drop by his house and, quote, express their thanks for his vote in favor of health care reform. >> and what are federal investigators looking at here? again, this was posted by two tea party activists. you pointed out, including the note, quote, expressing your thanks for his vote in favor of health care. so drop by that home. what do we know as the severity of this incident and what investigators are looking at? >> we really don't know the details at this point. it's all sort of new coming out. the fbi told us that they're aware of it. the local officials tell us that they're not willing to characterize the exact nature of the incident because it's an ongoing investigation but that they say it did not involve an immediate threat to occupants of the residence. they say that they're taking it very seriously and they're conducting a vigorous investigation. >> do we know if people were home at the time, brian? >> we do not, but sources tell us they were not and they smelled gas when they got home. >> and regarding the home,

itself, tell me about this neighborhood. is this home isolated? is it a neighborhood where someone could easily kind of walk up there and get access? >> i don't know. we have folks that are headed out there now. from what we're told it's somewhat isolated but don't know that for a fact. >> and the congressman, has he responded? >> he has not yet. >> all right, brian. we greatly appreciate you joining us. this is breaking news out of charlottesville where federal and local authorities are investigating a severed gas line at the home of u.s. congressman tom perriello's brother after tea party activists had posted the address online. they believed it was the congressman's home. turned out to be his brother's home. joining is now is lee cat lynn the community relations director for this county in virginia. what can you tell me about this incident that you know? >> you and brian talked about the basics of the incident. basically i can say the fbi did contact our fire marshal's

office last night four our assistance in investigating a suspicious incident. i can't really characterize what the incident was but i can say there was an element of the incident that required expertise of a fire investigator. and since the residence is in the county's jurisdiction we were called to help with that. >> i have a report that says the incident is viewed as an attempted threat to a member of congress. this was a source saying this. what can you add to that? >> well, that's not really a determination that we would make. that was something we had heard at some point may have been discussed at the fbi level. but i can't confirm that. the fbi did ask for our assistance and we are right now jointly conducting this investigation as brian mentioned taking it very seriously. >> right. >> and looking very vigorously. >> and in wake of what we just reported on msnbc, there have been several incidents in at least three different states where bricks have been hurled through the windows of offices of members of congress who voted for health care. since this was posted, this

address, online by these tea party activists will authorities then follow the trail and are you expected to talk with these people soon? >> you know, i think it's really very early in the investigation for us to speculate at all on any motives of connections to any particular individuals or groups. right now we're doing a thorough investigation looking at the evidence and we will certainly take that wherever it leads in terms of next steps. >> lee, thank you very much for getting on with us so fast. this is a breaking news story and as you said still under investigation. >> thank you. >> we greatly appreciate it. this incident is not the first that may be connected as i mentioned to health care vote. bricks have been thrown at the offices, through the windows in some cases of democratic lawmakers. high profile democrats like louise slaughter and bart stupak have received they say death threats. one leader of a militia group in alabama is taking credit for a rash of attacks on democratic offices. here is what he said on a radio interview just this week keeping up his threats to take up arms.

>> there are rifles being cleaned right now. do you folks understand that? >> claimed? from where? >> rifles being taken out of the closet and cleaned. >> politico's jonathan allen joins me now. i'm sure you heard this breaking news regarding congressman perriello's brother's home with the propane tank being slashed. in addition to that these windows being smashed out, what are republican leaders saying about this activity that people say is on behalf of the argument over health care? >> we're starting to see republican leaders talk about how it's inappropriate to make threats to members of congress, inappropriate to take violent action whether destruction of property or actually physically threatening members of congress. i think that they are starting to get concerned about the possible outgrowth of some of the protests that we've seen over the course of the last several months and of course just this week on health care. >> are they worried they might be associated with some of this

activity? i mean, when you hear that members of congress, the day of the vote were cheering on some of these tea party activists, and i want to be clear it was not everyone, but it only tabke a couple rotten apples to spoil the whole bunch that you had members of congress cheering people on yelling, maybe the "n" word will there be guilt by association? >> i think it's starting to happen already. these questions are coming out and we've seen republican leaders' words from the past talking about a certain member of congress being a dead man. politically that being extrapolated to think they mean they are inciting actual violence so it's important to remember that there is a real difference between members of congress talking about killing a bill and someone actually committing acts of violence and, you know, obviously nobody thinks that what we're hearing with bricks through windows or death threats is appropriate. >> absolutely.

