brooke blog. as we mentioned, some of the breaking news, bob gates, his memoir coming out. jake tabor will have that coming up on "the lead." it's been a pleasure, now to washington, "the lead with jake tapper" starts right now. et tu, bob gates. freezing would be like a tropical vacation with umbrellas in our drinks, compared to the misery many of us are living in. is this now the worth of it? in national news, you know who didn't believe in president obama's afghanistan strategy? president obama, at least after a while, according to his own former secretary of defense robert gates in a shockingly critical new memoir. and the sports lead. as long as college athletes can read xs and os on a chalkboard that seems good enough for many

schools. on a day after the thrilling finish to the football season, an investigation reveals that colleges are letting down their sports guys. good afternoon, everyone. i'm jake tapper, welcome to "the lead." now that we have all learned what a polar vortex is, will it please go away? many americans have never experienced it, it hasn't drop this low in 20 years. below freezing temperatures were felt in all 50 states this morning, including hawaii. areas from the midwest through the northeast struggle to get out of the single digits. i tell you, it's so cold this is -- thank you -- it's so cold police believe an eye scaped prisoner in kentucky turned himself in just to get warm. that's not a joke. that is true. new york city has never recorded a colder temperature on this date. it was 4 in central parkerier. i did not misspeak. 4, without the windchill. all of this thanks to the polar

vortex, that arctic air hovering over the u.s. there's a real fear in many parts. in northern illinois, three am track trains got stuck in snowbanks. air travel still a mess. throughout the blast, cnn has been conducting a grand experts on the effects of hypothermia. ted rowlands is in chicago, where it's even too cold for polar bears at the s.e.a.l. first, erin, have you ever been this cold? >> reporter: i don't think so, but it's not snowing here. at least no one is wet. it's 2 here, that's the warmest it's been all day. the windchill feels like 13 below zero. it's going to get even worse tonight, tomorrow will be about the same, finally things will look better on thursday. it this has been historic.

there have been some records. a local homeless shelter that the salvation army runs saw 750 people last night. that's a record. also a hospital in this area said they usually see 30 patients in a year for frostbite. already since january 1st, 25 patients. aaa says the last record for servicing people in a day was 2500, set in a cold snap in 2007. just yesterday they saw 3,000 people for some of the car troubles that they have been having. in chicago, it is not quite as cold, but i'm sure no lulls miserable. that's where we find ted rowlands? ted? >> reporter: same here. in chicago the the am track passengers finally made it here after being stranded. they many of them started in

california. the cold is so bad the ice on the sidewalks have lost the effect -- the salt, rather, and it's turned to ice. the commute this morning and this evening have been absolutely horrific. jake, the good news is we are now above 0, as sad as that sounds, it's feel better than the last two days where we've been consistently below zero. >> thank you. stay safe. six republicans cross party lines to open a dough bait on a bill to restoring long-term unemployment benefits which dried up just before the end of the year. democrats say they were not able to insert an extension into a bill. for the bill to end up on the president's desk, they still have to pass it. dean heller was the republicans to stay seep up with the -- but not such a warm reception, perhaps.

senator header look like a man alone maybe senator heller should guard his pudding cup for a few days. senator, thanks for being here. >> do i have a chance to turn myself in to get some warmth around here? some people may luke that. >> did you feed you got a bit of a cold shout? >> not really. everybody understands. the unemployment rate at nevada is so 9%. both of us have high unemployment rates. the message i was hoping to bring out is maybe republicans and democrats can actually work together to get good things done. >> is this going to pass the senate? >> i hope so. here is the issue to me. as long as debate occurs, and i'm certainly hoping leadership on the other side now allows for

amendments. >> the 6 billion offset by spending cuts elsewhere? >> there's a number of amendments that have been filed. i think we'll have more than enough votes in order for this to pass. >> speaker boehner has said he didn't think any extension should come before him without offsetting the spending, and something to help great jobs. there is any way that would meet those requirements for the house of representatives could pass the senate? >> absolutely. i have no doubt in reasonable minds come together -- >> i'm sorry. you were talking about reasonable minds. i was talking about the senate. maybe you didn't hear me right. >> snow, i truly do believe that people can come together, we can have a conversation. if the pay for it is not there, i'm going to vote for it anyway, because people out there are hurting. i do support of pay for. i think the deficit is getting

out of control, so i understand where the speaker is coming from. if we can have legislation -- if you want to solve unemployment problems, you create jobs. to have that sort of discussion, i don't think anybody else is, either. >> as somebody who worked with the democrat on this, why is there so much dysfunction? why can't they come together? i know there are people who come to this town, talk to freshman senators -- this is not you, but senators come in and are stunned reid and mcconnell don't talk, there is so little cooperation. can that change? >> i'm not sure it can happen in an election year. 2014, with control of the senate up in the air, i think we'll see more partisanship, but i would certainly hope when we come out of the box today -- >> do you think it hurts republicans that they don't even take this up in the house? >> i think it should be discussed. >> discussed and voted on?

