"the rachel maddow show" begins this second. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. a lot going on in the news. coming up this hour, a rather stunning report from richard engel in ukraine. we've got that in just a few minutes. and it is totally worth sticking around if for nothing else that you want to see in this hour on the show. we have a story tonight you will not see anywhere else, out of pennsylvania, a woman being criminally prosecuted for something you won't believe she's being prosecuted for. new news tonight on the bridge scandal in chris christie's new jersey. one of the main figures in that scandal has one of his own actions, appears to have been an illegal action, he has one of his own actions retroactively undone. it's like annulled in history. if you could pick your own superpower, retroactively undoing things would have a good superpower to have. that's all coming up this hour.

thank you. >>> rachel maddow and how chris christie could survive the bridge scandal.s now. but first, more highlights from "saturday night live." seth meyers signed off last night. a bit later this month, he'll start hosting the new "late night with seth meyers" after jimmy fallon goes to "the tonight show." former cast members amy poehler and bill hader came on for a heartfelt goodbye. and then andy samburg showed up and sealed the moment in song. ♪ it's so hard to say goodbye ♪ ♪ to yesterday oh oh oh ♪ >> andy, buddy, thank you for coming to my last show. >> it's your last show? i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief! ♪ legs, for crossing. ♪ feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain an

thank you for your help, collie o'donnell. >>> my conversation with rachel maddow.n her office the morning after the president's state of the union speech. i asked about the tribute to the army sergeant corey after being wouned in afghanistan on his tenth deployment. >> the thing that made it so powerful is how moved everybody was by it. we have this weird dichotomy in our country. the 13th year of war, the longest war in american history. most of the war, we fought it simultaneously. less than 1% of the population fought it. it's not a news story. we never debate it other than when they start and when they might end. there's been an immense sacrifice by such a small number of people and i think when you saw 1:44 of bipartisan emotional standing ovation for that staff sergeant last night -- you saw a little bit of what is really real, which is we, the american people and our political leaders really do care. we have an emotion about it and our disconnect from that sacrifice isn't right, doesn't feel right about us. >> don't you think it also highlighted this sort of

. >> yeah, he said rachel maddow was a phony. and a geek. and i completely disagree. rachel maddow has come out of the closet instead of alec baldwin, who i believe lets his homophobic ways sneak out in the street when he does get angry. he has no self control, and he says he's leaving so his newest baby can have a normal and deese want life. well, his child can't have a normal and decent life because she doesn't have a normal or decent father. by the way, isn't this the second time he told us he was going to leave? so he's threatening to leave america again? >> dana perino, you predicted he may drop out of the public. >> i think i did, because i think he would say, you know what, i don't mean any of this. to hell with all of you. i just said that, hell. >> oh, my gosh, dana. >> i'm getting -- are you allowed to say that? anyway, i said he would say, i don't need all this, and i don't know where he's going to go, but i think in about 18 months, he will come back to new york. and then he's going to get like a special tax credit to have a special show, and it will be li

"the rachel maddow show" starts now. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us. a lot going on in the news tonight including new reporting on the chris christie bridge lane scandal in new jersey. a new document has been uncovered. and some new figures are potentially being hauled into court in conjunction with the scandal. we'll get to that news this hour. >>> also, there were another several dozen earthquakes in oklahoma today. several dozen. still with no official explanation. >>> also an 84-year-old woman just got a shockingly long prison sentence because of a peace protest that she was part of. there's a lot going on tonight in the news. we're going it get to all of that and more throughout the course of the next hour. >>> but we start here in 1989, in berlin. those iconic moments when the berlin wall was taken down,

one leading the charge, rachel maddow. >> using the bridge gate scandal to drum up some money for the party and to blame the whole thing on the news organizations who have covered the story. >> are some news outlets determined to bring christie down? >>> plus from athletes trapped in bathrooms and elevators to a racist picture of president obama, has there ever been a stranger olympics? we'll have a report from sochi. >> i'm howard kurtz and this is "media buzz." >>> i admit it's hard to resist a story with the phrase narcissistic loony-toon as hillary clinton once described it. we'll examine the papers of the late diane blair. what's gotten the most media a stengs a description of ruthless and how blair describes hillary's views of her husband's sexual conduct with lewinsky. >> this is really something for people to look back at. the idea that hillary is ruthless is not news. >> republicans tend to reach back two decades if necessary, to fight old wars that has been settled for most people to tear down hillary clinton. >> get this, hillary clinton apparently didn't think too highly o