and i think everyone would agree with you on that but, jonathan, when you have rallies and you have republican members of congress who show up at some of these rallies and they're cheering it on and while they may not be able to hear the word, the "n" word or the "f" word they see some of the signs that are incendiary as well. >> i think that's absolutely right, tamron. if you look at it, the crowds, you see things that could easily be construed as racist, antisemitic signs talking about the rothschilds and, you know, world conspiracies involving the je ws. there are some sort of very strong fringe elements. we saw members of congress whipping them up this weekend. but to take that, it's not clear any of the people at these protests are responsible for these acts in arizona or new york. >> right. >> i think we need to let these investigations go forward before we draw too many conclusions. >> sure. >> you're right. certainly it contributes a little bit to the environment and the atmosphere and one thing also should be said. i mean, look. there is a very american way to express one's displeasure.

it's what we saw at the capitol with the yelling and shoutsing and the protests, most of the yelling and shouting. obviously attempts to overthrow the government or do harm to members of congress don't fit into the construct of american democracy. >> jonathan, to your point, again, we don't want to press all of these groups together and certainly disparage anyone in this but as you know there were members of congress who said that the vote was worse than or compared it i should say to 9/11. others have said we're losing our country and take back our country. those words perhaps are being interpreted in a way that results in some of these awful things. >> well, certainly, a lot of the rhetoric was over heated and the hyperbole and i think -- look, anybody who was involved with 9/11, the victims, their families, a lot of these members of congress themselves dealt with that, those issues, both national security and their families. that's anybody who would make a comparison to 9/11 is, you know, making a bad comparison and one that's offensive to a lot of people. i did not hear that one myself.

>> all right. jonathan, we greatly appreciate you joining us with this breaking news and, again, thank you for your perspective. we are not trying to disparage anyone but tell the story and connect the dots if there are those to be connected. thank you, jonathan. >> take care, tamron. >> absolutely. the senate has just finished its 12th hour of debate on the companion bill to the historic health care reform law. president obama signed it just yesterday. the so-called reconciliation bill under way. that means less than eight hours of debate remains before an anticipated vote-a-rama of a slew of amendments being introduced by republican senators. one would even repeal the new health care law all together. luke russert joins us with a look at the latest. >> reporter: i'm sorry. i didn't hear the question. >> give us the latest on what's happening there. >> okay, tamron. right now we have the senate attempting to take some of these amendments which they're offering in an effort to derail the fix-it process and send it

back over to the house and make the process of health care reform last longer. there are some very interesting senate amendments so far. senator mccain is offering one about sweetheart deals. he feels they're still in the bill. asbestos money for victims in montana, a hospital in connecticut. also saw one from tom coburn about viagra, no viagra for sexual predators, things attempting to put democrats on the record as being for very controversial things that could happen within health care reform. it's all in an effort to delay. the vote-a-rama starts around 5:30. there will be one-minute intervals between the votes so it will be very interesting to see whether or not democrats go along with any of them. right now the party line has been no. one democratic member told me we will not necessarily know what we are voting on so it's going to be tough but at the end of the day they believe this is what they have to do in order to pass health care reform, tamron. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. president obama is asking israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu to take some steps to encourage the palestinians to sit down for some indirect talks. white house press secretary robert gibbs also said that american officials were asking israel to clarify their plans to build jewish settlements in east jerusalem. that's been certainly a strain on the u.s./israeli relationship in recent weeks. tuesday there were no cameras invited in to see the president shake hands with the prime minister netanyahu. saudi arabia's interior minister is announcing today the arrests of more than 100 al qaeda militants accused of plotting attacks on key oil and security installations in eastern saudi arabia. saudi arabia is of course the top oil exporter. richard engel nbc chief foreign correspondent is with me. that makes it obvious why they would target these installations, to hurt the economy and be damaging there. >> well, there is a very strong al qaeda cell called al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. it is based in yemen just to the south of saudi arabia. and this al qaeda group is

determined to attack yemen and kill the president of yemen, also to attack the saudi royal family and do what it can to destablize saudi arabia and attack the united states. al qaeda in the peninsula was the same group that tried to do the christmas day attack. it is the same group linked to the fort hood shooter, and this organization is now being targeted directly by saudi arabia. >> how are they able to make this big arrest? a hundred people are a lot of people. >> it didn't happen in one swoop. it happened over five months we're told by officials in saudi arabia. also we've spoken to u.s. officials in yemen and in saudi arabia who say the same thing. that over the last several months, saudi authorities have been targeting several different cells and not only did they take the people, they also seized weapons, computer files, documents of an assorted nature. they didn't say what kind of documents they were exactly and some weapons themselves. this was a major sweep that saudi arabia just announced today. >> okay.

