♪ in the nation's capital, high schoolers stage a lie-in at the white house to protest the government's lack of action on gun control as fellow teens plan a march on washington in fellow schools aa cross the country. obama administration officials insist they took steps to prevent. >> and mitt romney, despite their relationship in the past. is endorsed by trump for senate. good morning, everyone. it's tuesday, with february

20th. we begin with students rising up to renew the push for gun restrictions in the wake of wednesday's school massacre. the white house says it is open to shoring up the background check system. it does not expand the background check system, but instead strength s existing law to prevent criminals and domestic abusers from obtaining firearms. a senior administration official tells nbc news that the language may need to be tweaked and discussions are.ongoing. >> however, can congress on recess for the week, students are seizing control of the gun debate staging this lie-in yesterday. it's one of the many demonstrations we're seeing across the country from the newly minted movement made up of fed up young people demanding action.

>> why do you think this time will be different? >> this time will be different because the people who were deeply affected by the shooting, the people who saw it are the people speaking out. >> we've grown up after columbine. we're basically tired of it. >> we are only kids! >> they are only kids. tomorrow, students from marjory stoneman douglas high school are expected to travel to tallahassee to call for action on guns at the state capital. we're learning more about the school's plan to reopen. friday will be dedicated to staff members. we're told a variety of on staff services will be available. then on sunday, the school will hold a voluntary orientation for students and parents. and staying with the florida shooter, the accused shooter, nikas cruz made his second court

appearance yesterday. it comes as the family who took them into their home say they can't recall any signs they may have missed. >> confessed gunman niklas cruz keeping his eyes down in court. this as a leaked 2016 state report reveals cruz revealed psychiatric evaluations after he posted a video on snap chat saying he cut himself and that he wanted to buy a gun. >> the nick we knew was not the monster he turned out to be. the sneed family says they knew nothing about those reports. >> i've been racking my brain trying to figure out if something should have said in my head, maybe i should have paid pore attention. i don't know. it was a completely normal week, really. >> he told me two weeks ago, he's the happiest he's ever been. james and kimberly sneed gave cruz a room when their son said

the teen had nowhere else to live. >> when he moved into your house, did you know he had an ar-15 or any guns? >> i knew he had weapons, yes, sir. and that was acceptable? >> i'm not afraid of guns. part of the stipulations for him moving in was he had to get a gun safe. and he did. and i thought at that time that i had the only key to the gun safe. investigators are now reviewing approximately 20 calls deputies received about cruz over the last few years. and florida governor rick scott has called for the fbi to release all details surrounding the bureau's failure to take action after receiving a call just last month be tailing cruz could become a suspected shooter. >> lots of anger and guilty. >> the sneed's lawyer says some are blaming them for not knowing. >> is there something we missed, is there something we could have done? we don't know. we have no clue. we don't know -- we don't know what put him in this state.

we knew he was depressed. we didn't realize he was this lost, though. >> that was kerri sanders reporting for us in new york. according to a washington post absence news poll taken after last week's deadly rampage in parkland, florida, 77% of adults say congress is not doing enough to stop mass shootings. 62% say the same about president trump. the poll finds that 77% think more effective mental health screening and treatment could have prevented the parkland shooting. 58% say stricter gun control laws could have prevented it. yesterday, president trump questioned president obama's supposed lack of action on russian meddling in the 2016 election. he began by wishing people a great but reflective are the's day and after spending the morning and early afternoon at

his golf club in florida, he tweeted obama was president up to and beyond the 2016 election, so why didn't he do something about russian meddling? the department of homeland security and national intelligence publicly stated in october of 2016 that the russian government directed cyber attacks in the election, a charge that then candidate trump discounted as politically motivated three days later. >> i notice anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the russian -- he doesn't know if it's the russians doing the hacking. maybe there is no hacking. but they always blame russia. and the reason they blame russia is they think they're trying to tarnish me about nothing. i know nothing about russia. i know about russia, but i know nothing about tinner workings of russia. >> so after the election, when the obama administration placed sanctions on russia, then candidate trump called the president very smart.