. >> that's all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. >>> msnbc's steve kornacki has been reporting this week on how the christie administration has been falling behind about not following the state's laws about hurricane sandy relief funds. especially when it comes to transparency. steve's reporting on that issue this week led to this rather blistering editorial today from new jersey's largest paper, governor chris christie reminded hurricane sandy victims again this week, that with nearly $40 billion in damage from the storm, there have been more needs than resources to go around. this has led to some frustration, he acknowledged. the governor said, we don't live in a fair world. the star ledger goes on to say, this is drew, and up that sad fact of life is also observable in christie's personal steering of $6 million in federal sandy relief to belleville. in a fair world that money would have gone to actual victims of hurricane sandy, there's no question that the administration can't meet ev

sending rachel maddow out with a liveve mera. right wing conspiracy. a nobel prize in the future. just thepeople. just the people weighing in. >> well, i'm a believer in civil disobedience. we have a tlags goe back to martin luther king and gandhi, those kind of people. civil disobedience is one way for people to express themselves. that part is fine. the fact of the matter is, you show up on some guy the lawn at 10:00 at night, you deserve to be arrested. if you're going to be civilly disobedient you suffer the consequences. so if these kind of things gorge to take place the law should take place and deal with it appropriatel if somebody's going to do that, yes, you have the freedom to do that. you also have the freedom get arrested. >> so, juan, let me go to you next. here's what happened. three protesters who handcuffed themselves to a piline and got arrested. so these clowns went to the company that owned the pipeline, and knocked on his door. i'm all for protests, too. first amendmt. i get it. this crosses the line. does it not? >> yeah. it's not something i would endorse. le

rachel maddow will have much more on what's happening right now in ukraine, what led up to it, and whaty in just over half an hour right here on msnbc. ded last weekend. it really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. hi-ya! and i tried a baking class. one weekend can make all the difference. unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you the confidence of new fit-flex® protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. it's our best protection. take your weekend on with a free sample at depend.com (voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear

if they're purporting to be intelligent and intelligent network with folks like rachel maddow on andthink folks like rachel maddow and chris hayes and steve are smart, they are -- they are presenting rigorous debate, then everything on that network really has to live up to that standard. this tweet certainly did not. >> i agree about that intellectual quotient and why the head of the network was seething about this. errol, let me bring you in about the rnc's claim about a boycott that day which was quickly rescinded once there was an apology. what was the republican national committee trying to do with this? >> some of this is almost the equivalent of professional wrestling, right. there has to be outrage, drama, there has to be a demand, but i mean, realistically this is a bit of a negotiation, right. we're not surprised there's politics involved here and reince priebus needs to show his party he's going to stick up for them and their conservative base whenever and however he has to. but, you know, as we get closer to the fall elections and certainly the 2016 campaign, the networks,

thank you so much. >> hey, thanks, alex. >>> in today's office politics, msnbc's rachel maddow. with stress as the clock winds down to the start of her live broadcast every night. but first, i asked rachel for her take on the economic divide in this country between the haves and the have nots. >> it's the worst it's ever been. people talk about the gilded age, having been prethe great depression, having been this incredible and distopic american situation where we had this gilded class with all the wealth in the world and everybody else doing very poorly and there being no middle class. we're back there in terms of economic strata. that's where we are right now. the top 1% from 2009 to 2012 saw their incomes go up something like 31%. whereas median incomes state flat or dropped, wages stayed flat or dropped. if you've gotten it already, you're doing better than you ever have. and that's why it's amazing to see this sort of core of billionaires trying to denounce president obama as a socialist. really? socialism looks pretty good if you're a rich guy. >> did the president effecti

