, white house correspondent for the washington examiner. they were lucky this time it was just drunk droning, but that drone could have been carrying something harmful. >> that's right. this is a real game changer for the secret service. it's sort of a nightmare scenario come true. they had been planning for this type of issue for many years, remote controlled ied devices, but there's so many different problems. the jamming technology would prevent a batman like force field around the white house grounds, but that would cause problems because a jamming technology would interrupt fourist phone calls. some say 911 phone calls for safety phone calls. and the secret service, as you know has had a very difficult year, and this is just one more thing they have to deal with now, how to stop these would-be drones from coming in over the fence. we've already talked about how the fence needs to be raised and higher. but you can't protect against this kind of drone dropping in on the white house lawn with a higher fence. >> susan, you've done a lot of

upstairs of the white house. in september, a man was able to step on to an elevator with president obama. during the president's trip to the cdc in atlanta. that man on the elevator was not cleared to be there. he did have a loaded gun on him at the time, while he was riding the elevator with the president. that same month, a man wielding a knife ran across the lawn and made it into the east room birdie he was tackled by a secret service agent. since all of those have been brought to light, the secret service chief has resigned. the top executives have been fired. the secret was so and white house security have been reviewed bay top level government panel. now we have the drunken drone thing. which by all accounts was a relatively harmless accident. what if it had been carrying a payload of some kind. what if it had been carrying explosives, god forbid? the white house has antiaircraft missiles. the white house is protected by radar that monitors the air space around the white house. but the drone is very little.

the white house the language i agree with carole this white house and this president language is very important to him as it should be but at the same time you can't -- >> shouldn't we though wouldn't it have been helpful for fdr to say, well, you know naziism is not extreme german nationalism. yes, it was, and yes, this is muslim extremism that saudi arabia one of our good allies spent billions and billions of dollars promoting over the globe over the past quarter century. >> but i could see how good muslims would say these are not muslims. >> of course, we say this all the time on the show well over a billion people. i said yesterday, willie i wouldn't print the cartoon. >> but in fairness those numbers do not support the violent acts and terrorist acts we saw in paris. i can understand someone supporting tear relinlgion. i'm not a muslim. >> if christians were going out blowing away3,000 people in the name of jesus and carrying around crosses, my god, the things christians are accused of starting crusade for i don't know, just the simplest of things are just absolutely outrageous.

that's been an ongoing contention point between the white house and congress. congress says it's up to the white house to send that language over which would authorize new military force against isis the islamic state that is taking over parts of syria, and that is what the white house needs in the eyes of many legal scholars to continue the fight there, the u.s.'s fight in action against those militants. >> all right, we'll be watching all of it play out. lauren french thank for joining us today. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. >>> 24 minutes past the hour. just ahead, schools arming students with canned corn to stop possible gunmen? >>> plus jimmy fallon and chris hemsworth face off in a water war, and lucky for you, it looks like chris is losing. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. your mom's got your back. your friends have your back. your dog's definitely got your back. but who's got your back when you need legal help? we do. we're legalzoom, and over the last 10 years

that applies anywhere near the white house. it is also against the law to fly an unmanned drone over dc. on tuesday night we talked about the federal employee that drunkingly flew his friend's drone over the fence and on to the grounds of the white house. he has not been charged. secret service appears to z believe his explanation, but it is not unreasonable to be worried about what happened there. it's not unreasonable to be worried and what it says about the safety of the first family when they're home on the white house grounds. this is the drone that crashed at the white house. it's fairly large, a four row for drone, about two feet across. you can tell that it doesn't appear to have been carrying anything, a camera or anything else. commercially available drones can carry things. that's the whole thinking about the amazon drone delivery thing, that "60 minutes" did that press release for a few months ago. this was recovered by authorities last week on the u.s.-mexico border near tijuana. the theory about why this drone cra

they weren't successful in getting their candidate in the white house. it can replace having a candidate who actually can conduct with people. it may do the opposite when you have candidates who will try to reach out to the average koch brother. >> you know that's a good point, jason, because democrats got out and knocked on doors, and did a lot of grassroots organizing. >> also i mentioned governor scott walker, he formed a political committee. remember in 2011 a blogger presented to be david koch and called walker who infamously bought into it. they talked about meeting democratic leaders over protests listen to this. >> i'm used to that. i can deal with that but i'm not negotiating. >> bring a -- >> i have one in my office. you would be happy with that. i got a slugger with my name on it. >> beautiful. >> and of course -- the walker bought into it but is it just a coincidence he's announcing this today, and is it by chance a lot of that money will go to push scott walker who fought labor and unions in his home state? most definitely. if you look at wh