>> i was hoping there would be proposals. in fact i was hoping that every republican senators would have voted for the discussion. this wasn't a vote for the bill itself. it was a vote to have a discussion, and it would by my idea everybody would support talking about this discussion. there's a lot of discussions to have out there, and i think republicans ought to talk about this, have this discussion. i want to send the message out that, for example, as republicans we're not antigovernment, we're for reasonable government. we're not antitaxes, but for reasonable taxes. we're not antiregulation, but for reasonable regulations. we can send that message out and send the right message to the american people that we care just as much about creating jobs, and of course helping those that need help. >> senator dean heller, thank you so much. i hope you appreciate that evidence nelvada, not ne-vauda.

two reports just out, a surprising accusation in robert gates' new book. plus they make millions fors schools. would they get in if they didn't play sports? a shocking number. stay tuned. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer.

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welcome back. the president's decision to keep robert gates was regarded at a time as an olive branch to republicans. he served over two years, helping maintain some continuity as the president took over sureship of two wars. now the former defense department chief is criticizing obama's handling. "new york times" tom shanker and "the washington post's" bob woodward got ahold of gates ease new book "duty." in the book the former defense secretary describes him as desperate. writing the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand karzai, doesn't believe in the own strategy and didn't believe the war to be his. for him it's all about getting out, but the white house's reaction and the book, breen ana, has the without said

anything? >> reporter: jake, there is no official white house reaction. it's obviously unwelcome news. i did speak with one white house official who told me really highlighting the positive, picking the parts of reports of what is in this book by the former secretary and highlighting the positive, really and that gates reportedly said he never doubts obama's commitment -- in the same -- reportedly the same part of the books that gates said he did doubt the president's commitment to the mission. maybe not to the troops. we have heard in the past gates criticized president obama, for instance, in bob woodward's 2010

book, he did say gates talked about being tempted to walk out of an oval office meeting after a disagreement with tom donilon. but really, as you know, jake, this at the same times it to a whole new level that a cabinet official is making the criticisms while a president is still in office. i did speak with a former official who told me that some of this is is misrepresentative. >> brianna keilar, thank you so much. is this about selling books or settling scores? tells the truth? all of the above? none of the above? let's bring in the editor of foreign -- and -- david and danielle, thanks for being here.

i wanted to start with your gut reaction. about what is in the gates book. david, does it surprise you? you know, i think all we have to do is back at the beginning of the obama administration and people were hailing the president for having a team of rivals, that meant discordant voices, a variety of opinions, and what you're seeing is there were a variety of opinions in the middle of the white house. >> what is extraordinary is they would be voiced so strongly at this point in the presidency? >> it's really unusual. i think it speaks to the degree of frustration that gates felt. i think it speaks particularly to his frustration the way he and the military commanders were treated by people within the administration, and of course look at the middle east right

now. we are rushing to the exit in afghanistan, iraq, where we rushed the exit, has been in worse shape than in five, six years form the region looks in tough shape, so his criticism is heightened a bit by the fact that it seems to be borne out by the facts. >> let me read a couple others quoerts, gates writes -- i was extremely angry with president obama, i felt he had breached faith with me. and a don't ask/don't tell -- i felt agreements with the white house were only good for as long as they were politically convenient. are these signs of ideological disagreements or something else, danielle? >> i think it's exactly what david characterized as, something family to most of us in washington, which is that the white house is basically uninterested in the counsel of the president's own cabinet. so you had frustrations from people like gates, from people

like hillary clinton, and frankly from every other cabinet official who ever had any opinion, because they had no input and decisions were made not just without them -- because i don't think they were made so much without them, as without any respect for their input, particularly on questions, as gates reports, of timing. i don't think gates had a big problem with the don't ask/don't tell question. he merely had a problem with how it was rolled out and the lack of regard that the white house had for the institution of the pentagon and the people who worked there. >> that's right, in the context i should have presented, which is not that gates disagreed with don't ask/don't tell, he agreed with that, he was upset because he and the joint chiefs of staff chairman at the time i think were only give a day's heads-up. while we're still waiting for afternoon to sign the security agreement with the united states, do you think this is gates sending a message to the white house on how they can still change the strategy there?

