comparisons by some of your critics of this week's scandal to those that happened under the nixon administration? >> i will let you guys indigenous comparisons. -- you guys go ahead and make those comparisons. you can read the history and draw your own conclusions. >> as pressure mounts on the obama administration, we will speak to a man who was at the center ofve press freedom, 40 years ago james goodale from the new york times when the nixon administration attempted to block the paper's publication of the pentagon papers, the secret history of the vietnam war, leaked by daniel ellsberg. then, environmental activist tim dechristopher recently released from prison joins us in the studio. >> there are a lot of things we have tried, most of which have not worked, especially on climate change, on trying to get our government to do something about climate change. mostly, we need people taking action. nobody can really tell you what that action should be. >> first, we turn to a shocking senate hearing for the pentagon declared the entire world is a battlefield and the president can send troops anywhe

our home was broken into it, but this became common during the nixon administration.tor's offices were broken into it to get information, tapping telephone lines. very common. and when people say well, watergate wasn't that big a deal. watergate is shorthand for a widespread criminal conspiracy led by the president of the united states himself, which more than 40 people eventually served hard time. so people who don't like the hard facts of history about the nixon administration, every time some scandal happens, well, this is watergate, quite honestly, don't know what they're talking about. >> having you here is the best perspective i get. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> dan rather's latest program is called operation streamline and airs tonight at 11:00 p.m. on axs. if you are counting at home, a very important number is now up to 12. big news for minnesota. straight ahead. [ male announcer ] away... [ children laughing ] ♪ ...is the smell of salt in the air. ♪ it's the sound a seashell makes. [ seagulls calling ] away...is a place that's beyond your imaginat

but this became common during the nixon administration. people's homes were broken into.tor's offices were broken in to to get information, tapping telephone lines, tapping people's telephone lines, very noncommon. when people say well, watergate wasn't that big a deal. watergate is shorthand for a widespread criminal conspiracy led by the united states himself in which more than 40 people eventually served hard time so when people who don't like the hard facts of history about the nixon administration, every time some scandal happens, well, this is equated with watergate. quite honestly, they don't know what they are talking about. >> dan rather, having you here is the best perspective that i get ever whenever you're here. thank you so much for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> i should tell you dan rather's latest report "dan rather report" on axss if tv "operation streamline" airs tonight at 11:00 p.m. on axs. >>> if you're counting a big number is now up to 12. big news for minnesota straight ahead. i had some lebanese food for lunch. i love the lebanese. i.

the claim of the nixon administration now here you've got to ask yourself well what is the first amendment blame. the claim is that a son can be punished if in fact there is no clear and present danger to the country and if you look at the stuff that has songs published. i would argue there's no clear and present danger to the country i mean it's been three years were the danger i mean you're still here and i'm still here all claims sound terrible when it comes to national security but when you look backwards at them which is what i do in my book is the pentagon papers i look back to the facts of what happened in the pentagon papers and nobody home nothing there no damage now security you have to look at these claims with a jaundiced eye because after a period of time you take a look at them and there's no danger as you mentioned the obama administration has prosecuted more allegedly leakers then under the espionage act then all previous administrations combined. do you believe that leakers such as bradley manning should be subject to some discipline yes i do and i would think that if you

>> i'm not a crook. >> some of your critics of this week's scandals compared it to the nixon administration read the history and draw your own conclusions. >> my question is who is going to jail photographer the scandals. >> i think we can fix it. we can get it done and we've gun that process. >> mark: well, they've done it. they've

, the nixon administration, but there's been no evidence that the presidentuse knew of pressure. we must break open and have even-handed standards so that people, the congress and the fdc has failed. they haven't had standards to abide by. >> jeff, they want to take these investigations going forward, from your reporting, what else do you expect to be uncovered this week and the senate finance committee is going to take? >> they'll get the first shot on this tuesday. douglas shulman, a bush appointee the head of the irs, and he has some questions to answer. >> he was the one who didn't divulge to the congress that this was going on. >> members of the house and the cincinnati are upset that congress didn't -- that they weren't fully informed, excuse me. it's really not the issue whether congress was informed or not. the senate finance committee i'm told is still looking for irs employees, agents, who they're going to bring in and question. that's not going to happen. on tuesday. that's what we need, employees to call out washington. >> april, the white house s