trump questioned the intelligence findings in in these clips just after the sanctions were announced. >> what do you think generally about sanctions against russia? >> i think we ought to get on with our lives. i think the computers have complicated lives greatly. the whole, you know, age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on. >> it seems like you have a tendency, just looking at it from the outside, to doubt american intelligence when it comes to russian hacking. i'm trying to better understand why it seems that way. >> well, i just want them to be sure. it's a pretty serious charge. i want them to be sure. if you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster and they were wrong. so i want them to be sure. i think it's unfair if they don't know. and i know a lot about hacking and hacking is a very hard thing to prove. so it could be somebody else. and i also know things that other people don't know and so they cannot be sure of this situation. >> he knows a lot about hacking in the age of computers. >> and it looks like they are

sure now and he is currently the president, so the question is what is he going to do about it now. >> to prevent it from happening. yeah. joining us now, eugene scott. switching gears here, eugene, let's look at these student activists that we've been seeing emerge in the wake of the parkland shooting. how are lawmakers that you're hearing reacting to them? how seriously are they being taken and could this once and for all be the tipping point, even though we thought newtown would be that tipping point? >> it's attracted quite a bit of attention. the identity group that has been most vocal in this version, unfortunately, of gun violence and mass shootings in america have been the students. and so i think lawmakers and policymakers are paying attention to just how much attention that these young people are getting. ultimately, these decisions about gun rights and gun laws are influenced in part by donors, by lobbyist and by individuals who seek to gain

something financially from decisions made related to these laws. those people are not students. so it could be very possible that what is being given to these students is lip service. and i think that will be a challenge for lawmakers because these are people who will be voting very soon and have no plans to stop their activism. >> eugene, let me ask you about the president's tweet storm over the weekend. it's not the first time we've been him go on one of these tweet storms and lash out against individuals and politicians, what have you. what's been the action this time around, if at all, if there has been any reaction among politicians. is anyone looking at this and saying here we go again or is the majority brushing this aside? i think it's been partisan, their reaction. many conservatives decided they will not be held accountable for the president's tweets and often ignore them and often aren't prepared to comment on them. whereas liberal lawmakers are

very aware and want to highlight the president's tone, his rhetoric and perhaps his lack of attention to the issues that they think are most prominent, such as the shootings, such as russia. and so i think the question will become how are voters seeing it? we have the data that jorts supports the majority of voters, including republican voters, believe the president handles his twitter account poorly and would like him to tweet less. he showed no signs this weekend of moving in that direction. we now know how far they went, how deep their efforts went to interfere in the elections. what, eugene, if anything, honestly, is being done to make sure this doesn't happen again in the midterms? >> based on intelligence leaders from trump's own administration, as of now, not much. that's frustrating to them because russia is on track to interfere in the 2018 elections. this is data we have gotten from trump's cia director and the director of national

intelligence. there's going to be continued the push towards trump and this white house to do something. but as of now, people would settle for hearing him acknowledging the role that russia played in the election. >> stick around. we'll touch because with you in a little bit. >> sure. and the republican tax plan has seen a surge in support from americans since the law was passed back in december. according to the latest "new york times" poll, 51% now approve of the tax changes. support of democrats has ticked upward. up 11 points since december. 79% disapprove. republicans remain high on the plan with 89% approving of the cuts. up 9 points since the law was

passed. only 9% disthe approve. republicans hope the increase in support for the law will translate into votes helping the party maintain its majority going into the midterms. pennsylvania supreme court has released a newly redrawn congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections. last month, the pennsylvania supreme court ruled that the 2011 map drawn by the republican-controlled legislature was unconstitutionally gerrymandered in order to benefit their party. that map contained districts drawn in shapes no geometry teacher would approve of, including one which has been dubbed goofy ticking donald duck. the new map is expected to help dems. republicans are expected to challenge the new map in court saying it represents a constitutionalal crisis. the decision is the first time a state court threw out congressional boundaries in a gerrymandering party case.

