have a "koch" and a smile.ohn: clinton had a private fundraising session at somebody's home yesterday. what it is folks up to when they are not in public? we never know what they are doing. what exactly do the presidential prospects and their advisers do? mark: we barely know. mike murphy, who is working with jeb bush, used to be a very visible guy. i have not seen him in public much. he is doing a lot of re-tweeting. sally bradshaw at a conference call which he announced that the major news she had to announce was that jeb bush had eaten pie. there is a lot of fundraising and strategizing. i have no idea. when these candidates are not in public, i can't quite figure out what they are doing, because they are low profile. john: mark, i know you are not underestimating the importance of pie. you are not doing that. mark: it was big news. they were looking for something actual news-y. john: among senior staffing candidates, a lot of it is boring drudge work. they are hacking away, it trying to raise money. there a

the koch brothers tend to be libertarian.d found the kato institute, the think tank in washington, d.c. honestly it's anybody's guess, i guess. if you are in one of those camps, you hope they pick you for the next dance. it's wide open i think. >> everyone knows you need dough. you need dough to become the presidential nominee. the fact they might come in early now and actually shake the campaigns of a lot of tees candidates. if you're not on their list it's problematic, is it not? >> absolutely. especially with the type of campaigns being run and like we've seen in the past couple not just presidential elections even in the mid terms, the amount of cash being dropped and the koch brothers have a lot of cash in the bank. i think it's worth pointing out it seemed scott walker was the guy. david koch first said that. they said write a check to scott walker. i think he back pedalled a bit, aligning himself with a hawk on immigration senator sessions. the koch brothers are pro immigration reform because it's very good for their b

that is what propelled the koch brothers to put cash behind it. lou: i don't neil: i don't know them as well as you do, do they look at polls, they are in and out of top 5 they said all right for the time, one of these should have a shot at winning it recall. here we are. >> i don't want to speak for them, but you nailed top 5. those are those who were at conference that i attended in palm springs in january. i think they are leaning toward walker that stuff you read in "new york times" is true. they want to be careful because they have a lot of donors. i see you as captain america neil. neil: i do too it falls on deaf ears. larry one thing that i wonder in this push on part of koch brothers, what are they doing? i don't want to sound sinister you about are they -- what are they demanding out of the candidates? do they want them to seal like squeal -- squeal like a pig or what? >> i don't think squeal like a pig of really their take home point. but i think they are putting their message over individual politicians. tippicly they don't put their mo

koch indicated that the koch family might personally offer financial support to mr. walker. tonight, david koch released this statement. while i think governor walker is terrific i am not endorsing or supporting any candidate for president at this point. joining us now, casey hunt charlie cook, editor of the cook political report and former ohio republican congressman. first of all, casey hunt are you lost? >> i wandered into your studio. >> this is not new hampshire. this is not iowa. >> i don't think new york is officially on the campaign trail. >> no. charlie cook is new york in doubt in the presidential primaries? >> no. but i'm not sure -- that's not the "new york times" story i read. it said that he would be -- he predicted that scott walker would be the nominee and it was a little fuzzier i think than that. >> what strikes me is it's great to say i'm not endorsing anyone but i do think this guy should be the winner. you know, in my country, that's sort of what an endorsement sounds like. >> i'm not sure that's how i read it. but that's okay. >> scott walker does seem

well as jeb bush. >> i am more pro koch than you are. lou: there is nothing wrong as being pro american, but when it is pro-koch that is when i puke. >> the koch brothers are the rare successful businessmen who don't want subsidies or special favors who are for creating -- >> you are turning this to an issue about something it isn't it is about the unseemliness of political candidates in their office seeking favor and up on -- support. get out on the campaign trail and alike you want the middle class, to support you. >> can i pipe up about one positive thing. scott walker has been one republican who has been out there talking about wages in context of immigration hit by lift and now fellow republicans. lou: if you want to light up the aflcio and chamber of commerce at same take that is the way to do it talk sense about illegal immigration. >> your thoughts? >> you think on other side, i wish that democratic side had an audition process, we have hillary clinton who is bees handed the money. lou: everyone knows. >> i think -- she is trying