>> reporter: it has been illegal since the nixon administration or post-nixon administration, so it wouldice department because, david, you're right, it is illegal. liz: rich edson in d.c., thank you very much. david: well, "the wall street journal" names the top stock pickers on the street, and the biggest name in pharma is kicking off our weeklong all-star coverage. his last pick, get this, is up 115%. little better than the s&p averages. and he is here with three new plays you don't want to miss. liz: plus, the federal reserve has plotted a way to wind down its money-printing policy, buteo handle the fed's exit when it eventually comes? john hiisenrath of "the wall street journal" giving us the inside scoop on the central bank's plan. he broke the story, he's next. ♪ ♪ ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. always go the extra mile. to treat my low testosterone, i did my research. my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks i

not just the nixon administration, in the george w. bush administration, the irs targeted organizations, liberal organizations, like the naacp. >> first of all, can i -- >> and there have been other organizations that were targeted even under the 501(c)(4) status rule. >> all of them. >> full comprehensive review. that's what we need to have. >> that's what i want to do. >> this is a problem, because people have an inherent distrust of the government, because the government has become so big that these organizations can be influenced outside of -- and have influence outside of what they should. it is entirely too large. now you're going to add up to 15,000 new irs agents to police the nation's health care. this has got to be -- >> before we do that -- >> seriously. and this was empowered by the president. >> not the size of government -- >> let me switch gears. on a very important topic, the media surveillance. more and more about this. look, roger els delivered a letter or you could call it the -- a dictum, the els dictum or so forth,

, he didn't answer smartly a question about comparisons between his administration and the nixon administration. but the more he has to answer questions about irs, and i don't see that one going anywhere. that one has the longest life, or the a.p. investigation or benghazi, the longer these things happen. the longer that the hill is entertained with these things, we've got a third of all house committees are now investigating some aspect of the president of the united states. the longer that goes, the harder it is, even if you're the president of the united states, there is a bully pulpit. it's just not as high as it was once. you can't turn the ship to exactly what you want it to be. and every day he can't turn that ship is one day closer to the mid-term elections, once the mid-term elections happen, i want to echo david, the 2016 campaign which frankly has already started. he struggles to get his agenda. you're seeing the sand go through the hourglass and i think he and his administration are well aware of that. >> from your perch on capitol hill you can see that the house republicans in part

comparisons by some of your critics of this week's scandals to those that happened under the nixon administrationge in those comparisons. and you -- you can go ahead and read the history, i think, and draw your own conclusions. my concern is making sure that if there's a problem in the government, we fix it. >> trying to stop the bleeding, or at least the nixon references. the white house is trying to keep this from a full-fledged scandal. >>> the search for survivors amid destruction in the state of texas. 16 tornadoes kill six and hurt dozens more. a threat for more storms over the weekend. >>> and on a lighter note, cheating on your spouse, netflix style. it's friday, may 17th. you got it. it's "way too early." >>> good friday morning, everybody. i'm brian shactman. we'll get to all of that in a minute. first, the $550 million powerball jackpot. that's half a billion. you could buy the sacramento kings for that. we think a lot here on the program and "way too early." we got to thinking about what happens on sunday when you wake up and you learn that you win? you don't have the money yet, but y

are we back to the nixon administration? this is what they did in the nixon administration. this is not the nixon administration where you have burglars and people talking about blowing up the brookings institution. this is more of a case is anybody home? all of a sudden you have this thing with the justice department. they are over there getting all these phone records of all of the reporters, the attorney general, he didn't know anything about it. you get to the irs, they don't seem to know anything about the tea party thing. come to the white house, they don't know anything about benghazi. somebody has to grab hold of this thing, and i mean you know it's -- it's very very disturbing what we're seeing here. >> what do you make of the president's actions yesterday. dealt with all three things yesterday, fired the head of the irs, released 100 pages of e-mails that deal with benghazi and the third scandal, the snooping into the ap reporter phone records, the president put out he's for a shield law for journalists, the white house took a lot of proactive action yesterday. >>