the "wall street journal" reports top white house adviser john podesta will leave the white house administration in february to begin working for the clinton camp. >>> switching gears to talk business news for you. the u.s. government says insurance giant metlife is just too big to fail. we've heard this phrase before but the company says it will go to court to prove otherwise. it's the first financial institution to fight that designation, which would mean more government oversight. so, the company's ceo is saying that regulators got this one wrong. for the day's other business headlines, we turn to cnbc's steve sedgwick live for us in london. steve, let's start with oil prices, because we see this six-year low yesterday. and again, this talk about oil prices just continuing to drop. >> there is, yeah. i didn't hear too many of these people talking when we were $110 a barrel for three years, got to be honest but now it appears everyone thinks we'll continue to go down partly because there is so much supply in the market. we spoke back in november about how opec's not taking any off the table, a

krystal, back to you. >> kristen welker at the white house. appreciate it. >>> and now on the hill where tonight's speech takes place and the sergeant of arms proclaims this. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. [ applause ] . >>> and of course nbc's luke russert is already there. >> that never gets old, krystal. that is fabulous. >> it is a lot of fun. is it getting exciting over there. >> oh, where else would you rather be here krystal ball? here on the hill we are looking forward to what the gop response will be from senator joni ernst and mitch mcconnell said earlier today and you heard about turning the page well mitch mcconnell wants to turn the page on all of the animosity before and perhaps they can figure out the way the white house and the republican-led congress can work together. all of that is easier said than done. expect to hear in the republican response about conciliatory preference to move -- reference to move forward and not specifics and the messaging is fascinating in joni ernst. who this time last year was

bursting with life. >>> developing now at the white house. president obama met with top congressional leaders at the white house. hear more about what the president had to say about the cyber attack on centcom. >> i have a state of the union next week. one of the things we're going to be talking about is cyber security, with the sony attacks that took place, with the twitter account that was hacked by islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show how much more work we need to do both public and private sector to strengthen our cyber security and make sure that families' bank accounts are safe, to make sure public infrastructure is safe. i talked to both speaker and mitch mcconnell about this i think we agreed that this is an area where we can work hard together, get some legislation done and make sure that we are much more effective in protecting the american people from these kinds of cyber attacks. >> the president a short while ago at the white house. >>> a lot more going on this morning. some of the things we thought you

it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat right now to anybody at the white house. but as the secret service has more information about what they have been able to learn about this, they'll share more information on this. >> all right. so what is he talking about? we have just learned in fact that the secret service is investigating a device found on the white house grounds. the secret service as you heard is investigating and we will keep on top of that and bring you the latest as soon as we know it. >>> but in the meantime, look at that. yes. keep an eye on that car what you saw right there in the middle. it just barely escapes in time as that billboard came crashing down. this happened in southern california during a heavy wind storm. as you can see, the two other cars were simply crushed. but thankfully no one was hurt. >>> we do want to give a shout-out to miss usa. she came so close to winning the pageant. the crown went to miss colombia. the other finalists were ms. jamaica and the ukraines. >>> well, the state department is frozen out. >>> and which band lit

let me first get the mood of the white house. to those of us on the outside, it seems very emboldened. >> you can say it is a holiday around here. it is state of the union eve. there is a lot of work and activity here at the white house in what is otherwise a federal holiday. there's a lot of excitement. there's bounce in the step of people who are working on a day they would otherwise have off because there are ideas in this speech. there's a palpable sense of momentum because our economy has demonstrated tremendous strength and resilience which we feel good about. there are polls, particularly the latest one -- the president's approval rating is up nine points over a month ago. and we also feel a sense of moe momentum about the kinds of policy proposals we have talked about over the last few months everything from making climate change progress in china and trying to bring a solution to our broken immigration system and saving new home buyers money on their mortgage. the president is speaking before the country, the congress, b

