mr. christie's count that should mr. bush enter the race the first loyalty would be to him, not to mr. s big brother, the former president, is now weighing in giving jeb his endorsement. >> i hope jeb runs. i think he would be a great president. he's checking his core and as he said publicly thinking about my family. i knows full well what a run for the presidency can do on family. after all he's seen his dad and brother run. if you need advice, give me a call. >> checking his core. wayne slater and zachary roth, msnbc.com reporter and someone who just returned from the lone star state join me to look at all of this. wayne, there's no place the bush name looms larger than texas where you are. how much do people down there want him to run? >> they want him to run. the republicans absolutely want him to run. the bush name is very popular in this state although george w. bush has taken his lumps from tea party types and there are many tea party conservative types in texas. bush is a family, much beloved and people would like to see him run. the idea of an dynasty doesn't bother many republ

mr. christie's camp that should mr. their first loyalty would be to him, not to mr. christie. does governor christie simply come with too much baggage? >> not surprising. he still has two probes to go through. with federal prosecutors as well as a democratically controlled state legislature. he's not out of the woods with this bridgegate scandal. so he's got his issues. and quite frankly, i think that they feel it's much more of a safe bet with jeb bush. he could survive in a general election. he knows how to bring in a broad coalition, which is exactly the kind of candidate we need. >> this is nice. we should do this more often. >> come down more often. >> well, if we had a travel budget, we'd get you out there. as we've been reporting here, the white house announced earlier today that president obama will be traveling to arkansas wednesday to tour tornado damage. a fierce tornado barrelled through that state earlier this week, killing 15 people. part of the system that struck the south, just part of the system that st

mr. christie. this is according to interviews with more than two dozen of those fat cats.ave been the star of the story, so report. is christie off on some cloud nine on this thing? and if so he's the only one there because these other republicans who are very conscious of money and winning. that's what they mean to these big guys. they think he's not their guy right now. they're looking at bush. >> they're smart. they know there's uncertainty. what christie is doing and saying publicly is what he has to do and say. he has to hope there's some kind of exoneration that comes out of this. >> isn't that his problem, he won't get a clearance early. there will be all these traps he has to get through. >> this week is a perfect demonstration. here we are talking about christie in 2016 and here he's saying nothing is going to hold me back. but at the same time, we learn one of his closest confidents, a guy he tried to put in the state supreme court in new jersey has now been subpoenaed or about to be subpoenaed by the u.s. attorney. >> david samson. >> no, no. it's another name.

mr. christie, a man who whom he was unshakeablely loyal is reprehensible.e reached out and he said there's no basis for any correction and added that our report stands as. joining me brian murphy, assistant professor of political history. this strikes me as a big deal for two reasons. one, stepyan has been a good soldier and is no longer inside the tent. and two, he's saying christie lied to everyone. >> that's right. christie had a conversation with them where they discussed this on the 12th and christie went out on the 13th and said nobody was involved on my staff in this. >> he says it's clear to everyone on my staff that if anyone had any knowledge they need to come forward and tell me. does that include stepyan. stepyan is saying that's a straight up lie. >> that time line got more complicated because christie's press secretary testified that they had a conversation on the 5th of december where the spokesman told the governor, bill stepyan and bridget kelly might have a role in this and christie said apparently if we believe him, christie told drun yak

mr. christie twisting this issue and asserting their innocence. somebody trying to report on this, the fact there is no next step, that there is no law enforcement authority to turn to on the subject who is not implicated on one side of it feels very open ended to me. do you feel like the legislature or anybody else may take it up in some way? >> that remains to be seen. another thing in the last few months, when frank lautenberg passed away, kiasu had been the attorney general. cory booker was elected. the acting attorney general has been in place. kevin odaud, the governor's chief of staff, was supposed to replace him. his name has come up as the bridge scandal unfolded. >> if he weren't in limbo, kevin odoud would be expected to enforce this against the guy that gave him the job. it is amazing to me. statehouse reporter for new jersey's "the record." it looks like a complicated story, i feel it is simple enough to understand it. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> lots more to come sclug ab important update of our top story last night. between 10

