sam stein, what did you learn?e is the most uncomfortable you'll shoot. >> yes. something like that. exactly. >> brian? >> the high life -- >> you want it. >> going golfing in london for a week? >> yes. >> sounds like the life i tried to push on mika. >> now, now. really. exactly. >> the south of france. >> usually i'm driving kids around. >> get the book. don't forget the book. she looks great. >> "way too early" and "morning joe" and now chuck todd is straight ahead. >> thank you. >>> we are watching developing news on capitol hill where outgoing acting irs commissioner steven miller will testify this hour to the house ways and means committee. this will be his first public comments since the story exploded about the agency singling out conservative groups for special scrutiny. miller resigned his post on wednesday after treur

and editor in chief of buzzfeed, ben smith, who it must be noted, sam stein drew this to my attention yesterday, according to the "jerusalem post" ben smith is the 28th most important jew in the world. >> thanks for mentioning that on air. >> you're so welcome, it's a big title and congratulations. >> sam was actually 51. >> just saying. >> we'll get into the actual rankings. melissa i want to go to you first on this. i feel like -- there are some things that we should be talking about. including 501(c)4s, our tax code, embassy security, what it means to be a diplomat. intelligence-gathering. but we're actually kind of not really talking about any of that during the scandal week and i read "the new york times" editorial board's assessment of the situation. scandal machine, whatever cranky point republicans had been making against president obama for the last five years, dishonesty, socialism, jack-booted tyranny. they somehow found these incidents were actually the proof they had been seeking, no matter how inflated or distorted. your thoughts? >> so remember, what we are always headi

sam stein covers the white house for the huffington post. let's focus on the hard news right now. but i also want to focus on the reaction we expect from the president. to me, this is the big news here. all of these officials, i'm reading from the ig report, stated that the criteria were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the irs. instead, the determination developed and implemented an inappropriate criteria. chuck, it was inside. it was in the bowels of the irs. they're accusing top level people of not watching closely and no influence from outside, including the white house. >> by the way, it also says this report has not been fully -- that the irs has not followed through on all of the recommendations that the inspector general has made. and, in fact, they continue this sort of an open audit, if you will. if they don't accept all of the different recommendations. the irs is pushing back. so there's an opening here if you're looking at sort of how to play -- if you want to play a leadership, there's an opening here to say the irs has got to accept all of th

up next, alex wagner and sam stein will join me. lers. the act of soaring across an ocean in a three-hundred-ton rocket doesn't raise as much as an eyebrow for these veterans of the sky. however, seeing this little beauty over international waters is enough to bring a traveler to tears. we're putting the wonder back into air travel, one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] when people talk, great things happen. >>> the president himself, as you know, is a lawyer, and taught constitutional law. i'm not sure if he's read that word for word. i'm sure that some of the very high

up next, alex wagner and sam stein will join me. i've been taking a multivitamin for years. centrum silver. both of us actually. our pharmacist recommended it. and that makes me feel pretty good about it. and then i heard about a study looking at multivitamins and the long term health benefits. and what do you know? they used centrum silver in the study. makes me feel even better, that's what i take. sorry, we take. [ male announcer ] centrum. the most recommended. most preferred. most studied. centrum, always your most complete. >>> the president himself, as you know, is a lawyer, and taught constitutional law. i'm not sure if he's read that word for word. i'm sure that some of the very highly qualified lawyers who work in the white house counsel's office have. and that goes to this specific section of our tax code. i think experts should address that, not me. but if there need to be improvements in how that is -- adjudicated and applied, that's one thing. on the matter at hand here as the president has been very clear, the behavior articulated in the ig report is unaccepta

joining us now, sam stein. sam, thanks very much for being with us tonight on this very, very busy day. >> thanks, rachel. i know i'm not niko the toddler. >> if you slicked your hair back, you could play it. >> you're going to have to pay more a little more money. >> or any. the acting commissioner of the irs got fired, asked to resign. he was not in charge of the irs when all of this happened. the guy who was in charge when all of this happened was the bush appointee who served until november 2012. why did the new guy's head have to roll? >> because someone's head had to roll, right? we're in a political climate where there was a premium accountability and very few people who the president could hold accountable. in addition to that, this man, steven miller, the acting commissioner of the irs, did go in front of congress on several occasions to testify that this targeting, the filtering of conservative groups was not taking place, now we know because of the i.g. report that was happening. so, he had lost some