it was just announced and we mentioned that some of these suspects were from saudi arabia and yemen but a couple other countries as well in the horn of africa. >> they're all -- most of it is saudi arabia in the -- is al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the arabian peninsula primarily being saudi arabia and yemen, oman at the end and the vast majority were from yemen and saudi arabia but also some people from aratria and somalia and one person from asia as well. >> an incredible effort going on here and the big arrests over we want to make it clear, over the course of several months. >> it's taken very seriously that this group is trying to topple the government of saudi arabia and reaching out beyond the arabian peninsula and trying to carry out attacks within the united states. >> richard, thank you very much. a delaware pediatrician accused of raping or molesting at least 103 of his young patients due in court at this

hour. dr. earl bradley's arraignment comes a day after his attorneys announced they are leaving the case. mike taibbi joins us. >> reporter: money. they're not going to get paid. only assets from dr. bradley have been frozen at this point and even one of the attorneys was willing to represent him pro bono for free but the state wouldn't pay under delaware law for expert witnesses and expert testimony because as one of the lawyers said this is a man with severe mental health issues. this goes back ten or 11 years. it's one of those stories that challenges anybody's objectivity. you mentioned 102, at least 103 children. 102 girls, one young boy, some as young as three months old. four or five of them on the videotapes and dvds seized during search warrants were shown to have been unconscious or not breathing. the doctor is seen in his blue scrubs in several of those videotapes and dvds screaming at these children. so as we say, at least 103 were shown in these videotapes, tamron. 471 individual counts and they still haven't checked to see whether or not when this doctor had his medical license in new jersey and in florida or in

pennsylvania where he did his residency there was any other of these types of activities. by one description this is as big a case of pedophelia as has ever been seen in the criminal justice system and it's just starting today. >> thank you very much for the latest details there. richard henne the colorado dad who pleaded guilty in the balloon boy hoax will begin serving his sentence at home. he and his wife pleaded guilty to filing a false police report and got a lot of attention when they falsely reported their youngest son was trapped in the home made balloon. a new poll out just recently shows the tea party movement could have a critical effect on the november elections. but not in the way some might want it to affect it. we'll explain why and relatives of the seaworld trainer killed by that whale are in court today asking that the video of her

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welcome back. i'm tamron hall. the tea party movement could have a real effect on the mid-term elections beyond the marches and the rallies. it may end up hurting the republican party. take a look at these numbers from the quinn ik yak poll. right now in a hypothetical congressional race voters prefer a generic republican candidate over a generic democrat. but take a look at the numbers of the tea party candidate added to the mix. the democratic candidate would win with 36% of the vote and the republican would get 25%. 15% of that would go to the tea party. in other words the tea partiers could spoil things for republicans. peter brown is with quinnipiac

polling institute. good to see you. >> good to see you again. >> these are incredible numbers. how are republicans supposed to process this? >> what republicans need to get from this if they want to win the election is they clearly need to keep the tea party people under the republican tent. and that's their challenge. if the republicans can get the tea party people to support their candidates, the tea party movement would be a real asset to the republican party. remember, off-year elections often depend on turnout and, clearly, tea party members are very energized about the election. so if the republicans can get them to vote for republican candidates, and not field their own candidates that's good for the republicans. but if they can't, if the republicans find that it's a three-way race with democrats, republicans, and tea party members, then that could be a problem for the gop. >> we know that the members of the tea party at least the leadership have said they will not be beheld to anyone if these republicans don't have conservative values, especially when it comes to being fiscally