donald trump jr. is set to give a foreign policy speech on indo pacific relations. president trump has not divested himself from his the businesses, instead, turning his day-to-day operations over to don jr. and eric. who in exchange would have no role of any kind in the government. in addition to the summit, trump jr. is meeting with indian developers building apartment complexes throughout india. president trump has vowed to the avoid new business deals while in office and the projects trump jr. is dealing with was reportedly set in motion before the elections. still ahead, mitt romney thanks president trump for his support even after saying in the past that he would not accept an endorsement. later, despite his attacks

in the media, president trump is expected to attend a dinner with the press after skipping out last year. it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, more than a thousand workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets

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plus come in today and ask about xfinity mobile, a new kind of network designed to save you money. visit your local xfinity store today. here is what i know. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. he's playing the members of the american public for suckers. he gets a free ride to the white house and all we get is a lousy hat. >> but now he's endorsing management. now president trump says he's backing romney's u.s. senate bid tweeting, quote, that romney has announced he is running for the senate from the wonderful state of utah. he will make a great senator and worthy successor to orrin hatch and has my endorsement. romney tweetd ha

romney tweeted half an hour later, thank you, mr. president, for your support. i hope over the course of the campaign i get the endorsement of the people of utah. tweeting the in march of 2016, if trump had said four years ago the things he says today about the kkk, muslims, mexicans, disabled, i would not have accepted his endorsement. romney's likely democratic opponent salt lake county council member jenny wilson responded, so why did you accept it today? >> let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, break out the t-shirts and shorts. i guess we have spring weather in february. >> pretty incredible. record warmth coming up the eastern seaboard. if you want winter, go to the northern plains where it's like windchills are negative and there's snow and ice this morning. so a little bit of everything. the biggest concern for property values and damage is going to be flooding and river flooding.

the kankakee river is going to go to record flood stage. that's in northern indiana. already, the rain heavy this morning, even some thunderstorms. not far away, it's snowing where the blue is in south dakota and minnesota and we had some freezing rain and ice like night from kansas. so we have about 40 million people under a flood watch, including portions of northern new england from detroit to chicago, indianapolis to peoria. springfield to little rock, texarcana to dallas. we're watching the this today. the worst of it is in the southern great lakes. tomorrow and vite into wednesday and thursday, that's where we're going to shift our attention. here is how we're going to time this mess out. this is where we sit this morning. with the wintry weather up there in the blue around minneapolis. heavier rain exits kansas city over the top of st. louis tonight. tomorrow morning, it shifts into arkansas, northeast texas. then this round fizzles and then

we get another round right behind it by the time we get to thursday. so it's a very wet weather pattern. it's very much like april in the middle of february. that's how it's going to feel on the east coast and with rain like this and river flooding, you don't usually get it this time of year. local areas, up to 8 to 12 inches. brighter colors, northeast texas to little rock and there's that heavy rain today. the problem in indiana is the ground is frozen, the heavy rainfalls, it doesn't soak in, it just goes right to the rivers. 72 in washington, d.c. by the time we get to tomorrow, we hit 70 in new york. >> 70 degrees in msnew york in february. incredible. still ahead, the latest from pyeongchang where the u.s. men's hockey skates into the quarterfinals and a pair of siblings dance their way to a bronze medal. continue enjoying . or... you could just put your phones down and talk to each other. [laughing] nature's bounty lutein blue.

