Favorite. About 150,000 fans are expected at Churchill Downs in louisville tomorrow evening. Thats going to do it for way too early friday edition. Morning joe starts right now. Not only has Donald Sterling been banned from the nba for life, hes hes also been planned from the bunny ranch brothel in atlanta. If you want to have a good time at the bunny ranch, dont be a racist or animal killer. Dennis hoff wants nothing to do with Donald Sterling. Dennis hoff says the main reason why he is banned for life is out of respect for the nba players that come here to the bunny ranch. He has that respect. Good morning. It is friday, everybody. Its friday, may 2nd. What a wonderful day may 2nd is. With us on set it is friday this year. Its mikas birthday. Happy birthday. I love a taurus. Thats her sign. Im 47. Am i to be happy about this . Of course you are. National holiday in at least three countries. It is. Best youve ever been. Have you seen pictures of her at 27 . Best shes ever been. Thats nice. Ive seen that hair. No, im three years from 50. Thats the way i look at it. Is that a positive way to look at it . Thats not a positive attitude. Why not . Why not . I think 47 is just fine, thank you. Youre thriving. Im thriving. And i know my value. Yes, you do. I remember when i was 47. Yeah. I do too. Msnbc, Time Magazine analystMark Halperin is here. Former treasury official and morning joe analyst, my travel agent, Steve Rattner. And in washington, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist of the Washington Post, eugene robinson. What are you going to do for your birthday . Im going to go to sleep. Hopefully nor a long time. Thats a good present. Im going sleep for a very long time. Maybe more like a putting a dog down kind of way. 21st version of timothy leary. I like how your arianna and dr. Brzezinski is the same. Yes. One is a female voice. Its very zsa zsa gabor. Your zsa zsa is very good. You are stunning. We had fun last night moving on away from the
birthday at the National Magazine awards. Have you ever been to that . Its really a great event. So well organized. Great crowd. I think they were all drunk. They were not drunk. I do, i think they were. Our friend was there. It was a great night. National geographic took some home. Bon appetit magazine cleaned up. The new yorker cleaned up. I mean, these guys, i almost theres steve. Columbia. The school of journalist. Cindy leavy, glamour. Then in a huge category shocker for people. Big win for them. They had eight. And cosmo won. And magazine of the year. Best company. That was awesome. That was fun. Yeah. Very exciting night. The award thats a big thing. I had no idea what it is. Bunch of boomerangs put together. Lets get to the news, shall we . Sure. The New York Times is reporting this morning that u. S. Sanctions over ukraine are having a limited impact on russia as Vladimir Putin demand troops withdraw from part of the country. The russian ruble and stock market are actually stronger now than they were before the first wave of u. S. Sanctions were announced. Thats not really the idea. Meanwhile, an operation is underway in Eastern Ukraine to reclaim the city controlled by prorussian militants. Gunfire and explosions could be heard as Ukrainian Forces claim they regained control of at least nine check points. The militants shot down two military helicopters. At least three people have been killed including a ukrainian pilot. Separatists loyal to moscow are building barricades in an
attempt to keep Ukrainian Forces away. It has been a violent week in the region with prorussian militants seizing control of government buildings. Yesterday the men overpowered to storm a building. They are fighting. They are fighting. You know its not a good sign when Vladimir Putin tells you to withdraw troops from your own country. And the sanctions are having unfortunately limited effect. So we will obviously keep a close look on this. This is also when you see scenes like this, you are going to wonder at some point if we need to help them in a more tangible way. I think most people when they look at the fact they look at the fact that the ruble is doing better, the stock market is doing better than when the president issued the first round of sanctions, not a good sign. Also not a good sign when your donors that are going to help you get elected president Start Talking about moving to another
candidate. Thats exactly what seems to be happening and according to reports to Chris Christie. Well go there. Chris christie was leading early polls and considered a top contender to a Hillary Clinton run in 2016. But now a report says some Republican Fund raisers even some in the new jersey area with considering jumping ship from christie for jeb bush as the former Florida Governor looks at a bid. Jeb is also getting some support from his brother. I hope jeb runs. And i think he would be a great president. I have no clue whats on his mind. Well talk when hes ready. I notice hes moving around the country quite a bit. Doing well in polls. Yeah. Thats fine. They dont mean anything. For him i can guarantee hes not looking at a poll to decide
whether or not he wants to run. Its internal. Hes checking his core. As he said publicly, im thinking about my family. And he knows full well what a run for the presidency can do on family. After all, hes seen his dad and brother run for president. So jeb, if you need advice, give me a call. Okay. It is worth noting according to a new Quinnipiac University poll, jeb easily leads the rest of the 2016 pack in his home state. That includes marco rubio who i think people are talking about as well. People are talking about marco as well. Its going to be interesting to see whats going to happen there. Mark halperin, this is something weve been talking about for quite some time. The only reason jebs thinking about even running in this case is because Chris Christie started to fall. And when that happened, theres no establishment gop candidate and he figures perhaps maybe why
