congressman steve israel tells jake tapper on "the lead," there are simply too many questions right now about who did what at the va and why they might have been encouraged to manipulate the wait time for veterans. he's now asked attorney general eric holder to look into it. >> anybody, anybody at the va doctored papers, engaged in a cover-up, withheld health care for veterans, they need to be investigated, they need to be prosecuted, they need to be fired. >> the inspector general's report finds the va awarded bonuses to top officials based in part on performance goals, including shorter appointment wait times. that may have been an incentive for some to cook the books. >>> the nsa this morning firing back at edward snowden's claims that he tried to blow the whistle on the agency's spying practices when he worked there. during his interview with nbc news, the former contractor said he raised concerns on multiple occasions in writing and verbally. the nsa says it only has one e-mail, one e-mail from snowden to its office of general counsel asking about the legal power of an executive or

steve israel and the guy in mississippi last week. >> congressman steve israel you see him right there the ccc democrats named congressional campaign committee intends to get more democrats into office. he had been asked on another network do you think republican colleagues are racist? and he said no, of course not. but to a significant extent the republican base does have elements that are animated by racism. >> now, let me stop you there. >> that's unfortunate. >> waters inaccurately quoted him and denied saying it and ran in the elevator and wouldn't answer the question. >> right. >> i agree with, what was the name here? >> karen. >> i agree with you, karen, these people have to be held accountable, and if they won't talk to us, we will send them to somebody chase them around. >> you have invited them on the show a couple times. >> he is my congress. >> my congress, too. >> we are going to go over. >> let's have a meeting. second letter from john wendell, somerset, pennsylvania. i didn't believe you wasted our time, o'reilly, showing and discussing that video on the elevator. there

steve israel and the guy in mississippi last week. >> congressman steve israel you see him right theremocrats named congressional campaign committee intends to get more democrats into office. he had been asked on another network do you think republican colleagues are racist? and he said no, of course not. but to a significant extent the republican base does have elements that are animated by racism. >> now, let me stop you there. >> that's unfortunate. >> waters inaccurately quoted him and denied saying it and ran in the elevator and wouldn't answer the question. >> right. >> i agree with, what was the name here? >> karen. >> i agree with you, karen, these people have to be held accountable, and if they won't talk to us, we will send them to somebody chase them around. >> you have invited them on the show a couple times. >> he is my congress. >> my congress, too. >> we are going to go over. >> let's have a meeting. second letter from john wendell, somerset, pennsylvania. i didn't believe you wasted our time, o'reilly, showing and discussing that video on the elevator. there is no news

>> yes sgrchlt part of that, too. >> and steve israel, always good to have you here, congressman, and thank you for coming in. and josh and robert coming back in now. and robert, the work of the house panel is to be extended into the fall, but they asked some good questions on the "morning joe" if the fair thing is to put a time limit on it, but could it have an impact on the midterms? >> yes, and the democrats have resisted this special committee, because they are trying to focus more on the economic agenda when it comes to the midterms, but when i cover the conservative politic politics, and talking to the base voters in the republican party, they are asking their own republican leaders, what about benghazi? they bring it up at every rally and event, and so they have had the pressure from the right for a long time, and looking for their own turnout as well, and benghazi is part of that process. >> and josh, politico says 13 hearings on benghazi, and 50 briefings, and 25,000 pages of documents released and the question becomes, are we likely to learn anything new? and this e-mail tha

for a larger investigation and calling for the secretary's resignation, including congressman steve israelr of the house leadership and the head of the democratic congressional campaign committee. he tells jake tapper on "the lead," he now wants the secretary to step aside and is asking the attorney general, eric holder, to launch a criminal probe to find out what happened. >> i want to know if anybody, anybody at the va doctored papers, engaged in a cover-up, withheld health care for veterans. they need to be investigated. they need to be prosecuted. they need to be fired. >> the inspector general's report finds the va awarded bonuses to top officials based in part on performance goals, including shorter appointment wait times. that may have been an incentive for some to cook the books. >>> this morning, the nsa insists edward snowden never complained to them, refuting his claims in an nbc news interview that he repeatedly raised concerns about the agency's spy programs when he worked for them as a contractor. he says he was told to stop asking those questions. the nsa made public one e-m

