Gab a competitive advantage, making the footballs softer and easier to throw and catch. Nbc ease Peter Alexander has been following the story closely. He joins me from foxboro, massachusetts. What more do we know about that closeddoor meeting between brady and his teammates . Reporter well, we know the team was supposed to be here today. Its a regularly scheduled practice day, a team meeting that would normally happen. Usually belleill belichick would address the team. He did. Tom brady also addressed the team. He acknowledged he liked the ball a little less inflated than other quarterbacks to give him a better grip. Of course, we do not know he said hey, i purposefully did this right now. Thats going to be the question posed to tom brady when he speaks to reporters just a short time from now. Itll happen in an hour and 45 minutes from now. This has been moved up from tomorrow, the patriots recognizing to try to take the pressure out of this story, so to speak. They needed to do something about it. Thats why belichick spoke this morning. Now brady. Belichick spoke for about 8 1 2 minutes of a 12minute News Conference with a statement. This is not vintage Bill Belichick. He would normally be very well limited in his sound bites. He was, when reporters asked him questions, saying i have no expla in this case but he started off his statement by saying he was shocked and didnt know anything about this situation until monday morning. Take a listen. I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until monday morning. Ive learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than i knew or had talked about in the last 40 years that ive coached in this league. Reporter so basically, he handed the ball off to his quarterback, tom brady, saying youd have to talk to tom about his personal preferences for the ball. Here well grab a ball quickly. We spoke to joe theis man, the hall of fame quarterback, the longtime washington redskin. He told us today he went over to the Washington RedskinsTraining Facility to just test out these balls to see the difference between one that is legal, 13 psi, to use the technical term or 11 psi, which would be significantly below the allowable rules. He said the only way you could tell a difference is pushing on the seams. But in his words, that difference was negligible. Also driving this conversation right now is the legendary commentator, the former coach of the oakland raiders, john madden. He said if these balls were deflated, that would have had to have been driven by the quarterback, tom brady. Psi, pounds per square inch. Peter alexander following it for us. And it looks like he probably played some football at some point in his life as well. Good to see you. Of course we will have complete coverage of new England Patriots tom bradys News Conference. At the bottom of the hour well be talking to former Miami Dolphin wide receiver randle thrill hill. The antiabortion rally marksed 42nd anniversary of the roe v. Wade decision. Meanwhile on capitol hill, house lawmakers just within the last hour passed a bill to permanently ban the use of federal funds for abortion. But thats not the bill that republicans had planned to vote on today. Msnbcs luke russert is covering things on capitol hill. Bring us up to speed on what happened last night and what happened a short time ago as well. Well, craig, the gop leadership was originally going to move a bill through the house they expected to pass which would have outlawed abortion after 20 weeks. They put a thing in there that said except in the case of rape or incest. However, they had a stipulation that rape or incest would have to be reported to authorities. That upset a bunch of republican women within the conference, saying that to have the language in there they have have to report to authorities was a step too far. It also was upsetting to some moderates within the conference that said, hey, look, we just took back the senate. We have all this power. Why is one of the first things out of the gate trying to move on the abortion front, which is something that has been a liability for us in elections past . So you sort of saw this emergence of republican women and some of the more moderate voices in the conference say, we dont want to do this this is a bridge too far, can we pull this back . And leadership actually did. Now, the question remains, craig, whether or not the leadership had the votes to pass the bill. They claim they did. Other members i spoke to speculate they did not. Nevertheless, this is not the end of this bill in particular the 20week bill. They plan on trying to move it again at some point, perhaps when they have accumulated more time here. What they moved today was a bill they moved forward in the last congress, which is essentially no taxpayer funding for abortion. We should do some housekeeping. Since the hiatt amendment introduced a few decades ago, theres no taxpayer funding for abortion. This is more to make that permanent and strengthen it in the eyes of a prolife community. Hence why a lot of democrats voted against it saying it was re repetitive repetitive. Nonetheless, you had a group of republican women who stood up and said, this is not the terrain we want to play on right now. This is going to be harmful for us in terms of getting the female vote and the myillennial vote. Thank you for that walk through. That was eye opening. I know youve been out