sam stein, al hunt, and kelly o'donnell. onference. not great reviews for the president. actually, jonathan coral i think asked a question and let's start the press conference with this and kel me what was going on. >> you still have the juice to get the rest of your agenda through this congress? >> if i put it that way, john, maybe i just pack up and go home. golly. as mark twain said are you mys of my demise may be exaggerated at this point. >> may be exaggerated but somehow to get congress mind bendings awful to do the stuff he they want him to do, it is leadership. they think he can do stuff from the wall loan and follow along and that's not how it works. howard fein men wrote the same thing. about the president admit yesterday he couldn't get in his agenda through congress, he is a lame duck. >> the back drop is the gun debate, the inability to get something through the senate and what happened with sequestration and the air traffic delays and the quick fix he did not want and admitted essentially the 60 vote hurdle in s

joy reid, thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> and the in-studio version of sam stein, teaching me something i did not know. thank you very much. >> thanks. >> thank you. >>> coming up, what wouldn't you do for money? seriously. what legal thing would you not do to make money. it is an important question. and i'll give you my answer to that question in tonight's rewrite. >>> plus, howard dean will join me to talk about how the republicans are now blaming the president for not getting more legislation through congress. you know, the legislation that the republicans are blocking. >>> and we know hillary clinton is running for president. the woman is running, okay? that's not to be debated on this program. but what other women might run for president next time? that's coming up. ...so you say men are superior drivers? yeah? then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence. are you in good hands? diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend a

>> wow, that's a lot. >>> sam stein, i'm a freshman republican in the house of representatives.ocess? to have a vote on the repeal of health care? >> don't you want it to be, even if you're a freshman. it used to be repeal and replace, they were tied together. they tried to do a replacement thing and it was high risk pools and i could be wrong, they took money for preventative medicine that was passed into the law and used it for that and they couldn't get it to a vote and all that says is that there is no alternative plan here and i think they would be more effective in doing what they're doing if they had an alternative plan. instead they go back to this well it's looking, i know i understand the health care law is not popular and this may be the easy politics for them, but it doesn't seem like serious politics. >> it's interesting you made that point about the health care law not being popular. kaiser had an interesting poll which said 42% of the american public are unsure that it's the law of the land and 49% don't understand how it will impact their family. nia, that's toug

also sam stein is politics editor of "the huffington post." whatever your view, i thought your analysis was great in that column. it showed something new on the republican side. the enormous power of the hardliner, the tough guys, led by cruz, led by mike lee, and, of course, rand paul to basically draw the line. you cannot support expanded background checks. not at the 30-clip rounds. 30-round clips. not at the assault weapons. you can't vote for that, and that's what -- >> and it works. it's an inside/outside game. there are other groups that do this in washington, too. here you have the most conservative senators. they stand up. they take a stand. in this case, it's public letter saying we're not going to allow a vote on it. and then when senators and congressmen go back to their districts, guess what? they're hearing, wait, why aren't you standing like rand paul? why aren't you standing like ted cruz? >> they don't like that. >> it's a way of mobilizing -- >> what happened in the republican cloakroom, in the meetings, lunches they had toge

a source close to the senate negotiations tells sam stein from huffington post two senators voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor superficial changes. >> i may be able to get another democrat or two that would get us up to 57. we only need three additional republicans. so we'll see. >> today white house press secretary jay carney said this. >> we remain optimistic, the president does, that when it comes to background checks this will happen. >> the national rifle association as you know held its annual meeting in houston this weekend. here is the newly elected nra president, james porter. >> revenge is what is motivating the president's unrelenting attacks on gun owners today. just look at his reaction to his defeat in the u.s. senate with his step at a time gun owner registration under the guise of universal background checks. he's now threatening democratic senators who are friends of nra. he will destroy them, if he can. >> and here is the nra's executive vice president, wayne la pierre. >> the senate vote two weeks ago is a skirmish in what can be defin

