threatening the delicate balance. at this hour the president is at the resort where the g-8 is taking place in minutes. we are expecting to see the meeting with david cameron. >> you're the blueprint to follow. you are the proof of what is possible because hope is contagious. they're watching to see what you do next. >> he is going to have his first sit down in a year with russian president vladimir putin. it is their first face to face since white house announced a red line had been crossed in syria's war. new revelations of spying courtesy of edward snowden. this time with claims the british government spied on delegates attending another gathering. the g-20 summit in london. back here at home a new poll

showing president obama's approval rating has taken a hit since the spying scandals broke. half of the public says they don't think he is honest and trust worthy. political director chuck todd traveling with the president. today's first read is pointing to this summit as a true test of the president's leadership. war tensions are back and quoting that some are talking about what this means today meeting with vladimir putin and russia along with others backing assad's regime. what can the president hope to achieve especially with meeting president putin today? >> trying to convince putin that assad, that putting his chips in with assad is somehow a long-term loser. the way that administration officials explain it is that they believe somehow if they can convince putin that it is in his best interest -- remember putin

is pretty much a transactional political figure. if they can convince putin that a political solution in the long term that has the assad regime involved could be a long-term winner for russia. what russia cares about is a strategic interest in syria. the country helps them get access to the mediterranean. there is a strategic/transactional reason why putin is sticking by assad at this point. but if you judge by putin's comments to david cameron it doesn't look like putin is going to be persuaded that what the united states and western allies are doing by propping up the syrian opposition is any way to stop the blood shed. i think he's got a big challenge on his hand trying to convince putin to back off. >> as you talk about propping up the opposition we saw republicans over the weekend hammering the president's syria policy calling it too little too

late. take a look at this. >> it is a powder cake for the region. ak 47s will not neutralize the advantage that assad has over the rebels. we need to do more. we need to create a no fly zone to neutralize the assad's air power. >> first of all, if i was in charge of this issue we wouldn't have gotten to this point. we would have identified elements to work with and make sure those elements were the best armed, best equipped and best trained. i think the fact that it has taken this white house and this president so long to get a clear and concise policy on syria has left us with the worst possible scenario. >> can the president say what the u.s. strategy is beyond hoping that bashar al assad steps aside? >> it does feel like as if the strategy is hope that somehow putin is going to see things their way and pull his backing

from assad and assad will go silently through the night. that is what is unclear. remember the president is very reluctant because nobody has given him what the end game looks like. and that's been why he has been so hesitant to put more u.s. military assets on the ground in some form or another. not necessarily troops but more assets, more money, more arms and things like that. you look at what happened in libya and his experience was look at libya and the instability still there. look at the instability in iraq. who is to say there isn't going to be long-term instability. >> our chuck todd airs week days. i appreciate you making time for me. i want to bring in democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. it is good to have you here. the white house announced on

thursday that it will now supply unspecified weapons to the opposition in syria but critics say it is too little too late. the rebels appear to be losing the traction that they had over this two-year-old fight. is the u.s. stepping a toe into a crisis when they should have been going all in and much sooner than now? >> as one who called for more humanitarian relief after i visited some of the refugee camps in jordan and who met with some of the opposition groups and said there are responsible rebellion figures in this group, certainly i welcome this step by the president but i think the criticism too little too late fails to take account of the president's understandable caution given our recent experience with entanglements militarily, the avoidance of troops on the ground and military commitment open ended

without an end game is very prudent. at the same time we need to strengthen the forces with assad and to provide aid to our allies there. jordan that is very much in danger because of the flow of refugees as well as the threat militarily and israel and other allies trying to bring down assad for the sake of the syrian people brutally murdered, 90,000 of them. the use of chemical weapons and our own national security interests. >> when we read the paper this weekend that the problem for obama is selling it on issues from drones to gun control, taxes to syria, the president likes to take public opinion polls. he seems incapable of getting in front of issues with a strong selling job. do you think there is a point there? or are people not taking into

