Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20140329

coast of australia and the objects cannot be confirmed, nor discounted as being part of flight 370 until they are analyzed. nbc's keir simmons is joining me now from kuala lumpur. so keir, what do we know about these objects and where will they take them? >> reporter: alex, they have been prolonged for these two ships, one australian, and one chinese. and that's where the hope perhaps fades a little. because it's not confirmed by nbc news. but two chinese media outlets are saying that they -- it does not appear to be related to flight 370. the china people's people daily website, according to our producer there, is saying there are no findings that the suspect objects collected by the chinese and australian ship were related to the missing plane, and the chinese state broadcast there is equally saying that what it has called garbage has been pulled on to those ships, nothing in relation to a plane. now, i just say again that none of that is -- we haven't confirmed any of that. it hasn't been confirmed by the australians who are, of course, mostly in charge of this search. although there is a multinational, you know, fleet of ships involved. so it's -- it's worrying. but still, we wait to find out what happens when this stuff gets taken back to australia. and they will look at it very closely, because just because perhaps just because it doesn't look like it's come from flight 370, it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't evidence of flight 370. and it comes just as the malaysians here are trying to reassure some of the families who have relatives on that flight, the transportation minister going to see some of the relatives. this is what he had to say after he came out of that meeting. >> no matter how remote, i'm always hoping against hope, and i'm praying. and also in any remote manner, it has always been to find survivors. >> reporter: what he's saying there is that the families had asked that this continue to be a search and rescue operation, if there is any possibility of a chance that anyone survived, that that would be kept as a possibility. he said, yes, although it is very remote, of course, alex. >> yeah. okay. a couple questions now. you talked about there being a chinese and australian ship and the reports in the chinese media. is that based on what they found, perhaps garbage, just from the chinese ship, what they picked up? do we know what was on the australian ship? and also your report this morning that talked about different objects being spotted. do we know if these are the same ones that had the buoys on them, or might they be different ones? >> reporter: the answer to your second question is we don't know. the answer to your first question is at the moment the chinese state media are suggesting it is related to both what was on the australian ship and on the chinese ship. but just to repeat that point, we just are reporting what's been said by other news outlets there. and we don't want to give people the impression that this is true or certainly confirmed until we hear it from more authoritative source than that. that said, of course, the chinese government has been deeply involved in this. extremely worried. many of the relatives, because many of the passengers are from china. so it wouldn't be surprising if information was being fed through to chinese sources relatively quickly. having said that, again, you know, we need to -- this is a long process. everybody wants answers. we're three weeks in. at the same time, this is inevitably going to be a long process where they take this stuff to australia and have to look at it closely. >> unfortunately. because patience is waning. keir simmons, thank you so much from kuala lumpur. one of the passengers on board missing flight 370 is 50-year-old phillip wood, an american ibm employee from texas. i spoke to his partner, sarah, about her ordeal earlier today. >> today has been particularly tough, because i flew last night from beijing to kael, and it was a super bumpy flight. so all through that turbulence, i kept having these images of phillip strapped in his seat at the bottom of the ocean, right? and walking into our apartment and having his clothes all still laid out everywhere. he obviously left for the airport in a rush. that was kind of traumatic. but you know, the grieving is already real. i still believe that there is a chance that phillip and other passengers are alive. because there's no proof that they aren't. but i'm still grieving for the loss of him in my life at this moment. and for all the trauma that we've been put through. >> sarah also says she has used social media as not only an outlet for her own grief, but as a platform for a broader conversation about air safety and the way countries communicate with one another. southern california woke up this morning a bit shaken from its second earthquake in two weeks. the 5.1 quake happened last night. the epicenter was outside of la habra. a rock slide caused a bmw to crash and overturn, and disneyland shut down rides as a precaution. rehema ellis is in los angeles with the shake, rattle and roll with this quake. good afternoon owe our time, good morning your time. >> reporter: the quake got everyone's attention here in southern california, because depending where you were, people say the shaking lasted 10 to 30 seconds. the tremor hit at 9:09:00 p.m. west coast time, a magnitude of 5.1, a moderate quake. but it shook buildings so much. at this grocery store, wine bolted crashed to the floor. inside homes, dishes and glasses were broken. and pictures were knocked about. >> my entire car was shaking. >> reporter: a car overturned on carbon canyon road after it was struck by a rock slide that was caused by the quake. at the dodgers game in l.a., the cameras shook and the fox booth announcers called out what they thought was happening. >> we might be experimenting or experiencing, i should say, an earthquake here. rumbling through dodger stadium right now. >> reporter: cars jammed at intersections because of traffic lights that lost power. and at least one street flooded from a water main break caused by the earthquake. rides at disneyland were temporarily halted, but there was no panic. people voluntarily evacuated. authorities say the quake was slightly larger than another tremor just two weeks ago. this one was centered in la-habra and felt 20 miles away in los angeles, as well as several other counties, including riverside, san bernardino and orange county. it was followed by as many as two dozen aftershocks. [ buzzer ] >> and now we're having an aftershock. >> no injuries were reported. but now with two earthquakes just 12 days apart, the mayor of languages says this is a reminder to be prepared. >> good advice, but i have to say, it's hard to get used to, no matter how prepared you are. terra firma underneath you shaking, this isn't right. rehema ellis, thank you so much. another developing story this morning in the pacific northwest. searchers are fighting the weather as they move into their second week looking for mudslide victims in washington state. the number of official deaths is 17. but that number is expected to rise as searchers continue slogging through the debris of last saturday's mudslide. the search is taking its toll. >> these individuals coming in up to waist-deep in mud they have been going through. they have been digging through stuff. they have seen things most people shouldn't have to see. >> nbc's jennifer bjork lund is joining us from washington with the latest. it is certainly a grim search. what's going on today, jennifer? >> reporter: it's even worse today with the rainfall we had overnight and early this morning, it is just -- horrific. the conditions they're working in and things they find in the mud. one of the searchers described it as fiberglass yesterday to us. just to give an idea of the structure of the mud. it has mud that is turning into concrete with just reinforced with tree trunks and building materials. bits of broken cars. and possibly human remains. they are slogging through it very, very gingerly, but also very carefully, just in case there are any survivors. now, that list of 90 missing, when asked about it yesterday in the afternoon press briefing, executive director of snohomish county, gary hackenson, kind of gave us the most grim look yet. where he said, you know, you want to hold out hope as long as you can. but there comes a point where you have to expect the worst. of those 90, most of them feared dead, and that was the answer we got in the press briefing. the death toll officially at 17. we know many more bodies, at least ten have been found, but haven't yet been taken to the medical examiner's office to be counted officially. they want one official number coming out of there every day at 6:00 pacific time. they'll give us a briefing and update on the numbers. but the numbers will rise. how quickly with the search conditions the way they are, that remains to be seen. back to you. >> okay, yeah. autos said, the weather certainly not helping any. jennifer, thank you so much. breaking news now from overseas. secretary of state john kerry's plane abruptly changed course in mid air on its way back to the u.s. from saudi arabia. what caused the sudden change of planes? let's go it nbc's kristen welker at the white house for us. do you know the answer? what have you learned? >> secretary kerry spoke with his counterpart, russian counterpart, sergey lavrov, earlier today about a possible diplomatic resolution to the crisis in ukraine. and that conversation comes on the heels of a conversation that occurred yesterday between president obama and president putin. a senior administration official telling me that president putin reached out to president obama. the phone call lasted for about 60 minutes. it is characterized as being frank and direct. and alex, what's -- what is news worthy about that call, it could signal, and i want to underscore that word "could" signal a new willingness on the part of president putin to find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in ukraine. now, i am told that both leaders discussed a possible diplomatic resolution. officials here not giving a whole lot of details about what that resolution would entail. but one source here points me back to past discussions about an off-ramp for russia. those discussions have included allowing international monitors into ukraine, having russia draw its troops back to its bases in crimea and also creating a dialogue between russia and ukraine. one that would be supported by the international community. now, kerry will meet with his counterpart, sergey lavrov. reuters reporting that meeting could take place as early as tomorrow or as early as sunday. that's why kerry diverting his plane, heading back to paris. we should also say he was already scheduled to be in europe for discussions with foreign ministers about this situation in ukraine. alex, back to you. >> okay, thank you very much, kristen, from the white house. we appreciate that. what happens in vegas? you know the phrase. why this weekend could set the tone for a group of high-stakes presidential contenders. a live report from sin city when we come back. sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ ♪ (announcer) the subaru forester. motor trend's two thousand fourteen sport utility of the year. when you get some recognition, you can't help feeling a little humbled, and a little proud. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. and this park is the inside of your body. see the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels. and that gelling helps to lower some cholesterol. metamucil. 3 amazing benefits in 1 super fiber. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ four potential 2016 republican presidential candidates are in las vegas this weekend to meet with billionaire addison who poured $100 million into the 2012 election. jeb bush, chris christie, john casich and scott walker are in sin city for the republican coalition spring meeting or what the "washington post" is calling the first republican primary of the 2016 election. for more, nbc's kasie hunt joins us from las vegas. is this the shell done primary? >> reporter: that's right, alex. so several of the potential 2016 presidential contenders have come here to las vegas to try to see if they can convince sheldon addleson they're the guy he should bet on. you had jeb bush for a private event thursday. today we're hearing from governor chris christie, governor scott walker, governor john kasich, as they speak to this meeting of the republican jewish coalition, a collection of major donors to this group run by addleson. keep in mind, this represents a major shift in how we fund elections. there is a lot of concern about the power of these individuals by funding a super pac. they can funnel up to $100 million into a presidential campaign. and that's something that we haven't been able to see in some previous election cycles, because of the decision in citizens united and other factors like that. so there's been a lot of concern. and, in fact, newt gingrich said that he believes the candidates should be able to raise that kind of money and that billionaires like addleson's participation in the process could actually be a problem. and gingrich is, of course, the person who benefitted from addleson's millions of dollars in the last election. >> yeah, okay. just want to make sure the clapping -- so you can hear. can we assume other potential candidates, like rand paul, who are not there in las vegas are not in the running for any of sheldon addleson's money, or not? >> reporter: it's interesting you should point out that. senator paul, i'm told, was, in fact, invited and is not appearing here. he has generated some concern about his support or lack thereof for israel. and it's something paul himself has worked hard to try to shore up. he has tried to reassure especially kneo conservationists he is somebody on their side. a lot of opposition from corners running up into this election cycle. >> okay. is there any indication whatsoever -- you put together the private dinner you mentioned, jeb bush had in the airplane hangar, and those attending. is there any indication which way mr. addleson is leaning at this point? >> reporter: not at this point. it's still very early, alex. >> okay. kasie hunt, thank you very much for that live report from sin city. next week, the senate will take up a bill to extend unemployment insurance three months after emergency benefits expire for more than 2 million americans. a vote to begin the debate passed 65-34 thursday and the bill is expected to pass. but then it will head to the house where, as always, it's another story. joining me now, democratic congressman, matt cartwright, member of the oversight and government reform committee. welcome back. good to see you, sir. thanks for joining me. >> nice to be back, alex. how are you? >> i'm well, thanks. i hope you are too. let's get to the issues at hand here. speaker boehner called the senate bill unworkable. does it have any chance of passing in the house? >> well, alex, we're now a couple weeks past the time when the ticker went over 2 million. over 2 million americans voted off of long-term unemployment compensation. and it's all because the house leadership, you know -- mr. boehner and the republican leadership of the house, refused to bring bills like the senate bill up in the house of representatives. i don't understand it. because i can tell you, there are plenty of moderate republicans who see the value in allowing these people to stay on long-term unemployment compensation. we have never as a nation, in my lifetime, kicked off people from long-term unemployment compensation when the percentage of the long-term unemployed has been so high. it's something like 2.8, 2.9%. our long-term unemployed -- i think the highest it ever was when we kicked people off before, was something like 1 or 1.5%. so it's practically double what it ever was. so the fact that house leadership won't bring it up is baffling to me, when i think they have the republican votes to pass it. >> well, it's also interesting to me, just on an emotional tenor, sir. i was covering this story, it was happening right around christmas day. and i remember the sentiment at that time was, hang on, all of you who are affected by this. as soon as congress gets back into session, we're going to get back on this, and address it first thing right away. well, okay, you know, three months later -- i mean, what happened? what happened? why was that sentiment lost? you're asking me to speculate what goes on in the hearts and minds of other people, alex. but, you know, it's kind of -- at some point, you have to draw them a picture, that these are real harms that are -- real consequences affecting real people. and what i've done to help kind of draw that picture, i've introduced a bill to -- to enact a six-month moratorium on mortgage foreclosures for people who were booted off of long-term unemployment. people who were already paid up on their mortgages before they got kicked off of long-term unemployment. but, you know, it's one thing to lose your job. but to lose your house, as well is catastrophic for an american family. >> oh, absolutely. >> and i can tell you, i have 63 democratic co sponsors already on my bill. and we're coupling that with a letter to mel watt, the director of the federal housing finance agency to ask him to could do that administratively, grant a six-month moratorium on mortgage foreclosure activity. you just finished a story about las vegas. my good friend, steve horseford, the congressman from las vegas, america's foreclosure capital, is helping me push that bill. and that letter. and i also should mention that michel michelle lieu han grisham from new mexico also has a bill to outlaw what we call deficiency judgements in foreclosure actions. it's already the law in many states that you can't do that. in other words, foreclose on the house, sell the house a sheriff's sale, doesn't sell for enough, so still more money owed on the mortgage. go after the homeowner for that deficiency. her bill is to make that federal law that you can't do that in residential situations. and i've co sponsored that, as well. >> well, it's great you're trying to keep a roof over the heads of americans who are being, you know, perhaps unfairly saddled with a number of horrible things happening in their families. let's also talk about this, switching gears. as the white house announced this week, more than 6 million people have now signed up for private insurance plans under obamacare. as you know, monday is the deadline. are you satisfied with the turnout? >> i think so far. as i've said all along, we have to be patient with this. it's a sea change in american health care, and a lot of different things going on. a lot of -- and i expect lots of speed bumps involved in this run. it wasn't a huge surprise to see the glitches in the computer software last fall. but at the time i was saying relax, we're going to get through this. we did the same thing with medicare part d. there were glitches when we rolled out medicare as a whole in the '60s. we'll get through this. so, you know, are we doing better than expected, worse than expected? i think, you know, that's fodder for the talking heads on tv. i guess i am one now, alex. but i don't really want to engage in that. i think it's going to be a good thing in the long term. there are going to be lots of problems. but let's work together and iron them out. >> okay. well, our favorite talking head for the last 15 minutes or 5 minutes, how's that, representative matt cartwright, thank you so much. did a florida driver get what he deserved? the story behind the video that's gone viral. and those busy sidewalks. but as new york city's population undergoing a sea change? now to today's number ones. counting heads. the latest census report find the big apple's population is so much bigger, a record high. a little more than 8.4 million of us call new york city home. it's risen almost 3% between 2010 and july of 2013. during that time, the villages in florida has experienced the biggest growth in the u.s. the retirement community's population has gone up about 14.5%. in midland, texas, it's risen around 10.5% and 9.7% in austin, texas. and baseball's miguel cabrera may see his bank account reach record levels. just signed the richest contract in american sports history, a ten-year deal for $292 million. and it was a shot at fame and fortune that paid off. a lucky fan in phoenix hitting a half court shot last night to win $77,777. and now he's in -- wait for it -- seventh heaven. you knew it was coming, right/and those are your number ones here on "weekends with alex witt." makes it like two deals in one. salesperson #1: point is there's never been a better time to buy a jetta tdi clean diesel. avo: during the first ever volkswagen tdi clean diesel event get a great deal on a jetta tdi. it gets 42 highway miles per gallon. and get a $1,000 fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. volkswagen has the most tdi clean diesel models of any brand. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months on tdi models. to help people clean better, and that he travels the world inventing amazing new cleaners, like his newest invention, liquid muscle, that lifts and cleans tough grease with less scrubbing. it's a liquid gel, so it's less watery and cleans more. and its cap stops by itself so almost nothing's wasted. ♪ no matter where he went or who he helped, people couldn't thank him enough. new mr. clean liquid muscle. when it comes to clean, there's only one mr. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] cheerios. with flavors your heart will love. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt. "that massive recall by general motor for compact cars with faulty ignition switches has expanded. gm says it's expanding that recall to nearly 2.6 million cars globally with most in the u.s. the problem is a glitch causing the cars to suddenly stall. that flaw has been linked to 12 crash deaths. that chicago train operator who admits dozing off at the control says she worked 69 hours leading up to monday's crash. but management is disputing she worked that much. the surveillance video shows the moment it crashed at the o'hare airport station, plowing off that platform and right up an escalator. more than 30 passengers were injured. a video showing a tailgating motorist crashing into a pole has become a youtube sensation. it's been viewed more than 6 million times since wednesday. the florida motorist who fled the scene of that accident has been tracked down and is now facing charges, including careless driving. we are keeping a close eye on some new developments in the hunt for missing malaysia airlines flight 370. two ships, one chinese, one australian, have recovered floating objects inside the new search zone. chinese state tv says an aircraft spotted red and orange objects in the area earlier today. the same region, the australian air force also reported seeing multiple floating items, but no confirmation that the objects pulled from the ocean are related to the missing jetliner. for more on today's new developments in the certain, i want to bring in former federal aviation administration official chief of staff, michael goldfarb. good to see you. >> afternoon, alex. >> now that the ships have recovered some objects from the indian ocean from the new search area, what's the next step in determining whether or not they're related to flight 370? >> i tell you, we still have a long shot here. they talked about the needle in the haystack. we had to find the haystack, the haystack being the debris field, the needle being the so-called black boxes. given this amount of time and the spread of the debris, that may not have anything to do with the debris field. that rectangular object doesn't look like it would come from a 777. once again, we're really grasping at these straws, so to speak. and once if it is in fact confirmed, it will go to australia. that's the protocol here. australia will take all of the physical objects, determine if, in fact, it is part of the aircraft, and then from there the experts will begin to examine it in more detail. >> okay. let's talk about the boundaries of this new search zone. they were drawn just yesterday. why do you think it took investigators this long to figure this out, and was precious time wasted searching in the wrong area? >> well, one thing we go back to, in lieu of facts, we've had so little amount of facts in this case that we've had politics run rampant, international politics run rampant and speculation. there was a little thing that could have prevented two weeks of this search. had this malaysian aircraft had what was called the swift upgrade, an application, that application would have pinged information back like an air france 447 to the ground, through the satellites that would have told position, heading, altitude and speed. those are the four conditions we don't know anything about. so we're almost back to early geometry or trigonometry, charting, in fact, the satellite signal, taking radar data and trying to then hypothesize where it might be. that part of it is inexcusable. in the united states and europe, all airlines are required to have that data package. so when acars stops, that information continues. let's fast forward to today. now we have another supposed zone. we're three weeks into this. you know, air france took two years after they found the debris field to find that so-called black box. it's going to be a long, i'm afraid, search. >> yeah. and the analysis of the radar data, michael, indicates the plane was going faster than previously thought? can you explain how the jet's altitude and that speed also plays a role in how far it can go? particularly with altitude. how does that play into it? >> most people think, well, if it went faster, why didn't it go further? and it's not necessarily correlated. because the inefficient flight path reported of that aircraft going up perhaps to 45,000 feet and then down to 12,000 feet, flying at 12,000 feet. if you fly low, you would expect a greater fuel burn so it wouldn't go as far. the jet can go faster. we don't know the headwinds, don't know any of the meteorological conditions. and all of those together paint a portrait of where that plane and how fast it was going. so once again, we're resketching where we think it is, and it's kind of pitiful three weeks in to be at this stage of the investigation. the investigation finally getting organized, the international rules applying. but, boy, what a loss of potential time, let alone the anguish of the families waiting and turning on every aspect of this. >> plenty of criticism to go around. can i ask you, though, this report of 40-some-odd,000 feet in the air, is the 777 definitely able to fly at that altitude? i've heard conflicting reports. >> i think when they said 45, that breaks the flight envelope of the 777. that's really pushing it higher than it was meant to fly in its flight profile. so once again, reports of changing in altitude. the only thing we know truly, three weeks later, consider this. it took off, it disappeared and it appeared to take a turn. and satellite data appears to show where it went. we have no more information today. so there is two investigations going on. we have the criminal investigation, we have no reason to believe the pilots have been part of this in any way or someone hijacked that plane. that investigation is going on. and then we have the aviation safety one with the ntsb, faa, boeing and malaysian authorities trying to sort through what today is a very small amount of data. >> okay. former faa official, michael goldfarb, thank you. >> my pleasure. just two hours from now, new jersey governor chris christie will speak at the republican jewish coalition's spring meeting in las vegas. and this all comes amid the internal review released this week, concluding that the governor had no knowledge or involvement in the george washington bridge scandal. yesterday afternoon, governor christie defended the report that some are calling a whi whitewash. no matter who i chose to do this, questions would be raised by some quarters as to some people's objectivity. my answer to that is, look at the report. we gave them unfettered, complete access to everyone in this government. >> access is one thing. but joining me now, bobbin ingal and brian thompson. bob, i want to pick up on that. this report was conducted by a law firm hired by the governor's office and did not include interviews, despite being given access with the key figures like bridget kelly, david wildstein, bill stepien, david samson, they all declined to participate. so give me your sense of the validity of this report. >> well, you have that, of course. there are allegations made about people who they didn't even talk to. but more than that, the tone of it and how it's written. it just doesn't sound like a serious ro official report that you can take seriously. >> okay. what about the big headline that came out of the press conference yesterday, brian. port authority chairman, dave samson, he resigned. was this expected? >> well, i was predicting -- i was guessing it would happen yesterday morning before the news conference happened. i mean, you have to look at a port authority chairman who had to recuse himself from voting on the operating budget, recuse himself from voting on the capital budget. recuse himself from even presiding over the last board meeting of the port authority, just a week or two ago. how can you be a chairman when you're recusing yourself, not to mention the fact, of course, we all know now that he's under investigation by the federal government, by the u.s. attorney in new jersey for possible criminal conflict of interest issues. under those circumstances, everybody was saying he has to go. the reason i have been told that he didn't go earlier from people close inside the administration is simply that governor christie, for all intents and purposes, loves this man. he is so close to him, he -- samson is a mentor to him. he was not going to throw david samson under the bus, over the bus, or in front of the bus any way he could help it. and in effect, he didn't. because he just came out with a statement saying, i've accepted his resignation, he's been a wonderful person, et cetera. >> yeah. bob, i want to pick up on the tenor things that you talked about there. this report included details about a possible personal relationship between bridget kelly and bill stepien. and it suggested that the end of that relationship may have had some bearing on her motivations and her state of mind. and her lawyer put out the statement that says in part, quote, the report's venomous, gratuitous and sexiest remarks have no place in what is alleged to be an independent and professional report. is that a fair criticism? >> absolutely. had no place in there. but more than that, suggesting that she could have become involved in this because of a breakup, which i guess they want us to think that maybe women are too emotional or something like that. that's like stone age thinking. that's insulting to women. that's insulting to anybody, really. it had no place in there. and just one more thing that makes this report laughable. >> yeah. brian, what about governor christie? in fact, here he is sticking speaking about this in an interview with fox news yesterday. >> do you think bridget anne kelly will back up your story when she's under oath? >> i have no idea. but i can tell you it's the truth. and certainly i think if she's telling the truth she will. because we never had any conversations about this. ever. >> so there's not going to be any e-mails, no phone records, no tape recordings that come out that establish you knew about this. >> no. because i didn't. >> give me your sense, brian, on this. because he is being so definitive here. and yet she has -- she still will come forth and have to testify to some degree. so does this make him more believable? because otherwise this is one high wire act he's running here. >> well, you could see it that way. but there is still no evidence anywhere, whether it's governor christie or from the special committee that's investigating him, that he indeed knew about this in advance. now, there is starting to be some evidence that david wildstein did, indeed, tell him about this on the middle of the lane closure week. but -- insofar as knowing in advance, i'm not sure bridget kelly has anything she can really dish at him. what she may have is something that she could dish at other members of his administration. if we're to believe the kind of common thinking that she could not have ordered this on her own and that wildstein could not have come up with it on his own, even though randy mastero in his report tried to make it sound as though this was a, quote, you been quote, crazy idea by wildstein. why this guy with crazy ideas was still in the port authority, as a christie appointee, is a whole different issue, of course. >> yeah. all right. brian thompson, bob ingal, good to see you both. inside the rise of america's energy independence. how this new-pound found power is reshaping the current crisis in ukraine. we'll explain next. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! [ doorbell rings ] the johnsons! stall them. first word... uh...chicken? hi, cascade kitchen counselor. stop stalling and start shining with cascade platinum packs. over time, platinum fights cloudy residue 3x better than the competing gel. it's so powerful it even helps keep the dishwasher sparkling. avoid embarrassing moments... at least for your dishes. cascade. beyond clean and shine every time. cascade. from the classic lines to the elegant trim in each and every piece, ♪ kohler will make your reality a dream. . russia's annexation of crimea debating the correct u.s. response. but the crisis could lead to a bipartisan consensus over america's future as an energy super power. the u.s. is already the world's largest producer of natural gas and about to become the world's largest oil producer by 2017. in a new national journal article, michael hirsch writes that the recent actions will speed up the process and turbo charge america's energy future. chief correspondent michael hirsch joining me now. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> what is the effect here with the crisis in ukraine? how is that likely to have an effect on u.s. energy policy? >> well, as you know, up until this crisis, there's been a lot of controversy over the development of oil and gas resources, inside the united states, the controversial technique of fracking. i think that what this crisis has done along with the instability in the middle east has shifted in favor of more development of these resources. we also have the europeans, who have been opposed, government by government, to fracking, reconsidering their own shale resources. and using that technique. so i think people are responding to the aggression of vladimir putin in ukraine by rethinking how they can best weaken him. and one of the interesting themes of vladimir putin's reign in russia, he has not been shy about using russia's oil and gas resources as sort of geopolitical leverage. >> absolutely. >> right. clearly the united states could get around that by developing its own resources. >> which has been happening. if you look at the stats, u.s. oil production up an astounding 39% since 2009. what is the best way for us to leverage our owen oil and gas reserves when it comes to future standoffs? >> in recent weeks, we've already had a lot of calls by republicans and pro gas and oil development democrats, mainly in the western states, to use these resources to help the ukrainians, to help to resolve the crisis. in truth, there's probably not that much the u.s. can do in the short run to shift the balance. you know, europe, for example, gets more than a third of its oil and gas from russia. but in the longer term, in terms of a strategy in terms of containing russia, if you will, over the long-term, there -- you know, this sounds like a reasonable strategy, one that will also not coincidentally address the problems we're having in the middle east, the arab countries, where relations with old allies like saudi arabia are not what they once were. so i think you're going to see that shifting the tide here and creating much more of a ground swell of support for these -- the use of fracking techniques. while at the same time being careful to observe all the environmental concerns. i'm not saying that's going to go away. i do think there is going to be a shift in the political debate. >> the whole concept kind of blows me away that we could have greater oil production by 2017 than saudi arabia? >> that's what the international energy association reported in its study. it does sound rather mind-boggling. but because of some of these new technologies, you know, that opportunity exists. now, export constraints on u.s. energy, that's going to be another topic of debate on capitol hill, i think, in the months and years to come. >> when can people come to an agreement, though, do you think? >> well, again, a lot of this has to do with the environmental lobby, which is very powerful. issues about climate change. i think there is going to be concessions, for example, on things like carbon sequestration, where you do deal with climate issues. and as well as addressing the environmental concerns created by fracking techniques. but i do think that if you look at the likeliest long term strategy for dealing with the vladimir putins of the world, as well as the saudi arabias, turning the united states into an energy export super power, which is technically now possible, is the way forward. >> okay. michael hirsch, interesting conversation. thank you so much. >> thank you. russian president vladimir putin, makes an unexpected phone call to president obama. we're going to talk high stakes diplomacy, next. a year after h, moonachie, new jersey, firefighters were still rebuilding their own house with limited funds for the most important necessities. ugh...this toilet paper's like sandpaper. [ male announcer ] that's when the charmin relief project came to the rescue. holy charmin. [ male announcer ] delivering over 10,000 rolls of bath tissue. charmin not only saved the day. charmin saved our butts. [ male announcer ] making a firehouse feel like home again. one more way the charmin relief project is helping people enjoy the go. one more way the charmin relief project a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? i would. i would indeed. well, let's be clear here. i'm actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way! i have no financial experience at all. that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. find a certified financial planner professional who's thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan.org. cfp -- work with the highest standard. president obama is expected back in washington later today after his overseas trip to europe and saudi arabia. but it's the u.s. relationship with russia that has grabbed the headlines again. vladimir putin called president obama unexpectedly on friday. white house officials described that call as, quote, frank and direct. let me bring in washington bureau chief of the "chicago sun times" lynn sweet and from "usa today" susan page. welcome to you both. lynn, secretary of state john kerry is now remaining in europe for those talks with his russian counterpart, minister lavrov. there are some reports it could happen tomorrow. is this call from putin a sign that perhaps russia is feeling the squeeze? lynn? >> well, hi, alex. i think what this is showing is that also putin wants to impress upon president obama that his annexation of crimea is a fait de compli. obama's white house talked about did he escalating the situation and now the u.s. is worried that putin may go into maldavea. it was a surprise to the president to get it. but i think it also means that putin is trying to establish as fact the annexation and he will discuss other things, but not that. he's creating chips to bargain with. >> susan, what do you think would inspire president putin to do this, that being call president obama? and can we just say my take on the readout of what transpired between them was historically different summaries of this call. >> that's right. frank and direct, not really the code words we use for something that's productive. i think it's hard to know at this point whether he called because he's feeling the heat from the sanctions already imposed, feeling isolated, wanting to back off from the crisis, or whether he is laying a groundwork for additional land grabs in eastern ukraine or elsewhere. and i think if you look at vladimir putin's history, you might go to the pessimistic. i agree with less than, the idea that crimea is going to be any place except part of russia from now on in the foreseeable future, that is a done deal, regardless of our wishes and the wishes of western europe. that may have been part of his agenda. and focusing on talks on okay now this is done, what comes next. >> let's focus on domestic politics with you, lynn. mean time, these four republicans and potential 2016 candidates attending the republican jewish coalition in las vegas this weekend. governor scott walker scheduled to speak at the top of the hour. and gop super donor sheldon addleson hosting the event. lynn, is this essentially the first primary of 2016, the shell done primary? >> yes, and that's a good name for t alex. and i think it's telling that rand paul wasn't there. i saw that kasie hunt reported earlier he was invited. that he was even invited is progress when the republican jewish coalition had a gathering of 2012 candidates, his father, ron paul, then a congressman running for president, was not invited. so he has a lot of repair to do with jewish groups and particularly if he wants any support from sheldon addleson, which i think is a long shot, because addleson is lag for more of a mainstream candidate because he poured a lot of money out in 2012. none of his candidates won. >> true. i should say, senator paul's office has said he had a prior family commitment scheduled for quite some time and that's one of the reasons he's not there. but susan, sources are telling the. a.p. addleson is looking for a candidate that can win and similar policies on foreign policy and israel. do you have a clue as to who he might back? >> this is everything wrong with presidential politics now. one guy, one casino owner from las vegas with a ton of money can have his own primary that will really matter and that it does matter and we'll cover in a serious way and he can have his own personal agenda, some of it ideological like production of israeli and some business related like opposing online internet gambling. and that is matters. a good piece this morning in the "washington post" about what this tells us about the state of campaign finance in this country at this moment. >> okay. thank you for the interpretation of that, susan page, lynn sweet. good to see you both. thank you. >> thank you. in our next hour, kobe bryant. our panel weighs in on his comments about trayvon martin that sparked a social media firestorm. practice? ugh. that bad? i dropped 2 balls, mom. eye on the ball! that's all it is. eye on the ball. that's a good tip. i'll try it. by the way, bill... this is delicious! so many grilled tastes and textures. and all the nutrition i need. go on. no really. top notch. (laughing) there it is - there ya go. new american grill from kibbles 'n bits... go together like... food 'n family. (music) defiance is in our bones. defiance never grows old. citracal maximum. calcium citrate plus d. highly soluble, easily absorbed. minute, every second, we chip away. at advancing safety with technology, like seeing every curve, even when you don't, being a second set of eyes, or having stopping power when youn need it most. it's not intuition, it's intelligence. this is the new 2014 jeep grand cherokee. it is the best of what we're made of. well-qualified lessees can lease the 2014 grand cherokee laredo 4x4 for 359 a month. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? you see the thing is geico, well, could help them save on boat insurance too. hey! okay...i'm ready to come in now. hello? i'm trying my best. seriously, i'm...i'm serious. request to come ashore. geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. well, did you know that just one sheet of bounce outdoor fresh gives you more freshness than two sheets of the leading national store brand? who knew? so, how do you get your bounce? with more freshness in a single sheet. still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. debris discovery, and it's from that new search area. but is hope already fading at this new find? tremors of trouble. yet another earthquake rocked southern california. what's with the increase in the number of seismic jolts? and speaking out. what did kobe bryant say about the trayvon martin case that's causing a firestorm of reaction? good day, welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening right now. potentially new clues, vital ones, in the hunt for the missing la malaysia airlines jet. two ships, one chinese and one australian have pulled a number of floating items from the sea inside the new search zone. unclear if they're related or not to flight 370. the australian prime minister says spotting and recovering any objects from this remote area is no easy task. >> we should not underestimate the difficulty of this work. it is an extraordinarily remote location. these are inhospitable seas. it's an inaccessible place. >> well, the new zealand air force reasonable recently spotted this and other objects over the southern indian ocean. and nbc's kerry sanders is in our washington bureau for us. kerry, what do we know about these objects the searchers have pulled from the indian ocean and what happens next to them? >> first of all, it's such hopeful information that once again, appears to have led down to a dead end. however, you do point out, this is the first time that something has actually been retrieved from the ocean. we have had a lot of planes out there searching. but as we take a look at the video right here, you can see, this is from china television. and this is on board one of the chinese ships. and you can see them using sort of dip nets. and it's in the darkness, which is quite remarkable, in the darkness able to see these items. but they're pulling items from the water. now, according to china's state television, it's now determined these items retrieved likely have nothing to do with flight 370. now let's take you out to the map here and sort of give you an idea of some of the work they've been doing. remember that initially the search area has been down in this area. that's because the plane went on a route that they thought might have come town like this. down like this. however, they decided to do sort of a new check of how fast the plane was going, what sort of fuel burn it was doing. and when they recalculated it, they turned the likelihood of the path more towards here. it's a little bit closer to perth, which means that the flights that are going out searching for potential debris can spend more time over the area here, rather than spending time doing a long flight out to here. this is about 1,100 miles. so as we take you to the area of the new search areas, remember, this is 1,500 some odd miles to the old search area and then there's the new search area here. and then finally, as we take you into this area right here, where they're searching, there are vessels. you have the hms "success" there from australia. they have also pulled some items from the water today. again, appears there is no indication it's anything to do with this missing flight. but it's positive news in that the assets that were needed to get in the actual area were potentially there could be debris are now from. two naval ships from china, others moving into the area. alex? >> kerry, these reports earlier today of debris being spotted and then buoys being dropped to mark those locations. what we're gathering from these two ships is it that same debris field? do we know? >> it's a very good question, and i don't know whether we have a crossing of that information yet. remember, the aircrafts come and go. the ships are on station, as they say in the military, they're remaining in the area. i don't know whether those buoys they dropped, the drop saunders that go into the area to mark a spot have been used to directly vector the ships to the specific locations where they're pulling these items out. i will say, if we go back and take a look at that video again and you can see what they're pulling out, at least on board the chinese ship, this is a very, very small item that they're pulling out. i think it's perhaps remarkable that those tiny little items may have been even spotted from an airplane. >> right. >> these may be items likely spotted by members of the crew. and since i'm looking at this footage and it's going on at nighttime, i'm kind of surprised that traveling at night in those seas, even with lights they would be able to see something to pull out and retrieve it. you know, a lot of people don't really quite get it, and i think they're getting an education now about how much garbage there really is in our world's oceans. and this is once again, he guess, sort of reflecting now that we see the pictures here, what the experts have been saying all along. there's a lot of stuff out there. and it's going to be very hard to cross-representative reference that what they're finding is from flight 370. >> okay. kerry sanders from washington. thanks. southern california is dealing with the after effects of a 5.1 earthquake last night just after 9:00 p.m. on the west coast. it was outside la-habra, 20 miles southeast of los angeles. power outages and water main breaks and a rock slide caused a bmw to crash and overturn. disneyland shut down its rides as a precaution. rehema ellis following the latest for us. you did feel it? >> reporter: i did. i had had arrived in los angeles last night and i was in my hotel room. and sitting on the bed and it started to move. and quite honestly, i didn't know what was happening. and it dawned on me eventually that this was an earthquake. and i should set the scene for you. while i was in the hotel, it was friday night. and a lot of people were out and about. so many people felt this. depending on where you were and who you are, people say it lasted anywhere from 9 to 30 seconds. so it was substantial. some people say it swayed, others say it rocked. others say they felt a real strong jolt. a variety of people out and about, as i say, as you point out, at disneyland. people also at the dodgers-angels exhibition game when things started happening. take a listen to what the legendary dodgers' announcer, vin scully had to say about what was going on. he made the call. >> and that's going to go foul off to the right upstairs. a little tremor here in the ballpark. i'm not sure if the folks felt it. but we certainly felt it here in press box row. a tremor and only that, thank goodness. >> it is a thank goodness, because as you can see, the stadium was packed. experts tell us that this is the second quake in just about two weeks, in twelve days, actually. the first one was 4.4 in magnitude. this one friday night was 5.1. authorities say now, as people are wondering what's going to come next. we are told by the experts that there is a 5% chance that this is a precursor to a stronger quake. that may give some people some comfort. but authorities are saying, the fact that we've had two now in two weeks says to folks, you should be prepared for whatever might come whenever it comes. alex? >> oh, boy. okay, good advice. thank you very much. rehema ellis. developing news in afghanistan. police in kabul have killed gunmen who launched an assault earlier today. this is the latest in the lead up to next weekend's presidential election. joining me, chief correspondent, richard engel. let's talk about this area, because this is one of the more fortified buildings in kabul. how close were the attackers? >> reporter: the attackers were in a building about 700 yards away from the headquarters of the electoral commission. this was a building that was under construction. and according to the chief of police we spoke to today, the attackers from the taliban, the taliban claim responsibility, dressed in burkas. those are the all-covering clothing that many women in this country wear as a disguise. they entered with this disguise into the building in the early morning hours. they established their position there. they had heavy weapons, including one chain-fed machine gun. assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. and then they began a several-hour assault on to the headquarters of the electoral commission. dozens of afghan officials were inside. we were speaking to the afghan officials as they were rushed into their safe rooms, as they were rushed into a bunker in the compound. they said that some materials caught fire. they still believe that they have enough materials, ballots and advertisements for this -- and instruction pamphlets for the election to go ahead smoothly. but there has been a lot of violence already. ten attacks -- four attacks in the last ten days, all of them by the taliban. and the taliban says that it wants to increase violence to disrupt what it calls a false election. and the taliban feels that it has the upper hand. it is gaining strength, it is carrying out bolder and bolder attacks right in the afghan capital, which generally is considered the most secure part of the country. >> so are you hearing from police, richard, they are stepping up patrols? they're trying to beef up everything around these polling places throughout afghanistan? >> reporter: they are taking extraordinary measures to try and improve security. the election day and the days surrounding it. the day before and the day after they will actually be closing the afghan air space. no planes will be coming in or out. there will be restrictions on what people -- where people can go that wouldn't be surprised if there are some curfews imposed in the past -- during election periods. they have also imposed curfews. this is a challenge that the afghan security forces know they are going to face. and what was interesting today, and we went to the cordon the security forces set up to engage with the militants and clear out and eventually s.w.a.t. teams did get into this building under construction and went floor to floor and eventually killed all of the militants inside. they know this is a challenge. and they know they're doing it alo alone, because american forces are no longer responding to these kind of attacks. >> okay. from kabul, richard english gel, thank you so much. basketball star kobe bryant gets in the middle of a social media controversy after comments about trayvon martin. stay with us. ♪ oh-oh, oh, oh, la, la-la, la-la, la-la ♪ ♪ na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na some things just go together, like auto and home insurance. bundle them together at progressive, and you save big on both. ♪ oh, oh-oh, oh, oh hey, it's me! [ whistles ] and there's my dog! [gasps] there's my steps! i should stop talking. perfectly paired savings. now, that's progressive. to keep a germ-free office. from gloves to wipes, to cleaners, everything... [ sneezes ] except germ-free coworkers. thousands of products added every day to staples.com. [ click ] even protective suits. staples. make more happen. [ click ] even protective suits. ♪ see what's new at projectluna.com even protective suits. you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪ i'm taking off, but, uh, don't worry. i'm gonna leave the tv on for you. and if anything happens, don't forget about the new xfinity my account app. you can troubleshoot technical issues here. if you make an appointment, you can check out the status here. you can pay the bill, too. but don't worry about that right now. okay. how do i look? ♪ thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. today for the first time, chinese and australian ships from flight 370 retrieved objects from the