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don't we need that cable box to watch tv? nope. don't we need to run? nope. it just explodes in a high pitched 'yeahhh.' yeahhh! try directv now for $10 a month for 3 months. no satellite needed. welcome back. let's go straight to pyeongchang for the latest with the winter olympics. the u.s. advanced to quarterfinals in men's ice hockey after beating slovakia 5-1. siblings alex and mia spibutani secured the bronze for the u.s. in the team ice dancing competition. they are the first ice dancers of asian dissent to win an olympic medal. moir and virtue home the gold.

and outside, britta sigorney won the women's half tile free halfpipe. maddie bowman crashed during all three of her final rounds and did not medal, unfortunately. meanwhile, mikaela shiffrin has dropped out of tomorrow the's downhill race in order to focus on the downhill event that was moved up to thursday due to wind conditions. it sets up the first and what is expected to be a classic head to head matchup between shiffrin and lindsey vonn who is racing in her last olympics. and here is something you don't see every day at the olympics. a tie. canada and germany both took home the gold in the two-man bobsled race. the two teams finished their run with identity times down to the hundredth of seconds. latvia finished a mere . 05 of a

second behind. america finished fourth. america has now clawed its way back into the top five of medal count. norway continues to dominate. turning back here stateside, meanwhile, the boston red sox have reportedly signed free agency j.d. martinez to a five year, $110 million deal. the 30-year-old martinez missed the first 33 games of last season, yet he still smacked 45 homers, 140 -- excuse me, 104 rbis while batting over .300. he's a powerhouse and he's going on be a big deal for the red sox. they're going to need it against the yankees. >> did barnacle get you to slip that story in there? >> yeah. >> it's so good to see bowman and vonn. still ahead, another congressman plans retirement.

plus, what were learning this morning about suspect shooter niklas cruz and what the family he was living with has to say about possible warning signs. we'll be right back. run this b. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i don't eat the way i should. so, i drink boost to get the nutrition i'm missing. boost high protein nutritional drink has 15 grams of protein to help maintain muscle and 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. all with a great taste. boost gives me everything i need... to be up for doing what i love. boost high protein be up for it

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welcome back, everybody. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. accused florida shooter niklas cruz made his second court appearance yesterday. he kept his head down. a document filed by cruz's

lawyers last week would remain sealed. during a second hearing yesterday, one that cruz did not attend, a different judge ruled that the children of department and family services could release any records it has pertaining to cruz. >> most of those records had already been obtained by nbc and other outlets. a video appeared on snap chat showing him cutting himself and he planned to buy a gun. staff at henderson behavioral health spoke with cruz in in 2016, but ultimately chose not to hospitalize him. meanwhile, the family that cruz was living with at the time of the shooting is now speaking out. they said he showed no signs after taking them into their home three months ago when his mother died. >> i've been racking my brain trying to figure out if something should have said in my head, you know, i maybe should pay more attention. and i can't -- i don't know. it was a completely normal week. >> he told me two weeks ago,

this is the happiest he's ever been. >> so as the community of parkland, florida, continues to grieve following last week's mass shooting, the debate over gun control continues to gain momentum in d.c. and a number of groups are calling on the white house and congress to take action to confront this issue. nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has more on had this. >> with the president back in washington, a small sign of movement maybe in the gun debate. the white house now saying he supports a bipartisan plan to strengthen federal background checks. so do other republicans. >> i had no issue with more extensive background checks. >> the narrow proposal would force federal agencies to improve their reporting of thing like criminal convictions to make sure they come up on background checks. it would not have stopped the florida shooter, but anothmight. >> why is an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old not allowed to

purchase a beer at a restaurant, fought allowed to purchase a handgun but can purchase an assault rifle? >> that's exactly why senator dianne feinstein plans to impose an age requirement, 21 and oler to buy guns like ar-15, often the weapon of choice for mass shooters in places like florida. in some places, they're raffled off for fund-raisers like for firefighters in sacramento in this last weekend. nancy lugo walked out. >> it's the timing of seeing that weapon after reeling in the grief of the rest of the country in the deaths of the children in florida. >> i believe in the second amendment and there's a solution to protecting our students and teachers while still letting people have firearms and guns. >> at the state level, 22 states are now looking at allowing guns on school and college campuses,

while 8 states have expanded background checks for gun buyers. action locally on both sides of the debate despite almost none federally. >> many polls show a lot of folks favor some gun reforms, but until that becomes an issue that motivates voters to get to the polls on election day, there may be be much political incentive for lawmakers to act. and while president trump might support this latest background check bill being looked at in congress, his most recent budget cuts funding to states to improve their own background check reporting. yasmin, back to you. >> thanks to hallie jacksen kwon for that report. you have students speaking out saying we need more gun control, you have works that may allow guns in schools and college campuses. >> polarizing issues. president trump and vice president vice president pence are expected to speak at cpac this week.