mr. christie has now tied the record for credit rating downgrades in his state.n the morning after the sixth downgrade, he has to give the, you know, look at my fiscal policy talk, to a national audience. this is very awkward. beyond that awkwardness, here's good old david serotta and "the boston globe" reporting on a $10,000 donation made to the new jersey republican state committee by charlie baker. charlie baker, the republican candidate for governor in massachusetts. mr. baker, in addition to being a candidate, is also a partner at a financial firm called general catalyst in massachusetts. and a few months after charlie baker gave that donation to the new jersey republican party, his company, general catalyst, got told that they were getting $25 million new jersey pension money. general catalyst invested some of that money in at least one company where charlie baker was directly involved with the company. so, basically, what it looks like is charlie baker paid chris christie and then new jersey paid charlie baker. the real problem here is that new jersey law

. >> you know that governor christie prevented mr.ful position in the state. >> that's correct. >> they did not take that well. >> well, i made it clear last night that i wasn't going get involved in politics and i was going to offer my vision for the state of texas for the future of the republican party. i happen to have great relationships with both and we as republicans need to get together. >> chris christie you are saying? >> yes, sir. >> okay. for a lot of folks that have been saying, you know, your dad has been in the news, jeb bush. i don't know whether you heard. whether he wants to run for president or not. but he and chris christie are mentioned appealing to the same mainstream republican crowd. if your dad were to run, chris christie might not. chris christie were to run jeb bush mate not. can you tell me what's going on? >> i don't have any insight. i talk with my dad. he is leaving the option open but he will make a his assessment later. he hasn't indicated one way or the other. i think he is assessing it seriously. he i

mr. o'dowd, and governor christie enters. >> the governor walks in.en does, and i had been telling kevin about the dinner from the previous night. and i think the governor actually came in in the middle of that. >> you heard him mention there heather haddon from "the wall street journal." i'm going to speak to her about this in a moment. but also another thing that happened, in his monthly ask the governor radio town hall, christie says he doesn't recall his conversation that fight, but he did field a question about 2016. >> you're meeting with some pretty heavy hitters in the gop money circles. there's been a lot of chatter at least among some about jeb bush being pressed to run. do you have any thoughts on that? are you hearing anything on the campaign trail? >> you know, not as much as you would think. on the presidential stuff, you know, most people just say to me, if you decide to do it, good luck. you know, we think you'd be great, that kind of thing. >> that's all anybody says. good luck. joining me now is heather haddon, reporter for "the wall

mr. >>> move over chris christie, because it seems that a certain ex-florida governor may be giving the the money, literally and f figuratively, and reports are that jeb bush with the consideration of a 2016 run has major gop donors jumping the bridgegate-plagued christie ship. and now jeb bush's brother adds fuel to the fire. >> i hope that jeb runs, because he would be a great president. i have no clue what is on his mind, and we will talk when he is ready. i notice that he is moving around the kcountry quite a bit and -- >> doing well in the polls. >> yes, that is fine, but it don't mean anything for him, i can guarantee you that he is not looking at a poll to decide whether or not he wants to run. >> and still, the polls in florida seem to be on jeb's side, and new quinnipiac poll there puts him easily on top of the rest of the 2016 hopefuls and beating marco rubio by double digits and so does the gop have a new front-runner? we will bring in our democratic strategist and former chief of staff for republican joe manchin chris kofiniz and alice stewart who is a republican strategist.

including phillip kwan, the port authority deputy general counsel who is also a christie appointee. tonight, we learn mrsubpoenaed. and this is very significant. because "the wall street journal" reported kwan spent parts of four to five days he helping to prepare bill baroni, the authority's deputy executive director for testimony in front of the new jersey legislature. it was that testimony where baroni said the lane closings were part of a traffic study. the traffic study claim is just not true. you can see mr. kwan sitting in the room. we will continue to watch this story. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -

christie parsons, last question. >> thank you, mr. president. you said that it was the general's own judgment that made the decision for you here. if i remember correctly, secretary sebelius offered you her let's ignition after health care dot-gov failed and i declined to take it. i wonder if there is a little scapegoating taking place here? >> meaning? >> i mean the dysfunction within the department seems to have been very deep and very widespread so is, lopping off the head of it really best step to take going forward here? what i'm asking is there a political reason for removing him other than going straight to the problem of the bureaucracy? >> well, the distractions that rick refers to are in part political of. he needs to be, at this stage what i want is somebody at the va who is not spending time outside of solving problems for the veterans. i want somebody who is spending every minute of every day figuring out, have we called every single veteran that's waiting? have they gotten a schedule? are we fixing the system? what kind of new tech

