he may have helped johnny williams and his company apply for a few state grants. as bad as this whole scandal is for good old bob mcdonnell, it's not better for ken cuccinelli. here's the amazing thing, though. despite getting dragged down in the same sort of gift scandal that has swallowed up current governor bob mcdonnell, despite having a record of being a far right social crusader who's trying to bring back things like anti-sodomy laws. despite having a running mate that regularly goes around the state talking about how the entire democratic party is anti-god and anti-family, ken cuccinelli is still neck in neck in this race. the democratic nominee for governor, terry mcauliffe. joining us now is steve kornacki, host of msnbc weekend morning show "up with steve kornacki." steve is a senior writer at salon. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> why is it this can be happening and cuccinelli is basically tied? >> i think there's two things going on. the first is just the difference, you know, we think of virginia as a state that's trending democrati

investigation of he and his wife the thousand in gifts and loans that i took from wealthy donor johnny williams. >> i don't have anything to say. if i do i will let you know. >> good morning. >> governor was here promoting the veteran's hiring initiative aimed at finding jobs for military members. >> we are a veteran friendly state i'm here to support the initiative. he reacted sharply when asked if the event was to distract attention from his legal trouble. >> that is false i'm the governor of virginia. this is what i do. my job is to do hundreds of events for business and veterans i travel the state like i do every summer to talk and listen to people. >> mc donnedy larceny met with the u.s. attorneys who were deciding if they will charge the couple >> it is best we not comment. >> u.s. attorneys are vgdz investigationing if the gifts were used to influence mc donald and his wife to promote johnny williams company, star scientific. >> thank you. it is not only mc donald's team who is not talking mark warner a former governor himself declineed weigh in. >> i know there is legal precedings. not

johnny williams has not returned it yet to the store.m line is we don't know the exact whereabouts of the governor's former rolex or any of these gifts, we're taking his word for it. when do we stop doing that?. >>> good wednesday morning. right now on "first look" -- overnight unrest. dozens of protesters killed in egypt as security forces clamp down on cairo protests. a hostage standoff at a louisiana bank ends in gunfire just hours ago. >>> billionaire carl icahn shakes up the apple cart with a huge buy. >>> plus, jesse jackson jr. is sentenced to prison today. and everybody loves a winner. we'll show you 16 of them. >>> good morning. we begin with breaking developments overnight in what's already been a bloody day in

johnny williams has not returned it yet to the store.ine is we don't know the exact whereabouts of the governor's former rolex or any of these gifts, we're taking his word for it. when do we stop doing that? that does it for us tonight. now it is time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >>> of the many who have been united states senators, only eight have been african-americans. only three of them elected to the senate by popular vote. tonight, cory booker seems well on his way to being the fourth african-american to be elected

claim, johnny williams thanked him. >> i think people are fair. >> two hours after governor mcdonnell's lawyers left the attorney's office, maurine's lawyers met. >> there are several schools of thought about what the u.s. attorney's office will be. they are picking his replacement in two months. it could have a major impact on what voters decide. >> nsa admitted to breaking privacy rules. after a leaked audit revealed it happened thousands of times last year, one republican senator wants the court to step in. the british government gave the u.s. advanced information. miranda detained under antiterror legislation yesterday. closing arguments in the sentencing part of the bradley manning trial. army private could get up to 90 years in prison. the judge said they were dangerous. manning found guilty of espionage, theft and computer fraud. unrest raging in egypt nearly a week after government crack down of protesters of ousting of president morsi. >> former president morsi will be held for 30 dies. white house is calling for his release. >> it would include politically motivated detention

johnny williams, senior, a businessman who showered him with gifts. they totaled $150,000. the transactions do not show if the money was used to repay williams. a small business learns the hard way it is going to have to move. and a basketball coach in it guides y t to a number that will change your life: your sleep number setting. it even knows you by name. now it's easierhahan ever to experience deep, restful sleep with the sleep number bed's dualair technology. at the touch of a button, the sleep number bed adjusts to each person's ideal comfort and support. and you'll only find it at a sleep number store. where right now our newest innovations are available with 48-month financing. number. comfort individualized. "the dheocratic party of virginia sponsored this adad." ken cuccinelli is on a mission. heants to overturn roe v. wade, in virginia, to make all abortions illegal. cuccinelli even tried to bully the state board of health to get his way. the virginian-pilot said "the consequences of such a politically motivated precedent could be significant." cuccinelli's war o