feel of comparisons by your critics to this week's scandals to those that happened under the nixon administration? >> i'll let you guys engage this those comparisons, and you can go ahead and read the history, i think, and draw your own conclusions. >> reporter: yet another controversy, actually, that's popping up in this government, the sexual assault issue that's hitting the military. late this afternoon, brian, he met with military chiefs about this issue. and listen to what he said -- "not only is it a crime, not only is it shameful and disgraceful, but is going to make and has made our military less effective." he said defense secretary chuck hagel would be having weekly meetings on this issue until the military gets its arms around it. >> chuck todd at the white house tonight. chuck, thanks. >>> some folks are already calling the president's problems the curse of the second term. and yet, it's tough to know the staying power of any given scandal in the making along with the effect any of this might have on his overall planned agenda. that story tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporte

the name of national security and protecting the public several decades ago spying by the nixon administration on the press dirty tricks and so forth were also rationalized inside the white house and later publicly as somehow protecting the public from subversive or other elements that threaten the republic and that is really one of the last refuge of scoundrels when it comes to top leaders who want to turn off the tap of information reaching their own public that those leaders would rather the public be kept in the dark about and i think what we've seen with these revelations about the phone records of a.p. reporters is that this in ministration which has already waged a larger war against more whistleblowers than any other in u.s. history has continued to push the envelope and try to have a chilling effect on not only journalists but the sources within the administration . and targeting obviously a credible organization like the associated press in some ways has it been a victory for john and it's because it's been a major embarrassment now for the administration. well i think it cuts both w

nixon. yes, is what is going on in the obama administration nixon. i'm mark thompson filling in for cenk.have ana kasparian and jayar jackson and we're joined by distinguished guest who knows a lot about the irs and investigative journalism that's david kay johnson. it's an honor to have you with us. >> it's a pleasure to be here. >> mark: i want to talk a little bit about this nixon aspectan aspect. this is something that we've been rumbling on "the turks" the last couple of days. are the press nixon ioion any way. tell us about this. you know the irs inside and out. >> i don't know if anybody knows it inside and out but an unit was charged are you a social welfare organization. are you exclusively a social welfare organization is what the law says, but you have to be a social welfare organization that primarily does social welfare. >> mark: this is to get tax exempt status. >> that's right. what we're seeing karl rove's organization gave less than one tenth of its revenue in a recent year for social welfare and everything else is attacking obama. now, facts may change. we may learn some

the nixon administration retired the trophy, after that, whichever administration is in power.nt needs to rethink his entire communications policy top to bowl. it is hurting his credibility and short changing the public. cenk: in other words i'm not mad out but you really got to change something here, basically saying you're worse than george w. bush, worse than reagan was. is that correct? >> the obama administration is following the footsteps of the george bush administration and administrations before that, being very slow to reply to freedom of information requests. you have the new a.p. scandal. look at how they've treated whistle blowers and wikileaks. i'm glad the media is waking up and challenging him on this. i'm wondering why they haven't done more in the last four years. cenk: i'm with lee on this one and with bob schieffer as well. erik holder basically apologized saying issued not have signed off on the warrant for james rosen at fox news. then why did you do it? it's like holder and obama both seem to be reluctant i did this massively right wing things beyond geor

nixon's politics during advisers that surrounded him during that administration. >> yes, i'm talking bout president nixon, but an event that happened during his vice presidency. >> i'm not aware of one or the other. i'm sorry. >> richard nixon's attitude to his african-americans were shaped by some assumptions he had about genetics and raise, which he speaks of on the tapes. so i think that it's really useful for someone who wants to understand richard nixon's view of the world, to look at how he thinks about race and how he applies his sound kind of genetics. i found it unpleasant. >> nixon's private attitudes were unpleasant, but i think in this case, i think he really support the aspirations of african-americans as much as a code. he wanted african-americans to succeed in society. >> i i think he assumed a ceiling. >> i think the tape showed that. he never discussed it publicly. >> i came to that conclusion listening to the tapes and seen some of his correspondence with dana patrick moynihan. one way of looking at his welfare policy. >> question on your right. >> my name is velma m