responsible that they will bring in a candidate who fits the bill of a tea party member. >> that's right. they have said that. but the proof will be in the pudding. as state filing deadlines come and go, we'll see whether there are tea party candidates on the ballot and that will tell us what's going to happen. >> in the poll you ask how do tea party members identify themselves? incredibly 74% say they're republican or independent voters leaning republican. i was intrigued by the independent voter leaning republican. as we know how important these independents will be. >> absolutely. but there's one thing they need to remember. because we saw a large movement away from the republicans in 2008, an awful lot of independents became democrats, a lot of republicans became independents. so many of these people would have been called republicans five years ago and may well hold republican values so republican leaning independents are often people who are very unhappy with george w. bush and move from the republicans to the independent

column but can easily move back so that's not surprising that many of them might find the tea party movement appealing to them. the key question again is going to be, how many people are on the ballot. and again, this is not something the leadership will determine. it'll happen on a district by district basis. >> it's incredible and we'll see how it plays out. a lot of exciting news in this poll certainly that we'll be talking about. peter brown, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. president obama set to sign an executive order restricting the use of federal funds for abortions about ten minutes from now. we'll have a live report from the white house. vice president joe biden is not the first politician to swear with a microphone close by. up next we'll look at others who could be members of what we call "cursing hall of shame." hey! increase in 6 months. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking )

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welcome back. looking beyond health care the white house now says the president expects to complete financial reform within six months. he met with chris dodd and barney frank the two democratic congressmen leading the effort to impose regulations on banks and other large financial firms that brought the economy to the brink of collapse 18 months ago. meanwhile at least two republican senators said today they expected financial reform to pass. and vice president joe biden is still getting a lot of attention today for his colorful comment to president obama making the signing of the landmark law. the vice president blurted out an expletive and it's landed him in what's called "the cursing hall of fame" or shame. here's nbc's lee cowan. >> ladies and gentlemen -- >> reporter: the thing about historic moments is there are microphones to capture them and on tuesday posterity got an earful. whoa. wait. what? [ bleep ].

>> reporter: damage control was instant and brief. white house press secretary simply tweeted, yes, mr. vice president, you're right. but the president's face seemed to fall as he looked at those two microphones in front of him no doubt fearing the vice president's "f" bomb had just exploded in ears all across the country. >> thank you. within hours there were t-shirts being sold with the vice president's profane phrase emblaze onondaga in blaoned in >> we had orders within three minutes. >> reporter: while many made mr. biden's gaffe into a laughable moment to others it was more of a teachable one. >> i'm really disappointed. >> mckay hatch the 17-year-old founder of the no cussing club at his high school in south pasadena, california says it cheapened the moment. >> him using that language is telling kids across the world and adults that you can cuss whenever you want. cussing is fine. >> reporter: it probably was a pressure valve of some sort.

in fact it was mark twain who once said that under certain circumstances profanity actually provides a relief denied even to prayer. still, there is something about solemnly swearing that for some politicians they just seem to take it too literally. >> there's adam clymer -- >> president george bush was caught creatively cursing and a california assemblyman was taped bragging about his extra marital affairs. >> so i've been getting into -- >> you are? >> reporter: even ronald reagan the great communicator had some not so great communicating moments. >> i'm pleased to tell you today that i've signed legislation that will outlaw russia forever. the vice president's boss can't be too mad. the president himself has let a few rip, too. >> he's a jack [ bleep ]. >> reporter: unfortunately words he calls them, unfortunately close to a mike.

lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. a judge could make a key decision tomorrow in the increasing number of lawsuits against toyota and it could cost the car giant millions. the hunt is on for a fugitive in florida. have you seen this face? her? it? [ male announcer ] as long as we're winding up our doing dials, let's wind 'em with precision. open our throttle to even more selection. and turn that savings swagger up full tilt. ♪ so when the time comes to bust open a can of doing... we've got all the tools for all the things we need to make 'em happen. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, get miracle gro garden soil for flowers and vegetables for just $3.97. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm,

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there's a factory giving old industries new life. and there's a train that got a whole city moving again. somewhere in america, the toughest questions are answered every day. because somewhere in america, more than sixty thousand people spend every day answering them. siemens. answers. welcome back. more on breaking news we brought you at the top of the hour. the "charlottesville daily progress" in virginia is reporting federal and local authorities are investigating a severed gas line at the home of congressman tom perriello's brother, discovered the day after tea party activists posted the address online so opponents could, quote, drop by and, quote, express their thanks for perriello's vote in favor of health care reform. nbc news capitol hill producer shaunna thomas is on the phone.