of the white house. it was on temporary lock down at the white house until they determined the drone was not a threat. they got a call from a man who apparently coincidentally randomly works for the geospatial intelligence agency. he says it was him that flew the drone into the white house. it was just a mistake. he was messing around with his friend's drone and he lost control of it near the white house grounds. he also apparently mentioned to the secret service that he was hammered when it happened. oops. so far the man has not been charged with anything. the secret service appears to believe him that it was an innocent 3:00 a.m. drunken screw up. what if it had not been. this is the latest in a series of more or less security breaches at the grounds of the white house. we only just recently learned of a very serious incident in 2010 when a gunman fired a semiautomatic gun out of the car and the bullets struck the upstairs windows of the white house. that is after a white house housekeeper found broken

that applies anywhere near the white house. it is also against the law to fly an unmanned drone over dc. on tuesday night we talked about the federal employee that drunkingly flew his friend's drone over the fence and on to the grounds of the white house. he has not been charged. secret service appears to believe his explanation, but it is not unreasonable to be worried about what happened there. the white house was evacuated. the supreme court was evacuated. the u.s. capitol was evacuated. a black hawk helicopter and two jets were dispatched to neutralized the perceived threat and they ended up escorting the cessna away from washington, d.c. they made it land at an airport four rotor drone, about four feet across. the drone doesn't appear to have been carrying anything. commercially available drones they can carry things that's the whole this i go about the dumb amazon delivery things that 60 minutes did that fluffy awkward press release for a couple months ago. this was a drone that was covered by authorities on the u.s. mexi

and chris jansing is at the white house. tell me a little about what the white house is planning today and this meeting today was -- it had been in the books for some time. >> reporter: this is something that the president put together by executive order, another situation where he used his pen to take action to get a policing summit together. this is the first of the meetings of the task force in the 21st century policing. you have the mayors of some big cities there, sacramento new orleans, philadelphia baltimore. it's headed by the police commissioner in philadelphia. it follows what happened in ferguson, what happened in cleveland, ohio in staten island and it's a way for the president to ask the justice department and police agencies around the country to address the problems that led to those situations. and so they are going to be talking a lot about certain things today. one of them is certain to be body cameras. one of the things that was talked a lot about the aftermath of ferguson. members of this task force met w

the labor party is not treated particularly well by the white house. for david cameron to stay in blair house and be there with barack obama he feels is good for his re-election chances. >> on the terror front, how much on edge is london after what happened in paris and what happened in belgium and arrests in berlin and warnings from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula based in yemen and isis' competition what they see as a terror victory. >> your correspondents were exactly right, this is a pan european problem. the fact security is being stepped up in london particularly around jewish sites in the country is an indication of how on edge britain is. it's very close. you can get to london to paris in three hours. the effects of what happened in paris ripple directly into other european capitals because we have the same problems. we have to have a pro-pronged approach, security which david cameron is talking about today and what is happening in our schools and communities and our prisons to see why we are getting disaffected young men leaving to join the

>> abraham lincoln was pushed by his staff to stay in the white house. he said, no i got to go out and get my public opinion bath. they don't talk to real people. the average social security disability check is $1100 a month. this is a lot of people who have worked through their disability. they do sign up for disabltsility, they just can't work. >> does the system need to be refined? are there too many takers and too many people gaming it? you do not think that's happening. >> i don't think that's happening. in any major anything is going to have their fox holes or find a story of somebody who is cheating. they can find the same story of a rich person cheating on their taxes. you can always find somebody in a country this big. this program has worked. you can make a minor fix. we have done it 11 times bipartisanly. this is the worst kind of class warfare to go after people on disability. >> what the conversations in your subcommittee about this? they really want to throw this to the free market don't they? >> yes. >> that would be their perfect world? >

we're watching the white house briefing room. i believe he has walked up to the podium now, is that correct? and we're waiting for what should be a round of questions. we don't have return here but i'm hearing that he will be up shortly, about the response from the u.s. of course, the substantive thing to come out of the last few days, upcoming conference in february announced by eric holder during his meetings here that should address so many of the issues that seem to underpin the attacks here radicalization, kind of security cooperation that could prevent the radicalization between france and u.s. and other allies. we know there was a ministerial meeting ahead of the major rally. we're hearing off the top he's probably going to take a number of questions about the centcom hacking, contributing to an atmosphere in which the white house is addressing people for terror threats both physical and cyber. the status of the briefing room if i can get an update we're still waiting for him to start taking questions. we have nothing yet.

