most impacted? >> we're looking at all the big cities along the i-95 corridor to face not only the threat of very heavy snow, new york could see a foot, baurch mooston more that and we want to break down the winds. but the effect of the wind, we'll look for blowing and drift snowing and that's going to not only threaten of course power outages but make things for a whiteout situation. so breaking down the timing, early in the morning on tuesday, the worst of the wind and right along the jersey shore into philadelphia, the winds are picking up. then a big difference by the time we get to the latter part of the morning.

the winds very intense in new york city. 51-mile-per-hour gusts will really make for a dangerous system. as we go through the morning on tuesday, we're still looking at windy conditions working their way up to new england. boston, you're not going to feel the brunt of the storm until the latter part of tuesday. the snow begins in new york in the middle of the night, around 1:00, 2:00 in the morning and expect tuesday to just be a dangerous day, pretty much throughout the entire region. >> all right, bonnie, thank you for that update. thank you at home for watching this hour of msnbc live. up next on "a.m. joy" why some on wall street may be celebrating the firing of the new york u.s. attorney. i'm thomas roberts. i'll see you back here at noon. ♪ why do so many businesses rely on the u.s. postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. ♪ that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ here, there, everywhere.

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dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia good morning and welcome to "a.m. joy." when donald trump fired acting attorney general sally yates for refusing to enforce his original travel ban targeting seven muslim countries, many, including this show, dubbed it the monday night massacre, re