there all day on the mall. What are you hearing from activists about the bill that was pulled last night . Well advocates for abortion rights point out that not only is the heidt amendment a matter of law, which they oppose meaning medicaid funding is not available for abortion disproportionately punishing lowincome women, this interferes with the private insurance market, the bill that was just passed. Thats something republicans say they dont like. It actually says you cant get tax credits for private insurance funds. So the folks here are the antiabortion folks here. Theyre very much in favor of making it harder to access abortion. But they really had their hearts set on this 20week ban. They believe that the popular opinion is on their side. They believe that this going to be the vehicle thats going to allow them to overturn roe v. Wade, go all the way to the Supreme Court, and even if president obama said that he was going to veto it they think that this is the vehicle that they need to kind of challenge anthony kennedy. So theres a lot of disappointment here. A few activists are planning a march on renee elmers office. Another point to make here is that the 20week ban itself, as luke mentioned, will be back and its only this very particular provision about reporting the rape to the police thats at issue here. And when i asked one of the activists, why is that measure important, she said well we want to get the perpetrators off the street even though most people, you know, know that the odds are very much not in your favor if you report to the police. And the other aspect she said was that some women lie about rape. She specifically mentioned the duke and Rolling Stone cases. Just to let you know what the grassroots is saying is out here today. A big thanks to both of you. Coming up, well speak with the attorney who represented jane roe in the roe v. Wade case before the Supreme Court, attorney sarah weddington. Now to cuba, where its day two of those historic talks between u. S. And cuban officials. The highest level u. S. Official to visit in many years. If all goes well an even higher level u. S. Official said yesterday hes ready to make that trip as well. I look forward to traveling to cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward. Cnbcs eamon javers in cuba traveling with u. S. Officials. When we spoke earlier, we talked about the conversation today essentially being split up into two parts. Do we know where negotiators are with regards to those two parts . Are they still in phase one, so to speak . Well we dont know exactly where things stand now, craig, but we are getting some indication now from both the cuban sides and the u. S. Sides at least that everything is going well. On the high level, officials are making the typical encouraging but very vague statements, a statement by the cuban officials, a statement in writing from the u. S. Side saying everything is going fairly well so far today. But the lowlevel diplomacy here is going back to what the president announced and what went into effect last week on friday, which are new rules for travelers here to cuba. What they can bring back to the United States. Its been very restricted in the past but now as of friday, you can bring back 400 worth of goods of any kind but also you can bring back up to 100 worth of tobacco and alcohol. And here in cuba in havana youre talking about rum and youre talking about cigars. Thats the biggest question everyone has asked me when we came down here, what can you bring back for sne the answer is, with 100, you cant get all that much. We priced it out. 100 l get you about six bot lts of this havana club rum. Pretty good stuff, im told. Also, 100 will get you just four of these cigars. These are said to be spectacular. I tried one last night and almost choked on it a little bit. Theyre said to be really good. Four cigars six bottles of rum. You cant bring it all back. You can bring one or the other. You beat me to it, my friend. You and i go way back. I expect to get a cigar and a bottle of rum when you return stateside. This box is already spoken for. Ill get you another one. Of course it is. Thank you. Cnbcs eamon javers. Weve got a reid alert right now. This is from yemen, where Officials Say that countrys president and his cabinet have all resigned after days of escalating violence at the hands of yemeni rebels. President ial Officials Say that the yemeni president , whos a close u. S. Ally, resigned after being pressured to make further concessions to the rebels. Yemens president has agreed to some political concessions. He did that yesterday after his residence and president ial palace came under attack. Now to a suspicious death at the navy base at guantanamo bay. U. S. Navy captain john nettleton, the Commanding Officer at gitmo, has been relieved of duty after allegations he was having an affair with a woman on the base. That womans husband was recently found dead. Nbc news chief pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski joins me now. How was all of this uncovered . Even for the u. S. Navy this is really a strange case. This is about two weeks ago when the body of a civilian employee at the u. S. Navy base at guantanamo was found floating in guantanamo bay. And it was during the navys investigation into that death that investigators reportedly uncovered an alleged affair between the wife of the dead man and the commander of the