the white house has indicated that it is going small with this. that it is sort of the clinton model of aspirational ideas, a lot of them domestic and economic. so it will be an interesting moment. >> and dana here the president did meet with lawmakers and senators and told him for the first time that he will send a war authorization on isis to congress. john corn wynn said it was news to him. he will send up an amf. and mcconnell said it is important to tell us what he wants and the initial document off of which we would work and senator mccain said i think it is great and appropriate just as they have with every other major authorization of use of military force. so dana, it seems like there was unit on completely ducking this issue before the election and now there is some unit on passing some kind of war resolution against isis? >> here-here. and that is what they do. they've gotten rid of the exchanges back and forth and saying you go first no you go first. after you and after you. and finally they'll do what was agreed was necessary to do af

how do you grade this as departures go from the white house? >> this entire situation with chuck hagel has been so awkward, so difficult. it was a painful expression on the vice president's face when the new defense secretary was introduced. it was clear joe biden and john kerry were friendly with him in the senate and were not happy about the way he was treated. he got off to a very bad start with a tough confirmation hearing. barely got through, had to overcome a lot of slings and arrows from ted cruz and others who really went after him. diane feinstein defended but he never did well. he never got into that inner circle. he was really on the outer loop of the outer circles. >> hagel has been speaking about the stress of nonstop war on the u.s. military and the difficulty difficulties of closing gitmo. both issues that he was reportedly pushed out for. >> well it didn't surprise me to hear his closing remarks in an npr interview a few days ago in part because this is how he essentially made his profile during the last years he was in the unit

that is what you find going back in other white houses and in this white house it is not often the same. >> in every one of the speeches especially the state of the union, the pause for applause lines are key. are they written with that in mind that they are trying to solicit hollers and boots of approval from their own side and maybe even sometimes draw out the other side with things they know they will oppose. >> this president has been criticized for lack of applause lines, his view and our writers are for the best applause lines and for the point you are trying to make. so when you write applause lines, it often not contributing to the speech. >> and the white house is trying to attract younger audiences or younger americans in things such as community college. looking at who watches, the demographics show the women over 65 are the most talking about the state of the union and then goes down to men 65 plus or men 55-64. and how do you craft a speech that long and try to make it interesting and appealing to a younger audience. >> first pig out what you are trying to say. what are the

>>> also a scare at the white house. a ban at the super bowl. why drones have so many experts worried about the threat from above. >>> also the first lady makes a big statement in support of women's rights. >>> and apple's stunning announcement and what it says about the phone in your pocket. it's all ahead in conversation nation. next. ♪♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! vo: in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. vo: we put members first... join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ i've been called a control freak... i like to think of myself as more of a control... enthusiast. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control. it's so, what's the word?... sexy

buzzfeed had a piece last week talking about the chasm is in contrast to the white house expectation for quick result especially with the tight 90-daytime line on the task force laid down by the president for expectations and the task force executive director said he intends to hit the deadline. that does seem realizic based on your reporting? >> they will produce something, but whether it is a comprehensive meaningful blue print to change something, that remains to be seen. they picked march -- the white house picked march to show how serious they were about this to show they wanted to move on this quickly in response to the deaths of michael brown and eric garner but the tight time line will make it difficult for them to find meaningful compromises to move forward. >> indeed thank you, alex seitz-wald. >>> and that wraps things up here at "the reid report." and be sure to join us at msnbc.com. "the cycle" is up next. >> this woman wanted to leave sea bags and they needed new blood for the business. she found the perfect partner. watch more on sunday at 7:30 on msnbc. one thing i've

what can you tell us more from the white house? >> well, as you pointed out, there have been meetings going on here at the white house throughout the day as the administration continues to monitor the ongoing terrorist attack -- or the crisis in france. the fact attack happened hours ago. josh ernst saying it's not clear yet who is specifically is responsible for the attack. the administration is very aware of the fact that isis is trying to recruit sympathizers to its cause. the administration saying that france has stood shoulder to shoulder with the united states in the fight against isis including in its efforts to try to defund the terrorist organization. take a listen to what josh ernst had to say earlier today. >> we have received great cooperation from nations around the world including nations in the region. in trying to shut down the efforts of isil to raise funds. whether it's by taking hostages and extorting rand inging ransoms or trying to sell oil on the black market. we've made progress on that. we put in place a san