is it a warning shot about heading to the exits too quickly? >> i think it's just a memo millennium memoir. i think it is particularly trenchant, though, given that we have this agreement pending, you have this struggle with the white house and karzai right now. one thing that it does, chrks troubles, it casts the light of the president to double down in a particularly cynical way. if they didn't believe in being there, if he didn't believe in what the generals were saying, and did commit tens of thousands more troops, hundreds or thousands of which ended tum dying or being injured in afghanistan, then why did he do it? was it just political? if it was just political, is that sufficient reason to put those lives at risk? >> david and danielle, i want to read one more quote -- hillary

told the presidenth opposition had been political, the president conceded vaguely that opposition to the surge had been political. to hear the two of them making admissions in front of me was as surprising as it was dismaying, danielle, your reaction? obviously i should say we have reached out to the white house and to hillary clinton's people and have not yet gotten a response. when we do, we will put that out there. your response to that story from the second stare? >> again, i think that anyone you talk to in washington who will be frank with you will say, yeah, that's right, these are things that have been well known for a long time. a lot of the opposition to the surge in iraq was political. everything was in the context of an election. the problem is for the president and others who may seek to be president -- ahem -- that when we recognize they are making these sorts of cynical decisions about national security, about our troops, it reflects extraordinarily poorly on them

and on the decisions that they make. as david said, if the president was so cynical to send troops in a surge which i certainly supported to afghanistan without having any intention of actually securing victory, that's enormously troubling. it fills me with, apart from anything else, just great sorrow about the leadership of this country and what our allies will estimate. more to come on the book. i do want to close with this quote from secretary gates about vice president biden which should -- i think he's been wrong on nearly every issue over the past four decades. quite a stunning thing for a secretary of defense to say about a sitting vice president. david and danielle, thank you so much. we appreciate it. coming up on "the lead" it's called being one of the biggest social security scams, st. of all time, bilking the

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the final national title game of the bowl championship series, which gets replaced next season by a playoff system. much to the delight of fans everywhere, maybe with the exception of some in alabama, the bcs did not go quietly into that good night. last night's championship matchup between the seminoles

and auburn tigers turned out to be the stuff of legend. with just seconds to spare, jameis winston led his team to victory to put his team up 34-31, like something from a movie. regardless of the outcome, you may say both schools were winners. just making it to a big game means big bucks. given what a cash cow programs have become for schools, it's not hard to understand why some go to great lengths to keep their programs strong and athletes protected. are some admitting students -- that never met. and once we started looking at the scandal, with respected the allegations at unc may just be the tip of the iceberg when it

comes to academics taking the backseat to athletics. cnn's sara gan ham has much, much more rurp the university is not just a powerhouse with dedicated fans. it's also a top tier academic institution, but one academic counselor there, who spend years tutoring student athletes says too many of them can't even read. >> we may as go over to glenwood elementary up the street and let the fourth graders and third graders in here. they can't read and there are no repeddial classes, what's the option? to cheat? >> the other option is to cheat, that's correct, or find some professor, some course of curriculum where there are professors, or there is little or no work expected. >> mary willingham says there are athletes who come for the university reading at a third or fourth grade level.

she says there's no way for them to succeed in a college classroom. the only place they can succeed here is on the football field. willingham is one of the few people we could find who is looking at the reading levels of athletes in the revenue-generating sports -- football and basketball. >> they're leaving here without an education. they're significantly behind. the level of reading and writing that's required. >> reporter: with the university's permission, she combed through eight years worth of test scores, and found that up to 25% of athletes in the revenue sports don't have the skills to take classes at a community college, let alone a competitive university like unc. looking at 183 football and basketball players between 2004 and 2012, willingham found that 8% were reading below a fourth-grade level and 60% were reading between a fourth and eighth grade reading level. we want you to know is this

happening in other schools? the ncaa told us that in to 12 alone 1/330 -- with very low test scores. they point out taz just a small percentage of the 5700 athletes admitted that year playing those sports, but we wanted to know for ourselves, so we filed open records requests at 37 public universities across the country where open records laws apply. we asked for six years worth of data. >> we got data back from 21 division i universities, club top 25 ranked football schools like texas avmt & m, george george, oklahoma state, ohio state and clemson. the results were startling. most schools had between 7% and 18% of football and basketball players scoring so low on the reading portion of their exams, experts told us they would only be reals at an elementary level.