. >> reporter: too early to say whether the scandals rise to the level of watergate and nixon administration. it was only yesterday after all attorney general eric holder announced to the criminal probe of irs handling of tea party groups. watergate from the actual break-in to the president nixon's resignation esolved over more than two years. perception in politics count for a lot and comparisons to nixon are sprouting up like dandelions in springtime. >> let me say this i never seen anything like this except in the past during the nixon years. >> reporter: not just orrin hatch referencing the irs scandal. democrats and the president's loyalists are also troubled by it and the associated press scandal. listen to senate majority leader harry reid on the justice department's monitoring of the associated press telephones. >> i don't know who did it, why it was done but it's inexcusable and there is no way to justify this. >> reporter: watergate really gained a lot of steam when republicans started desserting president nixon the obama administration is also hearing really for the first time, je

about comparisons by some critics of this week's scandals to those that happened under the nixon administration. >> i'll let you guys engage in those comparisons, and you can go ahead and read the history, i think, and draw your own conclusion. >> neil: what too you think? >> well, he was very smart not to mention nixon. notice, he denied the reporter and all the reporters assembled a sound bite, which they would have had, had he said mixon. he avoided the "i am not a crook" moment, it is interesting that so many comparisons are being made. maybe it's unfair. nothing is fair in politic. he is getting a grilling he never had in the first term, at least not in the scandal arena. >> neil: you have the justice department singled out ap reporters, health and human services which might have bon beyond the healthcare law, hitting up private companies to pay for public lit for the healthcare law, to saying say ng of the backing forthand talking points and general david pet petraeus wanting out. do these scandals divide and conquer themselves and that's what the administration hopes for? >> you never kn

but when government wants to flex muscles, (bleep) you are the iron man. >> this is not the nixon administrationre burglars and people talking about blowing up the booking institution. it is a case of is anybody home? >> the department of justice secretly recorded the phone calls of ap reporters. the incident will be investigated by the department of justice. >> the irs skroued up here and is not those documents illegally to the reporters. this is a problem. >> you bet it is. now obama world is rocked by scandal and controversy and criticism is not limited to fox news or talk radio or conservative belowinger on bloggers. >> it is permeating throughout the government, that is yet to be determined. o one thing emerges with claritty or the words of the president: let me be clear. not a funny comedy of errors is the response of the obama administration when pressed for who is in charge and who is responsible. no one knows anything about anything. at any time about anybody. we compiled the sampling of responses or lack thereof the attorney general eric the with holder holder. >> and why the associate

the modified limited hangout established so importantly, if you will, and regrettably by the nixon administrationnd in my judgme, you're the professional, it's rather clumsy, the way they're doing it. >> yeah. lou, there is not a direct nexus between what they're saying and what's coming out. it's almost, to me, like just the big lie technique. it's old news, he spoke of it, it's a side show, it's all politics. at doesn't answer the very real questions you're talking about. lou: let me ask you all this. this president looks as if he's at sea speaking to the press here in the last couple -- in the last two appearances. it's as if he doesn't know how to behave without a compliant and even comicit media. your thoughts. >> yeah. he's not used to being challenged. he's not used to tough questions. he figured that he would be able to say, well, this is the right politicizing this whe benghazi thing, and it would just end there. heidn't realize the press was going to step up particularly with this ap issue that came up, and we're going to say, hold on, we have some serious questions. so i think he feels

nixon's politics during advisers that surrounded him during that administration. >> yes, i'm talking bout president nixon, but an event that happened during his vice presidency. >> i'm not aware of one or the other. i'm sorry. >> richard nixon's attitude to his african-americans were shaped by some assumptions he had about genetics and raise, which he speaks of on the tapes. so i think that it's really useful for someone who wants to understand richard nixon's view of the world, to look at how he thinks about race and how he applies his sound kind of genetics. i found it unpleasant. >> nixon's private attitudes were unpleasant, but i think in this case, i think he really support the aspirations of african-americans as much as a code. he wanted african-americans to succeed in society. >> i i think he assumed a ceiling. >> i think the tape showed that. he never discussed it publicly. >> i came to that conclusion listening to the tapes and seen some of his correspondence with dana patrick moynihan. one way of looking at his welfare policy. >> question on your right. >> my name is velma m