mcdonald refinanced his home and restructures loans on other properties and this comes as he repays johnny williams senior. those gifts total more than $150,000. documents show the transaction, but does not show if the money was used to repay williams. >> and some more news, metro riders faced two of the project is finally underway. phase two will extend the line to dulles. crews are now doing some survey work, to take place daily from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night. that work is not expected to impact traffic or parking. >> 44:00 t, those numbers continue to have a nice slow steep incline, don't they? >> i know, we started to low this week. we are going to get past the 84-degreings today, and make it to near 90. but we have to get through between now and then. a few sprinkles on live super dopler here. it is extremely light along south 95 here, and just north of stafford. and kind of sneaking into some parts of prince georges county as well. this is all pushes off to the southeast, i don't think we will get things developing here into the d.c. area or up to the north. you had showers last

government has given star scientist a free pass in return for the testimony of johnny williams."ld johnny williams, the incredibly generous gift giver, has always been defined throughout this whole scandal as governor bob's dear pal. that was part of the defense, right? i didn't have to declare all the stuff my friend gave me. he's just a friend who gives me $50,000 checks and watches and stuff. through all of this, bob mcdonnell's supposed innocence was predicated on him being such good pals with his sugar daddy that it couldn't possibly be corruption. it couldn't possibly be improper. now 180-degree turn. total u-turn. now all of a sudden, that guy, his best buddy is the one to blame. this is a total and radical change in strategy from governor ultrasound. does it mean there's about to be something newsworthy here? an indictment of some kind? an announcement related to this federal investigation of some kind? know nobodies until that happens. but he has reverse strategy 180 degrees. you know what, hey, it's only monday. the commonwealth of opportunity tour lasts all week. anyth

mcdonnell recently said he's returning all the gifts and all the money to johnny williams, ceo of health supplement company health scientific. mcdonnell has not been charged with a crime and he maintains he has not broken the law and did not give star scientific any undue help. >>> in kentucky we have a better idea of what next year's u.s. senate race will look like. on saturday minority leader mitch mcconnell and alison lunderman grimes both spoke. the republican avoided any direct mention of his democratic challenger. but for lunderman grimes, the senior senator was public enemy number one. >> i want to say how nice it is, how nice it is to see jerry lunderman back in the game. like the loyal democrat he s he's taking orders from the obama campaign on how to run his daughter's campaign. they told him to make a pitch on the internet for the women's vote and he sent a check to anthony weiner! >> if senator mcconnell had his way, his version of kentucky health care for our seniors, grandmother would be to walk it off. let's just tell it like it is, if the doctors told senator mcconnell th

ethics questions over thousands of dollars of gifts and loans he and family took from businessman johnny williamswe don't have any comment, thank you very much. >> bob mcdonnell's legal team meeting with u.s. attorneys who will decide if they file charges to his governor and wife. last week the governor said he returned all of the gifts and apologized and repeated position they received no special treatment for the gifts. >> i have made apology for the distraction that has caused for state of virginia. >>

dragnet and i think that's moved this race, in addition to the mcdonald implosion and the fishy johnny williamshave favored cuccinelli a few months ago into a pure toss-up. there are two ways a democrat can win an election in virginia, steve. the mark warner method, model of going to southwest virginia with a bluegrass band saying mark warner is a hero of the hills -- >> a very rural -- >> yes. my barometer is a place called buck cannon county, cold capital of southwest virginia where warner got 60% of the vote in 2001. then the tim kaine model and barack obama, jim webb model as well, running up those suburban numbers, appealing to the suburban vote in hampton roads in richmond where most voters actually live. and maybe downplays a little less that coal country and shenen doha swing. so, in 20 05 when tim kaine won the governorship he won 6 0% of the vote in fairfax county, up six points than 60% warner had won but only won 2% in buck county. now, terry mcauliffe's model is a little hybrid model. he's going to southwest virginia, stumping with ted strickland, former governor of ohio. he is, yo

fighting off charge and he has taken back $124,000 in loans as interest from a wealthy donor johnny williams virginia governor has taken back money for catering for his daughter's wedding, a shopping spree for his wife, and a rolex watch. that cost an awkward exchange with an exchange with debra feinstein. >> you're going to return the tangible gifts that were given to you, does that include that rolex watch. >> everything that i have ever received from this particular donor because of the concerns that have been raised by members of the public, and to do everything i can to restore trust with the people of virginia. my daughter, jeanine, on her own, returned her wedding gift. >> just to be clear, the rolex is going back? >> all those gifts i have, including that, yes. >> okay. >> john: through his teeth. okay, so the watch is going back. it's not a story. >> well, yeah, it's funny because it's not surprising that he won't disclose his gifts. this is someone who when he declared history month forgot to include slavery. and here is a guy who not only forgot to mention slavery, introduced the