i understand we have a reaction from the congressman. >> we do. we were talking to him earlier today and he was going down the hall. he would not give us a comment. he seemed slightly agitated. we confirmed from sources that while the fbi isn't saying much we know it's a line from a propane tank to a gas grill that was on his back porch, screened in back porch of his brother's home. his brother is mayor antidepressant has four kids who are all under the age of 8. they may put out an official statement later but are still working on it. >> i understand we have some sound we're going to listen to. >> reporter: do you have any comments on the threat at your brother's house? >> no comments right now. >> we also i guess have a statement from congresswoman louise slaughter regarding an incident in her niagara falls office where a brick was thrown through the window on friday. she said that they, quote, are concerned, meaning members of congress and went on to say i think it's a dreadful thing we're going through. the blog we read was really

quite devastating. basically shape up or we're going to have a civil war. tell me a little bit about the climate and what some of these members of congress are saying about these incidents. there have been three brick incidents in three different states and now this latest with this gas line. >> you know, we believe that the sergeant at arms has been taking to the democratic members of congress in the meeting that they had to talk more about security. clearly, the members are worried. clearly, they are talking about this and stepping up security to try to get a handle on how they should react to this. but even congresswoman slaughter said this was the only office that they're concerned about. her other two offices, one is in a federal building. another one has security guards posted. but there's a climate up here of concern. >> right. all right. we greatly appreciate it. for clarification, three states have reported these incidents with the bricks going through but the estimate is now maybe five or six offices and three different states. we greatly appreciate it.

thank you. >> thank you. right now president obama is scheduled to begin signing an executive order reaffirming existing restrictions on federal abortion funding. the president promised that order to win crucial support on health care reform from antiabortion democrats. nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. mike, this is just reaffirming what is already a part of the law. >> reporter: right, tamron. this is an unusual circumstance on many levels. first of all they're having sort of a signing ceremony on an executive order. second of all, it's off camera. those of us who work for the press, the independent press here in the west wing, will not have the opportunity to go and chronicle this event. they will release a white house photograph. and third of all, they're having these members of congress led by bart stupak and senator bob casey the pro life democrat from pennsylvania as well as about a dozen other of those house democrats that were part of the so-called stupak block. nobody needs to be reminded of the drama that unfolded over the weekend particularly with regards to mr. stupak and his group of antiabortion democrats

when on sunday afternoon after a lot of back and forth behind closed doors from white house chief of staff and other officials with the white house, the chief counsel here, bob bauer meeting with the stupak group late into saturday night trying to work out wording on this executive order that a lot of people are dissatisfied with on both sides of the abortion debate. nonetheless, the president has invited them. for all we know it's happening right now, into the west wing of the white house. this dozen or so democratic lawmakers, so he will sign before them that executive order. all we'll see, again, is a white house photo. >> mike viqueira live for us. thank you, mike. >> reporter: okay. toyota's troubles are shifting from the highway to the courtroom, specifically a courtroom in san diego where a panel of federal judges could soon make a key decision involving the growing number of lawsuits against toyota. cnbc's phil lebeau covers the auto industry for us. what can we expect to see tomorrow? >> reporter: you're going to see a number of lawyers who are representing class action lawsuits. and there have been about 118

filed around the country. many of those lawyers will appear at this courtroom in san diego. that's where a panel of judges will decide do we put this all into one giant class action suit, a national class action suit? and if so, where will it be heard? what's the jurisdiction? who is the judge who will oversee that case? so the implications here are that this is the beginning of what could be a very costly process for toyota because when you're looking at these class action suits the potential here is damages that could go into billions of dollars for toyota, depending on the outcome of the cases. some people are seeking everything from restitution for diminished value of a vehicle and want toyota to pay them back because they believe their vehicle is unsafe to drive. some people are seeking money because they believe toyota should have notified sooner about potential defects. otherwise the stock price would not have fallen the way it fell. all of these issues need to be hammered out over the months to come. this is the beginning of that

process, tamron. this could be very costly for toyota when all said and done. >> i imagine even though the eyes and ears will be in san diego, there are potential lawsuits across the country so how does that affect what we might see in texas, illinois, or anywhere else? >> reporter: well, the class action suits, that's what the hearing is about in san diego tomorrow, whether to put them all into one giant class action. frankly people can still file class action suits file from that. then you have the individual cases, about 36 cases involving injury and death. they're going to go at their own pace as they work their way through the system. many of those have already been filed and are in the process of working through the system. >> phil, thank you very much. far from that but a story that people are talking about, a bit of monkey business going on in florida. a rhesus monkey, specifically this one, has been running wild in the woods between tampa and st. petersburg since 2008. nbc's kerry sanders brings us up to date on this compelling