the president will leave comparisons to the nixon administration to media and defend his administration's approach to alleged leaks of classified material. >> i make no apology skis don't think the american people would expect me as commander in chief not to be concerned about information that might compromise their missions or might get them killed. >> the g.o.p. lawmakers say white house press secretary jay carney lost credibility of last night's release of 49 page office white house state and cia i'ms. they contradict carney's champion that the white house croft was himmed to one style styleistest change. one spokesman e-mails colleagues to say john brennan now the cree cia director, quote, will haved dids to the talking points. four minutes later the edits were e-mailed it, including deleting the assessment that it was across syrian -- libyan society. >> neil: i'm reminded off all these developments and their comparison to watergate. and i'm wondering if you're own insights whether you see these parallels? what do you think? >> well, you know, the standard way of thinking about that,

the nixon administration, past administrations have talked about the notion of trying to accuse journalistshat before. >> until now. >> i believe this is the first case in which the administration has gone to court and claimed a journalist who was doing his job by receiving information from the government was committing a crime. that's a first, i think, and it is -- if you look at the documents, it is a chilling thing. >> it is really chilling and this is the sort of thing that richard nixon would -- but john mitchell would never ever file a subpoena in federal district court trying to get information accusing a journalist of espionage. that has happened now in the obama white house. >> well, there's a specific connection, in which he would articulate, we should do this with the s.o.b., we should do that, we'd never do that, saying, yeah, right, we'll get on it. it was like listening to a crazy person who was like, okay, fine, we'll ignore it. in this one, the web they cast. if you read what they did, the reporters' parents were perhaps subject to surveillance and things like that. it's inc

he is sophisticated and center of american politics and nixon administration and center of the media.f a small town america which i relate to because i grew up in a town pretty much like his -- pontiac, michigan. he is from warren, ohio. >> lou: who is the sophisticated one, i can ask you that coming from idaho. [ laughter ] >> lou: that is one thing. refer to idaho as the cultural wasteland. i did get over it. >> you went to school. >> lou: don't remind me. you've been around a lot of smart, highly successful and amazing personalities. rated roger's, his intellect, his wit. i've never seen anyone, i have to say the smartest man operating in the business. i only say that because he is my boss -- he really is. he is extraordinary? >> he has done extraordinary things. there is no question about that. fox news is an accomplishment and before that cnbc and advisor to three presidents. about that he was sort of a legendary boy producer at mike douglas show. it's hard to argue with his success. however, else you want to look at hhm, he succeeded in everything he how soon tried. >> lou: the

. >> well at least in nixon administration, using word patriotic did not put you on the enemy's list. you were here, in obama administration if you use the word patriot you are suspect. you are under suspicion of being subversive. president today rightly came out said this was terrible, i hope we'll learn more about what actually happened. but i hope that is going to be the administration's true feelings about this because, this is really scarey to the average american, that your government, sics the irs on you because you are the political enemy. neil: irs will have a pivotal role in this health care. >> the enforcer is the irs, they have hired thousands of new agents to enforce this. but i will tell you, the rule of law is essential to american exceptionalism, and american people, do not like the irs being used for political purposes. by republicans or democrats. nixon was accused of it. the republicans were upset about it too. neil: you are right about that. governor, always a pleasure thank you. >> thank you, neil. neil: well, when states say no to jobs folks need, we drill down t

the claim of the nixon administration now here you've got to ask yourself well what is the first amendment blame. the claim is that a son's can be punished if in fact there is no clear and present danger to the country and if you look at the stuff that has songs published. i would argue there's no clear and present danger to the country i mean it's been three years where's the danger i mean you're still here and i'm still here all claims sound terrible when it comes to nasa security but when you look backwards at them which is what i do in my book this is the pentagon papers i look back through the facts of what happened in the pentagon papers and nobody home nothing there no damage now security you have to look at these claims with a jaundiced eye because after a period of time you take a look at him and there's no danger as you mention the obama administration has prosecuted more a legit leakers than i under the espionage act than all previous administrations combined. do you believe that leakers.