. >> nbc's kristen welker joins me live from the white house. an interesting choice of the first two destinations given how much the state of the union fired up the president's blue-state base. >> reporter: that is right. and he's headed directly into two red states as you point out. making the case he is not backing down despite the fact that republicans just won control of congress. his first stop boise, idaho, where he will speak at idaho state university. he'll tour an engineering lab there and we'll hear him make the case that it is important to train the american worker for the high-tech jobs and that is a key part of fuelling the economy. and then he heads to kansas to talk about education. and then by the way, he will hold a series of interviews with you tube stars to broaden the message he is trying to get out. and i'm told by white house officials that the president is going to continue to crisscross the country to get out his case and to argue for this middle class economy that we heard him talk about last night. and to point out, he

white house. i don't think that they care passionately on one side or the other about building this pipeline. and i actually tend to agree with the premise that they can use this as a bargaining chip as something to give up and exchange for something else. and i frankly think they would be okay in doing that. i it would anger a lot of environmentalists in the democratic coalition. but president obama doesn't, you know, he can anger anybody he wants at this point, i suppose. >> what you never heard from the president is that this is a bad idea. the president has always said this is my prerogative and the congress is trying to end run what should be the white house executive authority to make a decision about whether this is a good thing or not. he's not siding with the virmallists generally. he's saying you need to let us get to our process first. process argument not a standup argument which i felt they left themselves wiggle room to approve it. >> get through this round, veto it and then modify i

four months earlier a knife-wielding fence jumper made it all the way into the white house. the secret service is under scrutiny. as a result of that scrutiny there's an internal shakeup going on there. last week they announced four top managers are being replaced. >> that's right. they sure did. joining us live in washington thank you so much for that. >>> you know it's one of the biggest days of the annual political calendar. tomorrow's state of the union address. the white house released this picture of the president hard at work ahead of the big night. he'll be in front of a republican-led congress and according to a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, 45% of americans say he's been too stubborn, but 55% say it's the gop who is too stubborn. don't miss our special coverage of the state of the union address, tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >>> today, the nation celebrates dr. martin luther king, jr.'s birthday. the president and first lady will be in the mlk day of service. yesterday, the cast of "selma" marched to the bridge in alabama. oprah winfrey reflected

. >>> the white house says admitting it was wrong. not to send a higher level official to the giant unity rally in paris. why didn't they? >> why didn't they? >> press secretary josh earnest still faces tough questions for stating security factors were a concern on short notice. >> how do you explain that that the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, he made it there. he's a huge target unfortunately. >> i'll allow the israelis to discuss that. >> dozens of leaders from countries very important. they're not america but very important. how did they make it there? >> talk with them about the security precautions they have in place. >> mandela dozens of security might be more but it comes up at short notice. unfortunately mandela dies me wanted to be there. he made it. >> the difference with president mandela is that there had been discussions that had been ongoing for frankly a number of years about the ceremony that would take place in the event of his death. >> you said the president personally wishes he would have liked to have

>>> the white house admits now the decision not to attend sunday's march was a mistake. >> whether or not the united states should have sent someone with a higher profile and it's fair to say we should have sent someone with a higher profile. >> hack attack, after centcom social media victimized by isis inspired hackers, they say it should be a warning. >> not a crisis but needs to be looked at. >> this is not a threat to critical infrastructure. this is much more of an annoyance than anything else. >> and power shift, congress's leaders meet with the president. they at least find something on which they can agree. >> to the speaker, i want to point out, i said there are going to be some things we agree on and having a college football playoff is clearly something we can agree on. i called for it when i came into office. i think it turned out pretty well, particularly for ohio. ♪ >>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we're following all of the latest developments from france and israel. the surviving staff at "charlie hebdo" is preparing to release a new issue, 3 million

the white house does have backing. if you look at polls, they show that many americans favor increasing taxes on the wealthy. i will make an interesting political point to all of this. despite republicans taking control of congress the president feels emboldened now, in part because of the economy, which is showing renewed signs of strength. that's one of the reasons that you're seeing this somewhat bold proposal from the president. steve? >> kristen welker thanks for that information. >>> president obama's picking a big political fight here as politicos writing this morning. the message, wage stagnation obama is on it. if republicans say no to catchy ideas like getting out of the trust fund loophole they can explain it to voters in 2016. for more on this plan how it could be received we'll bring in our panel, we have lynn sweet, washington bureau chief from the "chicago sun times." and we have the senior fellow from the heartland institute, and my old co-host, on the cycle, i have his name her somewhere, toure. let's

