Welcome back. Lets get a check on the day ahead before we toss it over to morning joe. Security officials are expected to update the House Homeland Security committee on the threat posed by. A statue of the former arizona senator Barry Goldwater will be dedicated in the statuary hall. That will do it. Morning joe 80s starts right now. 17 years is the longest i have ever in my life held a job by 16 years and five months in my heart i know it is time for
someone else to have that opportunity and, no no no im not going to be here and try and sum up what this place has meant to me over the years. I couldnt do that. We have too much time. I have a myriad of people to thank. We will get to that over a period of time. Im not going anywhere tomorrow. But this show doesnt deserve an even slightly restless host and neither to do you. I dont think i will miss being on television every day. I will miss coming here every day. Its hard to describe exactly what happened yesterday evening in terms of american popular culture. Two of the most popular people in Television News two of the most most well bound, two most well liked, two most well respected men both in their own ways stepped down. We will be talking about our good friend brian in a minute. Le dropped the bomb shell, jon stewart that nbc news also dropped a bombshell announcing jon, ae nouceing he may be stepping down from the extremely popular and hugely influential daily show. It was one of the mo jar developments in the world with a knife, it was incredibly surprising news of two of those most powerful people in broadcasting. Of course, mica sadly, the other involves our friend Brian Williams. Well this past weekend Brian Williams followed criticisms and questions where he said he made a mistake surrounding the experiences in the iraqi war if 2003. Well, today that suspension is no longer self imposed. Nbc news decided yesterday to suspend williams as managing
editor of the anchor of the nightly news for six months without pay. The suspension is Effective Immediately. Lester holtz will continue to anchor the newscast. In a memo they said quote, while on nightly news on friday, january 30 2015 brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the iraq war if 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions, brian had done the same while telling that story on other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in brians condition. In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside nbc news while brian was talking about his experiences in the field. As managing editor and anchor of nightly news, brian has the responsibility to be truthful and uphold the high standards of the News Division at all times. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work brian
has done and the special relationship he has fornld over two years millions of americans have turned to him every day. He has been an important and well deserved part of our organization t. Ceo steve burke added this message. This has been a painful period for all concerned and we appreciate your patience while we gather the available facts. By his action brian has jeopardized the trust of millions of americans placed on nbc news. His actions are inexcusable. This suspension is severe and appropriate brians life work is delivering the news. He know he loves his country, nbc news and his colleagues. He deserves a Second Chance wind chill rerooting for him. Brian has shared his deep remorse with me. He is committed to winning back everyones trust. In a statement to staffers after his self imposed sanction over the weekend, before jeds suspension, williams says when
he returns, he would quote continue my yearlong effort of my trust with those who place their trust in us. The sixmonth suspension follows the debunking of his story of riding in a helicopter hit with rbg fire exposed to fiction by the pilots who actually were on the damaged aircraft. It was a story he repeated several times, including during the appearance on the late show with David Letterman in 2013. We were going to drop some bridge portions across the you frats so the 3rd infantry can cross on them. Two of our four helicopters were hit. By ground fire including the one i was in. No kidding . Rpg and ak47. On sunday maureen dowd used her powerful column to claim williams a had a long ristory of inflateing his resume and gave sherman, saying williams lobbied toive go him the host chair on
the tonight show when jay leno stepped down a few years ago. So, we have clarity. We do we do. I can say around this building i think everybody was toned by the announcement you knew something was going to be done and something was going to be done. I think because brian was such a fixture and you see a decade of brians work at as nightly news anchor it is hard to imagine this quick of a turn. In the statements from nbc news the statements from steve burke, debra and steve burke made it very clear that their priority at this time is protecting n bbc news above all else. What is so interesting for people that read steve burkes comments. Yet, steve burke has a very Good Relationship with Brian Williams who likes Brian Williams very much personally. They are close and at the beginning, many people inside this building were speculating that brian would actually get through this a bit better than he did because of his close relationship with steve burke. Steve burke puts the Company First and puts the reputation of the News Division first but six months without pay leaves people to ask whether brian will ever come back. I think it will be another chapter. I dont even what it will be. I have been through a few of
