with spring coming, might be a good idea for the voters of texas and elsewhere to begin doing what do with weeds. pull them and throw them where they belong, in the compost pile. that's hardball for now, thanks for being with us. all in with chris hayes starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes, well, it's a bad day for wisconsin republican governor scott walker. all of the country right now, investigative reporters are pouring over 28,000 newly released documents related to a criminal investigation of a former walker aide. these documents have the potential to do real damage to the wisconsin governor who's up for re-election this year, we have a reporter joining us to talk about what we know so far. scott walker's bad day comes on the heels of what had been a string of very good days for a man who's widely believed to be eyeing a run for the gop

presidential nomination in 2016. scott walker is the one person with the most to gain from the scandals engulfing chris christie, who until recently was a front-runner for the gop nomination. you see, like chris christie, walker is beloved by big money donors who applaud his willingness to go after unions, and like chris christie, he has run successfully in a blue state, even surviving a recall election. in fact, if you're one of those 1%ers who wants to use your fortune to influence politics and you're looking for a general election friendly alternative to keep rand paul or ted cruz, the sudden fall of chris christie has left you taking a long hard look at scott walker. >> after all of chris christie's problems on the road, you talk to being republican money people, they're now looking very hard at scott walker. as the potential republican contender. >> who benefits from the christie mess right now, scott walker, the only other nontea

partier who could run for president. >> will he run for president in 2016? governor walker says he hasn't ruled anything out? >> describe for me the ideal republican presidential candidate in 2016? >> he's got to be an outsider, the presidential nominee should be a foreign or current governor. >> maybe he has the last name walker, i'm spitballing here. scott walker has more or less the exact same baggage that chris christie has. when it comes to misdeeds and abuses of power from people in your inner circle, the wisconsin governor may already have christie beat. before he became governor, scott walker was the county executive in milwaukee county. his office was investigated in a john doe probe which allows prosecutors to compel people to give testimony. the investigation was closed out without his being charged or accused of wrongdoing. the bad news is that it lead to convictions of six of his former

aides and allies, that includes walker's former deputy chief of staff, kelly rynefleish. she was sentenced and served six months in jail. now, think about that, you have someone who's supposed to be doing the business of the county paid by the taxpayers but instead they're doing political hack work footing the bill. the documents that released today provide a window into just how widespread this practice of crossing those two was among walker's people they suggest that scott walker himself was part of the problem, we already knew that walker's staff had set up a secret e-mail system in the office so he could conduct campaign business without the public being able to find out about it. they appear to have been using secret wireless routers and laptops to get away with it.

he told the ap in 2012 he built a firewall to ensure county workers were not ordered to do campaign work while on county time. one of the e-mails released today shows one walker aide writing to another, consider yourself in the inner circle, i use this private account to communicate can skw and his chief of staff. that suggests scott walker participated on the private e-mail himself. and then there's this after a walker staffer quit. walker himself e-mailed, we cannot afford another story like this one, adding that means no laptops. he would be referring to the private laptops that staffers had been using to conduct political business on the taxpayer dime. the new documents also show that walker asked for a daily conference call that included campaign staffers and his aides on the same call.

remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg, since reporters have just begun to sort through 28,000 documents that were only released today. here's the other really important thing here. there's more than one john doe investigation, and while the first is now closed, state prosecutors in the new investigation are believed to be looking into whether walker's successful 2012 recall campaign illegally coordinated with independent conservative groups, while one shoe dropped today, another one may be dangling just above scott walker's head. joining me now is ruth coniff. you spent all day hunkered down with these e-mails. scott walker's people are going to say look, big long investigation, partisan witch hunt, they concluded it, no wrongdoing, no charges against me, this is old news. what do you say to that? >> a couple things.

yes, these partisan folks have called it a witch hunt from the beginning, a lot of those lead investigators and judges are republicans in this investigation. it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, the second investigation which is still underway. is led by a republican, who is thought to be a bush appointee. that just doesn't hold water, but more than that if you look at the e-mails as i have been doing all day today, can you see they speak for themselves what you see is a governor who was a micro manager, and i think when you talk about the parallels of chris christie it's very apt. you have two men who are very political and micro manage their campaigns and messaging and staff, to the extent that walker is typing on his blackberry what his chief of staff should say. when you look at the totality of the e-mails that came out today, it's really hard to believe that walker had nothing to do with