the claim of the nixon administration now here you've got to ask yourself well what is the first amendment blame. the claim is that a son's can be punished if in fact there is no.

comparisons by some of your critics of this week's scandals to those that happened under the nixon administration? >> i will let you guys engage in those comparisons. you can go ahead and read the history, i think, and draw your own conclusions. my concern is making sure if there is a problem in the government, that we fix it. that's my responsibility. and that's what we're going to do. that's true with respect to the irs and making sure that they apply the laws the way they were intended. that's true with respect to the security of our diplomats, which is why we're going to need to work with congress to make sure there is adequate funding for what is necessary out there. with respect to the department of justice, i'm not going to comment on a specific and pending case. but i will -- i can talk broadly about the balance that we have to strike. you know, leaks related to national security can put people at risk. they can put men and women in uniform that i have sent into the battlefield at risk. they can put some of our intelligence officers who are in various dangerous situations that are easily

however, administrations throughout the past decade since the nixon administration have exercised restrainthave said, look, we will do whatever we can to avoid having to subpoena journalists. i have never heard of a subpoena this broad. it's legal as far as i can tell. the administration is not violating the first amendment. but they are certainly doing more than has ever been done before in pursuing the private information of journalists and we'll see if there's any political check on them, because there doesn't appear to be any legal check on what they're doing. >> jeff, does it pass the smell test that the obama white house itself would not be informed about this just from a potential p.r. standpoint? >> it certainly actually does pass the smell test that the white house would not be involved. attorney general holder had to know. there is no question that a decision like this goes all the way to the attorney general. now, just to put this in a little perspective, the a.p. has suggested that this is part of an investigation of a leak regarding a possible terrorist attack in yemen and the

but when government wants to flex muscles, (bleep) you are the iron man. >> this is not the nixon administrationre burglars and people talking about blowing up the booking institution. it is a case of is anybody home? >> the department of justice secretly recorded the phone calls of ap reporters. the incident will be investigated by the department of justice. >> the irs skroued up here and is not those documents illegally to the reporters. this is a problem. >> you bet it is. now obama world is rocked by scandal and controversy and criticism is not limited to fox news or talk radio or conservative belowinger on bloggers. >> it is permeating throughout the government, that is yet to be determined. o one thing emerges with claritty or the words of the president: let me be clear. not a funny comedy of errors is the response of the obama administration when pressed for who is in charge and who is responsible. no one knows anything about anything. at any time about anybody. we compiled the sampling of responses or lack thereof the attorney general eric the with holder holder. >> and why the associate

, the obama administration escalating war on leaks the most militant i have seen since the nixon administration discarded the first amendment and intimidated a growing number of government information that is vital for journalistss gold government accountable. >> and famously a nonpartisan person. in that same article, he compares if obama administration unfavorably to the bush administration in the respect. i think the obama administration would be wise to pay heed to some of those words particularly coming from the source they come from. i would add that the whole espionage act has to be looked at. there's a role for congress in this. we can talk about shield laws all we want. but the espionage act is what they are using is a highly elastic, and over broad and easy to abuse statute dating back to world war i and i think congress needs to accept up and think about repealing or substantially amending that law. >> you talked about big figures, respected figures speaking out about that. the chairman and ceo of fox news spoke out. he wrote, we will not allow a climate of press tintimidation o frig

this the same law used by the nixon administration to go after the leakers of the pentagon papers andrge the rosenbergs to pass secret information during the cold war. this comesarosen was accused of being a position, quote, co-conspirator for publishing sensitive security information. here is the reaction. monica crowley and democratic strategist, mr. bernard whitman. monica, the espionage act, normally a little more used for things other than a guy trying do his job? >> it's been invoked three times since pentagon papers. obama administration has invoke it six times. it's supposed to be leveled at grave injury to united states leaks. we found out that eric holder signed offç very controversial search warrant that went after james rosen, personal emails and personal records and his parents' phone records. ÷ really investigation to be had here. holder says he is going to investigation himself. that is a joke. >> eric: and the lengths they are willing to go to perpetrate whatever their agenda is. >> target of the investigation was not rosen. it was steven kim. why. he was accused of le