said one koch aide do you want to be faced with that choice again?weigh in after it's down to a few plausible candidates. and then the support of the koch brothers' labyrinth of 17 political groups which spent an eye-popping $407 million in the 2012 race, and will spend $900 million in 2016. joining me now is msnbc's national correspondent joy reid blake zeth and david corn. david, let me start with you. is scott walker the guy that you think the cokes will eventually go for? >> i don't know but how would you like to audition for a billion dollars? this is better than "the voice." do they make him sing? do a little soft shoe? and compare notes with him. maybe they should have a face-off with him and scott walker. i mean i do know they obviously want to get what they call roi, return on investment. scott walker is very much in their wheelhouse. they've never been that keen on jeb bush. so i think they're still kicking the tires on their billion-dollar corvette. >> i'm just -- i mean, are the koch brothers -- 900 million dollars. not all of us can go t

first in the election cycle it will be billionaire koch brothers influence.illionaire charles koch says he and his brother david like five gop candidates in the primaries. it would be the first time they got involved in the primary and they plan to give money to several contenders not just one. the five they think have a, quote good chance of getting elected. scott walker general bush ted cruz, rand paul, and marco rubio. at stake, nearly $300 million. >> wow. >> jimmy, how influential are the kochs going to be in 2016? >> they've always been influential. they will continue to be influential because of the fact of the rise of the superpac. for an average american that. >> may not know what that is. but that is basically is a shadow campaign, a shadow money campaign for virtually every single elected office in the country, from county commissioner all the way up to the presidency. the koch brothers have enough money. they have more money than god, i think, at this point. since that's the case, they are throwing that money far and wide. the fact that they're sa

conservative billionaire koch brothers, do you have an agenda representing the kochs or their interest. >> it's the first time i have been accused of that. our reporting focussed on jed bush chris christie our reporting led to an investigation of chris christie we looked at hillary clinton and ron emanuelism. real journalism not partisan, looks at saul candidates and is willing to scrutinise them all equally. >> what do you make of the assertion by the client defenders, whether this story or money in general that there's no smoking gun. no evidence to link any payments either to the clintons or the foundation with any influence over hillary clinton. >> well i'm at a lose for that. we know money wept into the clinton family and in many cases contracts from the clinton state department came out. now, if you say that there's no such thing as corruption unless you have literally an email saying give me the money and i'll give you the contract. that can be your position. that was not the democrats position when it came to brad gushue. -- george w. bush. there was talk about him taking money

, but the kochs have spent millions backing tea party candidates and conservative causes.: i do not actually know the koch brothers. [laughs] betty: i would not think you would. tom: i definitely think there has to be differences in the sense that those guys are doing something that is consistent with their self-interests. and -- betty: when you say "self-interests," what do you mean? tom: i mean they are basically pushing stuff that is very good for private enterprise and specifically oil refiners. very consistently, very aggressively, and sometimes very intelligently. i see that as we are on very different trajectory in terms of how we think about it, who we think we are representing, and what we are trying to accomplish. betty: but steyer does have an agenda, one that leans to the left. he spoke at the democratic convention in 2012. tom: big things are happening. thanks to president obama, america is laying the foundation for the way we power tomorrow. betty: he and his wife have given more than $11 million to super pac's he founded, and they hosted a $5000 per person f

today, koch and his brother david head koch industries one of the largest private companys in americaugh their company and foundations they donate to politicians and issues surrounding the fossil fuel industry. >>> let's start really simply, does climate change exist? >> of course, climate change has existed since the earth got an atmosphere. >> is climate change manmade. >> some of it has a human cause, that's correct. >> but michaels is among a group of scientist cited by senator inhofe that believe the worsening climate change models are wrong. >> i would argue that every model that we have - i wouldn't argue, these are facts, okay. shows that if we drop our emissions to zero, we don't do anything really detectable over the course of 100 years. that's incontrovertible reality coming from our own environmental protection agency's models. >> that is the most irrelevant comment i have ever heard. >>> "techknow's crystal dilworth turned dr. burton richter, a nobel prize-winning physicist, to fact check arguments about climate change. >> it will be destructive. it's still going to have