this secret e-mail network, the laptop and the campaigning on taxpayer time. >> yeah, i have to say, you have your people setting up a secret e-mail system, sending an introductory e-mail that says, hey, welcome to the inner circle, using their laptop. that's not the kind of behavior that people who are doing the right thing -- maybe they are, but i think it's fair that people have a little suspicion about what exactly was going on in that office. yeah, i think it's significant that there were 15 felony convictions of the six people closest to walker at this time. that his right handman is now in prison for improper acts while he was serving the interests of scott walker. it's not just that they broke kpans finance law, it's not just that these people are in trouble. it's illegal to spend your time when you're supposed to be serving the public running a campaign, it's that walker and

the people closest to him were so campaign oriented they completely negtsed the public interest to support the campaign. very much again like christie. >> the sheer micro managing and pettiness, this is something that is on the record, it's a story of the student regents appointment. he was going to be appointed to the regent's system, and they found out he signed the recall petition, he had done it coming out of a grocery store, and they nixed the appointment. this is an operation, nothing is getting past them is the point. >> yeah, and i think the other thing is, you look at the public outrage. the public can understand what it means to be tied up in traffic, for an ambulance to be tied up in traffic to serve a political agenda. you have a parking structure that collapses and kills a kid and walker and his staff talking on this e-mail network about how

to manage that politically and how to quash the potential lawsuit of a woman who died of starvation, because that would be bad for the campaign. again and again and again, you see these concerns completely overwhelming any sense of public service. >> i have to read this one e-mail which blew me away. thomas nardelli forwarded to his deputy, who did six months in jail. it's one of these right wing chain e-mails. i can handle being a black disabled one armed jewish homosexual, please dear god don't make me a democrat. who is the kind of person that gets this in their inbox and says, i'm going to send this to my employees and subordinates on a campaign. >> yeah, i think in wisconsin walker has survived the john doe vision in terms of being politically and legally in trouble.

i think the general public and the united states of america looks at this guy, his buddies who are in jail, and the people close to him, and it's not pretty. >> thanks for coming on tonight, appreciate it. >> great to be here. >> joining me now, senior writer at buzz feed. you wrote this piece that i thought was one of the best on this subject. the inhood the scenes freak outhappening in the republican money situation. chris christie plunges the republican party deeper into the wilderness, the establishment freaks out as another son falls from grace. i don't think people realize how much they put in the chris christie basket. and now how they have to fix that. >> it was the establishment and money crowd and the gop was banking on chris christie,

right? and then bridge gate happened and they freaked out, i spent several days calling all these people, they were panicking, one name that consistently came up was scott walker. it has to be a governor, it has to be somebody who can relate to the mainstream, maybe scott walker. he came up consistently, now we have this huge trough of e-mails coming out. it's like whack-a-mole. except they're hitting themselves back down. >> yeah, and what i think is key here about walker is, i think there was a sense in which people thought him winning that recall election was end of story, i'm inoculated i won. and foreign minister a political perspective, it was impressive he won that. there was tons of money on both sides. the guy still has to get re-elected and maybe run for president. all this stuff is still out there, and you have a second investigation that looms over

him based on the 2012 recall and no one knows what's going on behind closed doors. >> i think there is a distinction between bridge gate and this. the public understands the traffic jam better than they understand campaign laws. it's these e-mails that we don't know much about so far, that could kill him. reporters are going through all these e-mails right now, that could kill him. remember, he has a tough re-election coming up, he has to clear that before he even gets to 2016, and then he's going to have to deal with all the fallout then. >> you have this new phenomenon which is the billionaire's primary. you always had the big money prime. but this is an increasingly large slice of the pie coming from outside groups. i think they're going to look to play king maker because there are some people who do not want to see -- what is that dynamic looking like.

how important is winning that billionaire primary? >> it is absolutely important. it was the establishment candidate that could get the rich republicans on his side that ended up winning the primary. certainly that's true going-forward. there's all this talk about a tea party insurgency. it's possible, who knows, but absolutely in the establishment primary they need the billionaires on their side, and walker is not doing himself any favors. >> there are folks you called to, when they look at ted cruz and rand paul, are there concerns of electability, are there concerns these people are not particularly politically smart? ? what is the worry. >> i think it depends on the candidate. with ted cruz they didn't like the government shutdown for many reasons, he doesn't play the game, his whole shtick is going to war with the establishment, the money crowd and the party.