if we can go to the mugshot of al capone, rachel maddow had likened him to al capone. >> come on. she said fiscal conservative that led famous individuals in our history to pay very low taxes for years until they didn't anymore. and then up came al capone. this is someone who has been realing against republicans for a long time. it is not unexpected that something like this would happen. but i think the al capone picture, a criminal, goes a little too far. >> a murderer, by the way. >> he was only convicted of something else. >> it's totally irresponsible. it's clearly trying to smear chris christie, create this cartoon ahead of 2010 to make him unacceptable to the public. >> i understand the soprano's reference because it's new jersey. what about italian stereotyping between capone. >> that's why we're getting it here. we're mob baiting. >> are we saying he's a mobster? come on. >> you're saying that's the inevitable conclusion to be drawn. >> yes, of course. >> given that this investigation is going to unfold and that there will be legitimate news to cover here everywhere, inclu

. >> that's all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now. od evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. >>> msnbc's steve kornacki has been reporting this week on how the christie administration has been falling behind about not following the state's laws about hurricane sandy relief funds. especially when it comes to transparency. steve's reporting on that issue this week led to this rather blistering editorial today from new jersey's largest paper, governor chris christie reminded hurricane sandy victims again this week, that with nearly $40 billion in damage from the storm, there have been more needs than resources to go around. this has led to some frustration, he acknowledged. the governor said, we don't live in a fair world. the star ledger goes on to say, this is drew, and up that sad fact of life is also observable in christie's personal steering of $6 million in federal sandy

he blamed rachel maddow for pushing his firing calling her a quote phony who doesn't have the same passionhe truth off camera that she seems to have on air. >> piers r pierce morgan's show will be on the network. he replaced larry king three years ago and has been routinely beaten by competitors in the hour. the milwaukee brewers have a new four legged player. the team found this puppy when they arrived in phoenix, arizona and they named him hank. they took him to the vet and cleaned him up since then he has been hanging out in the dugout. >> national now. apple security breech may be much worse than first thought. more social networking sites are available. >>> how the queen of southern cooking is getting back in the saddle. >> sheer panic. that's how a pilot is describing a moment when a bird smashes through the plane's window. take a look. >> could you image the plane traveling 170 miles per hour when the bird hit that glass. the pilot's hand wasaught but he managed to land safely. >> i tried to get it out of the air. >> he is saying he is extremely lucky he wasn't knocked unconscious.

. >> rachel maddow does not like the guy in charge. >> rachel maddow blames her calling her a phony whothat she seems to have on the air. >> i told you i wasn't going to follow this. details. >> he also had this quote. read tnchts now i loathe and despise the media in a way i did not think was possible. now it's sue perfect flew wows at the best. i'm aware it's ironic that i'm making this case in the media, but this is the last time i'm going to talk about my personal life in an american publication ever again. so he's taking it overseas apparently. >> he went again to the nth degree to prove that he's not anti-gay including calling an anti-gay organization in hawaii. just goes into unbelievable detail that he says the whole world has changed and he really wants no part of it. >> he said that 2013 was a good year for him, his wife had a baby, but the rest of it, not so much. >> he really liked "30 rock." he loved that. that was the best job he ever had. >> he was great in that job. >>> she's great doing the headlines. she's in for heather on this monday. >> thank you so much. let me tel

that is "all in" for this evening you can the rachel maddow show starts right now. as we keep an eye on this big storm system tonight. we are keeping an eye on the big politics story today. in that story today, big news. be hold the new subpoena to the office of new jersey governor chris christie. the week, we had some exclusive reporting here on this show about what was expected to be in these subpoenas, now as of tonight we have the documents. the office of new jersey governor chris christie has been subpoenaed in this matter twice before, once by federal authorities and once by the legislator, we can report governor christie's office is being ordered to hand over documents and records of any kind. all dossiers, correspondents, notes, details, messages, texts. about two things, two very specific things. contact between the governor's office and mark sockeledge, the mayor of fort lee. also this, anything related to the preparation of bill baroni's testimony to the state legislature last november. that was the testimony of bill baroni, he tried to sell the legislatu

the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> thank you for joining us this hour.n the indictment, they show his real name. tony mack. which is an awesome new jersey politics name. but tony mack apparently was not a cool enough name. according to the indictment, at least, his aliases included napoleon, the little guy, and honey fitz. honey fitz was duly elected in 2010. in the year 2012 the fbi raided his house.