tell us about the white house response to these attacks. >> top officials here at the white house have been in touch with their counterparts in france throughout the week as they monitor the situation. as you pointed out, president obama has expressed the fact that the united states stands shoulder to shoulder with france. it has offered its full support in the investigation. on thursday, president obama made an unannounced stop at the french embassy where he called france america's oldest ally. listen to more of what he had to say. >> france is our oldest ally. i want the people of france to know that the united states stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow. we stand for freedom and hope and the dignity of all human beings, and that's what the city of paris represents to the world. that spirit will endure forever, long after the scourge of terrorism is banished from this world. >> reporter: that was president obama speaking in knoxville, tennessee, on friday, where he set out to make remarks about college affordability. before he made the remarks, he talked about france. that

what would you do if you were in the white house? >> well first of all, i would recognize the threat. the president keeps talking about the end of war in the last -- i believe it was his last state of the union speech been laden is dead and we've eliminated a core al qaeda. that's all ridiculous. isis is on the march. isis has been expanding and winning while we've been using american air power. first of all, we need a strategy. second of all, you have to treat syria and iraq the same, it's the same enemy. third of all, you have to have more american boots on ground in form of air controllers and special operations advisers and trainers. and you're going to have to have that and of course an overall strategy of training and equipping iraqis as well as free syrian army. we're about -- well they have already abandoned the free syrian army to fate that is just absolutely terrible. >> what is striking politically, just politically, is that usually when a white house loses both houses and has such a midterm defeat they drop in the polls a

a white house plan would have effectively stopped 529. the idea was to put the money from that program into another tax credit. the administration says more effectively targets middle class and low-income families. unfortunately for the economists at 1600 pennsylvania, the backlash was both strong and immediate. >> we begin with president obama's proposed assault on popular college savings accounts. >> the president last night said we're going to take the savings that you're putting away tax-free, for your kids' college education, and when you draw it out and write the tuition check, we're dpgs to slap a tax on that. >> i was told not to cut off my nose to spite my face, and that seems like what's happening here. >> it wasn't just tv news hostswuj and pundits who were outraged, journalists took to twitter to protest. who convinced the white house that their 529 proposal was a good idea. politico saying, i suppose it's pointless to get too worked up about the proposed 529 plan change as it has1no no chance of becoming law. to put it in per

i did not consult with the white house. the congress can make the decision. i don't believe i am poking anyone in the eye. there is a serious threat that exists in the world, and the president last night kind of papered over it. the fact is that there needs to be a more serious conversation in america about how serious the threat is from radical islamic jihadists and the threat posed by iran. >> anyway it's going to be about iran, not jihadists. speaker boehner told republicans behind closed doors -- the president expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while -- glen thrush, senior write with politico, and richard haus, the president for the council on foreign relations. i have seen a lot of politics and never seen anything so in your face as this. bringing a friendly foreign leader or friend of this country, but a man of the right, a likud party leader, with his own ideology that is adver sear to this president, bringing him to the congress to address this country. in the middle of a political debate, in the middle of sensitive negotiations trying to avoi

. >>> the race for the white house. why one event in iowa could give us a better look at who might be running for president. >>> and then what might surprise you about marijuana sales in one state. >>> hello, everybody. it's high noon in the east and 9:00 in the west, and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." alex is off today. some areas getting blanketed by snow and in some cases, the worse of the season so far. overnight snowfall remains in a lot of areas, and the fierce winter storm causing trouble on roadways but not necessarily drivers. some say they saw it coming. >> stay off of the side streets because the main roads are being salted and plowed but the side streets are not so for me living at the bottom of a hill you can see you have a hard time getting up. >> let's go live to msnbc's chris with an update. looks white behind you, chris. how bad is it? >> yeah as you can see right now the snow has gone from really big puffy flakes down to what looks like a little ice crystals, so the storm may be tapering off but

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>> i think this is a new white house. i think the president is energized and every time he did one of these things that had to be done the immigration action or what he did with cuba people predicted he was going to tank. look at his numbers here. he is at his highest approval in at least a year or more and it really is because of the fact that i think he is acting energized energized, and moving forward. i would not be here today if my dad had not been able to get me a college degree. my sister didn't get a high school degree and she went on to a community college and got her g.e.d. and is now an accountant. i think the fact that he is focusing on things not just the fact that we have seen an improved economy, we know that. >> senator klobuchar, no one is expecting great economic achievement for this president and a republican controlled congress. there wasn't a lot of legislative achievement before. how are democrats in the senate going to approach these next two years? do you think there is stuff that you will get done