chase. >> reporter: caught on camera. a rhesus monkey who is somewhat of a legend in these parts. it's believed he's the offspring of monkeys used in this old "tarzan" movie shot just north of here. the hunt's been on since 2008 when the monkey first surfaced in this urban jungle. it's unknown if he was a pet that was released or if he was living in the wild. but it's likely he's been trained. one police officer reports seeing him look both directions before crossing the street. >> the scene of the crime. >> reporter: just days ago renee barr thought she herd her dog bubba the bulldog out back. turned out it was that fugitive. >> reporter: so you're crazy. >> i'm crazy. >> reporter: did you go ape? >> very funny. i can say it was bananas. >> reporter: renee says she suspected some monkey business when her basket of fruit began to disappear, piece by piece. >> i come out, basket is tipped

over and there are no grapefruit in it. at this point i'm like, those have got to be some seriously large citrus rats. >> reporter: vernon yates, animal trapper, says he's tired of being made a monkey by the monkey. he's tracked this troublemaker for too long, he says. once he tranquilized him with a single shot. the monkey threw, how shall we say, feces at him. and then retreated to a high branch, took a nap, and when he woke up, he was back on the run. >> he's kind of made a monkey out of everybody who has tried to catch him. i mean, you know, he has traveled three counties, almost four counties that i know of. >> reporter: in the last two years this monkey on the lam has covered an immense territory. he's been sighted across 50 square miles, but getting from tampa to st. petersburg requires a trick. he either swam or walked the seven miles separating the two cities or he's getting help.

one clue? while he may not have a name, he does have a facebook page. the mystery monkey of tampa bay. he writes on his facebook page, mystery monkey of tampa bay enjoyed a refreshing swim and some delicious fruit yesterday. sorry about the screen, renee. another day of freedom. got to go. >> nice. >> reporter: and the last person to see him has this tip for searchers. >> fled -- the assailant fled in an easterly direction. >> kerry sanders, having way too much fun with that story. it's apparently a very popular story with our staff. sandra bullock filing for divorce or isn't she? minnesot msnbc.com pop culture reporter courtney hazlett joins us with the story. >> reporter: she has not officially hired a lawyer to

begin divorce proceedings. her reps are denying that she is consulting any attorneys. apparently jesse james wants to reconcile. over the weekend you saw him with the wedding ring. he's going about his life. he's spending time with his children in the house that used to also be populated by sandra bullock. she has since left. we haven't seen her yet either. so i think until we see her or hear from her, there's really nothing we can believe. other publications now have more people claiming to be mistresses. >> you know what's interesting, that her rep would confirm she is not looking for a divorce attorney but not confirm anything else. >> it is interesting. and probably right now sandra is just having some time to herself and she's not doing anything rash. i mean, when we were talking about tiger woods and elin woods, all of those stories, she's immediately consulting a divorce attorney. no, not true. there are certain processes you go through with this sort of thing and just calling up the attorneys isn't -- >> and betty white is talking about this. >> she is saying she is tremendously saddened by it. sandra bullock, i have been covering her for years and years

long before jesse james came on the scene. she is fantastic and has a huge heart which is something betty white said as well. the fact that she was so public finally about being in love has made this all the more difficult. >> and justin beber? >> you're not a fan? >> i don't know who he is to be honest. >> if you were a 12-year-old girl you would know exactly who he is. if we were both 12 years old we'd be listening to everything. >> very popular. >> there he is. >> his manager turned himself in to police because back in november there was an incident where the police actually asked his manager to tweet them that a performance had been canceled and he didn't do it. essentially he was tweeting about the performance. it overran a shopping mall out in long island. it turned into a security situation. i don't know if you remember, tamron, last summer when he came out to the "today" show for the summer concert series. i've never seen so many people lining a plaza. he descended on this shopping mall that he was asked to tweet, it's canceled, over, stay away.