mr. wildstein vet that plan with the powers that be in trenton. this claim, coming from one of christie'sallies, directly contradicts what the governor said the very next day. what happens next? joining me now is criminal defense attorney brian weiss who has experience with political corruption cases. thanks for being here, brian. >> good to see you, rev. >> there's a lot of names and characters in this bridgegate scandal, but nobody more central than bill stepien. and nobody closer to the governor. and now he's directly contributing christie it appears. what's your take on this, brian? >> well, i think what you need to understand, this is just no ordinary civil service chuckle head. this was the governor's wartime councilier. they both can't be telling the truth. but when i saw the news coverage on this the other day, i was immediate immediately reminisce assistant of roger clemens detestimony before congress where he claimed that fellow teammate new york andy pettitte misremembered what he told him about the use of hgh. this may be a case where both parties have misremembered what the o

christie parson, last question. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. you said it was the general's own judgment that made the decision here. if i remember correctly, secretary sebelius offered her resignation after healthcare.gov failed. i feel like there's scapegoating happening here. the dysfunction within the department is deep and widespread. is lopping off the head of it really the best step to take going forward here? what i'm asking is there a political reason for removing him other than going straight to the problem? >> the distractions that rick refers to are in part political. he needs to be -- at this stage what i want is somebody at the va who is not spending time outside of solving problems for the veterans. i want somebody who is spending every minute of every day figuring out have we called every single veteran that's waiting? have they gotten a schedule? are we fixing the system? what kind of new technology do we need? have we made a realistic assessment of how long wait times are right now and how are we going to bring those wait times

christy par sons, last question. >> thank you, mr. president. you said that it was the general's own judgment that made the decision for you here, and if i remember correctly, secretary sebelius offered you her resignation after health care.gov failed, and you would not take it, and i wonder if there is any scapegoating going on here. >> meaning? >> meaning that the dysfunction of the department is very deep and very widespread, so it is, you know, lopping off the head of it really the best step to take going forward here is and what i am asking is there is a political reason for removing him other than going straight to the problem in the bureaucracy? >> well, the distractions that rick refers to in part are political. he needs to be -- at this stage what i want is somebody at the v.a. who is not spending time outside of solving problems for the veterans. i want somebody who is spending every minute of every day figuring out how have we called every veteran who is waiting. have they gotten a schedule? are we fixing the system? what kind of new

clinton christie is going to be far more assertive and aggressive whereas governor bush will do it on intellectual plain which i'm not sure is going to be very effective against an icon against mrsinton. >> first thing you have got to do is get your party to nominate you. chris christie in the eyes of some conservatives is not conservative enough. that's true also with bush. it should be added. the same thing can be said of bush. so, you know, the first contest, the one that he would have to win to ever face hillary clinton is one in which he has got to win over some conservatives or at least hold on to enough of them that the hard right is not able to defeat him. and i think his bluff and blunt style, his sort of candor and his spirit that, you know, we can do this and i'm the guy strong enough to lead may be just the thing. i think people are eager to hear that i think they believe at least those in the republican ranks believe that we're suffering from a presidency characterized by weak leadership as christie himself suggested in that sound bite you played. >> all right. because the republicans do have an opportunity. new politico poll and you guys can see it yourself at poli

christie parasons, last question. >> thanks, mr. president.general's own judgment that made the decision for you here. if i remember correctly, secretary sibelius offered her resignation after health care.gov failed, and you decl e declined to take it. i wonder if there's scapegoating taking place here. >> meaning? >> meaning the dysfunction within the department seems to have been very deep and very widespread. so lopping off the head of it really the best step to take going forward here? what i'm asking is, is there a political reason for removing him other than going straight to the problem of the bureaucracy. >> so the distractions that rick refers to are in part political. he needs to be -- at this stage, what i want is somebody at the v.a. who's not spending time outside of solving problems for the veterans. i want somebody spending every minute of every day figuring out, have we called every single veteran that's waiting? have they gotten a schedule? are we fixing the system? what kind of new technology do we need? have we made a realis