and at koch we took a step toward that. we got rid of the becomes on our application about felony conviction, the whole idea being we'll this a background check at the end of the process if we're interested in the person but helping a person after they make a mistake, don't brand them a criminal for life. help them get back on their feet lead a from ducktive life and have a good family life. >> >> woodruff: there are critics out there, i want to quote senator chuck grassley of iowa, he holds a very important position on the hill, just this week he said, "with a heroin epidemic strangling some of our communities and white-collar criminals getting paltry sentence, the last thing we need to do is take a tool away that law enforcement and prosecutors use to get the bad guys." >> i think that's why this coalition is so important, right. it's important that we have the left and the right making these arguments, and i have been really pleased by how much the conservative groups in our coalition are trying to have conversations wit

they maybe did not anticipate were a couple guys called the koch brothers. in june, a group called concerned veterans for america convened a summit on privatizing the va. john mccain was there, former speaker gingrich was there, the point of this summit by concerned veterans for america, was to celebrate the release of that group's big report on fixing the va, and their big proposal for the va was to privatize it. concerned veterans for america, wants to privatize much of the va system for health care. i should tell you that concerned veterans for america, is not some scrappy grassroots group. it's reportedly funded just about entirely by the billionaire libertarian brothers charles and david koch and their network of doanars. the koch donor network almost literally created that group, that is not my characterization, that comes from the group's ceo. this was him speaking at a koch donor conference last june. [ indiscernible ] >> exposing and driving this crisis from the very beginning. driving it. that audio was obtained by an online outfit called the under

david koch making news. this is "new york times" earlier in the week seeming to suggest the koch brothers are ready to support scotts walker. >> when i talked to the kochs after he came out at that fundraiser they walked that back. they didn't want that out there i think the reason is the kochs' power comes from their convenability. they bring around donors from around the country to support the groups in their network. if they were to be seen as picking a candidate early on. that could jeopardize their ability to bring together donors. i think they were nervous about being seen as going early behind scott walker or anyone. then in the very next day, charles koch gave an interview in which he said well we could support any one of these five candidates. their ability comes from -- their impact comes from their ability to shape the field. they would rather have every candidate come and say what they -- embrace the koch's position than pick a single candidate and hope the candidate wins. we've seen as we've see

every time you guys want to push the keystone pipeline, you guys neglect to say that the koch brothers own 1,500,000 acres of tar sands in canada. just off the table. i do not know how you answer that question. not only that, the koch brothers will give you $900 million to the republican party and $1 billion for your nominee, when there is one nominee. i do not know how you will answer it, but i was a on the line and listen. guest: i do not know what parties have what interests in the energy sector or what democrats have interest using trains to haul energy rather than pipelines. we want north american energy independence. that oil to come from canada and saudi arabia. if you are an environmentalist listen, i know that canada has invested billions of dollars. if we do not build a tech -- a pipeline they are still taking it out of the ground. with happen regardless what we do. the question becomes, how will you transport it? train or truck is more dangerous or you can use a pipeline that uses less carbon and is safer. i say let's build a safe route by building the energy into our americ

the new york times reports that the koch brothers have a favorite in the gop race and it is wisconsinys a top ally to new jersey governor chris christie, well he's throwing his support behind jeb bush. let's dig into those headlines this morning with nbc's senior political reporter perry bacon. perry, thanks for joining us. >> good to see you, tamron. >> jeb bush and this aggressive fundraising campaign today, but still waiting for the official announcement. >> he's probably going to announce may or june but what we do know is he is raising a lot of money. i think all the other campaigns are acknowledging if there's a contest in money, jeb bush is going to win it he's going to have the most money, at least for the first six months. there's talk of something like $100 million, which will be a lot more than most of the candidates. the question is can he turn that money into support, because the polls right now suggest he's not doing much better than the other candidates among actual voters, even though lots of donors like him. >> what's also interesting, bush plans to visit europe in ea