he doesn't play the game. rand paul is a little better at playing the game. he showed up at a fund-raiser in new york city. he's a little better. >> the billionaire primary that crew of people tend to be quite neo-connish in their policy. we've seen chris christie court them. all of this is interesting, we're going to be watching the walker situation thank you. the fight over raising the minimum wage intensifies. >> we know from increases in minimum wage in the past that hundreds of thousands of low income americans have lost their jobs. and so the very people the president purports to help are the ones that are going to get hurt by this. >> we know says john boehner, not so fast. the full truth of minimum wage

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we are awaiting a joint press conference to begin in mexico, at the north american leaders summit with president obama. president of mexico and the prime minister of canada, the president is in mexico today to talk about the keystone pipeline and a major new asian transit package. if there's any news we'll bring it to you.

yesterday the congressional budget office released its report on raising the minimum

wage and for the second time in one month, republicans are out front embracing the work of an agency they haven't always been so sweet on. >> the congressional budget office predicting half a million americans could lose their job if the minimum wage goes up. >> you may get a raise when it comes to the minimum wage, but that's only if you still have a job. >> conservatives are out in full force, trumpeting part of the latest congressional budget report on the minimum wage. it's just their latest effort to crush the growing movement for a minimum wage increase. >> recently they said, if you did minimum wage, one impact is going to be, you'll have fewer jobs. >> it's pretty clear what they said yesterday could cost up to a million jobs. >> while the right wing was spreading the gospel, they left off that in the same report, increasing the minimum wage to 10.10 an hour would raise almost a million people out of poverty, and would raise the incomes of 16.5 million low wage workers in

an average wyche. what's been left out by conservatives isn't as interesting as what is being expressed. that's a newfound interest in what the cbo has to say. it wasn't always this way. >> we have to do away with the cbo. they are not fair. >> you're serious about real health reform, abolish the congressional budget office. it is a dishonest institution. >> where you get your information, and how accurate it is, and what the track record is -- cbo's track record -- cbo says this, cbo says this, well, because they use some pretty strange accounting conventions that aren't used anywhere else in the world. here in washington, d.c., i mean, any place else in the world, you would be in jail. >> times have changed, now conservatives are endorsing cbo reports, i think we're going to see some real movement on capitol hill, starting with ending austerity. the cbo says the sequester, which the gop has fought to

extend could cost up to 1.6 million jobs. how about ending the madness, john boehner? immigration reform passed the senate last year, but has yet to be brought up for a vote in the house. passing the senate's immigration bill would grow the economy and shrink the deficit. don't you think it's time for a vote? and then there's extending unemployment insurance. a bill republicans in the senate have blocked for months. the cbo found it would increase gdp and increase employment. what do you say, mitch mcconnell? over the past 36 hours, conservatives have decided to care about the employment prospects of low wage workers, disingenuously beating up on the cbo. if they cared about the prospect of low wage workers there are a lot of real ways they could show it. joining me now is dean baker. there are a lot of economists reacting to the cbo's projection

today. the analysis underestimated the benefits and overestimated the costs. lauren katz said they used a lot of off the shelf estimates. they want to find a smaller or negligible impact. what's your feel something you. >> know, i agree with that sentiment to some extent. i think it's worth actually looking at the report, because you made some of the points here, it's -- you know, there's a lot of positive points here about the minimum wage increase, where they thought it was a proponent. for example, big argument, some of the opponents of raising them, it's a bunch of kids that work after school at mcdonald's, they said no. only 12% of people would be benefited are teenagers. for the most part we're talking about adults here. also, they added many of us have pointed out a spillover effect. they said in total as many as 25 million workers would see higher

wages as a result of this pay increase. as you had almost a million people being lifted out of poverty, most of the gains go to people who are near the poverty within two or three times the poverty level, so there are a lot of positives there, the thing the republicans are running on is job loss. you know, there's a lot of research, and professor katz referred to that, indicating no jobless. we can't rule out there will be no jobless. it's important to understand what's going on here, let's take the number, 500,000. it's not as if 500,000 people are going to lose their jobs. most likely they're not going to be making hires they would have made. they'll see business expand and they put it off a little bit. >> this gets to lucy and the football dynamic which drives me crazy. you get conservatives who say, this is -- i see this smart conservatives.

this is an inefficient way of changing the scale. if you push for basic income, they're going to find reasons to defeat that too. the point is, their political impetus to help low wage workers. who is standing against it? >> there is a lot of political impetus. republicans support it, this is a proposal as you mentioned, a number of states have higher wages, washington state are around $10 an hour. california and otherer will be near there soon. you have a lot of sentiment, a lot of things that are happening, city governments are doing it, san francisco is over 10 an hour. i should know the exact number. but there's a lot of cities that have higher minimum wage. basically, it sounds like the republicans are going to oppose what will help low wage workers.