consideration the larger scale consequences and being short sighted of what it means to be involved in regional wars? >> the president always needs to look around corners and see what the next step and the step after it will bring. and if we have learned nothing from afghanistan and from the prior support for the afghan rebels against the soviets, it is that we own it if we break it. and the more we are involved the more we need to be very, very watchful and cautious about how we are going to be embroiled and entangled. no one i believe should want troops on the ground, boots in syria, any kind of active engagement that may flow from greater arms involvement. at the same time arms aid after the use of chemical weapons i think is definitely appropriate. light arms, knowing who they are

going to so we vet them. and we track them. vetting the rebels who are armed and tracking where the arms go i think is absolutely essential. >> i want to get you on the record with this because we have this new revelation from edward snowden saying britain spied as the president attending the g-8 summit. i want to play what dick cheney had to say about snowden yesterday. >> i think he is a traitor. i think it is one of the worst occasions in my memory of somebody with access to classified information doing enormous damage to the national security interests of the united states. >> has snowden done more damage than good here and in your case should he be prosecuted? >> he should be prosecuted and the good is what we make from the revelations. the public debate and informed debate is certain lly appropria.

for that debate to be informed people need to be informed and we need to have disclosure from the foreign intelligence surveillance court that right now keeps all of its orders, rulings and opinions absolutely secret from the congress as well as from the american public. i have called for to make those orders and opinions public and i have sponsored legislation. and there has to be a balance. we need to be sensitive to that balance. >> senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. thank you for your time this morning. i want to bring in former u.s. ambassador who served as deputy senior adviser under president jimmy carter. as we talk about syria the white house hasn't said what arms specifically it will supply the opposition. the "new york times" reported small arms and ammunition but not anti-aircraft weapons. is that really enough to turn

the tide for the rebels who appear to be losing traction in this 2-year-old battle? >> not at all. it is the equivalent of going into a tank battle with pea shooters. i am not in favor of this policy. the president has been caught in a difficult position because he declared there was a red line that the syrians crossed with respect to chemical weapons. this tokenism is not going to help the president or u.s. policy so i am not in favor of it. >> when we talk about what is going on in the region and who is backing who here, the new president of iran who is backing the assad regime in syria, rowhani is said to be, quote, moderate and the white house is calling his election a hopeful sign. can we expect changes when it comes to iran's nuclear policy that we have seen under ahmadinejad? >> there is no way that there is going to be a change on iran's

nuclear policy. it is good that the iranian people elected on a scale of one to ten someone who falls closer to the moderate wing and probably the atmospherics will change. remember just several years ago a similar president was elected and he was isolated and cut off for being that very moderate so we have to see how it plays out. >> when it comes to the president and what we are watching here it is great they are having the elections he doesn't hold power. >> in the end it comes down to basically trying to fix the problems that had been created by international sanctions against iran's economy which has clearly affected the people so much there. and also the iranian people want to break out of the isolation that they are in. this probably puts more pressure to figure out if he can reach an accommodation with the united

states. as you know all of these negotiations have led nowhere. we will see whether or not there is any chance. >> always great to have you on. thank you. >> good to be with you. if we don't pass immigration reform and get it off the table in a reasonable practical way it doesn't matter who you run in 2016 we are in a demographic death spiral as a party. >> demographic death spiral. one of the gang of eight with a dire warning for his own party. will they listen? our panel will weigh in. and a vote expected in the house this week on a controversial bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks. this week's bill looks different than the original version. congress woman here to talk about that next. right after our show today remember to join me for a google plus hangout on air. the topic the supreme court's upcoming decisions on marriage equality and what it means for our country. bably anyone else.

we've had this farm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas. that's how we make our living and that's how we can pass the land and water back to future generations. people should make up their own mind what's best for them. all i can say is it has worked well for us.