base captain john the commander of the base. Anyway what they did is then the navy immediately relieved the captain of his command. Not because he was found to be guilty of anything but because any time in the navy if there is some wrongdoing even a hint of wrongdoing, they will be relieved of command. Now, we have to emphasize here that no charges have been filed. Nobody has been formally accused of any wrongdoing. But Navy Investigators are now looking into not only the alleged affair but whether there was any wrongdoing or foul play in the death of that employee from gitmo, craig. Jim miklaszewski for us from the pentagon. Thanks as always. Coming up mitt Romney Jeb Bush scheduled to meet privately in utah today. Will they pull straus over who gets the gops presumptive nomination . Nbcs Kelly Odonnell will have more on that later. Also, more on deflate gate. How much more trouble could it spell for the league and the poster boy for the nfl, as well americas favorite quarterback, tom brady. Brady holding that News Conference to address the controversy in less than two hours. You can stick with msnbc for that. That coverage beginning at 3 45. Youre watching the reid report on msnbc. Huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Everybody knows that. Well, did you know you that former pro Football Player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything . Unhuh. 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Mitt romney, who last week sent some signals he may be open for yet another run at the presidency and jeb bush, who has announced that he will actively explore a bid for the white house, will meet in utah later today at what one aide describes as a, quote, previously scheduled social meeting. Lets bring in Kelly Odonnell. Are we buying that that it was a previously scheduled social meeting . Is that really what this is . What are you hearing . Well i am hearing that it was previously scheduled, and we can presume it will be social. It takes on a new context because mitt romney had this on the calendar with jeb bush prior to mitt romney going out quite as far as he has in exploring a third possible run. As you pointed out, jeb bush has taken some more formal steps with an Exploratory Committee and his right to rise pac. Hes certainly gaining a lot of momentum in some of the elected officials that we talked to. Theres a lot of friends of jeb up here on hill as well as some strong supporters who have known mitt romney for a long time. But youve got two Power Centers in the Republican Party. And whats interesting, too, is if one were to cancel this meeting, that would certainly look back. And for both of them whether they both run or perhaps they get a sense of each other today and determine something, theres value in having this meeting. Theres value in us talking about this meeting. We cant discount the importance of the buzz associated with this. Now, jeb bush today already tweeted when he was leaving the airport, thanking the delta crew that was taking him to salt lake city, utah. And noting that there were reporters milling about at the gate where he was taking off. People kept catching a picture of him on the other end as well. So some of the social media buzz. If you remember, theres a real difference in these two. Now, theyre of course big names in the Republican Party, but when jeb bush was governor of florida, he never really had a tough primary contest. He has been talked about as one of the major voices in the party for a long time. Mitt romney has been through lots of bruising contests and hes in possession of all the vetting documentation he had on his short list of running mate choices from 2012. So they have a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of their own party, the donors and how things might play out. I dont expect well get a very thorough readout of this meeting, but the fact its happening is certainly notable and interesting. And maybe sometime down the line if one or both of them dont run, maybe well learn more, and if both of them do maybe itll play out again at some point and well have a sense of what todays sort of meeting of the minds was about. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell. It is all quite fascinating. Thank you so much for breaking it down. And now, three things to know on this thursday. In an interview with billboard magazine Malcolm Jamal Warner who played bill cosbys son, theo talked about for the first time the sex assault claims against the iconic median saying in part quote, just as its painful to hear any woman talk about sexual assault, whether true or not, it is just as painful to watch my friend and mentor go through this. I cant really speak on any of the allegations because obviously i was not there. The bill cosby i know has been great to me and great for a lot of people. Former tonight show host jay leno also addressed the controversy in a question and answer session during a conference of Television Executives in miami last night. I mean i dont know why its so hard to believe women. I mean, you know, you go to saudi arabia and need two women to testify against a man. Here you need 25. Bill cosby has never been charged with a crime, and through his attorneys hes denied all of the allegations in the past. A local state of emergency has been declared after a massive fire engulfed a new jersey apartment complex across the hudson river from new york city