steve israel says the democrats should boycott these hearings. nancy pelosi seems to be dithering on what she believes. you think that the democrats should appoint people, if i'm not mistaken. what's with all of the confusion? where should you guys go on this? >> well, some people believe since this is a farce and the response is already preordain that we shouldn't participate in it. i happen to believe we should. >> why? >> well, because i think that if we don't participate in it, day after day, week after week, republicans will be there getting out distortions and mistruths and we're not going to be there to counter it. >> is nancy pelosi going to listen to you? >> well, she'll make a decision. whatever decision she makes i'll support. but i think it's very, very important we debunk all this nonsense. this is about raising money for the republicans, softening up hillary clinton and doing this ad naunauseam. we voted 50 times for obamacare but had four hearings it look at benghazi. republicans have to keep doing the same thing over and over and

. >>> democratic congressman steve israel recently called republicans racist.y factor invited him on the show to comment but after he declined they sent jesse watters to washington, d.c. to get some answers. >> i'm jesse watters with the "o'reilly factor." i'm actually one of your constituents. you said the republican base was animated by racism. can you explain that? >> you are picking up on something that was out of context and happened three weeks ago so i would request why you would ask that three weeks after. >> because we invited you on the show a number of times and you keepç declining. >> we need to pass the immigration bill. >> what is your evidence republicans are racist? >> i never said that. >> you said the republican base was animated by racism, yes, you did. we have it on tape. >> to a significant extent the republican base does have elements that are animated by racism. >> congressman, i pay your salary. answer your question. you're a public official. >> i appreciate that but you're holding me up for a vote. if i miss this vote it is because you

steve israel from new york, congressman israel joins me now. thanks so much for being here, congressman. i want to say you're not calling for shinseki's resignation at this time. can you honestly tell me that if this exact thing happened during the bush administration, you wouldn't be calling for the resignation of the v.a. secretary? >> secretary shinseki's resignation is what it takes to turn over a new leaf, to inform the v.a. and to restore faith by veterans and their ability to get health care, they should resign. but it's not resignation alone. it's not going to solve the problems that we have. i have been pushing the v.a. since 2008 to develop public and private partnerships and i told them them that we didn't have the capacity and they said, don't worry. we have this. i want to know if anybody doctored papers. they need to be investigated, they need to be prosecuted, they need to be fired. >> the justice department has not launched a criminal investigation, congressman. have you called and said we need to call the fbi director? >> i lea

. >> congressman steve israel, thank you so much for your time and thoughts. joining me now is senior writer for politico, glenn thrush, and also sam stein. sam, i want to go with you first. we were quoting the piece you had today about the fact that trey gowdy's big question has already been answered. do you think it's laziness, bad preparation? how does trey gowdy not know that very yes has been answered by hillary clinton in testimony a year ago. >> i'm not sure whyhas been ans by hillary clinton in testimony a year ago. >> i'm not sure why he put that forth. there have been other questions he's put forth that have also been answered. but it underscores to a large extent just how comprehensive the investigation has already been. a lot information coming from the investigations. to cgowdy's credit, a lot touchs different aspects from that night and maybe it hasn't been put into a comprehensive investigation, but at this point in time people probably know what remains to be answered. there are some questions that remain to be answered. >> i guess if there is

new york democrat steve israel was one of many who said it was the right move. >> it is unfortunate thatretary shinseki had to resign, although i support that decision, but this does not put a period at the end of the sentence. we owe it to our veterans to get to the root of this problem. >> brown: republicans, led by house speaker john boehner, voiced similar sentiments, but in tougher terms. >> until the president outlines a vision and an effective plan for addressing the broad dysfunction at the v.a., today's announcement really changes nothing. one personnel change cannot be used as an excuse to paper over a systemic problem. >> brown: major veterans groups also supported the resignation, and called for a closer look at the overall v.a. system. one of the largest, the "veterans of foreign wars," said in a statement: the president today said he'll leave it to the justice department, whether the scandal warrants a criminal investigation, as many in congress are demanding. in the meantime, he's appointed sloan gibson, the v.a.'s number two, as acting secretary. >> brown: we explore the