not. The gop establishment, the money people play in the process. And jeb still has as that story suggests, a large hold on them. And governor christies troubles have only exacerbated the search. Theres 30 people talked about as running. That was true even when Chris Christie looked strong. Its also true in 2012 and jeb didnt take the jump in for a lot of the same reasons hes thinking of not taking the jump in right now. But, you know, we have said from the very beginning this Chris Christie story is important. And it does have a direct impact on who may be elected the next president , tom. As Chris Christie goes down, that fills a void and that looks like that void right now is going to be filled by jeb bush. There certainly are Establishment Republicans that have a long history with the bush family and like what jeb bush represented when it comes to his history in florida. It also means because of jeb
bushs family ties with his wife and his kids and the fact that they have a deep connection with the latino and hispanic community, that they might be able to be the bridge that can help usher in a new wave of people to the gop. Get them back interested with other people that are currently in elected office have been scaring off that demographic. They have. And jeb was as good or better than anybody ive seen. Certainly better than any republican ive seen with latino voters. All right. Heres an issue that could definitely impact the 2016 elections and become a little problem for potentially one candidate. Overnight at least five people were killed in a militia attack at the Libyan Security headquarters in benghazi. The situation in that area, in that country still far from stable. 19 months after a raid on the u. S. Consulate there left four americans dead. Held its latest hearing yesterday in the 2012 attack. The focus around a recently released email of talking points that aimed to underscore the idea that the protests were triggered by an antiislam video. Critics say the message rees looed this week is proof there was a political agenda at play in the white house. But the Administration Says it was about the wider middle east and not specifically about libya. The email was about protests around the region. If you want to tell me today that the protest and, again but benghazi was part of it, right . Right. I want to refer you to the cia talking points on that. Most people remember there were demonstrations around the region that were in reaction to what people felt was an offensive video. You were being cautious. Youre saying theres an investigation there. Thats 9 12. Why on 9 14 is ben rhodes
writing an email saying judgments this was inspired by a video. Why wasnt it we dont know. Do you need a copy of the cia report . Ive read them. It is a cut and paste from the talking points which much to your disappointment turned out to be produced by the cia. Mark halperin, thats just not true. First of all, heres nancy pelosi. I think she said it best right here when she said benghazi, benghazi, benghazi. What i will say is benghazi, benghazi, benghazi. Why arent we talking about Something Else . Whatever was in that what i know of what ive read in the press about the those emails were very consistent with what was put out there before. I dont think theres anything new there. Were talking about it because the white house has been caught in a lie with benghazi. And one commentator yesterday
said whos often critical of republicans, it wasnt just a lie, it was a stupid lie. Because its obvious theyre not telling the truth. The documents, the lawsuit that ordered them to release these documents, what did they ask for . Not information pertaining to white house records involving the middle east. Information involving all discussions involving benghazi. So the white house released this email which clearly shows they werent telling the truth earlier and that jay carney was spinning for whatever reasons. Also, you know, the cia document they kept talking about, the acting cia chief said they werent the ones that supplied it in the first place. This is what the white house has been doing and theyve been caught. Wouldnt it just be better for them to say, yeah, to come clean at some point or are they just going to keep lying . Are you saying they cant
have it both ways . Im saying that, first of all, jay carney needs to understand and by the way, he should understand. Im taken by people that go in the white house and thinks the history ends when the white house ends. On the other side of the Obama Administration, hes going to have to come out and hes going to have to piece together his reputation. I say that as a guy i liked. I liked as a journalist. I respected him as a journalist. I still like him as a person. But ive seen this. I am getting old enough older than 47. Oh yeah. That was doing the same thing. In 2005 i called her up. I said you know what . This administrations going to end, and youre going to have decades to deal with your credibility after it ends. Stop lying to me. Because youre going to have to deal with me on the other side of the bush administration. Bush is going to go back to texas and im still going to be here. When you wonder why jay carney is doing what hes doing, i