mrs. obama took part in a memorial in new york city. also present, former mayor michael bloomberg, and governor chris christie. this is an hour. ♪ there's a place for us somewhere a place for us peace and quiet and open air wait for us somewhere there's a time for us someday a time for us time together with time to spare time to learn time to care someday, somewhere we'll find a new way of living we'll find a way of forgiving somewhere there's a place for us a time and place for us hold my hand and we're halfway there hold my hand and i'll take you there somehow someday somewhere ♪ there's a place for us there's a place for us a time and place for us hold my hand and we're halfway there hold my hand and i'll take you there somehow someday somewhere ♪ [cadence] >> present arms. ♪ o say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched ere gallantly streaming? and the rockets' red glare he bombs bursting in air gave proof to the night that our flag was still there o say, doe

on december 19th, governor christie said to a colleague, you and your paper will owe an apology to mrnow about the warnings, about what he and his administration thought about the work that was done, this seems consistent with the guy trying to run out the clock here without too many questions being asked. >> he was up against -- they knew that the legislative committee was up against the clock. if they could just stretch this out until january, this could all go away. in some ways they are still using that same press strategy. the other day christie was saying, you guys have had four and a half months to look into this. but you have had all this time, what have you found? and the other plip side to that is you haven't been cooperative and you haven't been forthcoming. >> but his thing is, we're saying black and white, that's what it is. he's saying you don't have a smoking gun and i'm totally exonerated from this. at what point does that -- what is the downside? we can look at all this and say, it looks suspicious here like maybe he didn't want to ask questions, maybe he didn't want

mr. mowers, in charge of getting the endorsements, at least to for that part of new jersey, said it wasn't about the endorsement. nobody on team christiecularly cared that we weren't getting it. am i understanding the implication of what he said correctly that that means that isn't what caused the bridge shutdown? >> well, that's part of the problem we face throughout this entire investigation because the moment we get an answer there are a dozen more questions. if what he is saying is true that this wasn't about mayor sokolich and his endorse, why were these lanes closed? there was a group of people who said, we know enough. let's just get this done with. we still are left with this very big question. bridgette k bridget kelly sent an e-mail. we heard testimony she took orders from above and she was not the architect of the plan, but we still don't know who was the argue techitect or who gave order. that's why we continue to have these hearings. >> we have direct claims from governor christie himself saying he didn't know mark sokolich from adam. couldn't pick him out of a lineup. it wasn't important to him personally. has there been

mrs. clinton has a double-digit lead lead over several of the biggest republican names being floated around 2016. over jeb bush, 16 points, 15 points over cruz, 14 over rand paul. 11 over chris christie. are they trying to do everything they can to damage her if she were to decide to run for president, wayne? david has it right. she's the single candidate who is the one who could beat any republican likely to be in the mix, you've got to go after her, and you've got to go after her fast. what hillary clinton can do, though, is do the same thing if she chooses to run and become the nominee, do the same thing that ronald reagan did, get out there, be physical, move like she did when she was secretary of state and demonstrate on her own that not only is she healthy, but she's big enough to take on all those boys who may be in the race. >> thank you both for your time tonight. coming up, a dramatic day in chris christie's bridgegate investigation. one of christie's closest aides testifies. and makes some news. he makes news about a pivotal dinner he had with the guy who carried out the lane closings. plus is the new talking point on the right, benghazi is the new watergate. haven't i hea

mr. "mad money" himself. >> tomorrow on "squawk", the state of the art market. what will tone's big string art auction by christie'sthe economy. "squawk box" on cnbc. profit from it. that's changing faster than ever, we believe outshining the competition tomorrow requires challenging your business inside and out today. at cognizant, we help forward-looking companies run better and run different - to give your customers every reason to keep looking for you. so if you're ready to see opportunities and see them through, we say: let's get to work. because the future belongs to those who challenge the present. (announcer) scottrade knows our and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. voted "best investment services company." . >>> let us get down to the new york stock exchange where jim cramer joins us now.

