Day spoiler for departing secretary leon panetta. The second best valentines present would be to allow sylvia and i to get the hell out of town. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell life in washington. The National Rifle association has now launched a counter offensive against the president s emotional appeal at the state of the union. To put an end to gun violence. In a column published yesterday on a conservative web blog Wayne Lapierre from the nra announced a fouryear communications and resistance movement, his words, to block what he calls a siege from the enemies of the second amendment. In washington to hear the president s appeal well be talking to mark kelly moments from now, but, first, to that breaking muse out of south africa rsh olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius made sporting history by becoming the first track athlete double amputee to compete in the games, but today the blade runner as he is known, is charged with murder after his girlfriend was fatally shot in his home in pretoria, south africa. Joining me for rock center. Mary, this is this could not be more shocking. Tell us what we know about the events and how this comports with what you know of this famed athlete. Andrea, im heart sick over this, that this beautiful woman is gone and that Oscar Pistorius, he is one of the iconic figures in the london games this summer. A couple of months before this last summers olympics i was i got to spend almost a week with oscar at his home at the place where this horrible incident occurred. It looked like it was a very good neighborhood. Oscar certainly did have guns, and he used to talk about how, you know, at night he has got no legs. He kept guns in his bedroom and he obviously worried about that. I guess the gun problem in south africa is every bit as worse as it is in this country, maybe even more so. What we know so far is that he is in custody, and that there are reports that perhaps it was valentines day already in south africa when this happened. There are reports that maybe he thought that his girlfriend was a burglar, but those reports are not coming from the police, and theyre adamant about that. We do also know that shots were heard and that there have been the police admit will say there have been domestic reports violence reports from that address in the past. It is so incongruace to think about oscar in that way. I think that he is one of the great champions ive ever known, born without legs. He was in the ablebodied olympic this is past summer. Many of the, the man who took the gold medal for the 400 meter race that oscar was in, he did something very touching and very beautiful. Not usually done in track. He exchanged bids with oscar afterward because he so respected oscar. The whole world did. So as i said, im heart sec over this. I know i remember your piece, and i remember also in watching the games and watching james hand that metal over afterwards. I mean, all of this has been, first of all, so important to people who are born with disabilities or are injured and watching the blade runner, as he is known. If you recall back when george bush was president , there was an iraq war double amputee who ran with the president on the track on the south grounds. I mean, theres just such a movement. I remember yes. And oscar was doing all sorts of good back in his own country. Theres still all kinds of land mines that are left from civil wars that continue on in south africa. Oscar had developed this mobile lab, these vans that could go out and fit people for 200. You know, doctors that could phyte fit people with new prosthetics so they ka walk again. He was doing so much good. He was absolutely loved by blacks and whites in south africa, which meant a lot to him. And thats why, again, its so hard to imagine. When i first met oscar, i was so struck by how soft his voice was. I mean, he was so softspoken and very modest and to think that he could and, again, we dont yet know what has happened, but the idea of him acting out in some kind of, you know, rage is just hard for me to comprehend from the little i know of him, but this is a guy who he liked fast cars, he liked fast boats, he liked to move fast. I mean, i think he, you know determine had an awful he was proving himself an awful lot and to think that perhaps something has gone horribly wrong is just hard to take. He was one of the shining lights of the olympic games. He really was. And, of course, the his girlfriend, her name was reeva steenkamp, and that is the horror of this loss. Its also an inexplicable event to understand the human heart, the mind, and all the pressures and then we get back to guns. We always end up going back to guns, dont we . I need to until i know everything thats happened, i really want to believe that this was a god awful tragedy that he thought he was being burglarized, but, again, the plus arent putting out that story. Its traveling an awful lot and reeva weve seen tweets that reeva had sent out the day before valentines day saying, you know, she was looking forward to valentines day and what is a good surprise with all of this. Well learn more, but andrea, this guy, you know i get to know ae lot of athletes, and this one moved me so much to think that something this tragic has happened, its, again im still kind of reeling from the whole thing. Its an awful, awful thing. Well, it was very clear from your profile on him for rock center just how much that experience meant, how much it moved you. He is an iconic figure in south africa. Yes. Well be looking to all of your reports on nightly news and continuing. Thank you for joining us today. Me too. We have live pictures from a