but yesterday, the white house wasted no time throwing cold water on the idea. and by early afternoon, the white house signaled the president would veto that plan. frustrated a bipartisan group of senators including joe manchin of west virginia who see this project as a rare opportunity to work together. the administration has been studying this issue for six years. and democratic senator told the "wall street journal," quote, you cannot defend that process. six years to cite a pipeline is ridiculous. >>> former governor bob mcdonnell's fall from grace is complete. sentenced to two years in federal prison. his day in court was full of surprises. first that the sentence handed down wasn't longer and second that his wife maureen who was scapegoated at the trial came to the proceedings and sat in the gallery. the courtroom, it was packed with supporters including bruce smith and another former governor douglas wilder. got cheers while testifying passionately on mcdonnell's behalf before pointing out that the ceo of star scientific johnny williams quote, walks away

the white house now confirms he's dropping that idea. key democrats and republicans agree, it would hurt the middle class. >> we need opportunities to empower and reward folks for preparing for the future. but the president's plan does just the opposite. >> it's another example of his out-dated, top-down approach. >> reporter: in private, house speaker john boehner told republicans he's close to finalizing a plan to sue president obama over immigration. the senate's planning to deal with immigration and homeland security funding after they approve the keystone oil pipeline. >> the keystone pipeline vote is about jobs it's about opportunity. >> reporter: and it's going nowhere. the president already promised to veto. >> i think we should do everything we can to persuade at least a half a dozen democrats that they should join us to get this done. >> reporter: but republicans' immigration plan to beef up border security hit a snag pulled before it ever came up for a vote. insiders say there weren't enough republicans behind it. >> when we'r

now let's get started with kristin welker at the white house. kristin, the big question this year why idaho? >> reporter: a couple of reasons, ari. first of all he's never been to idaho. this is a deeply red state. part of president obama saying yes, democrats did lose congress but he won't be cowed, he'll continue to propoet policies he mapped out last night. take a look at the election results from 2012 to give a sense how deeply red this state is. president obama lost the vote there, only got 33%. kansas where he will visit tomorrow 38%. but idaho tells the story that president wants to tell which is that the economy is resurging and he took a victory lap for that last night. the unemployment rate in idaho, 3.9%. if you look at college tuition, $6,000 dollars per year for the average resident for four-year college. and one of the president's big policies he would like to see enacted is for everyone to have to free years of community college. so i think there are a lot of reasons that he thinks idaho is a good place and he is speaking at boise

make a third run at the white house. well, surprise, romney seemed to warm to the idea as he was meeting with donors. and then surprise again a lot of those same republicans got cold feet. very cold feet. on friday night, romney addressed this issue head on. well sort of. >> in last few days, the most frequently asked question i get is what does ann think about all of this? and she believes that people get better with experience. heaven knows i have experience running for president. >> mitt romney trying to persuade republicans that the third time's the charm suggests that if he runs again he'll be running a different kind of campaign. >> under president obama, the rich have gotten richer income inequality has gotten worse and more people are in poverty in america than ever before. >> but romney's evolution on 2016 from no no no, no no -- >> i'm not ronald reagan, i think that's been pointed out to me before, and i'm not running for president. the answer is no. i'm not running for -- i'm not running. i'm not running for

house is currently considering and the white house is also seeking comment from other sections of government, including the department of defense. what we know right now is that it's anticipated that when the faa begins to unveil some of those proposed rules -- and between now and 2017 there's going to be a long process where different rules are leaked and are talked about. one of the things that has a lot of people worried is a potential requirement that anyone that's doing commercial drone operation have a pilot's license. that's going to make drone delivery for a company like amazon or google really hard because you're going to be hiring a completely different class of people that have a lot of very expensive training and a lot of training hours behind them as opposed to really anybody. and advocates argue that it's really apples and oranges, that flying a small two to ten-pound robot versus a cessna, very different. >> patrick, thank you very much for that. certainly something we'll be following and closely watching in 2015. >>> more now on the 7-year-old sole survivor of a plane crash i

house, senior white house adviser valley jarrett. great to see you. >> good morning, good morning, good morning. so we i just have to have if we can have a moment here. >> yes, i saw the president talk about equal pay and there were actually some people not clapping. it doesn't make sense to me in this day and age. >> so we said it's 2015. come on everybody, how would you not think women deserve equal pay. how would you fought think 43 million americans should go out a single day of sick pay? we need to recognize the changing demographics in the work place, as you and i discussed a million times, employers who get it. they're the ones who are competitive. >> it didn't make sense to me. he talks about the highlights paid sick leave. he talks about equal pay. he talks about college being affordable and a whole list of other things but how does this president move forward and actually i'm going to ask the same question i asked to carley given the challenges, what is going to be the tragedy to see some action in these final months, years