but i actually agree with the kochs. with your comment here.t is more about ideology than it is about their bottom line. i don't think that sheldon adelson is bankrolling these guys. >> they think he's going to have unfettered access to policymaking. >> the question is what do they want to do with it? what do they want to change about america? >> sheldon adelson has access period. he doesn't have to stroke you 300,000 or 3 million or $3 billion check to get that. because of his position his views, particularly with respect to israel which is respected within the party. he doesn't have to throw his money around that way. what he's doing, and what i think you see the kochs and others doing, i think you're absolutely right. this is as much ideological with respect to some of the things that they are pushing. >> but the kochs have invested a lot at the state level. >> so is it ideological for the billionaires on the left who are funding global warming, or is it just about their bottom line? >> i think it's vanity. what is the difference fundamental

writing about the koch brothers is rand paul.presidential politics, the two parties right now are running as fast as they can in opposite directions. the republican party right now is all about openly courting the billionaires. the democrats, specifically the person most likely to become the democratic nominee for president. democrats are doing everything they can to send an anti-big money anti-wall street message to appeal to middle class voters. to be more like the hypothetical elizabeth warren presidential campaign that doesn't seem like it's happening. democrats in the absence of elizabeth warren actually running for president, are trying to sate that need among a democratic electorate by making themselves into the elizabeth warren party right now. and that is why it was so striking to see president obama say this today about senator elizabeth warren. >> i love elizabeth. we're allies on a whole host of issues but she's wrong on this. >> president obama today at a round table discussion moderated by chris matthews, the presid

the koch brothers think they need to spend a billion dollars to get folks to like one of these peoplele bit. i know i have raised a lot of money, too. in all fairness, my middle name is hussain. what's their excuse? [laughter] [applause] the trail hasn't been easy for my fellow democrats, either. as we know, hillary's e-mails got her in trouble. frankly, i thought her private instagram account would cause her bigger problems. [laughter] hillary kicks things off by going completely unrecognized at a chipotle. not to be outdone, mark o'malley -- martin o'malley went completely unrecognized at a martin o'malley campaign event. [laughter] bernie sanders might run. i like bernie. bernie is an interesting guy fit apparently -- bernie is an interesting guy. apparently some folks want to see a pot smoking socialist in the white house. we could get a third obama term after all. [laughter] [applause] it could happen. as always, i want to close a more serious note. i often joke about tensions between me and the press. but honestly what they say doesn't bother me. i understand we have an adversar

marine biologist volker koch from the german development agency giz is helping the local national park service establish new conservation areas. >> it's often complicated because the general public often thinks that they can't do anything in these areas any more. it can take a while to explain to them that what's been happening so far is unsustainable but that they can follow the example of the people here in cabo pulmo, for example. ecotourism makes the most of the local biodiversity much more than fishing does. >> the gulf of california is a biologically rich region. the largest animals in the world, blue whales, spend the winters further north in loreto bay. they breed and calve in the temperate zones off baja california before heading off to the arctic.national park. fishing is heavily restricted and only permitted in specific zones. in winter, fisherman martin castro packs away his nets and takes tourists out on his boat to go whale spotting. sometimes, they'll also get to see dolphins. sea lions are also a popular tourist attraction. in recent years, tourism has become a major so

koch told the crowd, the donors laughed and applauded.ican primary campaign for president of the united states, it has been underway for months already. we have many months to go. but we are getting a better and better look more and more acute look at what the primary process will be like on the republican side. for the republican would be candidates the race so far is like about the guy who runs the polo apparel store. and the unlimited money super pac taking over the jeb bush campaign, which puts the campaign in the position of being basically a rump organization. the billionaire koch brothers giving a nod to scott walker at a donor party. that being potentially determinative of the nomination. that's the tenor of the republican presidential nominating race. that's what it's like on the republican side. a public unapologetic race not just toward money but unlimited money in the most prominent billionaires picking their candidate and then running their campaign. that's what's going on, on the republican side. on the democratic side, the