these. The difference here for whatever its worth is that brian is not arguing the truth of this relationship and he is the first to say or to echo what debra and steve has said. He has completely put it out there, he made a huge mistake. There is no argue t. Professional as steve burke said yesterday inexcusable. You cant do these things. You cant host any show and some of the things he said done or said hes done. The other side though is the personal side which is very sad. It just is to watch a guy as a kid. He says he recognized he was a bit of a nerd. He would sit there and watch Walter Cronkite and say i want to be that guy when i grow up. He reached those heights. He achieved those things. Now its taken away from him for six months and possibly forever. So there is while its appropriate professionally. There is certainly a sadness to it certainly. A real sadness. You know what Brian Williams is a young guy and i define a young guy in a decade, but my age. A decades old. The new definition. He is still a young kid here and i can guarantee you this regardless of he does it inside this building or outside the building. This is the ent of one chapter in Brian Williams career. When i said forever. This job. No question. He will find something. I was thinking that what he did is wrong he said it was wrong. The news staff said it was wrong everybody said it was wrong. It was wrong. But i have never seen on twitter, online such a gleeful display of sheer hatred and new yorkiness and snideness and my 20 years in public life. I think while what steve burke did is completely inline. I do think the reaction by brians critics have been have lost perspective about the second day of this crisis. Were going to the next story. But the New York Times. There was a statement that said it was like the apocalypse last night. The New York Times headline williams suspended the point of his career. Stewart at the high point what again, mica a remarkable few
hours last night not only in the media landscape but in the Cultural Landscape of many earthquake. Actually i found it fascinating on a number of levels what he will do next is interesting but he created a whole new platform of telling stories and putting them into perspective. The of the of the daly show, jon stewart made that announcement he will step down this year. He took over from Craig Killborn turning it into the Gold Standard for comedy and criticism of news launching a new genre of television. They have long lost tips for politician, pundits and the press. Last night he addressed his audience. I love the people here. Theyre the best. Theyre creative and collaborative and kind and its
ill lit rative. Its cheating. Its a k. You understand what i am saying. I love and respect them so much ugh. Ugh. What is this fluid . You get from this business with the idea that maybe you have a point of view and have something to express and to receive feedback from that is the greatest feeling you can ask for and i thank you. I dont have any specific plans. I have a lot of ideas. I have a lot of things in my head. I will have dinner on a school night with my family who i have heard from multiple sources are lovely people. I connect with that one. Stewart could be fightingly funny but at times turn serious
including when a grand jury close not to indict a new York City Police officer over the death of erick garner. I dont know. I honestly den know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time i need more [ bleep ] time but i would really settle for less [ bleep ] tragedy, to be honest with you. Dam, we are definitely not living in a post situational society. I know there are many out there wondering how many are living in a society at all . Thats our show. Cha cha cha. Ah. Yes, sometimes you cant do it. Alumni of the show have gone on to some of the biggest roles in tv and movie. The show has won 20 emmys and has been nominated 56 times during his ten nur lets bring in the los angeles times. Well hello. Good morning. Thats what its done. This is what you look like. As these things happen almost simultaneously. The Brian Williams situation is obviously much more shock. Its so sudden. I broke the story on brian signing a new contract with nbc news a few weeks ago this was something the network didnt think they would have to worry about for years, this was a solid thing they could build on and perhaps turn around other parts of the news edition. Jon stewart not surprising to me. It was, as the contract was up this year. He had been doing this for 17 years. Yes he went off. These are our jobs. This is a life when you do Something Like this you are always thinking about the next show. You are always thinking about writing the next gag. Yeah something kind of nice about the way he is going out. We are accustomed to serving long goods byes from our late night host whether David Letterman, whether its jay leno. Viewers want that victory lap. They provide a real consistency in their lives. For jon stewart, the influence is really tremendous when you think about it. 17 years ago no one was having a social commentary on television with some of the humor you would see on the weekend update on saturday night live. That was about it. That topic was considered especially for young audiences. Now you have a generation that has been raised with this. I was always i never believed these surveys as they said that most young people got their news from jon stewart. Then you talk to every young person you ask them where do
you get your music these days . Thats the first show they mention. Its remarkable. That would be strongly anecdotal evidence. Even if we dont want to believe it. Lets talk about jon stewart is the guy most of us in life get on that train. We know we have to stay on that train. We dont get off. You have to stay on and keep working, working, work jon stewart as you were saying to me before the show he can go out and play parcheese for the next six months come back and take any job anywhere. He really could. After he takes a break and wants to do something weekly instead of daily and wants to do a series of specials his acts can pick up the phone and call pretty much every network and
