michael isikoff is national investigative correspondent for nbc news, and john wisniewski is co-chair of the super committee that is leading the state's investigation into the bridge scandal. michael isikoff, when you look at the statement made by christie made in the press conference, he said he didn't know about the bridge closure until afterwards. here you have a statement by the lawyer for wildstein saying he knew about it during it. your thoughts. >> he said he knew about them while they took place. and we just got the statement from the governor's office in which they're making the point that the governor said he read about the lane closures. there was certainly press about them that week. so we don't know exactly what david wildstein is saying here, what he is saying the governor knew and exactly when he knew it. that is key to evaluating this. but taking a step back, it is a pretty breathtaking development to have somebody as close to governor christie basically pointing the finger at him, and, you know, what evidence he's got, what he has to say exactly is going to be key to

and michael isikoff, nbc news national investigative correspondent. thank you both for joining me. >> glad to be here, reverend. >> good to be with you. >> assemblywoman, what do you make of this casual banter revealed in these e-mails? >> i think it speaks to this culture of abuse of power. i think it's very dangerous when you think where some of these people are working and some of the things they were saying. they are talking about the port authority. now they're talking about delaying flights to tel aviv if there are any coming out of the newark airport. what i think is that we're getting insight into what happens in the locker room, what happens when they don't think that anyone's around them or can get to what they're talking about. but talking to each other. so you see them being abusive and dismissive. you see them talking about people in racial or semitic terms. you see that there is this sort of culture of just disrespect and abusiveness. and the one thing that connects every bit of this is that the conversations are going on with the people

thank you, michael isikoff, and they've been brought to life tonight by wildstein's attorney. and assemblyman wisniewski, thanks for joining us. we're going to stay on this. this story is big going into the weekend. one angle, rudy giuliani now said he did not say or mean to say he thought it was 50-50 that christie talked to his deputy chief about tying up that traffic in the first place. but check this quote. we did. it seems as if that's not exactly what he said. plus, that right-wing freak-out over president obama's promise to bypass congress that refuses to work with him. lawless, a tyrant, like a king. well, let's be clear. these right wingers want one thing, to delegitimize the obama presidency and basically erase him from the history books. also, the late night comedians are also having their say about the state of the union. speaker john boehner, well, he takes it here from leno and letterman. let me finish with where the facts in the christie investigation may be leading us. this is "hardball," the place for politics. so i deserve a small business credit card with am

our national correspondent michael isikoff first broke the news exclusively on nbcnews.com.vilian employee recently resigned from the nsa after being stripped of his clearance. that involves the sweeping investigation into what happened. our full report on it is on our website tonight. >>> well, for those of us who are car people those pictures from yesterday were hard to watch. they looked like match box cars falling into that sinkhole at the corvette museum in kentucky. they were all museum-quality corvettes, they don't have a damage assessment yet. once it is declared safe they will pull them out and fix them up. and chevrolet has stepped up to oversee restoring them. they have until august when a caravan of corvette owners is due to come to the museum for the 21st anniversary of the jamboree. >>> when we come back, a kid who has been jumping for as far back as he can remember. it was different than the other times i tried to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. it's a non-nicotine pill. chantix reduced my

joining me now is times editor at large mark halprin and michael isikoff. this strategy of brazen and unrelenting attack on those who you think may be doing wrong, do you think it is a successful one for the governor at this point? >> it's unorthodox. i still wonder how any governor, particularly one who is so concerned about government spent i -- spending, feels this is a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars. it's effective to the following extent. part of what's going on here, in her view, is they're trying to send signals to people don't pop your head aboveground because if you do, we'll bash you down. >> the whack-a-mole style of defense. >> the other thing they're doing is trying to gather facts. whether this is going to be fought out in the court of law or public opinion, they're not as advanced in a position as those trying to do them harm. they're trying to get information. that's legitimate politics. but in terms of governance, i'm not sure how effective that'll be. >> kate pointed out the public may be paying for randy master's review and the pushba

joining me now is nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isikoff. know, i don't know that there is that -- anything that ties chris christie to bridgegate in any of these, but what is apparent is that there was a culture, a short hand for enemies and punishment that was used frequently or comfortably by members of christie's inner circle. >> exactly. this kind of varies from the sort of sinister to perhaps more juvenile. in fact, that's the word that some women wisniewski used today in describing this that just shows the sort of cavalier juvenile attitude that bridget kelly and david wildstein seemed to have. i mean, the timing is interesting when -- that august 19th e-mail about traffic problems in front of the rabbi's house sort of echos the language just six days earlier when she wrote the infamous time for some traffic problems in ft. lee e-mail. so she does seem to have a fixation on creating traffic problems. but, you know, to be fair, none of this really sheds a whole lot of light on the core issues here of the use of government power for pol