"the rachel maddow show" starts now. good evening, rachel. >>> good evening, ari.reat job tonight. nice to see you there, man. >> thank you. >> thanks to you at home as well for staying with us the next hour. this was the top story in the country ten years ago today. watch. >> good morning. the cultural divide. a nation split down the middle and the 2000 presidential election could be a house divided once more. today's hot-button issues, constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. we're going to examine the cultural divide that could take center stage in this fall's election. will president bush's support on a ban be a key wedge issue? >> february 25th, 2004, exactly 10 years ago today after then-president george w. bush made one of the biggest domestic policy announcements of his first term. he'd been elected in 2000. he was in the throes of his re-election campaign already. and on february 24th, 2004, so 10 years ago yesterday, he appeared in the roosevelt room at the white house to make a statement to the american people. this was not a press conference. it w

. >> that is all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> good evening, chrisy much. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us. the breaking news this hour, is the announcement tonight from jan brewer that she will veto a bill to pass the arizona state legislature, which proponents of the pressure said it was designed to protect religious liberty. proponents said it would eliminate discrimination in the state of arizona. here's her statement tonight. >> thank you for joining me here this evening. i'm here to announce a decision on senate bill 1062. as with every proposal that reaches my desk, i give great

"the rachel maddow show" starts now. rachel, who has also not won a super bowl. >> chris, who needless to say -- >> thank withdrew. >> enjoy the rings. thanks to you for joining us thus hour. today the chris christie bridge lane scandal seems to have broken -- hey, guys, how you doing? over here. sorry. seems to have broken wide open. there are actually three huge developments in this case today. one the u.s. attorney in new jersey, the federal prosecutor's office appears to have taken a big new step in its investigation of potential abuse of power or other federal crimes committed in new jersey. we learned today of new federal grand jury subpoenas today from federal prosecutors in new jersey. we're going to be getting to that a little later on in the show tonight. that's one. also today, chris christie's campaign manager, the man who led his re-election campaign, who incidentally was the field director for the mccain/palin campaign in 2008, who was tapped immediately before this scandal broke open to be the new head of t

"the rachel maddow show" starts now. won a super bowl. >> chris, who needless to say -- >> thank withdrew. >> enjoy the rings. thanks to you for joining us thus hour. today the chris christie bridge lane scandal seems to have broken -- hey, guys, how you doing? over here. sorry. seems to have broken wide open. there are actually three huge developments in this case today. one the u.s. attorney in new jersey, the federal prosecutor's office appears to have taken a big new step in its investigation of potential abuse of power or other federal crimes cote

that is all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now, good night. >>> thanks for, everybody. seat belts on, it was a big day. # let's start here. >> one at a time. >> you were the first person to identify what happened at the bridge was a crime. did you report that to authorities? and do you feel under the circumstances you should have? >> my e-mail, i state my beliefs, which was my belief then, i testified under oath in trenton to that effect. i believe i took the right action when i learned about the lane closures promptly opened them, i stand by my e-mail. i believe then and i believe now, and obviously giving the multiplicity of law enforcement obligations underway, that there was a question of violations

the rachel maddow show institute of science chem lab also doubles as our office kitchen.here. watch what happens. >> you're seeing the snow kind of melt away from the flame, but the water is being reabsorbed into the snowball so it's not dripping off. it's turning into a slush ball. >> even in new york city, where the snow is definitely real snow and not a conspiracy, unless it's been a conspiracy every year since winter started, you still can't easily melt the snow here with a flame. if you don't believe us, behold philip plate from slate.com's bad astronomy blog. >> you can see the water line. there it is. and as more of the snow melts from the bottom up, the water gets sucked into the snow itself. see, it's turning into a slush ball. and that's what's happening in those videos. that's where the water is going. it's going into the snowball itself. not dripping away as you might expect. >> slush ball. that's why there's no dripping and no puddle when you try to burn a snowball. yes, but the burn marks! what about the burn marks! conspiracy! the burn marks on the snow are