. >> lawrence koch is the senior fellow thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me >>> next, new accusations about the clinton finances. former president bill clinton was paid millions in speeches from companies lobbying the state determinate when hillary was secretary of state. doesn't appear laws from broken, does it pass the smell test. stay with us. >>> do they represent us, do they answer to us or a handful of powerful and wealth special interests? >>> another day, another story about access, influence and potential conflict of interest involving bill and hillary clinton. the international business times reported that bill clinton accepted $2.5 million in speaking fees from 13 major corporations and trade state department while hillary clinton was secretary of state. you see the list includes dell, national retail federation and oracle, paying the former president $200,000 in the same three month period they lobbied the state department run by hillary clinton. dell received $28 million in state department contracts after hillary clinton took the top job at state. joinin

and david koch get more respect in 2015 because of what they did in 2014.o the republican party and wasted a lot of their.. so they said forgot this we're going to take this into their own hands. they did a lot better than anybody else. people are listening to them. they're not the king makers. they have a very, very big network and i think a lot of people talk to each other. >>> coming up this morning, congressman joe ryan will join us. also white house director jen psaki and chris matthews and later country music star tim mcgraw. plus forget about hillary clinton, rand paul and mario rubio. how you can cast your vote for -- >> "the chew"bacca and hasn'ts solo 2016. >> cluebacca and hasn'ts solo. thank you very much for telling me. >> here's bill kierans with a check of the forecast. >> happy earth day, guys. >> they will be doing it by the river later today. >> good morning, everyone. severe weather will be in the cards. tornadoes possible. >> that will be the big story this afternoon. three days of a severe outbreak. all of it is out in tornadoally oklah

and david koch does not talk -- speak for charles or the koch brothers. he was at lunch.f the cuff comment. just said it should be scott walker. not that it is scott walker. but just in his opinion. and of course they made no secret they like him, but they don't usually get in the business of primaries. >> the full force of the koch network is not going to get behind scott walker but a lot of people will and they might as individuals. but scott walker has a chance to raise the second most money of anybody running which would be a big deal. and this is a sign that a lot of very wealthy folks would like him to be the nominee. kochs get a lot of attention, but their network has a lot of people in it who will take this as a signal. >> some very independent people in the network, as well. so i'm sure they're all going to split up but there is no doubt. and if you look at scott walker it's not a real surprise. you look at him i'd longically and he fits the small government that they like. >> and so will this is a huge disadvantage for rand paul if scott walker seems to havehe f

why are we subsidizing exxonmobil, the koch brothers? to subsidize. >> fair enough. i don't believe the tax codes should be used to stimulate anybody. having said, that pat works that be a step in the right direction, to level the playing field, no one gets any advantage from the government? i don't think it will necessarily wipe out the deficit today or tomorrow. would it make the cost issue any less? >> i am at the cato institute. and we kind of don't like subsidies of any kind. so yeah it's a real good idea. the problem is the president's proposals are going to be very expensive. it's not business as usual. >> all right. >> he is trying to commit the united states to a big reduction in emissions. >> we've heard this before. >> every time there is a regulation that comes down we hair it's going to be the doomsday scenario it's going to destroy the economy. and the facts over the last 45 years since earth day do not bear that out. >> i wish we had more time, but it's earth day. it's time for a group hug. >> happy earth day. >> in the me

we're going to play a game koched "win or fail."st one, video, this guy on top of this rock calmed a potato chip. lining up doing something impressive. win or fail. >> fail. >> fail. >> two fails? where you going? >> i'm going, win. >> win. let's see what happens. lined himself up. >> whew! >> named it. pulled off back flip with his own camera set up there. everyone in the crowd very impressed. round of applause. well done. next up, guiseys. coming down hits the rail? >> fail. >> fail. >> watch this one. >> oh! >> that was big fail. >> overshot that a bit. >> a monster fail. in fact when he landed this is a quote basically he broke his arm off. he's okay. everything else was fine's in this survey a longboarding video. and this is robert kessler. win or fail? >> fail. >> fail. >> i see a wobble. >> honestly longboarding isn't that fun to watch -- unless -- sorry. >> i'm going with win. >> ah! >> he landed on the soft part of his head. >> looks like he actually bit the concrete. like he bit it. >> lost a tooth or two in that one. >> i