marechal-le pen of the national front party is expected to speak there, as well. she represented the party in parliament from 2012 through last year when she claimed to be leaving politics. steve bannon previously praised the younger le pen as, quote, a rising star. several members of trump's cabinet are expected to speak. nigel ferrage and john hahnnnit from fox news will also be there. tom rooney said yesterday he will not seek re-election. he believes the decision was partly influenced by the shooting at a baseball game. rooney, the deputy whip for house republicans has expressed frustration with the constant partisanship. in a statement on monday, rooney thanked his constituents and colleagues, but did not elaborate on his reason for

deciding not to run. meanwhile, senator bob corker is also expected to announce on friday if he'll reconsider his retirement and run for re-election. two sources telling nbc news that if he runs, corker will take the on congresswoman marsha blackburn who announced her candidacy for the tennessee's vacated u.s. senate seat back in oak. republicans are concerned that blackburn could lose the soot seat to a democratic governor. if corker decides to run, she will not drop out. and president trump appears to be letting his guard down when it comes to one of the most capital targets of his presidency, the media. the white tie dinner usually features dozens of journalists and politicians dining and performing comedic numbers and telling jokes about lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. trump opted not to attend last year's dinner. he skipped two other staples of the d.c. social scene where an appearance by the president is

usually routine, the alfalfa dinner and the white house correspondent's dinner. the white house says there is no decision that has been made yet about the president attending this year's white house correspondent dinner. back with us now, eugene scott. good to have you back with us. a lot to break down here. but let's start with the president. are you surprised that he is now shifted gears and willing to appear at the gridiron dinner? do you think this is going to mark a shift in the white house's strategy for house it deals with journalists and the press at large? >> i'm slightly surprised because journalists are a group of people that trump and many of his top aides have not shown a lot of interest in socializing with, especially when you consider how they speak of people in the media industry when dealing with their administration and many of the challenges they are facing. on the other hand, i'm not incredibly surprised that the president wants to be involved in somewhat of a social environment. he was known for his social

activeness in new york and wants to be involved in spaces that allow him to be seen and to be less formal. so this appears to be another one of those. i'm not quite sure if it would be -- if it will be a big pivot in terms of how he interacts with journalists professionally and i don't think this -- it's the best way to improve your relationship with the media by going to the a social dinner, but if this is what it takes, hopefully we will see some changes. >> maybe he's just trying to show he has thicker skin. >> and we know at the white house correspondent's dinner, he would have a chance to take, you know, a jab at -- yeah, take some hits and give some hits to the press, as well. >> so let's turn back to the debate on gun law, eugene. we've seen some efforts in congress that have stalled out, most recently when it came to banning bump stocks. do you see, eugene, the same thing happen this time around or do you think we're going to see a bipartisan effort get pushed through with regard to especially the background checks

since its seems like what's being reported, the white house is supporting a sort of more extended background check system. >> as of now, we're not seeing a huge shift among lawmakers. right after the shooting, people doubled down on their previously held policies related to gun laws and they're pretty pa partisan. so i think what we're seeing is lawmakers moving in the direction that they have been and for a while perhaps with a bit pore sensitivity this time, considering that in this was a shooting involving young people, so many young people, but i don't know that we have seen anything yet that suggested there will be a significant shift in policy and legislation related to guns. eugene, let me ask you really quickly about something else that has stalled in congress, given everything else that has been happening which is a replacement for daca. there have been obviously a lot of court rulings that suggest the young immigrants brought