christi and the network resets and dropped packets i've been getting every few months. that's something a really looking forward to in this merger. i want to align myself with mr. gohmert. you'reomes out that making programming decisions politically based, i think there's going to be a problem. i certainly hope that's not the case. i do want to talk about a couple of issues that were brought up. you mentioned that the cost of adding additional ports, the hardware was trivial. there's more to it than just hardware. you actually have to get the pipes. >> comcast has sold its customer service that if they actually use the service at the rates that comcast is holding, the network would fail to operate. in order to mask the problem, they have limited the boundary capacity between their network and the public internet to help reduce consumer's use of broadband. makes the deal with netflix sound good. they've immediately opened up 30% more bandwidth. netflix isn't coming through your peering point. >> there is so much additional traffic beyond netflix that wishes to go to comcast paying customers that the ports still remain constrained. >> mr. cohen, that makes you lo

christie's staff who fired off the e-mail time for traffic problems in fort lee. we expect she will detail what was going on inside the office especially contact and dealings with mrand whether the governor may have known or been involved in this. the governor said he first heard about the closing when he read about it. he expect her to be testifying for the first three hours and later on in the afternoon >> going to be a long day for her. what evidence to they think she may have specifically? >> they will be boring in on emails that were sent in the office when the bridge lanes were closed the mayor called com plaining about the traffic problems and this e-mail was fired off: the mayor is upset about the reduction of toll lanes from 3-1. first responders are having a terrible time because of the backup being severe. there is a feeling in town this is government ret -- ret tribution. later kelly asked her to do that e-mail and she didn't. when kelly was fired on january 9th before the governor's big press conference about this that kelly called her saying you cannot trust anyone quote. martha, back to you. >> eric, thank you so much. >>> go out in the yard and tos

christie with the republicans. that was awkward and i apologize. very awkward. mr.oing to leave office as a very young man and yet the presidency has taken its toll. i don't want to alarm you, sir, but you're starting to look like a judge on "law & order." just say you're on thin ice, counselor, you could have that part right away. seriously, mr. president, your hair is so white, it could be a member of your cabinet. >> mr. president, i know you won't be able to laugh about any of my jokes about the secret service, so cover your ears, if that's physically possible. last week we learned that the president's two favorite steaks are rib eye and seeing eye. and it doesn't matter if you're black like president obama or white like president obama or red like president obama's agenda, remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? that was hilarious. >> and then, of course, there's donald trump. donald trump has been saying that he will run for president as a republican, which is surprising, since i just assumed as he was running as a joke. don

christie's is selling in mid june about 400 items from mrs.ark's estate, and there will be three days of tours in new york -- it's four days, june 14-17, and one can see her paintings and furniture and all the rest at rockefeller center. we have more pictures on the web site, and i'll be here for an hour signing books, and i'll be glad to take any questions off the stage. thank you all for your attention. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> more from gaithersburg, maryland, shortly. >> c-span2, providing live coverage of the senate floor proceedings and key public policy events. and every weekend, booktv. now for 15 years the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. c-span2, created by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> you know, many of you have heard of the terrible municipal bankruptcy in detroit which is the largest bankruptcy that's occurred in the nation. that bankruptcy was pre

mr. >>> so in case you haven't looked at the clock, edging towards the bottom of the hour. not that you need to know that on a saturday. you can kick back and relax. i'm christi and i'm victor blackwell. >>> eric shinseki is out this morning. the v.a. chief filed his resignation yesterday after weeks of criticism following allegations of a massive cover-up by v.a. hospitals. the vrchlts a.v.a. acknowledges 23 veterans died because of lack of care. >>> donald sterling is suing the nba for $1 billion. the l.a. clippers owner has taken the league to court because of their decision to ban him from the court for life and give us his franchise. his wife sehelly agreed to sell the team for $2 billion. not just a good deal, the most ever paid for an nba franchise. stay with us. a lot more on this bizarre stories twists and turns. i'm wondering if there's some info about his mental capabilities as well. >> if he's mentally incapable, how can you file a lawsuit? >>> three, intelligence officials are trying to find out more about the american who blew himself up in a massive suicide bombing in syria. they believe they know the man's name. manneer mohamed abu saleh and i

mrs. obama took part in a memorial in new york city. also present, former mayor michael bloomberg, and governor chris christie. this is an hour. ♪