steve israel, chairman of the democratic campaign committee because their big candidate in florida, theyped out eight days later. whoops. >> great preview. >> thank you so much for a great discussion. >>> the fragile situation is making daily life extremely difficult for people there. a new report details an increase in human rights abuses including abductions by both sides. and reports today highlight the rise of citizen patrols across the region financed by wealthy ukrainia ukrainians. reporters on the ground indicate a weakening presence. we will have much more news right after a quick break. in the nation, it's not always pretty. but add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we take care of the heat, so you don't get burned. just another way we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ unionize without anything coming back to harm us. >> it's supposed to be just a starter job. it keeps you trapped here because you can't venture out because y

democrats forward about benghazi, and they were on the way into a meeting this morning, and here is steve israel as long as it is at the end of the day, and it is truly a bipartisan and fair and reasonable inquiry, and not a witch hunt h, and not a republic can campaign strategy, we will participate. >> and we are waiting for them to come out of the meeting to decide what to do about this meeting and if they will boycott or participate and if so how many members. we will give you the update as soon as we have it. >>> and meanwhile, there is a tribute video out there that has gone viral with 8 million hits and counting. people at cars.com set up interviews with people they thought was going to be operations director. >> we are looking for someone who might have a degree in medicine and finance and culinary arts, and you will have to wear several hats and sometimes they have to stay up with an eassociate overnight. >> and you have to live in the chaotic. >> and you will have no life, and give up thanksgiving and christmas and on holidays the workload goes up, and the position is going to pay nothi

a few years ago we brought steve hughes sees from israel issued the sentence to be a gross area for leaking the climate of our country they need. i suspect in the cities of the king classical biological methods allow for syphilis multiplication of the pond one of these micro cloning these are pretty standard but scientists have developed a suitable culture medium for student cloning. the film he would say the least because of leeds and london and the new trend in india. then we kept on hormones and your skeleton as is. i was thinking this guy from the set of talent in antique style mass is time to select the embryos unique ones which are then used to be the embryo is an ngo regenerated plans to flicker on and wanted him to ground easily adapted to the climate of kazakhstan the seeds produced one hundred percent germination topics on stevie is also quite successful in terms of the us might calm down. courtney's japan's plans have two to fourteen per cent of this tedious time at the moment we have about sixteen ha percent contained and the pounds the next stage is producing edible products ba

this is dccc chair steve israel. saying, if this was a fair inquiry, the republicans would've accepted our offer for balanced rules. instead, it's meant to excite their base. we should have nothing to do with that. is the last line of that statement. do you agree with him? >> i do. i think they shouldn't even show up. it's a joke. and the bottom line -- >> i agree completely. >> -- look, there is no convincing -- anyone who's interested in benghazi at this point, whatever the mystery is, they're not going to vote for democrats. this is a good opportunity for democrats to actually continue ahead with an agenda and express the fact that while we're trying to pursue an agenda, these guys are off with their benghazi watchdog t-shirts, tote bags, mugs, whatever it is that they're selling. >> well, that's the thing. i think it does have a certain point -- i do think there's a disconnect between them understanding how it looks to their base and how it looks to everyone else. and frankly, the way the house is set up, they do

so, we called steve israel and benny thompson, inviting them on the program here. they declined.s irresponsible. if you are going to call someone a racist. you have got to back it up. right? so we sent watters out to engage the congressman. ♪ ♪ >> i'm jesse watters with the o'reilly factor. i'm actually one of your constituents. you said that the republican base was animated by racism. can you explain that? >> well, you know, you are picking up on something that was out of context and happened three weeks ago. so i question why you would even ask that three weeks after. >> because we have invited you on the show a number of times and you keep declining. >> we need get away from describing motives and pass comprehensive immigration bill. who care what is people think. we need to engage in action. comprehensive immigration bill. that can be one of the most important things we can do. >> what's your evidence that republicans are racist? >> i never said that. >> you said the republican base was animated by racism. >> i'm sorry, but i have to go. >> reporter: congressman, i pay your s

we have great candidates, we are led by a wonderful chairman, steve israel who is so policy driven, politicallying of the district. it's a marginal district because he represents one. again the candidates are great. we think the contrast in terms of our priorities versus theirs is one that we'll be able to make the distinction. however the election turns out, the american people will know what the voice koiss are. >> i want to ask you about the new nbc news poll asking about the midterms. it found the highest interest, republicans have a 15-point lead then they look at the drop-off voters who voted in 2012 and don't appear interested this the midterms. it's a heavily female, younger, twice as likely to identify democrats as republican. their approval rating for president obama is ten points higher. you get your voters out in presidential years. a totally different electorate turns out if the pid terms. you get a republican congress. this seems like a problem. the turn out. >> it's about turn out. it's not a problemment it's a channel. it is true the new american electorate is many more women, y