here as children illegally would not automatically lose their benefits on march 5th when and if they reapply to the program. but some are still seeing them as being in a state of legal limbo. in fact, paul ryan said he wants to try to pass legislation on this in march. but given the repeated failed attempts we've seen, where do you put the odds of congress being able to pass a daca fix next month? >> well, if we focus on what happened this past week, because the conversation has shifted so much to gun violence, we haven't seen much progress in making legislation available to daca recipients that would give them some sense of comfort. so i don't know that we're any further than we were earlier last week, which wasn't far. so i think a lot of people who care much about this issue don't feel a strong sense of confidence that after march 5th, they'll have a solution to trump's current presidency. >> live for us in washington, d.c., eugene scott, thank you.

still ahead, a new warning from the irs over a scam involving fake refunds. it's already tricked thousands of people. details on what you need to be on the lookout for. >> and bill karins will be back with us on a check of the forecast and how long the spring-like weather in some parts the of the country will last for. looking to save even more money on your medicare part d prescriptions? at walgreens, we'll help you save more with zero dollar copays on select plans and reward points on prescriptions.

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>> it's a dart. >> neutralize means a lot of things. >> thankfully there wasn't a child inside that was like, mommy, a little kitty. my dogs would freak out if they saw that big cat. >> the dogs would chase it and then they would learn their lesson. >> ayman would like to move on. >> i think a lot of people would like to hear about the weather. >> do they.? >> i want to see that cat for the tenth time. all right. rain is going through chicago to wisconsin, a little bit of light snow for you, south dakota and minnesota. 40 million people under the flash flood watches. that's one story. one is that we're going to get some river flooding out there, a very unusual february and our rivers are flooding. it's going to feel like spring. everywhere from the mississippi river eastward, the warmth is

with you today. record highs today, charleston, west virginia, up to 80 possible today. nashville, 78. birmingham, 78. augusta, georgia, just shy of your record. raleigh will go for your record, too. 75, you'll be close. by the time we go through this afternoon, rochester, new york, should have a record high. detroit should be close to tieing theirs. lexington, kentucky, should blow your record away. 69 in new york city could break the central park record by one tomorrow. d.c. has a chance of getting near 80 degrees tomorrow. we'll do it in the southeast even into wednesday. so it looks like thursday into friday is when we'll finally cool things off and i wouldn't say back to normal, but back down into the 50s. >> what jacket do i wear? >> none. >> all right. >> thanks for helping me out with my fashion choice. >> very easy decision. >> thanks, bill. there's a new warning from the irs about a new scam

involving a bogus refound. the agency says thousands have been targeted by the trick. tom costello has more on what you need to be on the lookout for. >> it's a new twist on an old scam. >> the reason of this call is to inform you that the irs is file ago lawsuit against you for tax fraud. >> an automated call claim to go by the irs threatening arrest if the taxpayer doesn't return an irs refund. but here is what's different. the victim actuallies has received an irs refund that the scammers have filed on his or her behalf. now the scammers want the money. >> call us back on our department number. 202-629 -- >> here is how it works. the scammers hack into employers or tax preparers computers stealing personal and bank account information. they then file a false tax return and request a refund check or direct deposit into the real taxpayer's bank account. then, posing as the irs or collection agency, the scammers contact the victim by e-mail or phone to go after the money.