think shattering the reputation, a welldeserved, good reputation he built at Time Magazine doing this when Everybody Knows hes lying. From the beginning, the posture of everyone around the president s been theres nothing to see here, move on. When they do stuff like this, it em boeboldens critics. How can you ask us to trust you when you say theres nothing here and then you do this . If benghazis not a big deal, if people think benghazis not a big deal chuck todd seemed to think yesterday benghazi wasnt a big deal. Thats fine. Have that debate. But if theres an email directing susan rice to go and push a line and they dont reveal that, well, theyve got to come clean. When we look at what exactly was in this specific email that was released and the bullet points given to her to use as
reference points to go on these shows, that was in there. To underline the fact this was not a broader policy failure. Gene, when we look at this and the ramifications that come from it, lets not forget as we get caught up in the benghazi conversation, we lost four americans. We lost four americans committed to the state department. We lost four americans that were in libya that was a rat hole after Muammar Gadhafi was out. So this is an embarrassment for the white house. But how do they reclaim the narrative so jay carney doesnt look like just a big liar in trying to remind everybody from that lecture the history of the time, which is okay to do, but how do they look like theyre not lying about what was done . You know, if there are any other emails, just put them out. Just put everything out. Because in the end, this is a
scandal without a center. You know, whats at the center of this is was the real if theres a scandal, it is a state Department Security preparations prepositions of forces, the assessment before the attack as to what sort of danger the ambassador and the cia facility might have been in in benghazi. Thats what went wrong there. And, you know, to expect there to have been a clear narrative of exactly what the motivations were of the miscreants who did this, a couple of days after the attack is ridiculous. Its absurd. Nothing ever happens like that. So if the criticism is that the white house is dragging this out and is making it a bigger deal, a different kind of deal than it
ought to be, i think that could be a valid criticism. Just put everything out there, because really the issue is what allowed benghazi to happen . Not whether what the talking points said. What the talking points said, its just a ridiculous sideshow. And by the way, go back for liberals who have been watching the show the past couple days and friends of the Obama Administration who have been frustrated what im saying about jay carney and the talking points, see what i said the monday morning after benghazi when i absolutely tore mitt romney to shreds for jumping to a conclusion. Just following what gene said, for jumping to a conclusion and trying to politicize this. Yes, when you hold a press conference after a u. S. Ambassador is dragged through the streets without knowing all the information, youre politicizing it before knowing whats going on. I think both sides tried to
immediate politicize this. Obama administration, oh, this has nothing to do with our policy. Its just an internet video by a crazy person. Then you have mitt romney in the middle of a campaign saying this is the worst thing ever, blah, blah, blah. Now as things get revealed, maybe mitt romney was right. But he didnt know at the time he was right. But the problem with the white house is that theyre the ones sitting there now still having to clean up for some really stupid things they did and some misleading things they did. Former National SecurityCouncil Spokesman looked to down play his role in changing the talking points saying its difficult to remember because it was so long ago. According to the emails and the timeline the cia circulates new talking points after they removed mention of al qaeda. Then at 6 21, the white house, you, add a line about the warning of september 10th of social media reports calling for
demonstrations. True . I believe so. Did you also change attacks to demonstrations in the talking points . Maybe. I dont really remember. I dont remember. Dude, this was two years ago. Dude, it is the thing that everybody talking about. Were talking about the process of editing talking points. Thats what bureaucrats do all day long. Okay. Listen, if you want to keep me off your back, do what he just said. Say dude. I love the guy, but there he knows exactly what he did. Weve all been in that situation. I can remember as a lawyer editing things. I can remember as a business person we can remember that was like Eddie Haskell there. Come on, he knew. He remembers everything about that. This white house dude, that was like two years ago . That was a very long
interview. It was a small part. When you cut through all this, theres two basic points or questions. One, obviously the white house should come clean. We all know the coverup is worse than the crime. Drip, drip, drip. Just get it all out. And we also know on that part, the cover up, it was the president was trying to be im the tough guy. We won the war on terror. They wanted to make this a spontaneous demonstration. But the fact is its just not true and Everybody Knows. Why dont they clean this up, steve . Right. But the second question is is this really going you said at the beginning of all this 2016, is this going to become a National Issue or is this inside the beltway . For hillary it will be an issue. Because she talked about the telephone call. She got her own 3 00 a. M. Telephone call and four americans are dead because of it. And if you think these are just republican talking points, talk to the family members of the
four americans who gave their lives for this country. It will be an issue. And Hillary Clinton and her supporters and any democrats that want to say, oh, this is just right wing a right wing to borrow one of hillarys phrases, a mass right wing conspiracy. Wait until the end of the campaign. Still ahead on morning joe, bill clinton a 2 00 a. M. Phone call and cursing. You just dont want to get 2 00 a. M. Phone calls.