martha: steve israel, the democrat from new york, is quoted as saying before he went into this meetingthat john boehner is not returning nancy peloalls on this. you know, there has been some speculation that maybe the two of them are trying to hash this out hine closed doors and come up with some kind of a deal. you talk about partially televised, maybe all televised. you would imagine some of this stuff is in the works behind the scenes, correct? >> right. i mean, again we don't really know what is going on with this in particular. i thought it was interesting, you look at the democrats who did vote to hold this collect committee and they were a few democrats that are up for re-election, even some democrats in swing districts who aren't even up for re-election. so i think that this sort of indicates to you that this is going beyond sort of partisan republican conference here. i mean you have got democrats like mike mcintyre in north carolina who is from a swing district who is retiring and he voted for this. i don't know. it is sort of interesting to see how this all shakes out partic

listen to what steve israel, a democrat from new york, but also head of the committee trying to elect about the debate. >> we're trying to find a way to make this work but the republicans have shown no inclination to make it work. if this is going to be a true bipartisan inquiry, we'll participate. if it's eng meineered to be a republican campaign strategy, it's much harder for us to participate. we still wait for the speaker to tell us option a or option b. >> i just have to tell you one thing that comes from deirdre walsh doing excellent reporting. she heard there was a blowup inside this meeting going on now between nancy pelosi and one of her good friends and colleagues, henry waxman, from california, about whether they should participate or not. henry waxman thinks they should participate and pelosi said waxman is undermining her love ranch with john boehner by saying so publicly. that speaks to the tension and divide among democrats about whether to go forward and do this or whether to stay on the sidelines. >> gloria, i would like to make clear what this select committee is rea

the fact is nancy pelosi, steve israel, tim bishop, they've never served a day and i think when i wasnnatural, jumping out with your parachute, fast forward to today and you have these democratic hacks out of washington who want to change the subject and fling insults and say i'm a coward. it doesn't fit. >> your reaction is put somees y serving. do they even understand that that's your background? they did something very similar to congressman cotton down south, too. >> yeah. i think that they realize that our strongest suit is our character, our integrity, our honor, our personal courage. so they want to attack it because they're so desperate to hold on to power. they're prestige, their perks, they don't want to lose it. they'll do anything to hold a congressional seat. so they'll try to tear down someone who -- for me i spent half my life serving in the military. i love it. i'm proud of it. i don't want to be called a coward. >> you put yourself through law school by joining the rotc. you went to al beeny. you were a jag officer, but also going out on missions because you were in t

steve, but i'll ask anyway. you talked about how the state of israel came into being as a result of a force that had to be which was the assertion militarily of, like, you're going to have a violent expression. >> yeah. >> do you see any relationship with that thought, as controversial as it is, because it's -- i mean, i think it's not true. i'm just saying it's an interesting thought. as it relates to the treatment of palestinians today as they relate to the jewish state. >> could you be a little more specific? >> well, i mean, like obviously we would all like peace in the middle east. but if a country is forged in blood, does that carry forward? is there any hope -- >> that's a great question. and, of course, it's like an insoluble question because going back for centuries blood for blood for blood for blood, right? >> right. >> i'll tell you one little anecdote -- >> not for centuries. it's only a hundred years. >> well, we can go back to the crusaders and all that kind of stuff. >> i'm just saying -- [inaudible] you can do that. >> well, let me tell you an anecdote, and maybe this'll be of interest. this is

israel's new ambassador to the united states next. but first, today's tdr trivia question brought to you by our own steve kornacki, who will be joinings in a few minutes. in what year was a woman last elected to congress from new jersey? i think i know who that is. the first person to tweet the correct answer will get the shoutout from me and steve coming up. during the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar. at night and when it's cloudy, we use more natural gas. this ensures we can produce clean electricity whenever our customers need it. ♪ there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place expedia, find yours [is engineered for comfort.hing that goes into a lennox system like parts that create your perfect temperature and humidity or the parts that purify the air. together these parts can cut your heating and cooling bills in half. which is quite comforting. and here's the best part... call now to get up to 1,700 dollars back