both sides know thomas durkin. anybody who knows him also knows he's a pretty by the book straight and narrow judge. i'm guessing neither side is going to ask for durkin to leave this case. >> okay, thanks so much carol marin out there. wmaq, a great station. >>> michael steele, former chairman of the rnc. i mean, it's probably out of order right now to show too much sympathy for this guy. >> yeah. >> because if he did abuse those kids it was not reprehensible, it was evil. you look at the situation so many years later. it's like a war criminal being hauled back years after the incidents. >> part of the problem is that's not what he's being charged with. you got what he did with the cash that he was paying this individual or other individuals and then you have the separate piece which deals with his personal behavior. that, of course, is the most damaging part about this. i think the problem that denny hastert has is further revelations, if there are other students who come forward. apparently there are those that a

central time before judge thomas durkin. with the added possibility that judge thomas durkin may have to recuse himself from the case because of his multiple ties to denny hastert and his political career and his family including his own multiple donations to denny hastert's campaigns when he was still in congress. this started off as a strange and unexpected story. now days into it is a black box. watch this case. watch this space. out of 42 vehicles based on 6 different criteria, why did a panel of 11 automotive experts name the volkswagen golf motor trend's 2015 car of the year? we'll give you four good reasons. the volkswagen golf. starting at $19,295, there's an award-winning golf for everyone. ♪ ♪ when you're living with diabetes steady is exciting. only glucerna has carbsteady clinically proven to help minimize blood sugar spikes. so you stay steady ahead. next. ♪♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! vo: in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't

central time before judge thomas durkin. with the possibility that durkin may have to recuse himself from the case because of his ties to dennis hastert and his political career and dennis hastert's family including his own multi donations to his campaigns when he was still in congress. this started off as a strange and unexpected story. now days into it is a black box. >>> americans take as part of our birthright freedom and privacy. we think of them as not quite twins, but if you have freedom you have privacy and without privacy there's no freedom. but there are times and stories freedom and privacy are not so neat. a story like that happened today. it was a very big deal. it was historic and it played out in the most public way possible. the >>> so you know about the state of nebraska voted to hah! (explosion) ♪ lead your heroes in the hit mobile game download heroes charge now! >>> so you know about the state of nebraska voted to abolish the death penalty last week. super contentious vote down to the wire. the governor ve

central time before judge thomas durkin. with the possibility that durkin may have to recuse himself from the case because of his ties to dennis hastert and his political career and dennis hastert's family including his own multiam donations to his campaigns when he was still in congress. this started off as a strange and unexpected story. now days into it is a black box. watch this case. expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! vo: in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. vo: we put members first... join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ ♪ [music] ♪ jackie's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. ♪ [announcer]when we make beyond natural dry dog and cat foods. we start with real

judge thomas durkin gave $5,000 in 2002 and $1,000 in 2004.was nominated by president obama in 2012. he's indicted over lying to the fbi over alleged hush money attached to a past misconduct, paying $3.5 million to a guy who went to a school where hastert first taught. the first kwourt appearance is on thursday. >>> in brooklyn, a heart stopping scene. look at this, a car barrels onto a sidewalk and mows down the little guy. the child and driver remain hospitalized but we hear will be okay. so far no charges and no word on what caused that crash. >>> now to georgia, a happy up date for a hooters waitress and a long-time customer. she donated a kidney to him last week after just losing her grandmother to kidney failure. this morning the 22-year-old and 72-year-old are out of the hospital. what does the customer plan to do next? go back to hooter's of course to leave his favorite waitress a big tip. >>> in paris, baby, it is over. crews have started removing pad locks from the love locks bridge. there there is a million of them. last year part o

judge thomas durkin made those donations more than ten years ago.e said he had no doubt he could still be impartial. he also said he would remove himself from the case unless both parties agreed to let him stay on. a hearing about that is scheduled for later this week. >> wow, a furse implication. >> rough republicans as fastest rising stars, marco rubio, at age 44 is also the youngest presidential candidate in the field. today new scrutiny on his financial struggles and spending habits. >> here areas nbc's peter alexander. >> how are you? rainstorm this morning his campaign says he's faced financial challenges like most americans, and them make him a better candidate, one that voters can relate to. "new york times" this week detailed hi debt and mortgages, including a purchase of three homes, putting no money down on two of them. appear a publisher paid him $800 thousands to where i a book he paid off law school loans, but also purchased an $80,000 $80,000 24-foot fishing boat and leased a luxury suv recently. he's come under scrutiny before. he ch