he didn't do it so he is brought up on two misdemeanors. we have some breaking news. i have to cut off our scoop here. we've been talking about some of these death threats and other violent actions directed at members of congress in relationship to the health care vote. steny hoyer i understand is speaking right now. let's listen in. he's talking about security. >> his impression of either condoning or sanctioning such actions. furthermore in any show of appreciation for such actions, encourages such actions. jim clyburn, south carolina. >> thank you. i spoke to the caucus a few moments ago and i directed some words of thought to the caucus and to the law enforcement people who are here. using these words, if we fail to

learn the lessons of our history, we are bound to repeat them. many of us have some very vivid lessons of history. i used to teach the stuff. i still study it. and i said this the other day, that what i saw on saturday especially out in the streets, and what i heard, was very reminiscent of that history. now, i think all of us learned some great lessons from the '60s and '70s. and there are some lessons that none of us want to repeat. but one thing we know as steny hoyer just said, silence is consent. and people need to know that the vast majority of the american

people look to us to provide the manner in which differences in our society ought to be resolved. i've said it time and time again. the hall of the house of representatives, to meer, is america's classroom. when we are in that hall, we ought to conduct ourselves to where we'd like to see our children or grandchildren conduct themselves in any classroom around america. and i'm hopeful that we can continue discussions we've started on both sides of the aisle and with our law enforcement so we can have a seamless response to any kind of activity that may be a threat to the normal course of our

democracy or to the decorum of the house of representatives. >> mr. leader, are members scared? we hear the remarks of both you and mr. clyburn here, you say silence is condoning this. i mean, we've heard from a number of people on your side of the aisle here suggesting that mr. boehner and republican leaders should say something. are they in essence complicit if something happens here? >> i would hope that we would join together jointly in making it very clear that none of us condone this kind of activity. and when we see it that we speak out strongly in opposition to it. and i would hope we would do that going forward. >> you're saying that you hope they would do that. they have not done that. >> well, i'm not sure that i want to say they haven't done

that. but we ought to do it in my opinion together. we ought to make it clear this is not a partisan issue. this is not a republican or democratic issue. but when people start talking in the rhetoric of putting people on firing lines, that if they don't do something they will have physical harm done to them, that other rhetoric of that type, or they put a target on their faces with cross hairs, that activity ought to be unacceptable in our democracy. the implication being that the consequences of acting in a democracy are somehow physical violence being visited upon those people. that's wrong. that doesn't mean some people don't do it. but as mr. clyburn just said, certainly those of us who are elected and leaders in our

country, to try to maintain the civility of america, not because we bring unanimity to america but certainly democracy cannot survive unless we have a civil society in which debate is open and free and unfettered by threats. >> why did you decide to do this briefing? do you feel your members are really at risk in terms of their security? >> yes, i think we've had very serious incidents that have occurred over the last 48-72 hours. >> so how are you dealing with that? what actions are you taking? >> well, we have the capitol police briefing members if they are in any way suspicious or fearful or see actions occurring to report those immediately and the capitol police will respond and try to determine whether crimes have been committed.

and to take precautions so that they are not subjecting themselves or their families to physical harm. >> are key members people who are being targeted getting any security? most members don't have security. >> any member who feels themself at risk is getting attention from the proper authorities. >> how many members have complained of abuse or threats? >> i don't have a count, but enough to raise concerns. you know, i don't have a number for you, but a significant number being over ten. >> you said at the outset that you hoped you could make this message jointly with the other side of the aisle. have you spoken to leaders on the other side of the aisle? are you trying to work with them? >> we have spoken with them. >> and what was the outcome of

that discussion? >> it wasn't an outcome per se but there was an agreement that the sentiments i've just expressed are appropriate. >> is there going to be a joint statement? >> well, i don't know that to be the case, but we are continuing to discuss appropriate action. >> are you disappointed that they didn't come out earlier and say something? >> we continue to discuss this. >> did security talk at all about whether they're mooey're with the republican side? >> the speaker asked security to do so. >> has the senate given you guys any idea of how long they expect to stay here to make sure they finish up the reconciliation bill? >> no, they have not, but a number of my members, which is to say 434, asked me that on a regular basis every time i go before them. they all want to know when we're going to go home. we've been working now for a long time, haven't seen their