by house speaker boehner defended that invitation. >> i didn't consult with the white house, congress can make this decision on its own. there's a serious threat that exists in the world and the president, last night, kind of papered over it. there needs to be a more serious conversation in america about how serious the threat is from radical islamic jihadists and the threat posed by iran. >> i'll let others be the judge of what's appropriate or not. it's certainly unusual. we have a close relationship with israel. we heard as you know from speaker boehner about plans for the prime minister to come here. he's come before. it's a little -- it's a bit of an episode of the bizarre today seeing this unfold today. >> meanwhile, president obama's threat to veto sanctions against iran. at othds with both parties. democrat senator menendez calls for new sanctions. >> the more i hear from the administration and its quotes the more it sounds like talking points that come straight out of tehran and it feeds to the iranian narrative of victimization, when they are the ones with original sins. the

>> nbc's kristen welker at the white house. good to see you. thanks for being with me. >> reporter: thanks, jose. >>> the emotional finish of an incredible climb. two hikers made it to the mountaintop known of a el capitan finishing the hardest free climb in the world. this morning on "today," they talked about the feeling of making it to the top. >> i'd been pictures what it was going to be like to climb that last ten feet to the summit. for a very long time. and i remember grabbing the very top and just pausing for a minute making sure it was real. and then the cheers erupted and it was. >> nbc's ali jackson has more on this historic climb from yosemite national park. good morning. >> reporter: jose, the two climbers woke up today after a night's sleep in a real bed and a chance for a real shower for the first time in 19 days as they rejoin families back on solid ground hours after making history. [ cheers ] >> reporter: at the summit a celebration like never before. because this hasn't happened before. tony caldwell pulls himself over the ed

is trying to send up the pike to the white house. do you imagine the president will take this as an opportunity to push back against those initiatives? >> certainly. i think the president isn't going to waste an opportunity to say, look when it comes to the keystone pipeline this isn't something i will sign and tip to remind republicans, if you want to see changes in immigration reform if you want to see changes to my executive action then pass your own bill. this has been something the president said repeatedly and it remains to be something he really needs republicans to act on if he's going to roll back those executive actions. >> lauren there are a lot of things that the president would like to say that just politically is impossible. he can't say. there are things we would like him to say that he can't say. what is something you would like to hear the president to say that you imagine he can't say? >> well i think tomorrow the president has not talked a ton about race in a year that is marked by racial divides within this countr

set the stage. >> doesn't that feel great at the white house these days. too bad for them didn't happen last september, october. >> before the election. >> the federal deficit is at a record low in the last seven, eight years. you have consumer confidence going up. i think in some ways when you look at the beginning of the republican takeover effort in the house and senate now, which they look a little in disarray as they have been coming in the president is looking strong. the thing about obama is he has done well with the public in terms of likeability, whether they trust him, like his values. when the economy is bad, things look terrible overseas putin looks not controllable, they take it out on the president. when there's good news breaking or things feel better i think the public likes to rally around this guy. in other words i think they want to see him succeed, so therefore he can rebound very quickly. >> and the poll says number one issue is jobs number two is terrorism. the fact that overseas normally americans don't tend to care about things over

even has a fan in the white house. >> i've got to say omar is a great character. that's not an endorsement. he's not my favorite person but he fascinating. the toughest baddest guy on the show but it's interesting. >> it's an honor to have two of the actors. an draw roy i don't, and. >> what's you will. >> good to see you, man. >> right back at you. that's the only way we get to meet. >> i know. nowadays yes. >> happy new year. how's the family? >> my daughter is 16 it's kind of hard. >> mine is 15. you know i know. >> you have a question for andre. we can start there. >> what question do i have of andre? >> i always like it -- >> i have a bone to pick with the president. c'mon, man, dennis "cutty" wise is right there in the great roots where the president likes to come from. he starts off bad, turns into a good buy, helping the community. >> you think the president should have had the role as you play as his favorite? >> emblematic. >> i would have to disagree but we don't want to battle over semantics. >> all right. >> he should have just said "the wire" is the