michael isikoff in new jersey for us this morning. thank you, sir. >> speaking of new jersey and ethics, news from capitol hill. new jersey democratic congressman andrews will resign from congress today, making an official nt announcement at 11:30. he will reportedly re-enter the private sector. by the way, he is facing an ethics investigation in the house, alleging possible misuse of campaign funds. guess what happens to ethics investigations when a member of congress is no longer a member of congress. they are stopped. ethics committee in the house doesn't investigate ex-members of congress. so, that will go away. the democrat has served 12 years in congress. 12 terms, excuse me. >>> up next, bridging the digital divide for america's students, the president's plan to get more students connected to high-speed internet without the help of congress. how are we paying for it? >>> plus, why last night's debate for a house seat in florida will echo well beyond next month's special election. first a look ahead in politics planner. as you c

our national correspondent michael isikoff first broke the news exclusively on nbcnews.com.t civilian employee recently resigned from the nsa after being stripped of his security clearance. the memo provides the first real official account of the nsa's sweeping internal investigation into what happened. our full report on it is on our website tonight. o >>> nbc bay area news starts now. >>> lights flash and sirens blare, an emergency awaits immediate response. documents reveal san jose firefigfir firefighters aren't moving fast enough. we learn about a possible solution. >> a request for help today from santa clara county. the county is asking another ambulance company to get san jose's fire response team up to speed. >> it comes one week after we uncovered internal documents and e-mails that shows san jose's response times were worse than previously reported. >> the county is reaching out asking an ambulance company to help san jose improve emergency response time. they already have a contract with the county but are now being ask the to provide even more service to help sa

michael isikoff joins us from trenton. the big news is the federal subpoena. what do we know there?reporter: we know that the governor told us that his office had been subpoenaed. we knew the campaign committee had previously been subpoenaed by the u.s. attorney and have the u.s. republican party, this is a pretty serious and thorough investigation by the u.s. attorney. you are right to focus on that time period, another new nuance that emerged last night, christie saying it first came to his consciousness as an issue when he read about the patrick foye e-mail in the wall street journal. that was october 2nd. what christie said last night, this was another sort of new thing, which a lot of people didn't pick up on, when he read that, he called in his chief of staff and chief counsel, then chief counsel charles mckenna and asked them what was going on. it makes it clear now that from that date, october 2nd, this was very much on the governor's radar screen and top staff. remember what was in that patrick foye e-mail. it was pretty serious. it said public safety had been in danger and

nbc news national kcorresponden michael isikoff. let's start with the narrow and widen out to the context of what this all means. what appears to be relayed in this letter, steve, there's evidence out there whether in the possession of mr. wildstein or not that will show the governor in fact knew contemporaneously the lanes had been closed despite the tape we just played in which there are repeated denials he did not. is that basically what we're dealing with? >> there's that and the statement when he alludes to brij bridget kelly's "time for some traffic" e-mail, coming from the administration through her. one of the wishful defenses if you're a christie defender is that this was this group of people going rogue. >> a bridget anne kelly pet project. >> bridget kelly, wildstein, maybe these people were going rogue. what this letter is stating as fact is that message from her was coming up from somebody higher up in the chain in the administration. there's those two things and also the statement at the end of this where he basically

michael isikoff, great reporting. good work, sir.ou very much. >>> up next, the academy awards are two days away. we'll take a "deep dive" into the true story behind "american hustle," the sting operation that took down a senator and a handful of congressmen, and caught up with a lot of the key players back then. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. we've always been on the forefront of innovation. when the world called for speed... ♪ ...when the world called for stealth... ♪ ...intelligence... endurance... affordability... adaptability... and when the world asked for the future. staying ahead in a constantly evolving world. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> in today's "deep dive" "american hustle" is one of the big oscar favorites. it's up for 10 oscars. it's hard to miss the filmmaker's disclaimer that, quote, some of this actually happened. it is loosely based on a real american hustle. it's an fbi sting call