johnny williams has not returned it yet to the store. the bottom line is we don't know the exact whereabouts of the governor's former rolex or any of these gifts, we're taking his word for it. when do we stop doing that? that does it for us tonight. now it is time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >>> of the many who have been united states senators, only eight have been african-americans. only three of them elected to the senate by popular vote. tonight, cory booker seems well on his way to being the fourth african-american to be elected to the united states senate. >> the voters are heading to the polls today. >> voting to fill new jersey's senate seat? the seat vacated by the death of fra frank lautenberg. >> there is no vacation from the cross hairs of the gop. >> there are going to be a handful of senate republicans who want to defund obama care. >> that is what everybody wants. >> the rhetoric has already started. >> nobody disagrees with the goal, just the tactics. >> their colleagues can't seem to find unity. >> someti

he had returned, he and his family had returned all the tangible gifts they had received from johnny williamsvernor was asked if he would tell everybody what those gifts were, he said, no, he's not going to provide a full accounting of the gifts. it's clear we still haven't had a full disclosure of exactly what went on between the governor's family and this guy. still to this day after three months of this. and after repeated calls for myself and other legislatures, for him to come clean, he hasn't come clean. and i think there's more out there and that's one of the reasons i called on him to resign. he's clearly distracted by it and not being forthright with virginians about what's going on here. >> you are a democrat, the handful of politicians in the state, legislators in state who have called on the governor to resign will all democrats. i wonder if what your sense is of the prevailing political winds. we've now got two major papers in the state including the "virginian pilot," largest paper in the state today calling for the governor to resign. still there have been no elected republican

slow decline amid revelations regarding his relationship with a certain big ticket donor named johnny williamsng heat for the gifts he and his family received from williams, last week governor mcdonnell said he is trying to give it all back but with a list like this it may take a while. over the years mcdonnell and his family have received -- drum roll please -- $15,000 to cover part after catering bill for his daughter's wedding. $15,000 for a spending spree at bergdorf's. a $2,200 stay at a vacation home complete with a ferrari ride home. more than $120,000 in loans to bob mcdonnell's wife. and the icing on the cake -- a $6,500 rolex which williams gave mcdonnell for his birthday after his wife requested it. mcdonnell has already announced that his daughter has returned the $15,000 check she received for her wedding, and last month mcdonnell repaid the loans. but with federal and say the investigations into the special relationship between mcdonnell and williams and reports this week that prosecutors may be trying to build a criminal case against mcdonnell, it looks like the governor may hav

johnny williams is the head of the supplement company here in the richmond area. the company to strenuously denies there was a quid pro quo as required by the united states . thee is an ominous sign for governor and his wife, maureen. this all largely grew out of an investigation over a year ago at the executive mansion. the chef, the celebrity chef, was accused of stealing groceries from the kitchen. in his defense, or part of his defense, he has been fishing on the mcdonald's -- dishing on mcdonald's. he gave a $15,000 cash gift to one of the mcdonald's daughter's to pay for the catering at her wedding. this has been accelerating since the end of march. ofthe closing months it isor mcdonnell's term, largely overshadowing what he is saying. host: yesterday he was talking about the budget situation in the state of virginia. the cover of the front page -- this being overshadowed by what is happening on the personal ?ront last week he spent almost every single day on the road. this is part of an annual effort by the governor to help take his office to the taxpayers.

the "washington post," mcdonald has recently said he is returning all the gifts and money to johnny williams, the ceo of health supplement company, star scientific. whims and his company are said to be cooperating with federal prosecutors. >> in the "usa today" japan sent the first humanoid robot into outer space. >> its name, ki row bo. willie and i were talking before, it means hope. >> that's nice. >> in japanese. >> do you know what mika means? >> fish. >> no. >> what? what's it mean? >> it means -- never mind. >> love, charity? >> no. >> and the greatest of these. >> what does it mean, richard? you're so international. >> i have no idea. >> um carburetor. what does it mean? >> it means blooming flower. >> that's what willie and i were going to guess next. in "the washington post" since no one hit the powerball jack pot this weekend the money will roll over and create a $400 million on wednesday and i'm going to win it. >> right. >> the current would be the third highest powerball drawing ever. the tally behind the $590 million jackpot back in may. >> now i understand how you got elected