>> you have walmart which is studying whether they're going to come out in support of a hike in the minimum wage. the logic being their customers are people making minimum wage, some significant percentage of them. and guests today announcing it will raise its minimum wage from $9 to $10. there is a business case for raising the minimum wage? >> much of the research points to -- we say there's no job loss, part of the story there is that you reduce turnover, you'll increase productivity. employers don't want to be chasing after workers. if you give them a reason to come back to work, there's lower turnover, higher productivity. another point i should make on this story, when we talk about, 500,000 fewer jobs. basically, the story -- what that boils down to, what does that look like from the standpoint of the workers, you're going to be working fewer hours, let's say it's roughly

2%. roughly 2% fewer hours, you're going to get about 20% more for each hour you work. i think most people think that's a good deal. >> dean baker, thank you so much. the latest on governor chris christie's bridge gate scandal. does the name randy mastro mean anything to you? the time he tried to destroy a progressive political party in new york. those stories are coming up.

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news out of new jersey today that is weird, frankly. given the context out of new jersey that we've been talking about for weeks now. ft. lee has turned over 122 pages of public records related to bridge gate for an attorney for chris christie. the mayor of ft. lee is set to interview christie's lawyers. why is this weird? because for weeks now, what's been happening, different entities have been issuing subpoenas in their investigation of the governor's office to get to the bottom of the bridge gate scandal, now the governor is conducting his own investigation. he's requesting a key witness through the state's open record law. these laws exist so that people can find things about their government. here we have the state government using its laws to find out things about its people. it's under the guys of asking them to turn over those records. the records include what ft. lee may have shared with reporters.

instead of reporters using these sunshine laws to find out what the people in power knew, the people in power are using these laws to find out what the press knows. the governor's lawyer is also asking for interviews with the mayor of ft. lee. they probably never have to submit to an interview of governor christie's lawyer gives you a look at what's going on here. they're now being bombarded by open records requests by governor chris christie's lawyer. what it amounts to is a in broad daylight counter investigation. that lawyer i mentioned former giuliani chief of staff is the same guy who targeted the progressive party's position on this.

joining me now, national progressive political organization director. served with giuliani in the u.s. attorney's office. he came after the working family's party? >> that's true. you know how there are lawyers who get famous for taking on pro bono clients, helping people who don't have much access, thurgood marshall, that kind of thing masters the reverse. he finds the most powerful forces, he's their number one lawyer and he goes after their opponents. he went after the working family's party. he's been crushing them. he's a thousand dollar an hour lawyer for some of the richest corporations in our country. >> he came after you guys, he said what you guys were doing was illegal. you were abusing campaign finance laws.

>> yes, the loss of investigation. the u.s. attorney, none of it was true, it was day for night. the new york post wrote scores of articles about this, the whole thing was essentially fiction. but he's so deep pocketed we had to pay him to go away. it was a nuisance lawsuit that was cheaper to settle than pay our lawyers. he could claim another notch, he's trying to get one. i think we can all predict two things about his work for governor christie. taxpayers are going to spend a small fortune paying him. he's not going to find any wrongdoing by the governor. it's not an independent investigation. >> he's in transit. we will bring you updates if he gets back to us put yourself in the shoes of someone who gets a call saying, we're connecting this investigation.

turn over all your documents. >> well, yeah, i say call a lawyer. he had been hired to fend off the investigation of christie. he's an attack kind of lawyer, thinks the best defense is a good offense. he's going to go on the offense against governor christie's -- >> you're interpreting this guy. lawyers are paid to do that. a tough lawyer is what you want if you find yourself in a tough spot. this is someone who specializes in, he's a political figure. >> yes. >> the guy is as connected as you can be to metro area republican politics, this isn't some guy plucked from the civil service. >> no, that's true about he was giuliani's post important confident and adviser. he always had this great line about giuliani. it's not so different where

governor christie or his attorney are concerned, it seems to me, do you suspect that we will see a ratcheting up of the legal battle here the first wave of stuff was turned over without a fight because of the people at issue. what we're going to see is all out -- >> this is war. the legislature has its own attorneys trying to get information and mass electroin theory is going to be trying to prevent it all from happening, going on the offense in this mind-boggling way you've described at the outset. pretty optimistic. he clearly either knew about it, we called for his resignation, tens of thousands of people have signed that petition, and we think there will be more. >> dan cantor from the working families, thank you so much. my interview with the mayor of new york city bill de blasio, stick around for that.