"the rachel maddow show" starts now. good evening, rachel. >>> good evening, ari. great job tonight. nice to see you there, man. >> thank you. >> thanks to now at home as well for staying with us the nexthour. this was the top story in the country ten years ago today. watch. >> good morning. the cultural divide. a nation split down the middle and the 2000 presidential election could be a house divided once more. today's hot-button issues, constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. we're going to examine the cultural divide that could take center stage in this fall's election. will president bush's support on a ban be a key wedge issue? >> february 25th, 2004, exactly 10 years ago today after then-president george w. bush made one of the biggest domestic policy announcements of his first term. he'd been elected in 2000. he was in the throes of his re-election campaign already. and on february 24th, 2004, so 10 years ago yesterday, he appeared in the roosevelt room at the white house to make a statement to the american people. this was not a press conference. it

and as we learned on the rachel maddow show tonight, there's a common thread with the 18 new subpoenase committee is looking for information on who helped draft the story for the former deputy executive director of the port authority bill baroni when he said this during his november 25 testimony before the new jersey state legislature. >> who told them to put the cones snout. >> on september 5, mr. wildstein requested a one-week study be conducted. and then that began -- it was conducted the following week and that began that monday morning. and the bridge folks and the port authority police department began putting the cones out. and as opposed to creating a three-lane special lane for ft. lee, it was a one-lane special lane. >> joining me now from "the bergen record" is the reporter who broke the story that there was messages linking the christie administration and the port authority's close shurt of the lanes at the norj washington bridge. it is amazing to see where this story has unravelled since those e-mails. here chris christie was, don't want to do any investigation inside the

the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> thank you for joining us this hour. in the indictment, they show his real name. tony mack. which is an awesome new jersey politics name. but tony mack apparently was not a cool enough name. according to the indictment, at least, his aliases included napoleon, the little guy, and honey fitz. honey fitz was duly elected in 2010. in the year 2012 the fbi raided his house. the following day the fbi raided offices at trenton city hall. and in the fall of that year, cement 2012, honey fitz, aka napoleon, aka the little guy waurg arrested with eight other people including the mayor's own brother and the charge was corruption. the feds posed as developers and they offered the mayor a bribe in exchange for him ok'ing the development of a downtown parking garage in trenton. there was no actual planned garage and they were not real developers twaumpl a sting. the mayor said yes to the bribe. in february this month, he was convicted of all charges. he is due to be sentence in the may. and co-get decades in federal prison based on t

"the rachel maddow show" begins now. >>> thanks to you, my friend. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. barney frank is with us in a minute. in 1985 a group called the parents music resource center tried to get congress to essentially come up with a labeling and/or censorship program for popular american music. we're having a bit of a moral panic at the time about kids these days and their degenerate music. so this parents group which was spearheaded by a bipartisan bunch including tipper gore and james baker's wife, susan baker, they formed this group and went after the music industry. there were these amazing congressional hearings in the '80s on this issue. where everybody from john denver, god bless him, to d. snyder of twisted sister turned out at these congressional hearings to talk about whether music really is pornography without the pictures and whether it should be treated as such. frank zappa testified in congress in 1985, called it an ill conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver benefits to children and infringes on t

. >> that is all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> good evening, chris, thanks very much. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us. the breaking news this hour, is the announcement tonight from jan brewer that she will veto a bill to pass the arizona state legislature, which proponents of the pressure said it was designed to protect religious liberty. proponents said it would eliminate discrimination in the state of arizona. here's her statement tonight. >> thank you for joining me here this evening. i'm here to announce a decision on senate bill 1062. as with every proposal that reaches my desk, i give great concern and carol careful evaluation and deliberate consideration to senate bill 1062. i call them like i see them, despite the tears or the boos from the crowd i took the necessary time to make the right decision. i spoke with my attorneys, lawmakers and citizens, supporting and opposing this legislation. as governor, i have asked questions and i have listened. i have protected religious freedoms when there is a specific and present concern that ex