Community Center in decatur, georgia, to highlight his proposal to expand prek education to 4yearolds. The top challenge right now facing the white house is the hagel kwimation. Theyre nowak knowledging today they are losing ground on this the chuck hagel nomination to be secretary of defense. As of right now democrats cannot count on 60 votes to cut off that republican filibuster. Tomorrow the vote is spefd to take place to move forward on confirmation if they can get 60 votes. Joining me for our daily fix, chris, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics. Com and capitol hill correspondent kelly odonnell. Youre watching it all from up there. What do we know . Harry reid was on the floor today talking about it. We know that he needs five republicans to break, and there is a distinction between those who might be willing to vote for cloture to break the filibuster, but would still plan to vote against him when he would only at that point need just 50 to be confirmed, 51 to be confirmed. There is a lot of drama in this, andrea, and it gets complicated. It does come down to that. There are many more republicans that would beotology in the first step support ending the debate, taking the actual vote and then voting against hagel because everyone knows he already has publicly enough votes to be confirmed. Were in this period now where the drama is unfolding over a couple of key things. A group of republicans want information on two subjects. Part of that coming from hagel related to past speeches, financial details, that they feel they did not get enough of during his confirmation process and the hearing where many people even his supporters say he did not perform well. In separate from that there are a group of senators who want more information about benghazi and this is a leverage point. By upholding or delaying the hagel vote, they hope to extract more from the white house. Democrats tell me they do expect something more to come from the white house. No specifics there on what it would be or would it satisfy some of the concerns. What we also dont know are which republicans who had publicly said they would go forward with the procedural step and now would not. Democrats tell me they dont have those names. Republicans are being very coy about that, and so there is a question. Will a vote be taken tomorrow . It could be. Harry reid could do that. Not knowing the outcome. Then the other scenario, which is gaining some sort of talking here is if they could extend it because congress is away next week and have the vote effectively a week from monday. Give it a little more time. Politically thats not so good for democrats. Republicans would welcome that extra time. Those who dont want to see hagel confirm think maybe in the intervening time something might surface that would tore meade pedohis nomination. This is a numbers game. This is a positioning game. Trying to get more information. Hagel is at the center of it, but its about much more than just chuck hagel. Andrea. Let me just interject also, kelly, that there is an issue here. The defense ministers meet at nato next week in brussels. They want chuck hagel, the administration wants chuck hagel, the new defense secretary to be leading this going forward. They dont want to have to ask leon panetta, who is still the defense secretary, to go and lead the delegation as a lameduck. Chris, this gets to entrance, and thats why, among other reasons, the white house is so frustrated, and those who have been raising these benghazi issues are really holding the white house hostage on when did the president call and was he up all night . Those are the kinds of questions theyve been asking. Hagel had nothing to do with benghazi. Absolutely true, andrea, but i would say, look, this is kelly used the phrase leverage point, and whether you like it or not, thats what republicans view this as. I would say that the white house has two very clear choices. They either say okay, we will give until, though we disagree with it, and were on the record as saying theres no more to be here. We will give in in some way and give Lindsay Graham more of what he wants if not all of what he wants, more of what he wants as it relates to the specific timeline on benghazi, and then almost certainly the hagel nomination goes forward, or we will not and to be honest, andrea, the way that politics works, im not sure that if there isnt harry weed comes out and says theres going to be a vote foam, if they put it off, they go out of session for a week and come back. I dont know if chuck hagel is able politically only, politically speaking only, to survive that. I think thats the calculation the white house is making right now as if you dont give in in some regard you clearly imperil chuck hagels no, maam nation. Not to say you doom it, but you imperil it because it makes that 60 votes harder to get to. If have you to put it off, politics being politics as a vacuum, youll have more and more doubt flood in the longer you delay thee thipgsz. They know all this, and i think theyll probably try to decide. Should they give something to Lindsey Graham, and what should it be . Is there much to give i should add . Well, it wib timeline or something of president ial involvement, which is beyond the scope of what would normally be the confirmation process. The other issue that was raised by ted cruz and some of the other hagel critics was what money he may have made in private speeches and the suggestion that cruz made publicly that he may have taken money from rogue regimes which there doesnt seem to be any foundation for that. Thats what inspired john mccain, kelly, who is a critic of hagels to come back to his defense