>> indicating that they have a refund in their bank account by mistake and demanding that it be returned to them. >> the scammers tell the victim to electronically transfer the money or face arrest. don't believe it. >> we will not contact you from an e-mail, we will not contact you by phone. >> if you receive a refund you didn't file for, the irs says tell your bank to return the direct deposit funds to the irs. then call the irs 800 number. for checks, write void across the check and mail it with an explanation to the nearest office listed at irs.gov. if you cashed the check, reimburse the irs with a personal check. >> that is unbelievable. >> such an elaborate scam. >> one more thing to note, by the way, the irs says if you receive a refund for which you did not file, you must return the money or you could be charged interest on that money. still ahead, an iconic

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it opens the door to a future of many other things we can and will do in space. welcome back, everybody. prime minister is speaking out on the future of nafta and where it may be leading giving

president trump's heavy criticism of the agreement. speaking at a business school, he told the crowd that he is focused on creating a revamped version of the deal that benefits all parties. watch this. >> president trump wants a deal out of nafta that's going to benefit workers in his country. that's something that we want too in canada. we -- and not just we don't want to benefit workers in canada, we also want it to be good for workers in the united states. we believe the trade deals can be win-wins. or in nafta's case, win, win, win with mexico. however, for us ensuring that the trade deal that you sign is actually specifically focused on benefits for people who historically haven't benefitted from trade deals. >> he added that despite the

belief that the president trump -- or that president trump and him are politically very different he says they were elected on a similar approach. >> let's turn to business in washington, d.c. elon musk the green light in his bid to make a 29 minute trip from the nation's capital to the big apple a reality. we're joined live from london. what does this mean for elon musk and his project? >> absolutely. yesterday we talked about richard and his own hyper loop project so elon musk is getting involved as well. his company is called boring company because they bore holes and they drill so they now have the license to conduct excavation work and so to be clear, this isn't a permit to build a hyper loop per se, but a

license to dig the hole and start the prep work. elsewhere, bitcoin almost up 50%. there are some reports that there was one single trader who invested $400 million into the cryptocurrency. that investment as paid off. he's already up $83 million and this comes at a time when there's a lot of government looking to crack down a little bit and impose some regulation. >> it seems like a risky investment. >> all right. the gibson is looking grim according to some reports. so many great guitar players use that guitar and what are you hearing? >> yeah, so the company may have plans to pull the plug, so to speak and as you say, many legendary rock stars, and i'm

sure yourself, i'm sure you were a fan of the gibson guitar makers, but they face a $375 million debt repayment in less than six months time so their receive knew has been under a lot of pressure the last few years and people's taste in music has changed away from rock to electronic bass music i guess. >> i eve got a lot of electric guitars and i can't play any of them. so you're spot on. >> electronic dance music, that's all he's listening to. >> thank you. i've got one more story for you. some bad news for fans of kfc. they were forced to close about 800 of its roughly 900 locations after they ran out of the one key ingredient, the chicken. the shortage was caused by

problems by its knnew delivery company. the logistics company said it was working to solve the problem and as of yesterday, some of the restaurants had opened for business according to kfc's website, but a shortage. >> but what about the fries and the biscuits. >> so many layers of that story to talk about. >> coming up next, president trump's latest round of the blame game. why he says president tru presit fault for the russia meddling in the election. >> and live from washington, d.c., everyone just moments away. have you smelled this

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welcome back, everybody. before we toss it over, let's check on the stories you're going to be hearing about. florida's governor is looking at school safety improvements and finding ways to keep guns away from individuals struggling with mental wellness. that will be attended today by law enforcement school administrato administrators, teachers and

mental health experts. scott will hold a round table to discuss their findings which i'll be looking forward to see what comes out of that. >> and tallahassee, students from the high school head to the state capital there. some of the students are planning to meet with lawmakers today and tomorrow they'll take place in a rally set to be held at the capitol. >> the vice president kicks off a two-day tour of the cape canaveral launch facilities. so it will be interesting to see if he reiterates that message today. >> that does it for us today. morning joe starts right now. >> there are some things you can't imagine happening in your life. this is one of them. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt

romney. the last election shoufz been won except romney choked like a dog. he choked. he went -- i can't breathe. >> here's what i know. trump is a phony. a fraud. his promises are worthless as a degree from trump university. >> like old times. i've had a wonderful evening with president elect trump. >> wow. and to complete the full circle, donald trump has now endorsed mitt romney for the united states senate. >> we'll see what happens. >> you see what happened after