he told rachel maddow that he didn't think he was important enough in terms of an endorsement or a nonendorsement to warrant the attention that the bridge closure, you know, represented. but this finally clears up, as you said earlier, a mystery. because we still -- we didn't know until this point that there had been this previous relationship with sokolich. i mean, he got a kind of local government gift basket there from the port authority shuttle buses, the snowplowing and the like. he also said something interesting. he brought david wildstein in the story and had david wildstein tell him i've been told to be nice to you. so this creates a kind of linkage we didn't have before in terms of motivation. so it kind of advances the story. and while the christie folks said the mayor absolutely contradicted himself, i don't think the contradiction is absolute. but i think we're going to be -- i think the governor's office is going to have to sort of respond further to this. because you finally got a link to why the bridge closure happened. >> now, clarence, as e.j. said, the governor's office is sayi

but what is interesting about this is the hard work and my colleague rachel maddow has pointed this outother people pointed out, the hard work that has been done by local reporters up there who don't make a lot of money, who don't get their name on television, who are not showboaters, are hard workers, they're workhorses. they went out there and dug up the story from the beginning starting with the managing editor of the bergen paper, the publisher which is unusual. he had something to do with getting this story going. and then the executive editor and then the reporter on the beat who covers traffic. and then it's going into the bigger papers. and it seems to me this is a story that is going to be decided by the evidence like watergate was, not by the yelling on both sides or the pr, and not by the flackery. it's going to be decided as evidence grows or doesn't, that the governor was involved. >> right. that's absolutely true. and we have several investigations going on right now. we have the u.s. attorney's investigation. we have a legislative investigation, and theoretically, the gov

that is all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now, good night. >>> thanks for being with us, everybody. seat belts on, it was a big day. # let's start here. >> one at a time. >> you were the first person to identify what happened at the bridge was a crime. did you report that to authorities? and do you feel under the circumstances you should have? >> my e-mail, i state my beliefs, which was my belief then, i testified under oath in trenton to that effect. i believe i took the right action when i learned about the lane closures promptly opened them, i stand by my e-mail. i believe then and i believe now, and obviously giving the multiplicity of law enforcement obligations underway, that there was a question of violations of federal and state law. >> in the e-mails -- is there a reference that samson was on the new jersey side, retaliating against you and the new york side for your e-mail and your actions -- what was the retaliation in that? >> you're asking the wrong guy. that's a question in order to refer to the chairman. >> are you serious? >> i'm not going t

that is "all in" for this evening you can the rachel maddow show starts right now.

"the rachel maddow show" starts with steve kornacki sitting in for rachel. >> good evening. thanks for that. thanks to you at staying with us the next hour. rachel has the night off. november 2nd, 1983, ronald reagan created a new national holiday. >> it's official now. the dream of his family, friends and followers was realized today when president reagan, not an enthusiastic supporter of the idea, signed a bill declaring the third monday in january as a national holiday honoring martin luther king jr. chris wallace was there today in the rose garden for the ceremony. >> reporter: there was an air of celebration in the rose garden but also an underlying tension. white house officials wrestled for days about how to usher in a holiday the president opposed. they finally decided to embrace it. >> traces of bigotry still mar america, so each year on martin luther king day, let us not only recall dr. king, but rededicate ourselves to the commandments he believed in and sought to live every day. >> reporter: the president signed the bill creating the holiday, and gave the pen to

"the rachel maddow show" starts with steve kornacki sitting in for rachel. >> good evening.taying with us the next hour. rachel has the night off. november 2nd, 1983, ronald reagan created a new national holiday. >> it's official now. the dream of his family, friends and followers was realized today when president reagan, not an enthusiastic supporter of the idea, signed a bill declaring the third monday in january as a national holiday honoring martin luther king jr. chris wallace was there today in the rose garden for the ceremony. >> reporter: there was an air of celebration in the rose garden but also an underlying tension. white house officials wrestled for days

"the rachel maddow show" begins this second. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. on in the news. coming up this hour, a rather stunning report from richard engel in ukraine. we've got that in just a few minutes. and it is totally worth sticking around if for nothing else that you want to see in this hour on the show. we have a story tonight you will not see anywhere else, out of pennsylvania, a woman being criminally prosecuted for something you won't believe she's being prosecuted for. new news tonight on the bridge scandal in chris christie's new jersey. one of the main figures in that scandal has one of his own actions, appears to have been an illegal action, he has one of his own actions retroactively undone. it's like annulled in history. if you could pick your own superpower, retroactively undoing things would have a good superpower to have.