they will Brian Williams i was surprised about who things into this Brian Williams case. Okay how many of you love Brian Williams . How many people loved him . Every where willie went everywhere mica went he was constant. Like everywhere. They talked about him as a member of the family. The longer it went i was surprised by everybody going, eh he probably needs to step down i still believe there is so much good will built up from a decade of reporting. People not only nightly news but elsewhere this is another guy. He really connected with the audience. Some people think that one reason he got in trouble. He went on late night talk shows so much. He is so funny. He is a great storyteller. When you go on talk shows and tell stories its about telling good stories and getting the facts right. It is one of the demands today of being a Television News personality is you have to be a certain personality. I think that may have gotten him in trouble. As far as the second act, its hard to say. Six months is a long time. You are right, people will like him whenever you ask people about the nbc nightly news they say he when talking about him. It was his show. It was that of the connection with the anchor that made the show number one. Heart breaking. All right. We have a lot more news to cover. Still ahead on morning joe, we remember Kayla Mueller, the aide worker who paid the ultimate
price for helping others. We will go live to keir simmons in georgia. Bob corker senator Claire Mccaskill and bob woodward plus David Axelrod has surprising revelations in his new book about a time in politics. He joins us ahead. If youre running a business legalzoom has your back. Over the last 10 years weve helped one million Business Owners get started. Visit legalzoom today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. So,as my personal financial psychic, im sure you know what this meeting is about. Yes, a raise. Im letting you go. I knew that. You see, this is my amerivest managed. Balances. No. Portfolio. And if doesnt perform well for two consecutive gold. Quarters. Quarters. Yup. Then amerivest gives me back their advisory. Stocks. Fees. Fees. Fees for those quarters. Yeah. So, im confident im in good hands. For all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. Think the tree we carved our names in is still here . Probably dead. How much fun is this . What . What a beautiful sunset. If you like sunsets. Whether youre sweet or salty. Youll love Nature Valley sweet and salty bars. I dont know what i whats that thing . I moved our old Security System out here to see if it could monitor the front yard. Why dont you switch to xfinity home . I get live video monitoring and 24 7 professional monitoring that i can arm and disarm from anywhere. Hear ye the awkward teenage one has arrived dont be old fashioned. Xfinity customers add xfinity home for 29. 95 a month for 12 months. Plus for a limited time, get a Free Security camera call 1800 xfinity or visit comcast. Com xfinityhome. Hey, the president of the cfo on Foreign Relations is with us. You were asking during the break. Two things. One is the juxtaposition, jon stewart after 16plus years could have stepped down at any time, the fact that he did it was there a connection . The new jersey guy that apparently spent time together. I heard about he and springstein
and jon stewart walking on the beach down the jersey shore, but its hard to not think that jon stewart did this as a favor to Brian Williams. And if so that is a very very good trend. We should all have such a trend. I would say the same for you. I would certainly do the same for you. Do you think the meanness of this . Heres possibly jon stewart doing something for his friend. All these people never knew Brian Williams the sheer hierarchy and the newspapers what did Brian Williams ever do . Im sure thats a question that brian is asking himself, because, you know i had talked to brian when we first moved up to town with him and we were talking and he was saying you know, i say, have you so many
more people watch your show. We were talking for a reason that im not going to get into right now. We were just trying to figure some stuff out, whether, you know whether i should do a certain interview or fought. He said yeah what you do you have to go on the air every day and you are paid to give an opinion. You talk politics and basically no matter what we say. I can say right now the president gave a great speech and half the people would hate me even if i was playing bad analyst, right . Or i can say the president let america down and the other half would hate me we engage if opinions so much here that that is a lightning round. Thats unfortunately, i say to my family that has to read a lot of the gore baseball out there. Thats the price, im an analyst, would it be easier to be football analysts . Yes, it would. We are political analysts. Brian williams was a news reporter. He read the news. He did it straight and he did it well mica the fact that he did it so straight really does raise the question of the level of hatefulness and where that putrid well rose up from again was so out of proportion. I at first was horrified by the media pileon. But j just having very small bad experiences, leaving getting fired, whatever its a mean business. Im not surprised. It is a mean tough, cut throat
nasty business we work in. Unfortunately, its a mean world. Its a mean world online. We were talking not just trolls on twitter, but also people that run news organizations, saying some really ugly things. I was not surprised in the criticism of what he did and the things he did that was right and appropriate to poi