the gop led house of representatives is set to vote tomorrow on a nation-wide piece of legislation that would outlaw abortions later than 20 weeks. only 1.3% occur past 20 weeks. most of those protect the life of the mother or health. arizona republican introduced the bill on wednesday. with this comment about rape and pregnancy. >> before when my friends on the left side of the aisle tried to make rape and incest the subject because the incidents of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low. >> so when frank's bill comes up for a full house bill tomorrow congress woman will be taking the lead on this. joining me is democratic

representative from the district of columbia eleanor holmes norton. let's talk about the decision to put marsha blackburn in charge of the bill. do you think that your republican colleagues are feeling the heat after last week's resurrection of the war on women debate and that is what the move was about? >> of course. they are running scared here. they added rape and incest to the bill, something we tried to get in last year when it was a 20-week abortion bill, federal power used against one district, my district, the district of columbia. now they are trying to use one district against the women of the united states because this comes out of the so-called philadelphia condition where they are trying to now limit or

essentially overturn row versus wade by making the 20-week abortion bill. we know that it says until viability and only a physician can determine -- >> as we speak the current threshold provided by the supreme court for a woman's right to terminate presidency is 24 weeks expect in d.c. the bill expected to pass the house and die once it reaches the senate. it begs the question to so many americans, why bother with this? >> why bother? because there are interest groups that keep spurring franks from arizona to keep pushing this. remember they have done it all over the country. they have gotten 20-week abortion bills passed in a number of states. they have gotten 12-week abortion bills passed. they want a federal. that is why they want this bill.

but the leadership saw by fooling with women and the reproductive health they helped elect a president of the united states last year. >> i want to get you on the record about the gun control debate that continues because west virginia senator has come under fire in this new attack ad over his support for the expansion of background checks. an aid for manchin confirmed he is making an ad. we have mayor michael bloomberg who came under fire. do you think any of this is going to move the dial on getting the gun debate back on the front burner in d.c.? >> i think that what mayor bloomberg is doing is trying to keep the gun safety side from being totally defenseless. i think he has to watch out because we can end up with fewer people for gun control. i think manchin is safe and

there will be all kinds of help for manchin. i worry about some of the democrats. >> thank you for making time for me this morning. i do appreciate it. >> always a pleasure. our agenda panel will weigh in on the latest from snowden. and a new lead in the disappearance of jimmy hoffa. first today's producer's pick comes from apemeeka thompson. did vladimir putin steal a super bowl ring from robert kraft or was it kraft told him the white house told him keep quiet about that incident. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter...

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topping the news. around 1,000 turkish union workers are on strike today between police and protesters in istanbul. police fired tear gas and water canons at antigovernment demonstrators. britain's prince philip is back home after stomach surgery. the queen's 92-year-old husband thanked hospital staffers and waved on lookers. firefighters getting a better handle on wildfires in colorado, the largest the black forest fire is now 65% contained and some residents have been allowed to return to their homes. the fire has destroyed at least 500 homes and left two people dead. chicago police are investigating after the most violent weekend of the year where at least six people were

killed and a dozen injured in a series of shootings. federal authorities are preparing to dig up a field as they search for the remains of jimmy couhoffa. this development comes after a refuted former gangster says he believes hoffa is buried there. kim gave birth to a baby girl saturday in l.a., a few weeks earlier than expected. no word yet on a name.

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care. a massive ad defending the new health care law. those are the hot topics for today's agenda panel. joining me kelly. adam, a reporter for msnbc.com and lee a reporter with the nation. i want to start with you because crying foul. representative brenner talking about the fact that they are not happy about what is going on but they are not taking the proper hearings and briefings to hear what is going on. >> this is a larger problem with congress in general. the revelations of the scope of nsa surveillance caught some legislateers offguard. it was because they weren't paying attention to just what the government was doing in these confidential briefings. this is a problem throughout congress because they lack sort

of the expertise and the time to get knowledgeable about the issues but then they vote on them anyway. >> it's like let's learn about it after it is done. kind of the -- they want to learn more about this after we start to implement these things and see how the chips fall. but one thing that has been interesting is hearing dick cheney's response to this. kelly, i know your ears perked up to this. let's listen to the former vice president on fox news sunday. >> i'm obviously not a fan of the incumbent president. i don't know what he did to the program from what has been released is still in operation. i think it is good that it is in operation. i think it has saved lives and kept us free from other attacks. >> so it is kind of like a compliment/dig there with the fact that not a fan of the president however a fan of the nsa and what it has done in terms of american security. >> if i remember correctly he said it protected us from

