Deal with a brutal dictator and a state sponsor of terror . Not everyone thinks so. Many cubanamericans, president ial hopefuls and others are not celebrating today. The national lead. Thousands of Movie Theaters abandoning sony after hackers threaten to attack moviegoers who just want to check out the new seth rogan flick. Now some in hollywood are saying if you skip that matinee you are letting the terrorists win. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Well begin this afternoon think, with our world lead. An earthquake in American Foreign policy and after 50 years of diplomatic back biting, human rights abuses, espionage and attempted invasion, even a crisis bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war, the United States and cuba may now be moving toward something resembling normal. President obama said today that things in havana will start to look a lot like things in every other capital around the globe. Functional u. S. Embassy and potential influx of am
The minami show ends im on a plane to havana to investigate this travesty. Ill scout every rum distillery and i dont care how many 1957 chevys i have to buy for 250 until the job is done i will not rest except in a hammock. Good morning, everybody, its thursday, december 18th. Welcome to morning joe. With us on set we have msnbc contributor mike barnacle, the president on council of Foreign Affairs richard haas and Thomas Roberts from way too early. Well get to the big story about cuba in a moment. We have the president of the American Conservative Union joining us. He was born in cuba. Hell be joining us from miami in a few minutes. A lot to get to. Well begin with sony, which has cancelled plans to release the interview on Christmas Day. Theres no plans to release the video on demand or on dvd. The controversial movie is now nowhere to be found on Sony Pictures website. The announcement came hours after the nations five largest movie chains including regal and amc decided not to show
Well have my hearing checked after the show today. Joey, thank you. A lot to talk about this morning. First, thank you for being here. We want to begin with this stunning news coming out of sony, canceling the release of the interview on Christmas Day following a massive data breach and terror threat. The Company Confirming there are no plans to release the movie on video, on demand, or dvd. Controversial move is now nowhere to be found on the controversial movie to be found on the pictures website. This announcement came just hours after the nations five largest movie chains including regal and amc decided not to show the interview after alleged hackers threatened 9 11 style attacks in theaters that would play the film. While u. S. Officials say there is no credible evidence of a terror plot, reuters is reporting the fbi warned theaters showing the movie of possible cyberattacks. Meanwhile, a senior u. S. Official tells nbc news that the u. S. Has concluded north korea is behind the s
Treadmill in space. Reality to restore insanity or fear or pat stevens career, none of that was really me. You the nation did all of that. I Just Got Paid for it. Thanks. From the beginning of my show it was mygoal to live up to the name of this network, influence central. And if all we achieved over the last nine years was to come in to your home each night and help make a difficult day better, man, what a waste. Nation, i want you to know if i had to do it all again, if i could do it with you, i would do it the same. Good morning. Its friday, december 19th. The friday before christmas. Your all ready . So not ready. With us on set we have msnbc contributor Mike Barnacle, former treasury official and morning joe economic analyst Steve Rattner and in washington the host and managing editor of tv one news one now, roland martin. Colbert. I dont want it to stop. Its bittersweet because he was so good for nine years but i cant wait to see what he does on cbs as himself. Hes a brilliant gu
Lets get to the breaking news at this hour. The white house now is calling the cyberattack on sony a National Security threat against the United States thats been taken very seriously. U. S. Investigators say an announcement pinning the blame on north korea is expected soon. Top Obama Administration officials are meeting daily. They say they are planning a proportional thats their word a proportional response to what many are calling an act of cyberterror. Theres intensifying debate about sonys decision to cancel release of the film titled the interview and whether that ams to giving in to terrorists. Ed royce is standing by along with our correspondents, our analysts as we cover all of the breaking news. Lets begin with our justice correspondent pamela brown. She has the very latest. Pamela . Wolf, we know right now u. S. Officials are hammering out language as they try to figure out how to respond and hold north korea accountable in the wake of the extraordinary move by sony not to r