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a week ago, tuesday, february 11th, a chevron fracking well exploded in green county, pennsylvania. it was terrifying, the fire raged on through saturday, one person has been missing and presumed dead. just this afternoon, state police reported recovering what they believe to be the remains of that 27-year-old worker. chevron, which owns the well released a statement today expressing the company's heartfelt sadness. fracking is an incredibly controversial practice, spread across the country, while organizing and backlash. people have complained about becoming sick from diminishing air quality, about contaminated drinking water, spikes in earthquakes and in this case, they've watched a fire burn for five days and take the life of one of their neighbors. but don't worry residents of greene county, pennsylvania. chevron feels your pain. as a token of your empathy, they sent the following letter.

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i have a real problem with what mayor de blasio is trying to do in new york. >> how the big apple's chief executive took progressivism to a whole new level. >> he's been slapped down twice, wanted to raise taxes right away, and raise minimum wage right away. >> his example of courageous leadership is i will change the city of new york, and rich people will not pay more than a soy latte. how do you ridicule someone -- >> imagine --

>> you've been warning and saying this guy is to the left of left. and makes prior liberal mayors tail like a terrapin. what do you mean by that? >> he channels the pop lichl of our time, america's financial capital none other than new york's mayor bill de blasio. his blowout commanding victory was routed in a campaign focusing on inequality. he called for an end to the nyfd's stop and frisk policy. he proposed raising taxes on the rich to pay for universal preschool. and just weeks into his administration, some research new yorker said the mayor had it so out for them, he wasn't plowing their streets. >> new york city's brand new mayor has been accused of unfair treatment after thats massive

storm got nearly a foot of snow on manhattan. people on the upper east side saying the plowsen did the come fast enough. other areas seem to have been cleared fairly quickly. er that blaming the newly elected mayor for this. >> i assumed we were being targeted nobody cared about this part of town. >> the new mayor took the criticism in stride and said, more could have been done to serve the upper east side. joining me now is none other than new york city's mayor bill de blasio. you have to compound the lightning rod. i want to play the sign of a guy across the river, who has something to say about you and your brand of governance. >> that new york city was in a state of abject crisis where

they felt like they needed somebody to take over. new york city is out back to its traditional routes which is as a home of liberal politics. and bill de blass yo represents that. you want incoming quality, that's mediocrity. everyone can have a mediocre salary, that's what we can afford, or do you want the opportunity for greatness. >> what do you say to that. >> i think our society can't be great if we don't address inequality. people are working very, very hard and falling behind, not even breaking even. 43% of our people at or near the poverty level is not a policy for greatness we have to fight inequality so we can be great again. new york city is in place over -- people who have opportunity, immigrants, that

that would energize the whole economy, the whole society, that's so intensely to fight inequality. it's not something we can allow. >> one of the things was stopping to be pulled over by police. new york city was contesting a lawsuit finding that it's was unconstitutional. >> i have to give a lot of credit to bill bratton. we all got together and said we're not going to continue a lawsuit meant to support a broken policy. we're going to come to a settlement with civil liberties union.

we're going to end up with an accountable plan. >> here's the -- these numbers are fascinating. 2013 new yorkers are stopped. in 2011 -- by 25013, it falls off the table, okay? is there a sense in which you and commissioner bratton can say, seven weeks in, we've done it, look at the numbers we've not done the right thing? we entered into a sentimental lawsuit, cross that off the list? >> no, there's more work to be done. the reason those numbers started to turn, there was a movement in this town extraordinary father's day march. people demanded change or grass roots. we inherit a situation. we need police that are responsible and compassionate.

he says this everywhere he goes. a lot of cops on the beetle be the first to say they look forward to being in a force where they don't have to get a number of quotas. you can't break the law to enforce the law. it's going to take some time to make sure that that approach reaches down to the grassroots in every precinct and there's real accountability, but we're going to do that with our colleagues and the civil rights community and we're going to get there. >> one of your big campaign pledges, the other was universal pre-k. you are now in a battle i think it's fair to say. i want to talk about that after we take this quick break. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn.