you think about harry reid's attack on the koch brothers on other repub doesn't like, he doesn't like clearly pom ri, doesn't like the idea of money being stoed overseas in the cayman islands so he played it. i agree with you, you can't lie. >> he can't play anything. he lied. >> excuse me. the terrible part about this is that he did it on the floor of the senate where he cannot be held for liable. that's why he does it, he uses the senate floor as the protection. he is a scumbag. >> go ahead john into it is power lust in the most ugly form. it's almost as if he is without conscious, without more or less and like many people this politics, the president including, will say anything, do anything to get what they want, even deceit. eric, i've got to tell you would you stand this kind of deceit from a college kid talking about his final exam? you would he can pell him or her. how harry reid can get away with it, i think it's -- >> unbelievable. >> harry reid is a lying liar it shouldn't surprise anyone from someone who has used the senate floor to campaign against the koch brothers who h

we'll talk about the money race in 2016 and which gop candidates could be backed by the bank of koch.st, it's earth day 2015. the president heading to the everglades to talk climate change. is this sped up video? i hope so. maybe it's not. maybe this is realtime. we'll talk about a trip he'll be taking to the everglades in minutes but also here on msnbc. we're focusing on food waste with the documentary "just eat it" tonight. >> famed chef and correspondent tom colicchio on "morning joe" talks about how americans have devalued their food. >> if you go back to grandparents and parents, two generations away, during the great depression where they valued food and then you go after world war ii you started -- fast food became popular, food became cheap and we stopped valuing food. what i found really amazing is that you have 40% waste in the system so it's all this inefficiency but the free market hasn't come in to fix this. >> tom will be taking part in a twitter chat today at 1:00 p.m. eastern time talking about "just eat it" and the no food wasted campaign. just tweet tom with your que

i've heard it from a number of circles far removed from the koch brothers that scott walker has a lotergy. he is i think for a lot of the establishment types and conserve tills the fallback. he's the guy that is going to take care of the bush problem, with jeb, and help them sort of segue beyond, you know, the marco rubios and others who don't necessarily have the presidential gravitas at this point. he's a sitting governor. i've said this for a while and we have talked about this. i think this race changes dynamically when the republican governors get in. you've seen the lob that chris christie has thrown in on social security. you'll see these guys come from a space of governing that changes the way the candidates talk, and the donors and political class like that. >> the scott walker thing is really no surprise. i think the last time we were on together, it was the day that the koch brothers announced they were going to dump $900 million into this election. six, eightiers, the afp and scott walker's campaign were virtually indistinguishable. in fact there's still investigations goi

times tries to run against the koch brothers.all this money. it didn't work for the koch brothers. but i think hillary is doing something interesting. if you connect it up maybe you can get a foot in the door with some people on these issues. >> what is the connection? >> the connection is that you have members of the senate and the house who are doing things to represent the fund here's are becoming more and more important with the rise of super pacs and dark money. they have on cater to these people. even more so than they ever had to in the past. >> new numbers i am hearing, there is more money coming in. somebody runs for the u.s. senate. they'll get more money in that campaign from super pacs than from dialing for dollars. they. in other words, the money they raise in $2,700 allotments. it is lower when they add it up. so the big money guys have more clout than all the little people. they can give $2,700 a year. >> until there is a scandal that blows up the system i don't think you'll get the voter involvement. they would pu

but rick santorum has social issues but a koch brothers not so much? why are they important to you? >> i believe we need to take into account rick santorum is big on the economic issues that we will not have a viable economy or healthy society of free deteriorates the family the way it has been if we have the man and bragging about fathering 30 children by 24 different mothers a fiscal conservative will scratch his head. who pays the child-support? or the excess cost of prison because there will be problems with no fathers? the fiscal responsibility is social responsibilities are interwoven. the fact that koch brothers have consistently have worked with the free markets it is their number one man trying. >> like a lot of republicans they just want to win so i think they put those issues year in and year to you to the back seat. and i know that is a religious inclination but i know would is not front and center because all five of their pixar not front and center issues. >> i don't know. i am pretty sure most of the five pixar pro-life. like rand paul and walker it isn't that they're