"the rachel maddow show" starts now. >>> good evening, chris. thanks, man. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. we start tonight with breaking news out of the state of new jersey. first, bridget anne kelly, until recently new jersey governor chris christie's deputy chief of staff, bridget kelly is invoking the fifth amendment and refusing to testify or hand over documents in response to the subpoena she has received from the new jersey legislature. bridget anne kelly is the person who sent this e-mail, "time for some traffic problems in ft. lee" to a chris christie ally at the port authority who then does appear to have arranged for some huge traffic problems in ft. lee last september by shutting down that community's access lanes to the world's busiest bridge. the george washington bridge. once those bridge lanes in ft. lee were shut down, it appears also to have been bridget kelly who exchanged these text messages with that same person at the port authority who arranged the shutdown. upon hearing that kids cannot get to school because the lanes

"the rachel maddow show" begins now. >> it's like the uninspiration hour. feeling positive about civil life and opportunity? don't do it. >> say, look, the guy we have right now, look at what he's compared to. i think. it's also part of the -- >> keeping everything in perspective. >> exactly. >> thank you, man. appreciate it. >>> thanks to you at home for being with us this hour. msnbc's steve kornacki and "bergen record" newspaper both have new scoops on the chris christie bridge lane scandal. two big new developments in this story that have apparently started a whole new part of the investigation. and it starts with leona helmsley. remember, billionaire hotel and real estate developer. she earned and then cultivated a reputation for being heartless and cruel, particularly to her staff. she was miserly and abusive toward people but she left a fortune to her dog. she was known as the queen of mean, and leona helmsley did not mind being thought of that way. she went to prison on federal tax evasion charges. if you remember her for nothing else, remember her

that is "all in" for this evening you can the rachel maddow show starts right now. >>> thanks for youthis next hour, it's been a big day today and the biggest political story in the country this year, and we're going to be reporting that out tonight, including new information. we're going to be bringing it to you here exclusively, and a trove of new document that is we have just gotten our hands on. >> in news outside politics, though, the biggest story in the country, the story that is at least physically larger than anyone in the country is this. this is a realtime traffic map of airlines in this country. green means go. yellow means be prepared for slow going on these major roads. things are crowded on the roads. red means

"the rachel maddow show" starts in this room. i'm going to shut up. >> i don't mind.'ll talk in the corner. we're all one big happy family watching alex at 4:00 and talking in the same studio. >>> thank you at home for being in the studio with us this hour as well. this is a man named philip kwon. he was an assistant prosecutor in the u.s. attorney's office. the federal prosecutor's office in new jersey starting in the year 2000. chris christie was named to be the u.s. attorney in new jersey in 2001. he actually started in the office in early 2002. so when chris christie got there, when he got to the prosecutor's office, phil kwon was already working there.

"the rachel maddow show" begins now. >>> that was fascinating stuff. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. the new jersey party circulated this reprint from the newark "star-ledger" from 1996. see in the upper left hand corner there there's a christmas sale at the silk floral outlet. down in the lower left hand corner, that's sort of a checking account ad. up top, a feature of a wood carver, an angel's head carved out of wood. nice. on the right hand side, that quarter-page ad is a public letter of apology from a new jersey county republican officeholder at the time named chris christie. it's titled "a statement by morris county freeholder" that's like county commissioner of new jersey, "morris county freeholder chris christie." the following is a letter of apology and retraction that i sent to cecilia laureys and ed tamm. i'm writing to express my sincere apology to both of you regarding political ads which ran during the primary election campaign in 19 the 4. both of you, quote, are now under investigation by the morris county prosecutor. t