potentially another 9/11 and said the president lacks credibility. i'm not sure how you can have one and say the other. it is cheney being cheney. don't we all miss him? >> i think it is difficult to take that statement at face value. four years ago dick cheney said torture saved the united states from another 9/11 and cia documents prove it and those documents didn't say what he said they would say. i'm not sure you can take that argument at face value from cheney. >> there is a web chat taking place on the guardian's website with edward snowden talking and taking people's questions. one reveal he said in fact talking to why he did this, what were his reasons to reveal this information saying he had a disillusionment with prom over

failing to close gitmo. talking about the fact that he wants the president who ran on getting gitmo closed and now knowing gitmo is still functional and without a long-term strategy in place. is that a surprise to you? >> that is not a surprise to me. a lot of folks have made the pointt that edward snowden donated to rand paul's campaign. there is a cross movement in this country that is antianti. look at the different movements on the stop privacy act. i think this is a new form of politics. >> meanwhile we continue to outsource intelligence and privatize intelligence. the firm snowden worked for, they are enlarging their foot print not just domestically. when we look at how they are

able to capitalize on other areas of the world. >> i think that is really interesting. the government has increasingly outsourced technology to private contractors to develop efforts to go after terrorists but we are seeing private contractors turn around and sell these tools to private corporations and lobbiests. we learn foreign governments and beyond what the "new york times" reporter allen is inking deals with saudi arabia and turkey and countries where the regime is looking to tap down different protest movements. meanwhile let me talk about this because hours before the start of the g-8 summit the guardian reported that britain repeatedly hacked into e-mails to foreign diplomats. how do you think those revelations are playing out currently? they set up internet caves and encouraged people to use them and created an easy way to tap

into private accounts and e-mails? >> i think it is embarrassing for britain but countries spy on each other all the time. this is just the way the game goes and they all know it. >> just don't use the internet caves if you are offered there at the g-8. i want to talk about what made a lot of news this weekend and lindsey graham saying the republican party can be in a demographic death spiral. kelly, you have written a great article on the political impact that white deaths are having in this country. lindsey graham gets it? >> he seems to. he is speaking to the larger challenge, the report that shows that the number of white deaths outnumber the number of white births last year. there is actually a bigger concern for the gop which is that pugh has a report that shows 40% of the voting age

population growth between now and 2030 is going to be among hispanics. you combine that with the voting age growth population and the combined voting age population growth among people is going to be 76%. now, are all of those people going to vote? of course not? are all of them going to vote democratic? probably not. democrats don't need all of them to vote democratic. it is such a phenomenal population explosion that it really spells trouble for the gop unless they find a way to extend their tent to include more voters of color. that is why immigration is a make or break issue. >> certainly a make or break issue for marco rubio. showing foundational policy and legislation to lead on in washington to ramp up to potentially being president of the country. listen to him react to being pressed about his own

immigration reform bill. >> do you support your own bill? >> well, obviously i think it is an excellent starting point. 95%, 96% of the bill is in perfect shape and ready to go. >> if the bill stays as it is regarding border security do you vote for it? >> listen, i really don't want to get involved in these hypotheticals and ultimatums. >> is it a surprise to see him this squishy on the issue, something he has been working so hard for to be that slippery to pin down on whether he would vote for it or not? >> i think he is putting his own ambitions for the white house first. he is very concerned about republican primaries if he does run for president and what folks will say about the current immigration reform debate. look, republicans still have a chance at the white house even if immigration reform fails. they will have to double down on

previous tactics. >> while we talk about that one thing coming down the line and i believe it is three months out where people can start to sign up for the affordable health care act there is a new act coming out. >> the truth is americans are already seeing the benefits. she is seeing more seniors for free wellness visits. he received a $150 rebate from his health insurance company and next year she can expand her small business thanks to tax credits that cover up to half or worker's health insurance. better coverage and lower costs. that is what obama care means for them. get all the facts at barack obama.com/health care. >> this is trying to educate americans because as it stands right now in the most recent poll found 30% of americans found the health care law was a good idea. >> this is the real challenge because we asked the average

