an active politician with all the difficult compromises and so on which that necessarily involves. peter popham, the biographer offing and sa ing and sang saun. there was a great moment last night at the historic howard theater in washington. a very special gathering for the fourth annual news babes bash for breast cancer organized by a group of tv anchorwoman and network as well to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer screening. i was honored to speak for them along with george washington university hospital s dr. rachel brehm who runs the unique mammo van to help the most at risk and sunday served women in our city. the women that we service are low income and uninsured, a patient population on the increase due to job losses. we are here today to send a message loud and clear that this city, this community, is supporting women s health, girls
regis and kathie lee reunited on the fourth hour of today to cohost for the fourth time in a dozen years. all i said was yes, i ll come in and pinch hit for hoda. and i wind up with this fanfare like it s the st. patrick s day parade. good day. i m andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix, a house committee is expected to vote to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt. it s a republican controlled committee, of course. after a contentious debate over documents that house republicans are demanding about a controversial gun program. documents the white house says today are covered by executive privilege. the attorney general says that his offer is extraordinary. the only thing extraordinary about his offer is that he is asking the committee to close an investigation before the committee even gets to see the documents. i can t accept that deal. no other committee chairman would. i must say, mr. chairman, i am offended personally by your calling the a
general of our country and our president in an election year. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is here with me and chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. pete, this showdown on the hill, chris and i can talk about the politics, but what about the law here? the executive privilege assertion, that s not a first by any means, but this is really heating up for eric holder. it is, although i don t know what the end game is because it s always so mushy when it comes to battling these things out in court. that s when a contempt vote is. if the committee approves this it goes to the full house. if full house approves it, under federal law, the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia, part of the justice department is instructed, it s his duty, the law says, to convene a grand jury to decide whether to prosecute. couple things about that. number one, the justice department has long taken the position under both democratic and