thomas durkin who reportedly made some contributions to dennis hastert.the assumption is someone involved like that would recuse himself from a high profile case like this. >> only in chicago, of course the judge has a lot of political connections. as he two-time donor to denny hastert's congressional fund. a $1,000 donation. his brother jim is the top republican in the illinois house. thomas has given other republicans donations. his brother ran for the united states senate against senator dick durbin. his brother contributed to his campaign. and senator john mccain backed his brother and it is a political situation. the judge talked about it today at the trial but interesting, he didn't just flat out recuse himself. what he said is if anyone the two counsel, the defendant and the prosecutors have a problem, let me know next week. >> he was randomly assigned to the case and he acknowledged, if either side has an issue, tell me by thursday. i do not expect the judge will be on this case very long. >> let me get jeffrey's analysis. >> i just think it is ou

district judge thomas durkin handling this case, he's actually given money to hastert's political campaigns in the year 2002 and 2004 500 and $1,000 respectively. that seems like pea nuts but nonetheless, the fact that the judge residing over the case gave money to hastert to get reelected to office would seem to pose a really significant question in terms of objectivity. but it doesn't look like it's made that may waves. >> that's a great point. the money was given at a time when the district judge was in private practice. and here in text,nin texas, it's not just chicken feed. that's not your bar tab. and it's not that anybody has necessarily given money to a political candidate who may now be a defendant in your court. it's whether a reasonable person, the people that watch this this great network watching all the facts and circumstances would have a reasonable doubt about that judge's ability to be fair. and this is a well respected district judge in the northern district of illinois and i really think if i'm the prosecutor, i mean got to understand that if and when this case goes to tr

case the attorneys have until 4:00 tomorrow to decide whether or not to disqualify this judge, thomas durkin based on his relationship with the hastert family. he's donated money to the campaign, about $1500 in the year 2004. once that's cleared up they'll have a hearing to set a trial date. hastert does not need to be there. other than that he must give in the weapons that are on his campaign -- i'm sorry, that are on his property. he has two weeks to do that thomas. >> so as we're understanding about the background of the actual charges, lying to the fbi and moving around money evading banking -- proper banking laws we know that he is now getting walloped by republican insiders washington insiders over his speakership and his time as one of the most powerful men in washington. >> reporter: we're really not hearing a lot of that here thomas. as i said before we're not really getting a sense that the politics of washington are going to interfere with this case. the case here will stick to the facts of what you just mentioned, the two underlying counts. the withdrawals and how they were struc

again, judge thomas durkin made the donations 10 years ago he said he has no doubt he could be impartialaid he would remove himself if the case unless both parties, the defense and the prosecution, agree to let him stay on. and mika again, a decision on that is expected by tomorrow. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez, thank you very much. >>> coming up the fight against isis. the race for 2016 and one of the largest government data breeches in u.s. history. we have a lot to talk about with joe manchin and he is next on "morning joe." mmm yoplait! it's snack time! oh, look! yoplait original now has 25% less sugar. it tastes good! yoplait! you know our new rope has actually passed all the tests. we're ready to start with production. ok, are you doing test markets like last time? uh, no we're going to roll out globally. ok. we'll start working on some financing options right away. thanks, joe. oh, yeah. it's a game-changer for the rock-climbing industry. this is one strong rope! huh joe? oh, yeah it's incredible! how you doing team? jeff you good? [jeff] i think i dropped my keys. [announcer] you work

court records show, judge thomas kerr ken donated hundreds of dollars to his congressional campaigns back in 2002 and 2004. durkinrs say they'll yet to ask him if he's going to recuse himself. >> judge said violating his orders to avoid outside information about the case, and not to talk about it with other. the usual ooh first came to light, fourth juror told the judge she heard a juror talking about the trial on two previous occasions, the trial currently in its seventh week. 5:49. bomb threat forced small evacuation at the white house yesterday. it affected the white house press corps tour in the middle of a news conference in the briefing room secret service had them step out. so the threat was called into local police but no bomb was found. president obama remained in the oval office during the scare. the president's family also remained in the white house residence. >>> in health news for this morning, a fda advisory panel is weighing the evidence on new type of cholesterol lowering drug, new drug, would be given by injections. doctors hope it will help lower ldl or bad cholesterol in people who have high l