american on the street they might be benefitting from the law but they have no idea it is because of the affordable care act. that is a big problem because a lot of the changes are regulato regulatory. >> consistently the polling showed if you asked if you are for health care reform or against it a majority were against it. when you ask questions like do you want your 20 something young child to stay on your health insurance a majority of americans said absolutely. and so i think that this is an issue of education. the obama white house acknowledged they didn't do a great job of educating it. >> that comes back full circle of electing on something that they don't know what is in it. i want to say thanks. thank you. if you didn't get enough you can find more from them on our

website. follow the link to my name. it has been 50 years since the supreme court ruling that banned prayer in schools. some people argue there is more religion in public schools now than ever before. we are going to talk about that straight ahead. plus nearly 30 members of congress are taking on the food stamp challenge. have you heard about this? they are eating on a budget of $4.50 a day. we are going to talk to congress woman barbara lee who has taken that challenge and talk about what proposed cuts to the program means for america's poor. e ball rolling. in parks across the country, families are coming together to play, stay active, and enjoy the outdoors. and for the last four summers, coca-cola has asked america to choose its favorite park through our coca-cola parks contest. winning parks can receive a grant of up to $100,000. part of our goal to inspire more than three million people to rediscover the joy of being active this summer.

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what can you tell us about the arizona law? >> reporter: for two decades under the motor voter law you have been able to register to vote in a federal election by mail. you send in the form and it has a box on it where you check that you are a citizen. in 2004 voters passed a proposition in arizona to add an additional requirement to say when you register to vote you have to show proof of citizenship. today the supreme court said that is at odds of the federal law. so it struck the arizona law down. now, arizona had this law at least three other, possibly four other states did and several others were waiting if the supreme court upheld it to enact similar requirements. people who challenged the arizona law said it was an attempt to suppress the votes by minority group members or people who were naturalized citizens because it set up additional hurdles that they had to cross

that someone else would not. arizona said it was a way to reduce voter fraud. the supreme court said if you want this you have to go to the group and say we want to have an additional requirement on the form and can we change the form, if the feds say no then arizona could sue. they can't do this on their own. >> we have these five decisions that have come down today. we have 14 cases left that need to be decided by the end of next week. prop 8, doma, voting rights, affirmative action. should we be reading into why this might be taking so long? >> it is a great question. we don't know what they do in their private chambers. no one knows in advance what the court will decide. we know historically that when it takes longer to reach decisions that suggests they are

close, often 5-4 and suggests that the rewriting process, the supreme court revises and rewrites like the rest of us when we work on something important, the rewriting process may be difficult. we saw that in the health care ruling where chief justice roberts was going back and forth about what the opinion would like like. sometimes we think we agree and then realize we disagree i break off. >> what happens if the consequences of the supreme court if they vote down what is most likely what most people would consider to be the most important civil rights decision in our lifetime? >> we have been following that closely. what you see in the voting rights act area is tremendous skepticism from the conservative justices about whether we need this. that outrages people because you look at a lot of issues down south and certain areas that are covered we say we want the justice department to look before the lines are redrawn. if they are done for discrimination we want to be on

top of that. the last point i will mention is while we don't know what the court will do, what we do know is that justices have now authored almost twice as many opinions as chief justice roberts and kennedy. those cases you mentioned we are watching are more likely not a prediction but by the numbers more likely to be in the hands of the chief justice or justice kennedy. for some people that are concerning. >> what about for affirmative action? are we old enough that we don't need that? >> i think we need it. we want to be able to consider whether someone is a woman or a minority or from a disadvantaged background because we care about running a military that doesn't just have for example minorities on the field of battle. we want minorities making decisions. that is something we talked about for our security. i think we keep it. the legal analysis is justice

o'connor who protected affirmative action has been replaced by justice who has all but said he wants it out. >> if you can't consider diversity then you are being told to do something that is representational to try to reflect america. don't look at anyone. i think that is a hard thing to ask institutions to do. >> thanks so much. be sure to catch the rest of the cyclists week days here 3:00 eastern. right after this show join me for a google plus hangout on air on the supreme court's upcoming decisions on marriage equality. experts will join me to talk about what the rulings will mean for the nation. you can watch on google.com/plusmsnbc. send me your questions now using the hash tag marriage equality.

