that is what john mitchell had done as well. edward leavy was quite the opposite. he and president -- president ford delegated him substantial autonomy, but not complete independence, nor did the attorney general want independence. at that time, there were many proposed bills in washington to make the attorney general independent of the president. for example, the way the dei director is now. they have a 10-year term that would survive the president who appointed him, to take away from the justice department the authority to investigate high-level officials, special prosecutors. edward leavy's view was the attorney general is accountable to the president for policies, whether the priorities of the that's -- what are the priorities of the department of justice going to be, for example. and, for example, where the law was uncertain, guidance from the president that was appropriate. interestingly, edward leavy and president ford had been graduate students at yale law school at the same time. the president, in a self-deprecating way, explained he spent most of his time

he called him up and said john there is something you ought to know and revealed to mitchell that he had top-secret documents from me, daniel ellsberg, in his office and all of this turned out to be critical -- he did not agree immediately to turn them over just informed them that he had them and say they could look at them in his office which they did not do right away. in retrospect, there was a period when nixon and kissinger understood that must i us have documents -- i should say that i had documents that i had not yet released. they were on vietnam. they were on nixon's policy in vietnam and they were from the national security council. that's what matthias told mitchell. but they did not know exactly what they were. if they had known exactly what they were, kissinger would have said perhaps that's all he had. i had written the questions for someone. i had gone over all of the answers and i had written the summary. for the president. it was very plausible that i had all the documents on that and that was all i had. that was the only project i worked on for nixon. it was all i h

>> well one of the examples that i found was of an unusual origin was john paul mitchell.r thing and wanted to regroup and do something different. >> right. >> had to start from -- you -- >> sort of scratch? >> yeah. >> not totally scratch. i got it. >> thanks for coming in this morning. it's a great story. check it out in "fortune." >> "squawk box" moving to a shed. news at 11:00. >>> a shed? garage. >>> jim cramer at the new york stock exchange. we have a room called "garage." it's reopened with the economic data, the eurozone whatever jim wants to talk about, we'll do. and american express, jim has said that the company has lost all credibility. a lot more on amex. jim cramer it's all coming up -- stick around. t. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. >>> jim cramer joins us now. want to ask you about two dow component

. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," targeting terror jihadi john is identified.he masked isis fighter who has become the face of terror be found? meanwhile in new york three men are in custody accused of trying to travel to syria and fight for isis. >> so this is real. this is the concern about the lone wolf inspired to act without ever going to the mid east. >> those people exist in every state. i have homegrown violent extremism investigations in every single state. >> and the clock is ticking and still no solution in the pipeline to solve the homeland security funding fight on capitol hill. president obama places the blame squarely on the gop. >> what we said to republicans is instead of trying to hold hostage funding for the department of homeland security which is so important for our national security fund that and let's get on with actually passing comprehensive immigration reform. >> plus the south, snowed under, historic snowfall has led to major roads closed across several states and hundreds and thousands without power. old man winter isn't done with u

. >> john kiriakou, did you know the now notorious psychologist james mitchell and bruce jessen who designedovernment torture program at places like guantÁnamo? >> know, i had never met them. when a was working in the cia's counterterrorism center, it was a very large room. we called it a cubicle farm. there were hundreds of people in this room. i remember them arriving and taking offices, private offices at the very back of the room, but i never had any personal contact with either mitchell or jessen. >> do you think they should be prosecuted? a camera, the government has decided -- >> absolutely. the government has decided not to prosecute them, but i think if they're going to be resignations, they should begin with mitchell and jessen. they were wholly unqualified for the bill of goods they sold the cia, and they simply committed crimes overseas in the name of the u.s. government. i think they should be prosecuted for those crimes. >> the issue of revealing the name of a covert agent. why did you think that was critical in telling the story of waterboarding? >> interestingly enough, the a