i'll be back tomorrow at noon eastern when i'm joined by the great sam stein, michael tamaske and benl then, follow alex wagner on twitter @nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports," duran mit andrea mitchell is next. keep it on msnbc. [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ [ dog ] we found it together.upbeat ] on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of tim and laura. it's amazing how appreciative people are when you tell them they could save a lot of money on their car insurance by switching to geico...they may even make you their best man. may i have the rings please? ah, helzberg diamonds. nice choice, mate. ...and now in the presence of these guests we join this loving couple. oh dear... geico. 15 minut

josh green, nia malika henderson, sam stein and ben smith join me to discuss. >>> plus, defending the "time" magazine's michael crowley looks at america's tangled tug of war between liberty and security. >>> and what will the birthers do if foreign-born senator ted cruz decides to run for president. that's next on "now." kate and i have been married for 15 years. that's 3 moves, 5 jobs, 2 newborns. it's no wonder i'm getting gray. but kate -- still looks like...kate. with nice'n easy, all they see is you -- in one simple step, nice'n easy with colorblend technology, gives expert highlights and lowlights. for color that's perfectly true to you. i don't know all her secrets, but i do know kate's more beautiful now, than the day i married her. with the expert highlights and lowlights of nice 'n easy, all they see is you. humans. even when we cross our "ts" and dot our "i's", we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. if you qualify, your rates won't go up due to your first accident. because making mistakes is only h

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political editor and white house correspondent for the the "huffington post" and an msnbc contributor, sam stein, and editor in chief of buzz feed, ben smith. josh, i want to ask you first, working as you do for bloomberg news, emphasis on the bloomberg. michael tomasky says effectively the vote hardly, a blow to president obama or the democratic party, it accomplished a lot, he writes. it pulled a few bricks loose from the wall. next time, that wall just might crumble. what do you make of that? >> i think that's right. for a decade and a half, democrats is abandoned the issue of guns. if you remember back to last october during the second town hall debate. a questioner asked president obama his stance on gun control and his answer was virtually indistinguishable from president obama's. so the issue as a national political issue is really only kicked off since the newtown shootings. the fact that it failed is disappointing. but you see that momentum, it hasn't gone away. even after the toomey low pressure manchin bill was tabled and there's been progress at the state level even since then. i thi

we have with us on the set sam stein in new york. "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner joins us. and donny deutsche is here. >> can i get a "morning joe" economic analyst? >> what would your title be, donny? cheeseball? >> executive cheeseball. >> thank you. executive cheeseball would be good. >> a blarney stone was pounding me down. >> i think he is 30. >> it's terrible. >> that is depressing. it's how you feel, not your chronological age. >> then it's over for me because i'm not feeling really good, rattner. first of all, coming up we will talk about the unemployment report is coming out in two and a half hours but later this block, rattner will have some charts to take a look at the numbers. on guns in a moment before our headlines. people are beginning to speak out on both sides of this and we have some great examples of politicians either getting heat or unexpected support on their vote on background checks. but we begin with the latest in the boston marathon bombing investigation. officials with knowledge of dzhokhar ts

michael steele is here along with sam stein.kie roberts. we begin with the politics of benghazi and the investigation. it's fascinating, pitting congressional republicans against both president obama and the democrat they believe may stand the best chance of succ d succeeding him in the white house. lawmakers are not ruling out the possibility of calling back secretary of state hillary clinton to capitol hill for another round of testimony. and dick cheney got into the debate yesterday, encouraging republicans to consider issuie i and john bany says it will show thati islamic extremists were responsible for the attack. >> i believe the reason this is still under way is because the white house has done everything possible to block access to the information that would outline the truth. and the question you have to ask is why. somebody clearly decided they didn't like the references to islamic terrorism. and made changes in this document. american people deserve the truth. and they will get the truth. >> we're also logetting a loo