my mother is trying to figure this out. she wants to be a part of our chat. so i'm teaching her. televisionicly right now. if you watch one thing right now make it comedian russell brand's appearance on "morning joe." >> it's like your desk is a puzzle. >> i'm sorry about that. >> what is the solution? >> here you go, love. be careful. that is a low-cut dress. >> i have instincts. >> this is my first -- >> brand experience. >> i think it is not listening to him. it is sort of taking it all in. >> talking about me as if i am not here and as if i am an extra -- >> i am nervous. >> why are you nervous? you are a powerful woman. what seems to be the trouble.

you have hair like princess dianna. >> those are some of the highlights. >> he gets away with so much with that accent. >> you don't understand it. it has to process. we will show you the segment on my facebook page. we will tweet it out, as well. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

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so this week more than two dozen members of congress are eating on a budget of $4.50 a day. it is called the snap challenge. it is not a new fad diet but an effort of a debate to cut the nutritional assistance program better known as food stamps. joining me, congresswoman barbara lee, the california

democrat leading that challenge. you are a former snap recipient yourself. you've done this challenge before. you've gotten a lot of support from your colleagues this time around. what do you hope to accomplish by getting that support? having other people in congress try the challenge? >> thomas, what we're trying to do -- and thank you for this interview because we're trying to wake up america, trying to let people know that they should call their members of congress and tell them to vote no on this farm bill. there will be a $20 billion cut that means $2 million less people on food stamps, 210,000 children will not receive school lunches or breakfasts. >> it is amazing when we think $4.50 a day for some people in this country, that's a coffee at a certain coffee place. i want to talk about the blog, because you blogged about this. your previous challenges. and the list of food from your shopping list, it really makes this issue hit home because as we look at a sample menu of what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it was equally hard to

imagine -- grits and toast, banana and crackers, then chicken and rice. for you what was the most difficult part of this challenge? >> well, the most difficult part -- first of all, for me knowing that members of congress, we don't have to eat on $4.50 a day and it will be over for us. but there are millions of people who see no end in sight. that's the most difficult part of it. in terms of just my own personal experience with living off of $4.50 a day, first you end up buying food that has a lot of salt and fat. you cannot buy fresh fruits and vegetables. canned peas, canned lima beans. a lot of tuna noodle casserole. white bread. you have to make your colldolla stretch so you buy processed food and food that you can stretch. that's why we see so much hypertension, heart disease and diabetes ain low-income communities. >> healthier and fresher foods are more expensive. it is great to have you leading

the charge on this and encouraging other people in congress to try this out. there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel for you by just doing this as a challenge. you don't have to continually live off this $4.50 a day like so many other americans. we appreciate you leading by example. congresswoman barbara lee, thank you. >> that's going to wrap up this hour for me. see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. don't go anywhere. "now" with alex wagner is next. but joy ann reed is filling in for this monday. >> hey, thomas. how are you? >> i'm doing great. monday is over. now you have to -- after your show you have to watch my google plus hang-out on air. >> are you going to answer spy questions? >> it is all about marriage equality today. >> that's important. >> we'll talk spies later. >> that's a bet. that's a plan. thank you, thomas. all right. what's another monday without a new surveillance program leak? is edward snowden's latest spy revelation distracting us from the debate we should be having? we'll ask the guardian's ed pi l

kl dington. and we'll talk syria and preview the president's putin immediating with chuck todd. bo biden joins us. all that when "now" starts after this. la's known definitely for its traffic, congestion, for it's smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment.

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