that's an a.c.t. score of 16 or less or below a 400 on the reading pores of the s.a.t. but many of the universities had different explanations. like texas, which said some athletes don't try very hard, aiming only to become ncaa eligible. or washington, which pointed out low scores may indicate learning disabilities, and louisville, which said -- entrance exams are just one factor considered when admitting a student athlete. you can read their full responses on cnn.com. not every school we asked would give us information. in fact about half refused or said they would send the data after football season. neither florida state nor auburn, which played in the bcs championship game, provided data. why did we first go to unc? we were following up on a scandal from two years ago, when it was discovered that many student athletes were enrolled in classes that required little or no work.

even though the ncaa found that it found no athletic scandal, a professor was recently indicted for fraud, and its own internal investigation found evidence of academic fraud. as a result the school says it put in place 120 reforms and insists that unc's athletic program is now clean. you're confident here you are doing the right thing by student athlete? >> we are. and we also have the competitive and students have to compete monday through friday as well and on saturday. the once truly committed to being outstanding students, they are. >> reporter: mary willingham is skeptical that the changes have made a difference. >> we said we made 120 changes, which you can make all the changes you want, if you're still not meeting students where they're at and bringing them along, then those changes are all for nothing. >> reporter: now, cnn also

talked to about a dozen professors, advisers at multiple universities, and they echo who mary willingham found. the universities argue they're satisfied with the overall graduation rate, but the question, of course, is how do they graduate these athletes if these athletes can't read? that's the question here, because the universities really are screwing these athletes. they are taking advantage of them, and these kids go out and -- well, how many of them end up playing sports professionally versus having horrible ed indications and they have to go find a job. >> jake, it's a very small number. according to the ncaa, lets that 2% of these college seniors in football and basketball go to the pros. less than 2% make the draismt. >> those colleges and universities should be ashamed. sara, thank you very much. nbc lost about three hours of 2 air figure, because lindsey

vonn will not be able to compete next month. she recently reinjured her knee during a training session. she made the announcement on facebook saying -- i did everything i possibly could, but the real has sunk in that my knee is just too unstable to compete at this level. she says sheet have surgery and be ready for next year's championships. let's check in with our political panel, gloria borger, it's a word season in hollywood. some a-listers are destined to be denied, but the political world can snub with the best of them, too, check out this event honors ted cruz. not their own senator marco rubio, but ted cruz as their statesman of the year. gloria, which is worse? that or "good fellas" losing out to "dancing with wolves." >> can't answer that until february 2016.

you know what happens them -- fla in prime year. we'll see then. >> from sarasota, a key part of the state. >> you bet. much more when "the lead" returns right after this. c explore what's new. for 575 calories or less on our lighter fare menu. enjoy fresh tossed. go fish. and try our new rosemary garlic chicken at olive garden. in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts as bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique, so help protect your eye health with ocuvite.

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into time now for our buried lead, given the horrors that first responder faced on september 11th, few questioned the extent of their mental anguish, but now 80 retired nypd officers and former new york city firefighters are accused of bilking the system, for some by making fake disability claims. hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were used to treat former first responders who claimed they were traumatized, and according to manhattan's district attorney, some of the officers were coached on how to fake mental illnesses to collect

more money. joining me now is manhattan district attorney cyrus vance. mr. district attorney, thank you for joining us. explaining this to us, 106 people indicted, 0 of them retired new york city cops and firefighters, dozens arrested this morning. that must have been tough for the police to go after so many of their own. >> the new york city police department has a very professional internal affairs department. our own investigators, we have a great number in our office. it was a collaborative effort to make the arrest that were made this morning. i believe that a great number perhaps in the neighborhood of 80 have been arrested this morning not only in new york state, but in other areas as well. some had manufactured conditions, your office says. ones they said were caused by 9/11. obviously that would dishonor those who have real issues. did it take away benefits from

those who actually needed them? >> jake, i can't answer that a dollar taken fraudulently would have prevented someone else from coverage, but we all note the difficulties that our national financial situation is, and what i would say is that the social security disability payments are a real safety net for those truly disabled who cannot work at any jobs. as in the alleged indictment. for a group of individuals, let alone former law enforcement, toss those disability funds falsely professing to have injuries to the extend they couldn't do any work is tragic. you found evidence that these rids who claimed they were incapacitated revealing that was obviously not the case.

