let's bring in cbs news political director john dickerson in washington. john, everyone's trying to digest these latest developments and understand the significance. what do you see? >> well, david wildstein is the official who ordered the lane closings, so when he says he has a version of events that contradicts governor christie's it creates tremontors but the claims he's making are quite incomplete. the central question of this matter is whether governor christie ordered the lane closures on the george washington bridge as political retribution or did he know about it? no evidence suggests either of those things is true, and what david wildstein has provided so far doesn't suggest it's true. what he is saying is that he can contradict what governor christie has said about the lane closures once they were under way. if there is a discrepancy, that could call the governor's credibility into question, which could be politically damaging, but right now, there is no evidence to back up mr. wildstein's claim. so it could be damaging to governor christie or it

amy walter of the political report and our own john dickerson. we'll bring in "time" international editor and cbs news state department correspondent margaret breman for analysis on syria and ukraine. 60 years of news because this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs good morning again it is fairly quiet on the streets of ukraine this morning, but the situation is far from settled. for latest we're going to cbs news correspondent holly williams. >> good morning, there has been a week of bloodshed here in kiev we've seen deadly clashes between anti-government protesters and riot police which led scores of people dead. yesterday the demonstrators woke up to discover that they were suddenly in control of ukraine's capital. the riot police had simply melted away interior ministry says it was now on the side of the protesters. ukraine's presidentian has fled the city now in eastern ukraine there. is a biggy graphic divide in the east, they tend to favor close ties with russia but here in the west the protesters i yanukovych is corrupt. du

and also joined by cbs news state department correspondent our own john dickerson. john, i'll start with you. eric holder makes a speech last night to a gay rights group where he announces new charges. here is part of what he said last night in his speech. >> in every courthouse, in every proceeding and in every place where a member of the department of justice stands on behalf of the united states they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, the same protections and the same rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law. >> schieffer: so i guess one of the things this means if you get arrested hauled in to federal court your partner cannot testify as it is with heterosexual couples who are married, wife can't testify against a husband, a husband against a wife. but is there anything else that this covers? this does not seem to cover a great number of people to me. >> no. that's right. it also covers things like visitation rights in prison for -- attorney general said in every instance where justice department is acting, same s

we'll have the latest from elaine quijano and john dickerson. just under 24 hours to kicked off. terrell brown is tracking the plan to keep millions of people safe tomorrow. will amanda knox really be sent back to an italian prison? jeff pegues takes a look at the odds. >> i'm going to fight this until the very end. >> reporter: and star spangled soprano-- renee flemin rehearsing her legendary voice to tackle the super bowl rendition of the "national anthem." >> waking up in the middle of the

national editor of "the cook political report" and wouldn't be politicrat panel without our own john dickerson. we have to pay him anyway. [ laughter ] glad to have you joan. welcome. your first appearance here on "face the nation." you were the one bobby jindal first said, the republicans stop being the stupid party. >> right. it was interesting to hear what he had to say today when i asked him did he think they would stop. >> there are current examples of the fact that you still have those. mike huckabee talking about women easily we doughs, for example. when that kind of thing happens, democrats are gleeful. exactly the kind of fodder that they want and especially on mid term year turn out typically drops to elevate their own base, african americans, hispanics, young voters, women. those are the kind of comments that you see party leaders like jindal cringe. they want this election to be entirely about obamacare implementation. state of the economy, president obama's overall popularity. any time they have opportunity to change the topic it scares the republicans. >> yet makes it great for s

covering the state of state of the union week, john dickerson of "slate" magazine and cbs news. christi parsons of tribune newspapers. susan davis of "usa today." and todd purdum of politico and "vanity fair." >> award-wenning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital this is "washington week with gwen ifill." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> we know why we're here. to connect our forces to what they need when they need it. >> to help troops see danger. before it sees them. >> to answer the call of the brave and bring them safely home. >> around the globe, the people of boeing are working together to support and protect all who serve. > that's why we're here. >> additional corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by prudential. additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. gauntlets were thrown down

amy walter of the political report and our own john dickerson. we'll bring in "time"

. >> in slate today, john dickerson notes the conservative, moderate and grassroots wings of the gop have long been at odds over immigration. "given this political landscape, why would republicans want to have a fight over legislation that will divide their party, especially when they could spend their time attacking democrats over obamacare?" . do you think speaker boehner wanted to get immigration off the table to make sure obamacare remains the main focus in this election year? >> there are two ways to look at that. one is to get it off the table, the other is to get it done so it's off the table and doesn't become part of the fall elections. in a number of states where there are important senate races, if the republicans are seen as the party that derailed immigration reform, it could have a big impact on republican chances to take over the senate. while i don't think many house members would lose their seats over immigration reform, i think the senate races could be very important. there are a lot of kind of subplots involved here. but, again, i think speaker boehner when he tal