says hey, i have ptsd. he s not saying excuse the crime completely. we need to make the distinction. instead he s saying, look, i ve already pleaded guilty. he s saying give me a break. i ve done bad. now instead he s saying on the punishment side understand the complete me. here s why i did some things i did. i m not saying i m not guilty. i m clearly guilty. but go a little easier on me. that s the concept of mitigation. and virtually anything can be important to a judge or jury in mitigation. frankly, a defendant in this case who has pleaded guilty and testified against the buddy, that s going to do him better than ptsd. i want to only interrupt for a second. i could go on and on all day on this because i have such profound respect for our service members who return and suffer immensely. but i do have to talk about our breaking news because apparently there s a tweet just come in from the justice department. i think this is good news. we ve been telling you that eric holder s
doctors. so it appears whatever it was he s now in good shape. right now we don t know exactly what caused this, just that he complained of some faintness and some shortness of breath. and he s generally was regarded as pretty good condition, not overweight, tall and seemed to be just fine. so let s hope it s nothing serious. and you ll continue to monitor it for us. update us, evan, when you get more information. let s hope he s out of the hospital fairly soon. other news including new information that s now surfacing about the new jersey so-called bridgegate scandal. documents have just been released revealing conversations between a former top aide to the governor of new jersey, chris christie, and the port authority official who ordered those notorious lane closures over at the george washington bridge. our investigative correspondent has been looking over these new documents just released. what are you seeing? well, wolf, i ll tell you the new information, it comes from docu
hospital where he is right now presumably undergoing tests. there s very little we know about the circumstances right now of the attorney general. serious enough that he s been hospitalized. our justice correspondent, evan perez, has been watching to find out if there are anymore of these late-breaking developments. we know he s a 63-year-old man who is extraordinarily hard working. but are we finding anything else about the conditions he was dealing with today, evan? well, you know, he was having a normal day. meeting with some of the his top aides at about 9:30 when he experienced some faintness and some shortness of breath. and that s when the decision was made quickly to take him to the hospital. we don t know much more about the circumstances than that, ashleigh. right now we re told that he is alert, and he is conversing with his doctors. he seems to be okay. obviously it s a bit of a scare for this to happen. you know, it s a pretty he had a pretty packed day.
aravia, one of the distinguished members of this group. good day, i m andrea mitchell in washington. we have breaking news. justice department correspondent pete williams joins me now from the newsroom and this involves eric holder. eric holder is in the hospital in washington this morning. he was taken there this morning after what the justice department says was his feeling shortness of breath and faintness during a morning meeting. he was taken by ambulance we re told to the washington hospital center, the medstar hospital, where he s now acourtiaccordinge justice department, alert and talking to doctors and good conditions. i talked with someone in the meeting where this happened this morning. it was his regular 9:30 staff
he himself we re told reviewed, he was feeling shortness of breath and faintness, but whatever it was, he s been released, he s home, he s comfortable. he was alert during the entire time, they say. so i guess we ll have to wait and see what it was. i talked to one member of his staff today who said he s been feeling a bit rundown all week, so perhaps it s related to that. we appreciate you following that for us, pete williams, thank you very much. now to politics, and launch off to the conservative politicians and others gathered to celebration five years of the if tea peat patriots. ted cruz is expected later. this morning we heard from michele bachmann and steve king. strangely the one thing we haven t heard much about is the veto of that arizona bill sb 1062, the one that made headlines across the country. and we do need to start with