bill bradley george mitchell pat moynihan jack danforth john chafee malcolm wallace and i said would you be willing to meet in my office starting next tuesday at 8:30 to see if we can work out a bill that would be satisfactory to us, and the president? every one of them said yes. and now passed starting that tuesday the most extraordinary experience in my life in politics. we met from tuesday to tuesday the bill was at -- every morning at 8:30 i'd meet with staff at 7:30, this core group a cabal as i called it at 8:30 we'd work out what we thought should be in the bill. we had one or two open committee meetings but basically the committee was just marking time waiting for us to finish. and you could tell although the meetings were behind closed doors there's no secrets in this town. and the board was getting out. we were having the meetings but no one exactly knew what it is we were doing. but on the thursday between these two tuesdays came a phone call that became very important in this whole process, and i will read it to you, because it's from the diary. back again to tax reform i

bill bradley, george mitchell, pat moynihan, jack danforth, john chafee, malcolm wallace and i said would you be willing to meet in my office starting next tuesday at 8:30 to see if we can work out a bill that would be satisfactory to us, and the president? every one of them said yes. and now passed starting that tuesday the most extraordinary experience in my life in politics. we met from tuesday to tuesday the bill was at -- every morning at 8:30 i'd meet with staff at 7:30, this core group, a cabal as i called it at 8:30 we'd work out what we thought should be in the bill. we had one or two open committee meetings but basically the committee was just marking time waiting for us to finish. and you could tell although the meetings were behind closed doors there's no secrets in this town. and the board was getting out. we were having the meetings but no one exactly knew what it is we were doing. but on the thursday between these two tuesdays, came a phone call that became very important in this whole process, and i will read it to you, because it's from the diary. back again to tax reform

bill bradley, george mitchell, pat moynihan, jack danforth, john chafee, malcolm wallace and i said would you be willing to meet in my office starting next tuesday at 8:30 to see if we can work out a bill that would be satisfactory to us, and the president? every one of them said yes. and now passed starting that tuesday the most extraordinary experience in my life in politics. we met from tuesday to tuesday, the bill was at -- every morning at 8:30 i'd meet with staff at 7:30, this core group, a cabal as i called it at 8:30 we'd work out what we thought should be in the bill. we had one or two open committee meetings but basically the committee was just marking time waiting for us to finish. and you could tell although the meetings were behind closed doors there's no secrets in this town. and the board was getting out. we were having the meetings but no one exactly knew what it is we were doing. but on the thursday between these two tuesdays, came a phone call that became very important in this whole process, and i will read it to you, because it's from the diary. back again to tax refor

mitchell. we're monitoring new developments on isis tletd overseas and here at home. jihadi johnhe man responsible for beheadings of americans jail foley and sotloff is former resident mohammed emwazi. we're hearing more about the three in custody, one of those telling federal agents in 2014 that he was willing to plant a bomb on new york's coney island to prove his allegiance to that terror organization. joining me now, "washington post" adam goldman who broke details on jihadi john's identity and richard engel live in istanbul and msnbc's adam reece. what more can you tell us about jihadi john his background and how he got to where he is? >> well what i can tell you primarily what's in the story jihadi john appears to have radicalized at some point either before or after 2009 and he came under suspicion of mi5 and wasn't allowed to leave the country. then we believe in early january of 2012 he might have -- he left for syria. we know that he played a larger role in the organization of the islamic state. he wasn't just a guard and possibly it was involved in recruiting europeans

john lewis in his office and look through his pictures with him. there's 50 years of history on those walls. anyway, thank you, susan. thanks, chris. and there's more ahead on "andrea mitchell we'll be right back. nutrients from food alone. let's do more... ...add one a day 50+. complete with key nutrients we may need. plus it supports physical energy with b vitamins. one a day 50+ i will take beauty into my own hands. olay regenerist. it regenerates surface cells. new skin is revealed in only 5 days. without drastic measures. stunningly youthful. award-winning skin. from the world's #1. olay, your best beautiful good job! still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. us. you can watch msnbc and telemundo's exclusive town hall with president obama tonight at 8:00 eastern. jose diaz-balart will be interviewing the president at florida international university using your questions. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow the show online on facebook and twitter. my colleague ronan farrow joins us