johnny. new day, new month, and new players in this, our third quarterfinal match. arjun, williamnd olivia, welcome aboard. gosh, you all have such beautiful smiles. you're happy to be here. great. let's go to work, shall we? here comes the jeopardy! round for you. and these are the categories. we'll give you the villains. alex: all right, good subjects. arjun, you start. let's take it's elemental! for $200, please. william. what is helium? helium. right you are. it's elemental! for $400. oops. it looe somebody spilled this element. william. what is mercury? mercury. yeah. it's elemental! for $600. william. what is titanium? right. it's elemental! for $800. william. what is sodium? correct. it's elemental! for $1,000.

williams in a r loss. victoria azarenka rallying to win a three-set squeaker. rafael nadal not phased by weather. johnny isner serves. he overcame a knee injury early, now nadal is an u.s. open favorite. >>> patrick reid gets his first-ever pga tour victory. what does he do? why not? kiss the caddie. right? it's also his wife by the way. >>> nascar sprint cup michigan 400. joey logano led the most laps but not at the end. he passes mark martin who was trying to stretch gas without a pit stop. didn't work. logano gets the win there because he ran out of gas, not loga logano, but martin did. >>> anything that floats reget that in key largo. boats may only be made of household the items. they're using bubble wrap, plastic coffee jugs. the winners said they found help for their design online. that's the winner right there. >> something else now to use your bubble wrap for. >> exactly. >> okay, all right, thanks richard >>> time to dig a little deeper into some of our top politics stories. joining me by phone is david knack mu nakamura. >> we issued a statement that the u.s. would halt joint military exercis

johnny. new day, new month, and new players in this, our third quarterfinal match. arjun, williamall have such beautiful smiles. you're happy to be here. great. let's go to work, shall we? here comes the jeopardy! round for you. and these are the categories. we'll give you the villains. alex: all right, good subjects. arjun, you start. let's take it's elemental! for $200, please. william. what is helium? helium. right you are. it's elemental! for $400. oops. it looks like somebody spilled this element. william. what is mercury? mercury. yeah. it's elemental! for $600. william. what is titanium? right. it's elemental! for $800. william. what is sodium? correct. it's elemental! for $1,000. william. what is lead? no. olivia or arjun? [ beep ] what is arsenic? arsenic. back to you, william. you're still in the lead. disney movies by villain for $200. william. what is "101 dalmatians"? that's it. disney movies by villain, $400. arjun. what is "the little mermaid"? correct. not to be confused for $200, please. arjun. what is chlorophyll? chlorophyll. yes. i'll take not to be confused fo

johnny look good at texas a&m last year. bouncing outside. l quinn resurfaced. as shock. under throw william williams.it away seattle a a09%9ner 17-10. fvl something a week from saturday here. stanford luck never did. start as true freshman when the bears host 20 second rank north west at memorial stadium on the surface looks like a gutsy decision by new head coach dike but if you put your snevl his shoes he has recruit klein waiting in the wing can't deny it created some excitement for the program that needs it in berkeley. >> gave us the best chance to inw.that's what you sit down. a lot of factors that go into it the. sit down make the best decision for football team. give you the best shot figure give you the best shot figure out a way to win a football game. >> we have all we need right now. preaching since day one. we have the talent we need and position we federal and trust the system do our thing out there on saturday. tl work itself out. >> they think it could be special at cal. no guarantee make the team but curry. younger brothers will get a chance warrior sign the 43 agent guard today. cur

johnny manzell has denied accepting any money for autographs. >>> slaughtering animals before games, the animal rights group peta has sent a message to uefa, the day before the championship league, venus williams fails to make it to the final round of the grand slam. at 33 years old williams was the oldest player to make the second round, have more sports news coming up in about 20 minutes. >> michael thank you. in california tonight there is a desperate shortage of foster parents. coming up we'll tell you what's been done to find children safe and loving homes. >>> keeping at least a dozen mosques under surveillance. what it means for people who attend them next on al jazeera. >> welcome back to al jazeera. i'm john siegenthaler. here's a look at the headlines. president obama says he's convinced that syria did use chemical weapons against its own people. during an interview with pbs, he says he has not made a final decision about how the united states should respond. >>> if man convicted of the killing at fort hood was sentenced. nidal hasan's sentence will be automatically appealed. >> the 50th anniversary of plng's i have a dream speech. president obama was the keynote speaker, top republi