against this freshman senator from texas who is raising the suggestion that he had taken money even from pyongyang or from iran. Well, whats interesting about mccains position here is that he has said very clearly that he does not believe that chuck hagel was the right choice in this instance. He believes his performance at his hearing was poor. He took real issue with his fellow republican ted cruz of texas and said that chuck hagel is an honorable man and wanted to defend him in this process. Where it gets harder for mccain is that Lindsey Graham is perhaps his greatest ally in the senate, and he believes that there are legitimate questions about benghazi still to be answered. Not so much looking at the past, although politically thats what they want to do. Also trying to make sure that they understand whats going on with some of these issues as they may pertain to future hot spots. Mccain is not jumping to the ted cruz bandwagon, but i would surmise that he wants to be protective of Lindsey Graham politically. He is a pivotal figure in this. He doesnt support filibusters. He has not said today what his position is. In fact, he told us that negotiations are continuing between the white house, between the parties, so this is sort of an active situation where decisions are being made, where armtwisting may be going on. We dont know where it ends up. We do know that right now ultimately hagel has the votes to be confirmed, but this is a treacherous time in the fate of his nomination because of these other sort of political hot points that immediate to be dealt with. You guys hang in and stay with me for just a moment because coming up, were going to go to decatur, georgia. President obama campaigning for his universal prek plan. We have Kristen Welker there, and live coverage just minutes from now, and also were going to be talking to mark kelly about the gun law issue. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. They see me rollin they hatin patrolling they tryin to catch me ridin dirty tryin to catch me ridin dirty tryin to [ woman ] hi there. 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We are talking to chris calizza and managing editor of post politics. Com. Kelly odom on the hill, and nbc White House CorrespondentKristen Welker in decatur, georgia. What is the white house saying about the hagel situation . Well, at this hour, andrea, they are, of course, watching this with some concern, but they still believe that ultimately they will have enough votes to get hagel confirmed, as kelly pointed out. It is a numbers game. If you talk to them about the numbers, they think they have about 55 democrats and independents together. About two republicans and so they think ultimately they will be able to get over that 60 vote threshold. Again, some trepidation when this all started to evolve yesterday when it became leer this was going to become a cloture vote. They are watch this quite closely, and as you point out, the president quite anxious to get his nominee confirmed. There is a lot of business on the horizon that he needs to be engaged with. Andrea. Kelly odonnell, when we talk about those numbers, they need 60 votes, so they have the majority, but how do they get to 60 . One of the issues is trying to package this from a republican perspective on a way that it does not make them look like they are filibustering a top cabinet official for the sake of it. They are trying to extract more information now to make a more fully informed decision later. We were just told by Lindsey Graham that he is a no if the vote is tomorrow, but would be open to voting yes on cloture, meaning to go forward after the recess. He is putting down his marker. We saw today rob portman of ohio who had not been publicly on the record, but he himself had been a top cabinet official in the Bush Administration which gives you a sense that he understands this from both sides. Today he is saying a no tomorrow, lots for manufacturings, and would likely vote for that next step. Were seeing this sort of trying to find a middle space. To not appear to be just ob strakting, but to try to make an argument which may appeal to republicans, certainly wont appeal to democrats about what theyre trying to get. As weve talked about the danger is hanging in the wind for chuck hagel is nott a good thing. If his sort of political adversaries and outside groups that have wanted to torpedo his nomination and try to find something more that they think could be politically explosive, theyre certainly working at that. We have no indication that thats coming. Its not just about chuck hagel. Trying to get answers on benghazi means there is a different faction of republicans who are holding this up. Theyve also said they will do this regarding john brennan who would be the choice to lead the cia. He would be much more directly involved in the benghazi matter, but this is a way to try to pressure the administration to provide information that congress believes it has a right to have. Now, the white house could certainly argue that what the president was doing or what time he went to bed, those sorts of questions, are sort of under an executive privilege. They dont have to tell them about that. It does have a political question. How engaged was the president once he was notified at 5 00 p. M. By secretary panetta that there was an unfolding assault happening in benghazi. Those are things that came out through recent testimony through panetta, and the joint chiefs chair that had he had not spoken to the president again after initially informing hem. That created a new sort of political oxygen for republicans who want to know if there was a missing ambassador, what