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look at the unusual relationship between new york's mayor and governor both are democrats, but eric sean tells us the similarities between billdy blasio and andrew cuomo don't extend much further. >> welcome to my friend the mayor of new york. despite the warm feelings, new york state's top democrats, present conflicting fill os os if is. >> there's a battle going on right now between the mayor of new york city and new york state about it's over the campaign

promise to tax millionaires, the governor has said he supports universal pre-k but does not want to tax millionaires. the idea of allowing new york city to implement the regime and not doing so for the entire state was repugnant. back with me at the table is bill de mass yo. what's the deal here? >> we need pre-k for our kids in new york city. if we expect them to do well academically, we expect them to graduate, be able to be relevant in the modern economy. >> the governor agrees with you. >> i say we need a way to do it that's reliable and consistent. the only way to do it is to tax the wealthiest new yorkers, folks who make a half million or more have a five-year plan that would bring us more every year to bring pre-k to every child that qualifies in new york city. >> i can't let new york city

represent this, i represent the entire state of new york, why don't you care about the kids in scenectity and syracuse and -- >> i do, i think we should get full day pre-k up and running in new york city and use it as a model for the rest of the state. we need to move forward and pay for it, a tax on the wealthy is a reliable way to do it, at this point it's the only plan that could be put on the table to achieve it. >> what are you going to do? you need the state to sign off? >> i believe the governor truly cares about this issue. i have a longstanding relationship with him. if the people believe in an idea, that's what carries the day, obviously this was a centerpiece of my campaign. we won with a very strong margin on this platform. you've seen incredible results in the public opinion poll that say people say pre-k is fundamentally necessary for our school systems to work better, for our kids to be able to be ready for the future. for parents who are stressed more than ever, absolutely crucial.

>> but all the arguments, you persuaded me, i think we persuaded a lot of people. what are you going to do? the government says no. >> enough people start to agree, that changes what the assumptions are. >> someone who was not supposed to be able to win the election i worn, and we saw this a thousand times on other issues, we are told what can't happen. the way you find out what can happen, you build public support. you organize people, make the argument. the good news,a year ago, we were talking about if there was going to be pre-k. today we're talking about when and how -- >> this highlights one of the bigger problems, i think, is that you ran about -- you ran a campaign about inequality. and the question becomes what can the mayor do. so many things that create inequality in new york city are the product of forces that are global. global finance that are national, that are baked structurally into our economy, that happened at the state level. what can you do? have you bitten off more than

you can chew, can you deliver on shrinking this gap? >> sure, we can. and it doesn't mean that those other factors aren't crucial and that we don't wish we had allies in washington that could move this agenda, in the meantime, a city like new york with tremendous resources and tremendous regulatory power, et cetera, we're getting paid sick days to a half million more people than have them today. we expect to have it done next month. a half million more people know they're one paycheck away from disaster. we're doing a lot of things to push up wage and benefit levels. we expect him to pay a living wage. we're helping the fast food workers to get a better pay level. we're doing a lot of things that the city can do to change the rules and raise the floor for people. >> final question, i want to ask you how you see your job. have you a speech for apac. the speech wasn't on the schedule, it was off the record. the contentses are reported. it was part of your job description to be a defender of

israel. we're not going to resolve the complicated issues in palestine. as a new yorker, i don't know if that's true. i voted for this guy, i don't know if it's part of the job description for the defender of israel. it seems like he has a lot on his plate. the defender of the taiwanese against the one china policies. is it really your job description? >> i said something that was personal, i said something that was about my beliefs that we have to defend the state of israel. it has everything to do with the alliance, particularly as new yorkers, the deep connection we have to israel. and i think it's also a matter of protecting democracy, i think israel's stance is a pluralistic society, it deserves respect and it's been under attack, and i think it is our job to support it. that's me speaking as a mayor of the city, that is the closest to israel. and has one of the largest jewish populations to any city on earth, it's a fair role for me to play.

>> mayor of new york, billdy blasio. that is all in for this evening, the rachel maddow show starts right now, good night. thanks for being with us, everybody. seat belts on, it was a big day. # let's start here. >> one at a time. >> you were the first person to identify what happened at the bridge was a crime. did you report that to authorities? and do you feel under the circumstances you should have? >> my e-mail, i state my beliefs, which was my belief then, i testified under oath in trenton to that effect. i believe i took the right action when i learned about the lane closures promptly opened them, i stand by my e-mail. i believe then and i believe now, and obviously giving the multiplicity of law enforcement obligations underway, that there was a question of violations