. >> michael isikoff is in d.c. for us this morning. mike, again, we are going to continue to keep an eye and ear on governor christie's town hall there, but there are a lot of moving parts to this story. what are the most significant developments right now? >> well, probably this legal action yesterday by the state legislative committee to compel bridget kelly, christie's former deputy chief of staff, and bill stepien, the former campaign manager, to produce their e-mails and documents to the committee under subpoena. these are clearly two of the key witnesses in this case who hold many of the answers that people are looking for. they have invoked their fifth amendment privilege not to testify, but also not to turn over documents. and this is really going to be quite an interesting legal showdown because the committee is saying if we can't get these documents, we can't do our job. what the witness -- lawyers for those two witnesses are saying is that you cannot compel a witness to turn over documents if doing so would incriminate them,

joining me now with the story, nbc news national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff, as well as msnbc's steve kornacki, host of "up" on earlier today talking about this stuff. all right, you guys. michael, i'm going to ask you first here. i first want to read the statement issued by the countries to say administration on the heels of this it revelation. it reads, mr. wildstein's lawyer confirms what the governor has said all along, he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever mr. wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with. as the governor said in a december 13th press conference, he only first learned lanes were closed when it was reported by the press, and as he said in his january 9th press conference, had no indication that this was anything other than a traffic study. okay. this a little different now coming from wildstein's lawyer, right? >> appears to be. but i mean, if you take a close look at what wildstein says in the letter, it's really hard to know exactly what he is saying here. he is saying that the

michael isikoff broke the story.ain access to massive volumes of classified documents that he later leaked to the news media. >>> still ahead for you, this winter storm, we're tracking it, keeping dozens of house democrats away from their annual strategy session ahead of the midterms. >>> first a look at what's happening outside for you. on the left a live look from the top of the rock here in new york city. a little bit of haze there, right? on the right, new video just coming in from washington, d.c. folks playing, along with their pets. [announcer] word is getting out. purina dog chow light & healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy. ...club...things... ...kept sending me coupons for cat food. i'm just not a coupon clipper. i buy what i want to buy. can i get a reward for that? [ brina ] something extra from raley's, bel air, and nob hill. you get something extra

. >> let me bring in now michael isikoff and host of "up" with steve kornacki. michael, let me start with you. what is this possible evidence? what could we be talking about here? >> good question. the letter does not make it all clear that evidence exists. it does not say that wildstein has this evidence. remember, he was subpoenaed. he turned over hundreds of pages of e-mails and texts, many of which -- most of which we've now seen. there were some redactions which raised a lot of questions by people that have now seen the unredacted versions of those, that there's no smoking gun there, there's nothing that's going to implicate governor christie in this. so it appears to be evidence that david wildstein does not actually have. so that does raise a question, what it is, who has it -- >> not quite to the smoking gun point. but this letter, is this a case of he's just trying to cover himself legally? should we make much of this letter? >> two possible readings. there's a little bit to both of them. this is officially a letter to the port authority denying his requ

joining me now from trenton, new jersey, michael isikoff. let's speak first -- >> good morning, alex. >> good afternoon. the 20 state subpoenas. four port authority officials are meeting the deadline. two are invoking the fifth. the rest are asking for more time or submitting documents on the rolling basis. what does this tell you about the breakdown of how this saga is going to move forward? >> what this tells us is this is going to be a long drawn out process, which is not good for the governor. if the expectation was all the documents would be coming in, clearly that's not the case. almost every key player in this has requested an extension and has got it. this could drag on for weeks, if not months. the documents have to be reviewed, analyzed, and only then would they begin to be made public. so, this is not -- like i said, it's an awkward situation for governor christie. he's got these out of town events. he's going to be raising money for the association. he's going to be continued to be asked questions about this as long as there are

. >> michael isikoff reported earlier that this subpoena standoff could ultimately end up at the supremeturn over documents, citing their right not to incriminate themselves. you're an attorney. you have a legal background. how do you think this will play out? >> i think it will be many, many months of legal battles. >> this investigation is going to drag on? >> it's going to drag on. that's why we put forth policy solutions that we can implement immediately. so while those battles are dragging on and it could take years. we may never understand why. we may never get that answer. but it is incumbent upon us in the interim to protect our constituents, protect commuters, protect the people who we just took an oath of office to protect. and these will help implement that. it's a great framework for moving forward. >> holly schepisi, thanks for coming by. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, another problem for wisconsin governor scott walker. the embarrassing release of thousands of e-mails from a former aide and the investigation into possible campaign finance violations in the walker recall. we

nbc's michael isikoff broke the story.snowden was able to gain access to massive volumes of classified documents that he later leaked to the news media. >>> a heartbreaking scene for car lovers on wednesday after a sinkhole swallowed several prized corvettes. take a look. this happened at the national corvette museum in bowling green, kentucky. and surveillance video captured these dramatic moments. you'll see the floor there buckles and then just a few minutes later, that beautiful coal-colored corvette in the left corner of the screen just vanishes there. it wasn't the only one. the corvette museum sent up a drone inside the facility to assess the damage, and a total of eight cars actually ended up in the sinkhole. the price tag has not been determined on the loss there. >>> sad news out of hollywood this morning. sid caesar, a pioneer of television comedy, died wednesday. >> after the slaughter is over, we're going to come back here and ring that victory bell. >> that, of course, a clip from one of our all-time favorite