give us some examples. >> several examples that came out through the indictment, one individual that declared and was receiving disability benefits that he was unable to work was allegedly in fact operating a martial arts school, had a youtube of him on martial arts. doing whatever you do in martial arts. other individuals engaged in active sports. across the board what we found for many of the individuals is while professing not being able to do any works we had folks works in many professions and clearly not being honest. and you claim there are run leaders. and they coach these other people in what to say. what did they tell them to say? >> the allegations are that when individuals were referred to one

of the two front line players for potential getting awards, ultimately the -- are alleged to have coached them on what they should say, help them fill out paperwork, you'll note in the indictment alleged most of the factual allegations were identical, and appeared to be even in the same handwriting. so essentially there was a pattern of answering questions that was told to the recipients. they did that. they ultimately got social security, and have been receiving if in some cases for years. >> thank you so much for your time. >> thank you, jake. attorneys for three of the four defendants released statements? reiterating that the defendant pled guilty. it appears to be the extent of

their disability that's in question. we of course put out an nflation for any of these defendants to come on the lead and give their side of the story. when we come back, a major cultural shift, a surprising number of americans who have changed their views on smoking pot. why? ahead in our pop culture lead, i'll talk to one of the stars from "justified" before tonight's season premier. premiere. [ male announcer ] here's a question for you: where does the united states get most of its energy? is it africa? the middle east? canada? or the u.s.? the answer is... the u.s. ♪ most of america's energy comes from right here at home. take the energy quiz. energy lives here.

congress reaches a deal to fund the government without all the drama to start 2014. another very tiny expression of bipartisanship, they voted to take up debate. dean heller, a conservative-backed venture was the first republican senator to say he would side with the democrats. i spoke with him earlier in the show, and i asked him why. >> the message i was hoping to bring out, first full day back from our recess was maybe republicans and democrats can work together. >> is this going to pass the senate? >> i hope so. here to talk about this and form, former senator and chairwoman of it's my business blanch lincoln, and dploria borger, so ron, heller went on to say he does not think -- that thing will get more chummy in the senate, especially in an

election year, gave -- some colleges seem to be giving him the cold shoulder. do you think this can pass the house? >> i think the larger question is how it will be paid for. the question is whether or not we're not going to offer unemployment -- most republicans would like to. the question is how will it be done? there are republicans in the senate like rob portman working on the offsets right now. i think it's up to the republicans to work with democrats to figure out how to pay for it. >> as you know generally these emergency benefits are done without funding. >> well, that's true. i think heller was spot on. i think the fact is they were just moving to debate. if you want to talk pay-fors and how they're going to pay for it, put it out in the open. it's now time to get back to figuring out how to solve the long term for this unemployment issue. that is creating jobs. he talked about sensible government. >> i think there's a nat

political issue, that the american public believes the republicans don't understand is the problems in the middle class. it's a real issue for them. heading into 2016, a lot of republicans understand that. and this is one way, if they can find a way to pay for it, this is one way to say, you know what? we agree with you, this is a three-month extension, we want to get it off the table and move on to other things, and we do care about equality and opportunity. so a lot of republicans like marco rubio and rand paul, potentially presidential candidates -- >> but i have heard some say we need to stop funding unemployment insurance because it's a disincentive to people looking for work. i don't know that that's supported by economic studies that the democrats would cite, but i have heard that people -- have you heard people say that? >> i do think republicans don't want to create this into a

permanent entitlement program. this has been going on for 66 months. getting people back to work is the key here. getting them to vote for other side is how do we increase ployment. how do we keep people on e rolls, which could be a welfare program after a while. let's figure out how to get them into job training. >> because the problem of the long-term unemployment is a big one. speaker boehner did not sound supportive. here's what speaker boehner had to say -- i personally told the white house another extension of temporary emergency ben shift should including something to help put people back to work. to date the president has nofrd no such plan. if you were advising president obama or if he was watching "the lead" right now. what should you tell president obama to put in the bill? >> i don't know that it

necessarily has to be in this bill. i think it's important to continue the unemployment. our economy is still fragile, consumers are a big part of that, but we have to have somebody, and i would think it would be great if the president and the administration stood up and said, you know what? we need to look at how we make government a part of the solution. how do we make government more sensible, whether it's a regulatory responsibilities that we have there, making sure that businesses can create those jobs that we need putting people back to work, or making sure that congress is doing the same. but somebody's got to step up to the plate and make government a part of the solution. >> let's take a strange turn. we were struck by numbers that cnn has, poll numbers on marijuana use in the united states, the majority, 55% of americans say the drugs should be made legal. it's a huge swing from even just a few years ago. now it's 55 day and night from when 16% thought marijuana should be legalized. how do you ask for this?