john kitzhaber. she says restoring public trust she will also enact reforms. she also identifies herself as bisexual making her the only bisexual in u.s. history. (f) nicole mitchell joins us with the weather. >> almost eastern third eastern half of the country that's under this arctic blast. after last front came through we already had cold air in place. this is funneling more of the cold air. more wind chills overnight. 20 to 40° below average. we could have record setting low temperatures tall way south as key west. alabama, georgia, with the wind in place the wind chills, so many advisoryies up. more of the cold air shifts to the mid atlantic and the northeast. so friday morning is the brutal day for that region. not a lot of snow with the current system yet. that's the other thing we're watching. but as it hits into the northeast, places like maine could get six to ten inches. it is the next system i'm concerned about. more freezing prescription in an area that already had it and is still dealing with icy roads because a lot of that hasn't melted off. as this moves northward this will be saturday for weekend into the northeast. so friday, the south. and then

mitchell will harness the boys and rappel down the tower with them. with night falling and temperatures dropping, it's becoming a risky operation. >> james had john's handnch angle iron girder there. he had a death grip on it. his brother's hand was blue. >> it's been two tense hours since the crisis began when another option makes a dramatic entrance. a special utility truck called a condor equipped with a 150-foot boom. by coincidence, it had been undergoing repairs just a few miles away. >> they only had one in the state i believe at the time and the mechanic in charge of it saw this on the news and he went back to work to reassemble it. when the condor entered the green belt, there was a roar. we were excited. >> the boys are ushered to safety. >> oh, i was so relieved. just wanted to thank heavens that they were safe and i wanted to hold them. >> and james is treated as a hero. >> i still don't see what i did was that unusual. may be a trial sometimes but i have a really wonderful brother and i love him. >> some day i hope you can tell me why you climbed all the way to the top. >> years later, john has now grown to adulthood. a scrapbook of clippin

mitchell. in washington nbc news special correspondent ann curry just back from traveling with secretary of state johnnt on this potential deal? >> first of all, good morning, mika and joe and andrea. it's great to be here. the bottom line is that they've moved closer to making a deal. there were very positive signs in this latest round of negotiations towards making a deal. one was that it was the highest level cabinet meeting in 30 years with four members of the cabinet's, plus the president, president's brother, the iranian president's brother, closest adviser. also it was the first time that the u.s. secretary of energy and his iranian counterpart met together, which talked about which really showed us there was a deepening of the technical discussion mika. so i think there's no doubt and there was also a new level of optimism. i think we all moved away from it. as you know, mika when you cover these things and andrea certainly will know oftentimes it's very very difficult to get clear answers from either side because they're speaking when they do speak to us it's off the record because clearly th

mitchell dunn. >> dunn told jurors that routh acted delusional and shows signs of psychosis. let's discuss this and the impact as the defense rested the case. bring in former prosecutor johnsee you. thank you very much. >> sure. >> it's been amazing to follow the twists and turns of just the statements purely coming from eddie routh throughout this investigation, confession things said to his sister and family members and then mitchell dunn says that routh acted delusional, believed the co-workers were cannibals and believed believed kyle and littlefield were pig people. what impact does it have on the trial? >> i don't think there's any doubt that routh had signs of mental instability. he was a little bit deranged. had a lot of issues going on then. but the fact is they have to demonstrate that he was legally insane that by reason of disease -- >> did they do it enough? >> i don't think so. not even close. >> you have been in a lot of trials here. i understand that there's a legal definition of insanity. i understand that the judge will instruct the jury on what that legal definition is. but based on your experience with juries in cases like this they have now heard all

andrea mitchell, thank you as well. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," the chairman of the senate arms services committee, senator johnhe step of science fiction is now very much a reality, and not everyone is welcoming it. three parents, one baby. >> i don't understand. >> we'll be right back. >>> first, here's bill karins. it's okay. we'll explain it. it's a little strange. >> okay. >> bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> dna, slightsing and dicing. okay. >>> more snow more cold. no surprise beginning of february. the areas that don't need it unfortunately getting more. light snow across new york state trying to drift into new england. only putting out a coating. not much. maybe one or two inches. also a heavier band of snow right over omaha sliding to the south. going to end up around st. joseph. just to the north of kansas city, you could get a little snow. even our friends in st. louis expecting just a little bit. so how much snow is this next storm going to bring? not a lot. just around two in chicago. two indianapolis and don't into tomorrow morning that snow makes its way through new england and used u