indian ocean. however, chinese state media says objects picked up by its ship turned out to be garbage unrelated to flight 370. it's unclear whether these objects are from the missing airliner, though. they must be at any timively processed to understand whether they are from 370. former ntsb investigator, greg fefe. how hard could this be? >> absolutely parts are readily identifiable. it's more of the interior type stuff. especially if it's cargo, any kind of clothing, luggage, things like that. that could be a little more difficult. but aircraft parts are pretty obvious, especially to the folks picking up the debris right now. >> so i'm curious about various parts of a plane and how long they can stay afloat. we are some three weeks later, the churning seas, cyclones having blown through this area. do you think it's possible we could never find any debris, greg? >> it all depends on how the aircraft broke up, alex. that's the big question here. if if it was a high-speed impact with high energy, then you fragmented the airplane into small parts, they will, you know, tend to float for a while. some of the heavier stuff, especially if it's got honey comb type merle material, will eventually get water logged and sink. if it's a slow speed and you have large pieces of the aircraft, they could float for some time. we saw that with twa 800. again, we just don't know how the airplane struck the water. that's the big issue right now. as to how big that debris field, if any, exists from this airplane. >> and big if, these objects that get picked up, the ones picked up today, ones picked up in the near future are from flight 370, what can that tell us about the location of the crash site? given the amount of time, the currents and everything else you've got to factor in? >> i think if this happens to be the area where we do find debris, it will be a little easier to reverse-engineer where they came from. because this part of the ocean isn't as violent as further south in the old search area. so oceanographers will have a better idea of how to really reverse engineer all of the currents and probably get us into a pretty good area where we may find the main debris field. but again, that's a big if, as you said, you know. we have to find at least a tell-tale sign of this airplane first. >> absolutely. and again, if we were able to do that by finding debris or at least parts of the plane, what would be the next step? >> once we have identified a piece of the aircraft, then, of course, it's a matter of getting as many assets as possible into that area and trying to find the main debris field. it's one thing to pick up stuff off the surface. and that's great. and that may help investigators. but what we're really looking for is what's on the bottom of the ocean. and in that particular area, it's very rugged down there. so if any of this wreckage has fallen in my comprehensi any kr that could hamper recovering a flight data recorder. >> yeah, and putting an r.o.v. down there, greg, i'm doing the math. if i'm not mistaken, we've got ten days left of the ping, if not less. once that sound goes away, some 30 days after the crash, i mean, the likelihood of putting an r.o.v. in the proper spot to find the plane in the bottom of the ocean is what? >> well, we have options, because we can use side scan s.o.n.a.r. to at least map where that wreckage debris field is. back when we were doing air france 447, they mapped the wreckage area with side scan s.o.n.a.r. so even though the pingers weren't working on the two black boxes, they were able to get an r.o.v. down there with a high-def camera and be able to search the wreckage. so with the technology we have, if we do lose the pingers but we do find the main debris field, we still stand a chance of recovering both the cvr and the fdr. if they aren't buried or embedded in a lost wreckage. >> greg feith, as always, thanks. >> you're welcome. a fascinating new play explores life as a minority at one of the top educational institutions in the world. we're going to talk to the student who wrote and directed it, next. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. with investment information, risks, fees and expenses so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ [ mom ] when we're having this much fun, why quit? and new bounty has no quit in it either. watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. new bounty. the no-quit picker-upper. while their two sheets just quit. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or a medical or dental procedure. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding or have had a heart valve replaced. seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition or stomach ulcer, take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners... ...or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctors about all medicines you take. pradaxa side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you or someone you love has afib not caused by a heart valve problem... ...ask your doctor about reducing the risk of stroke with pradaxa. some students at harvard are turning to the theater to attack what they think are racial stereotypes. i, too, am harvard is a play that has evolved into a social media campaign, educating people about diversity at harvard. >> so i am black-japanese. no one is ever going to look at me and say oh, look at that asian girl. because especially with last year, as soon as we show up on campus, the affirmative action article comes out. people are telling us you don't belong here, you don't deserve to be here. >> joining me now are harvard sophomore and first black female president. ladies, welcome to both of you. i'm glad to have you here. ca mika, i want to talk about this play. i understand it's opening night, that friday night performance, completely sold out. talk the impact that i, too, am harvard is having on the campus. >> right. i think there is a huge impact that it's had both on harvard's campus and beyond. we're seeing people reaching out to us across the nation, on college campuses and also across the pond. it's resounded internationally. and just this feeling of black students, students of color, all over the world saying i see myself in those videos, i see myself in those photos. someone said that to me, that's my experience. and just all of us making our voices heard. often for the first time. because voices of students of color as shown in the play in the photo campaign are often silenced on these campuses. so it's amazing. and really exciting to see the tremendous impact it's having, and really revolutionizing the way we talk about race on college campuses. >> it's wonderful, in fact. alexis, i would like to talk about your experience on the campus and why you became part of the project. >> sure. well,camikko and i were in close together, actually, and she approached me when she was doing the interview portion of the project. she was interviewing a bunch of black students and students of color about their experiences and she approached me knowing my involvement with lampoon and other things i do on campus. and i thought it was really important to take the time out to reflect on my experience as a black student, a black female at harvard. and i was so glad to be involved in the project. and it turned out so amazingly. and the amount of feedback that obviouslycamikko said international and all of that, amazing. >>camikko, you said this is not meant to disparage harvard, but i find it so bothersome that you were really told by fellow students you don't belong on this campus? i just saw the admittance rate for the new class of 2018. 5.9% of applicants got in. you got in. how is it someone would tell you that? >> right. so -- and, you know, we're really excited this past week harvard admitted a record number of blacks and latino applicants. it shouldn't stop there. how do students of color feel once they show up on campus. how does it feel when articles are written in the "harvard crimson" basically attacking students of color, arguing against affirmative action and saying students of color are unqualified to be at harvard when these are the brightest and most brilliant students in the nation and in the world. and the fact that people question that and that all of last year, most of this affirmative action debate that blew up on campus was really voices attacking and speaking against students of color. i wanted to do this project and create this campaign to really raise up the voices of students of color to speak back against this. because there really was no strong voice for students of color on harvard's campus. and the most powerful thing about this project, as alexis said, is that it's actual words from black harvard students. that these are people's real experiences. and they resonated with people across america. >> yeah, it has. and i have to say, i watched the video. and it hurt me, because i know what these kids -- i'm just going to say, my son is a student on campus with you and i know what it took for him to get there. it's a long, hard slog. and i want to ask you alexis, is there anything unique about the situation to harvard or do you think this movement could stand on any college campus in this country? >> well, i think honestly, it has on a lot of different campuses -- i think there is i, too, am iowa. a bunch of schools have picked it up. that's things i've heard about. and i think it's because whenever you come to a school that is predominantly white, the situation has ex aspirated harvard in a lot of ways, because it's a wealthy institution, you're going to have students of color and different backgrounds feel other in a way. so i am really glad this campaign has given people a way to phrase that and a voice to express that. >> i'm curious with you, alexis, you're with the "harvard lampoon" noted for its satirical comment. is there anything about this you think you can play out within the "lampoon" sensitively or you're not going to go there? >> well, we are a comedy magazine, and we don't get involved in politics and activism, probably for the best. we'll leave that to brilliant people like ca mikko. but i think as a leader and organization, we are very aware how important it is to diversify our space and make sure all of harvard is a place for everyone. >> and camikko, one professor has described you as a unique student activist, said with admiration. what's next for you? >> well, we're really excited to take this project to the next level. we're hoping to restage the play next year and maybe to bring it to other campuses. student activists and black students, students of color, from many universities across america have been reaching out to us, asking us to come visit them, to do workshops with them. saying how can we implement this kind of campaign, this kind of activism on our own campus, because we face similar problems. and we're really excited that had right now we're part of a moment of black student activism and students of color. activism across america, we recently had a google hangout with the folks from the university of michigan who started the #bbumcampaign. and along with the black students at ucla where they only have 33 black students out of 1,100 students at the law school since california outlawed affirmative action. so really trying to build these coalitions and build cross-campus solidarity to build this bigger movement of black student activism. and we're also currently in talks with the administration. we met with the deans yesterday to talk about tangible steps that harvard can take to really make sure that every student feels like they are also harvard and like we can all say we, too, are harvard. >> well, you both have my admiration. i applaud what you're doing. thank you. >> thank you. why the co chair of the 9/11 report is now fight to go declassify 28 pages never seen by the public. former senator bob graham joins me next. they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advanced technology. that means hi-tech jobs in california and colorado. the oil moves through one of the world's largest pipelines. maintaining it means manufacturing jobs in the midwest. then we transport it with 4 state-of-the-art, double-hull tankers. some of the safest, most advanced ships in the world: built in san diego with a $1 billion investment. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. and no energy company invests more in the u.s. than bp. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." at 33 past the hour, a few republican presidential contenders in las vegas this weekend, attending the republican jewish coalition spring meeting. wisconsin governor scott walker criticized president obama's foreign policy on iran, syria and ukraine, saying the president's weakness invites challenges from our adversaries. >> i think what's happened recently in iran is not unrelated to what happened earlier last year in terms of drawing and moving the red line in syria. to me, those are very grave concerns. and if people around the world, not just our allies, but our adversaries, don't believe we're strong, they will take action. >> new jersey governor chris christie is scheduled to speak a little later on this often. and for more on all of this, i'm joined by nbc's kasie hunt, covering the event. tell me how scott walker has been received thus far? >> reporter: so far so good. he's still speaking behind me, as you noted. he's going to take questions from the members of the crowd. i will say, alex, it's pretty clear at this point he's more comfortable talking about domestic issues. and after he talked a little bit about america's foreign policy, he tied it into this idea that to have a strong presence overseas, we have to be strong at home. so he's been focusing on lowering taxes, making the economy stronger, more broadly. and that, of course, as governor of wisconsin, he's been known for his fight against unions there. so that's a little bit more in his wheel house than, say, what this conference is about. and here they're very focused on national security, particularly security of israel. >> absolutely. let's talk about the "washington post." it has called this weekend the first republican primary. does it feel like that inside the room? >> reporter: it absolutely does. i mean, the chatter here is all about the presidential election and how these governors are potentially setting themselves up to build their relationship with sheldon addleson where, of course, at addleson's hotel, he poured over $90 million into the election last year, through a super pac first for newt gingrich and then he helped mitt romney in the general election. so at this point, the word is that he's looking this time for somebody who is more of a mainstream candidate, somebody that can carry all the way through into the general election. and so the people that you're seeing here are those who are frequently mentioned as republican candidates that the establishment believes can win. scott walker, governor chris christie, jeb bush spoke to a private meeting on thursday at sheldon addleson's hangar. so all of them looking for frankly, what's a very big check at this point. and as our campaign finance system has adjusted in the wake of citizens united, courting people like sheldon addleson has gotten more and more important. >> yeah, absolutely. and you mentioned jeb bush's private meeting in that airplane hangar that's owned by sheldon addleson. do you read anything into that? would you be able to say he might be a front runner? not to put you on the spot, but just asking. >> reporter: not at all. i doubt it would be in sheldon addleson's interest to declare this early on. it's nice to have these candidates coming to court and you looking for your support. the chatter about a potential run from governor bush has escalated lately. and one of the people in this room are major donors to the republican party. they make up the republican-jewish coalition and also give to the party more broadly. and he is definitely somebody that people are taking another look at. especially in the wake of the bridgegate scandal with governor chris christie. people here don't seem to be writing christie off entirely because of the scandal. he clearly went from being an aggressive front runner to somebody that has a serious negative. >> absolutely, as evidenced by his latest poll numbers, pretty much in terms of his popularity, reduced by half. kasie hunt, many thanks from sin city. enjoy yourself, thank you. president obama is in the air right now, en route back to washington following his five-day trip through europe and saudi arabia. the president ended the trip in riya riyadh. u.s. relations have chilled, largely due to america's policy on iran and syria. all this comes amid a renewed push from a group in congress and senior statesman for the white house to declassify a 28-page redacted section of the joint 9/11 inquiry from the house and senate intelligence committees. the group claims that the classified section proves high-level saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks, and could have evidence of sleeper cells still operating here in the u.s. joining me now, former senator, bob graham, who served as chairman of the senate intelligence committee and led the congressional investigation of the 9/11 attacks. senator graham, welcome. i'm glad to have you here to talk about this. let's talk about congressman walter jones. we have steven lynch and thomas mass massey, holding a press conference with 9/11 victims' families where they announced this resolution calling for the pages to be declassified. and you wrote that report. what can you tell us about what's in these 28 pages? >> well, alex, because this document has been classified since 2003, there isn't a lot i can say. but other than my judgment and in the judgment of the other people who were involved in writing this report, there is nothing here that is a threat to u.s. national security. there may be things that would be embarrassing to various intelligence agencies, because they indicated a failure to conduct a thorough investigation. i believe that it's important that this information be available to the american people. because there are american citizens who are being denied justice in the courts, because they don't have enough evidence of the linkage between saudi arabia and the events of 9/11. the historical record is incomplete. and our national security might be at risk if, in fact, the cells that were operating before 9/11, cells which supported the 19 hijackers, if the remnants of those are still in place. >> i'm curious. when we talk about the hijackers having been saudi-funded, to you mean funded by the government itself or individuals or charities which have been well-established as backers of al qaeda in the past? >> all of the above. there were some who were involved in supporting the terrorists who were actually on the payroll of the saudi government. there were other charities and business organizations that also were providing support to some or if not all of the 19 hijackers. but the position that the saudi government has taken is that all of those organizations are justified to have sovereign immunity. that is, they are so closely related to the government of saudi arabia that they cannot be sued in court. so the difference between a saudi charity, heavily supported by individuals, some within the royal family and the government itself, is almost nonexistent. >> what's interesting, sir, saudi arabia expelled osama bin laden years before 9/11. they basically declared him persona non grata. it has been reported that saudi intelligence tried to get the taliban to turn him over relatively shortly before 9/11. they also tried to sideline him in sudan. so why then would they support him in the attacks? >> well, there are a lot of theories about that. one is that bin laden had a force of about 30,000 soldiers that had fought with him in afghanistan, and that there was a threat made against the royalty in saudi arabia that unless they gave him support in yet an undefined mission in the united states, that they would use this to raise civil unrest and potentially topple the kingdom in much the same way that iran's shaw was toppled in the late 1970s. >> sir, i know you have said in recent interviews you believe the support cells might never have been abandoned and could still be active. why do you think there has not been an attack yet if that is true? >> the reason i said that is because there's been no evidence that they have been dismantled. those who are claiming that they no longer exist are the same people who claimed they didn't exist in the first place. which i think the evidence that we do have clearly refutes that. as to why we haven't been attack attacked, i think we have been attacked. but the attacks have been overseas in places like syria, afghanistan, yemen. there have been attempts made, particularly by some of the splinter groups of big al qaeda, such as those located in yemen to attack the united states. fortunately to date none of those attacks have been successful. but i think we can anticipate that they will continue to try. >> all right. former senator bob graham, thank you for the discussion. much appreciated. >> thank you very much. i want to also note for all of you, we did reach out to the white house which declined to comment, as well as intelligence committees, who did not respond to our requests. kobe bryant, governor chris christie and bridget kelly, coming up next in the big three. ! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ giggling ] again! again! [ giggles ] again! [ mom ] when we're having this much fun, why quit? and new bounty has no quit in it either. it's 2x more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand, and then stays strong, so you can use less. watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. [ bubbles, baby giggling ] again! [ mom ] why use more, when you can use less. new bounty. the no-quit picker-upper. [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! ...of america's number-one puppy food brand...e. ...with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother's milk. purina puppy chow. it's time for the big three. in today's topics, what's next. kobe beef and best week, worst week. let's bring in my panel, msnbc contributor, goldie taylor, whose column breaking black is every monday. morris reid and joe watkins, three of my favorites. hello, guys. good to see you all. >> hello, alex. >> goldie, i begin with you. as the christie administration has this report that came out thursday, exonerating the governor and put the blame on two former aides, bridget kelly and david wildstein, both who declined to participate in this report, this report says kelly had a personal relationship with bill stepien, which was ended, apparently by stepien. the report also says that kelly seemed, quote, emotional. and was, quote, habitually concerned about how she was perceived by the governor. i would like your reaction to this, goldie. what do these kinds of details accomplish? >> and i think that's the key question here. what do they accomplish? are they seeking to malign or discredit ms. kelly? i think that's exactly what they're out to do. the unfortunate thing about this report is, it doesn't come from a truly independent source. and so all of the planets would have to align in terms of governor christie. they would all have to align for us to understand that he did not know anything about this bridge closure or anything about the motive behind this bridge closure. we're going to have an investigation, that investigation has to play itself out in a meaningful and substantial way. and you know, we'll have to let the facts fall where they may. but do i put my trust in an organization, a law firm, hired by the governor's office to investigate these matters in a credible and independent way? well, no. we'll have to wait until the real independent investigation takes place. >> so joe, bridget kelly's lawyer has issued this statement, quote, that the reports venomous, gratuitous and inappropriate remarks have no place in what is alleged to have been a professional and independent report. joe, do you think perhaps in the long run this report might do more harm than good? >> i don't think so. i think that the report is helpful. i think it shows that the governor, which is what everybody cares about, had nothing to do with this. and it may not be terribly temp complimentary to some of the people who worked for him but that's what law firms are hired to do, in finding truths, there are unflattering things said about good people who maybe have not acted in the best interest of the governor and of the state at the time. >> but, you know, joe, if the comments coming out are accusing the governor of being sexist or at least the report comes out and says that it's sexist. that will reflect poorly on the governor, don't you think that could hurt him with the female voters? >> i don't think so. i think the governor has lots of credibility with female voters and with democrats as well as republicans, because he's such a straight shooter. and he calls it as he sees it. and i think that this report goes a long way towards clearing his name and really putting him back on track as somebody that is a national leader and somebody that can clearly be the republican nominee for president, if he cares to be. >> okay. morris, what's your reaction to this? >> well, i think it's quite fast. it seems to rush to judgment, as if they were trying to hurry this out to sort of get it behind him. i've always been a proponent of taking your time and being thorough, particularly when you are innocent. there is no reason to rush this. this seems awfully rushed, awfully orchestrated. you're looking to pin the blame on someone other than the governor. the fact is, no one comes out of this thing clean, including the governor, and ultimately could hurt him. >> but in terms of the timing, morris, you can see why the governor wants to get this off the center plate here and get this out of here. he wants to move past it. >> i certainly understand why he would want to. but if he is truly clear and feels she good about his conscience about this, he should want a thorough and competent and complete report and nothing rushed by a law firm that may be associate wimbled associa associated with him. >> okay. we move on kobe beef, kobe bryant about comments he made. he was asked about them wearing hoodies. he's said he's to defend someone just because he or she is african-american saying, i won't react to something just because i'm supposed to because i'm an african-american. goldie, what's your reaction? >> i happen to see this information as i was driving in from atlanta to st. louis. and i simply shrugged. kobe bryant's never been one to put himself out as an advocate on any issue for or against. and so to see him make statements on what had been a hotbed issue, it was very surprising to me. so there was a shrug from me. on the other side of this, it has reignited a furor on the right and the left. and this is highly political as well. about should an african-american of his stature comment on issues like this? my take is he has every right to. he can make his opinion about these things but he also has the right to the criticism that he may or may not receive because of it. but the grand irony is many years ago when kobe bryant was in trouble, when there were accusations leveled against him in a court of law, very serious accusations leveled against him, it was the african-american community who stood behind him and they questioned those allegations not based on anything they did or didn't know about kobe bryant except that kobe bryant was an african-american man, highly successful playing basketball. so the very same kind of solidarity that he is pushing against maybe the miami heat for standing together with trayvon martin, the very same kind of solidarity, he benefited from that solidarity. >> i should say, though, kobe has since tweeted that he felt that trayvon martin was wronged and we should put that out there. >> sure. >> morris, your reaction to the comments? >> it's always difficult when you're a celebrity or person with a platform and you tend to not weigh in to things and then you clumsily weigh into something of something that's high profile and controversial. i think it's bad p.r. if he was truly speaking from his heart, that's one thing. but to follow up with that tweet that you just mentioned, it feels like he's trying to cover his backside. i think that as an african-american man -- and he is one -- there's always going to be some things pro or against you. i think if kobe really wanted to take a stand on things, he should get more involved in his community. he does a lot of things. he should focus on that and not get into political things that are going to be a double-edged sword. >> joe, do you agree with the comment here that it was somewhat clumsily done? >> morris makes a great point and so does goldie. it's always hard when you're a celebrity to not get this kind of heat. had i been kobe bryant, i probably would have done the tweet first. i would have said, love to the family, to trayvon's family, i support trayvon's family. and then i would said what he did say, but that doesn't mean i'm going to support every african-american issue until i know the facts. in the nation, we reward safe driving. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side from the classic lines to the elegant trim in each and every piece, ♪ kohler will make your reality a dream. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business. it is time now for the best and worst of the week. goldie, guys, we have about 45 seconds. give me your pick first, goldie. >> the best of the week are the 6 million new enrollees into the affordable health care system in this country. so proud and glad many more people who are uninsured now have access to reasonably cost insurance. including myself. loser of the week, i'm here in st. louis filming a documentary. and the city of e. st. louis has a murder rate 17 times the national average that more violent crime happens in this tiny township of less than 25,000 people than any other place in the country. >> morris, yours? >> my winner is the president of china. we're fighting with russia and he's signing $18 billion worth of deals in france. my loser is the prime minister of turkey who's trying to stop twitt twitter. you cannot stop twitter. >> joe, yours? >> my best is the story clearing chris christie. my worst is the story of the eagles' handling of the dumping of deshawn jackson. they could have done a better job of that. >> you don't like that former usc quarterback coming in? i'll leave it there. that's it. craig is here. that's a wrap of "weekends with alex witt." see you right back here tomorrow at noon eastern. up next, craig melvin. you were late! discover card. hey there, i just got my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit. good. i hate surprises. surprise! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card and see your fico® credit score. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. salegets up to 795 highwayeal's the passamiles per tank.sel salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? avo: during the salesperson #2: first ever exactly. volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a passat tdi, that gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. and get a $1000 dollar fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months on tdi models. hey, i notice your car yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. you shoulda taken it to midas. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. high-five! arg! brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) my she's awesome.st, when i go in there, i want to be awesome too. so i've totally gone pro with crest pro-health. go pro with crest pro-health. the first time i tried crest pro-health it felt different, i mean it felt clean. crest pro-health protects all these areas dentists check most. she's going to do backflips when she sees this. 4 out of 5 dentists confirmed these pro-health products helped maintain a professional clean. i am extremely impressed. i guess that's what happens when you go pro. go pro with crest pro-health. excuse me, did you say you want to see my teeth, oh i'm sorry. and i will tell you that there is significantly less interest around the country about this report than there is in this region. >> or that's at least what he is hoping.

Related Keywords

Australia ,Alaska ,United States ,Turkey ,China ,California ,San Diego ,Syria ,New Mexico ,Russia ,San Bernardino ,Washington ,District Of Columbia ,Kabul ,Kabol ,Afghanistan ,Ukraine ,Moonachie ,New Jersey ,Sudan ,Iowa ,Perth ,Western Australia ,Chicago ,Illinois ,Kobe ,Hyogo ,Japan ,New York ,Miami ,Florida ,Kuala Lumpur ,Malaysia ,Germany ,Texas ,Iran ,Snohomish County ,Wisconsin ,New Zealand ,Michigan ,Israel ,Colorado ,Saudi Arabia ,Phoenix ,Arizona ,Hong Kong ,Yemen ,Capitol Hill ,Paris ,Rhôalpes ,France ,Dodger Stadium ,Americans ,Australian ,America ,Saudi ,Ukrainians ,Chinese ,Russian ,Australians ,Afghan ,Malaysians ,Malaysian ,Israeli ,American ,Michael Goldfarb ,Michael Hirsch ,Brian Thompson ,Steven Lynch ,Trayvon Martin ,Scott Walker ,Subaru A ,Ron Paul ,Han Grisham ,Brian Thompson Bob ,Keir Simmons ,Vladimir Putin ,Sergey Lavrov ,Michelle ,John Kerry ,Chris Christie ,Deshawn Jackson ,Goldie Taylor ,Al Qaeda ,Thomas Massey ,Walter Jones ,Dave Samson ,Bob Graham ,Vladimir Putins ,Greg Feith ,Newt Gingrich ,Indian Ocean ,Kelly David Wildstein ,Bridget Kelly ,David Wildstein ,Kerry Sanders ,Matt Cartwright ,Chris Christie Jeb Bush ,David Samson ,Los Angeles ,Alex Witt ,Jeb Bush ,Richard Engel ,Joe Watkins ,Anne Kelly ,Edward Jones ,Craig Melvin ,Jennifer Bjork Lund ,Morris Reid ,Las Vegas ,