families, they want to be home. >> we are listening to house majority leader steny hoyer and congressman james clyburn talk about the recent incidents of violence directed at members of congress from threats against family members to bricks being thrown through the window of some of the offices. mr. hoyer is saying they see these as criminal acts and that he's met with some within the republican leadership to discuss appropriate action maybe even a joint statement of some sort to strongly admonish those who are willing to go out and act against members of congress. also, this is very interesting. mr. hoyer pointed out to some who have used targets and cross hairs over the faces of members of congress saying these people are being aimed at to take them out of office. he did not say by name governor sarah palin but that is exactly what she put on her facebook page calling people to go out

and vote against democrats in the house who voted for health care reform. on her facebook page it was in fact a target and cross hairs, again, steny hoyer not saying her by name but that's exactly what was on sarah palin's facebook page telling people to take aim against those who voted for health care reform. we'll have much more on what's happening and what may happen in the future regarding this security issue facing some members of congress who supported health care reform. another story we want to bring to you before we end this hour, in mississippi a lesbian teenager has scored a partial legal victory. a federal judge ruled a school district violated constance mcmillen's constitutional rights after her high school canceled a prom rather than allow constance to bring her girlfriend. but the judge did not force the school to hold a prom which is what the american civil liberties union was trying for when they filed the lawsuit on constance' behalf. joining us is the senior staff attorney for the aclu project, joining us from nashville and constance mcmillen joins us by

phone. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> thanks for having us. >> i'll start with you, constance. how do you feel about this? >> i'm happy about the decision. i mean, i understood that it would inconvenience a lot of people for them to move it back to the school from the furniture market but, i mean, it makes me kind of sad but i'm still okay with it and i think he made a good decision and i'm happy about the fact he realized dhe violate my rights. >> i understand you may be participating in like a celebrity prom and a couple other events? >> i really haven't made a decision. >> let me talk about the legality of this. some people say it is a victory because the court said her rights were violated but they didn't say to the school, you've got to let her in and allow her to bring whom she wants to this prom. >> well, we absolutely consider it to be a victory. what the court did was say that she had a first amendment right to bring a same sex date to the prom and to wear a tuxedo to the

prom and that the school violated those rights. but the court felt that at this stage in time it couldn't force the school to hold a prom because parents had already organized a private prom, which the school said was going to be open to everyone. and so the court found that because there was going to be a nondiscriminatory prom, though it's private, you know, that that would be the remedy at this point in time. >> christine, does this send a message to the school who perhaps next year decides if they want to cancel a prom rather than allow the student to bring his or her date of choice? >> oh, absolutely. the court found that that would be violating the student's rights and, you know, in fact, in this case we're going forward with our claims for damages and attorney's fees on behalf of constance. >> constance, you turned into a celebrity. i see your name everywhere. you're at ellen degeneres and

everyone is talking about you. do you feel you've paved the way for other teenagers like yourself who want to bring their date of choice to their prom? >> i do, and, you know, that was really the whole point in all of the media was just making -- showing people that it isn't okay and that way they know who to get ahold of if they're going through that so i mean that was the whole point in all the media. so i do. >> all right. constance, christine, thank you very much. we greatly appreciate it. whatever you decide to do, constance, have a good time at prom or wherever you hang out that night. thank you. >> thanks. >> that wraps up this hour. i'm tamron hall. join me again tomorrow and each week day 11:00 and 2:00 p.m. eastern time. david shuster picks up our coverage. david, what do you have? >> tamron, we'll get an update out of charlottesville, virginia on the gas line problems at a brother of a member of congress. again shall the issue of tea party activists putting the member of congress's address on the web. it turns out it was his brother's address. in any case something happened to the gas line and now police

are investigating. we'll also look at a very contentious debate on the senate floor today, very personal stuff, again, as republicans try to slow down the democratic improvements to health care reform. and we've got an unbelievable video that rips on what john boehner said over the weekend using the words "hell no." all that ahead after this. ♪ [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®,

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it doesn't. stop pretending. it can happen to you. protect your home with flood insurance. call the number on your screen... for your free brochure. it's the top of the hour on msnbc and here are some of the stories we are following. what is sarah palin trying to say? she is urging conservatives to reload and on her facebook page she is using rifle cross hairs to identify democratic held seats in congress. all of this as tea partiers announce a bring your guns to washington, d.c. rally next month. plus -- >> this amendment removes some of the remaining sweetheart deals. >> this isn't a sweetheart deal. it's a stunt. >> the senate debate over health care reform improvements got personal tay