>> the country is changing. it's not problem one in people's minds. number two, take a look at the poll for same-sex same-sex marriage, for example, you see the same kind of seismic shift over the last four years. on that issue, if you holdouts here are seniors, republican, and southerners. same thing for same-sex marriage. you just sort of see the way the country is shifting. i think everyone will look at the state of colorado and see how it works there, and whether there are ancillary problems that nobody has anticipated. >> senator you're from arkansas. what do you make of this? 5% to me is unbelievable. i'm old enough to remember when it was ofr 60%. >> but the number for arkansas, it was on the ballot. it only lost by two other three

points. and i'm bad -- i hate smoke. i'm not -- i don't like smoke. >> this is not a personal reflection of your saturday nights. >> but i also think you're seeing the sensible aspect of this. you look at the amount of money we're spending on incarceration, a whole host of other things on something like marijuana. i think you're right, people are getting more comfortable not only with this, but they're seeing bigger problems that they want to focus on. >> ron? >> i think that enforcement needs to focus on the harder drugs, like cocaine, methamphetamines, those issues. there are some that came out supporting it, but -- >> legalizing marijuana? >> legalizing marijuana. it is a surprise. we'll just have to see what happens in colorado. >> all right. thank you so much. coming up, it may be miserable outside, but at least a new season of "justified" to keep you warm. the show returns tonight on fx. we have one of the major stars

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now it's time for our pop consult slur lead. tonight is the premiere of the fifth season of one of the best shows on television "justified." it starts tim olyphant, hides the complicated man, one who is willing to blur moral boundaries in order to get the bad guys. one of those bad guys the auld gents is secretly rooting for, who grew imwith him in my next family vacation destination, in harlan county, kentucky. he's fighting to get his fiancee

out of jail. >> i will do whatever i got to do to get you out of here. >> how are you, boyd? >> seeing your house in the country i feel like i'm in my own jail, but i know this will be back on your finger soon enough. >> joining mess is the creator and writer, graham yost and boyd crowder, actor walter cogens. i'm so excited to have you on the show. >> we're excited to be here. >> based on the short story "fire in the hole" leonard passed away in august, of course, you'll pay tribute to him at the beginning of the show. how will the show be different without him? >> you know, hopefully it won't be that much different, because we have tried to do an elmore leonard show right from the beginning. that's what we've been doing, trying to do characters like he would write them, dialogue like

he would write it. i've said it before, i'll say it again. i best thing i think has ever happened in my career is work on this show and have elmore like it. >> you can really get a send of his writing and characters throughout the series. walton, you weren't even supposed to be on the show. you were supposed to die in the pilot. what's kept boyd around for so long? >> i have a gun, walter goggens has a gun -- no. after we did the pilot and then it came off, a and the chemistry between tim and i, it was important for gibbons to have someone there who understands his history, a way to kind of reflect a adjourn in at harlen county to connectualize his history, so i think that's one of the main reasons why boyd stayed around. i think -- you know f. i've

gotten pretty good at delivering the incredible lines that these guys write. i'm grateful to be here five years in. >> i'm taken aback not hearing that drawl a bit. >> no, it's there. >> the great chemistry you have. i want to play a little clip of that. >> do you think we're in the holler? i am a deputy u.s. marshal, boyd. >> you're a gibbons. >> you think i'm going to hand a man over to be murdered like some pig i borrowed? >> you gave me your word. >> i have hand a mind to kick -- >> do you like it when they're friendly or when they're fighting? >> you know, i like it any which way it comes, honestly. i'm such a big fan of tim's and so grateful to be five years into in journey with him, as actors, i don't think you ever know what the chemistry will be like until the first day you're working together, and the first words that came out of his mouth, i thought, wow, this is a match made in heaven for me as

an actor, and i just enjoy every single day. >> graham, what is the heart of the show? you think it's their relationship, or is it from railen and boyd? >> i think it does come down to raylen and boyd. they're friends from youth, down the mine, one got out, one didn't. >> one is a lawman, one is a criminal. to an extent it's the classic thing of the two brothers having taken separate paths. you know, we don't want to have every episode have a scene between them, because we don't want to get tired of that, so what's developed over the seasons is we have these two stories, and they just cross on occasion, and always at the end of the season. >> "justified" premieres took on fx. i know one household that would be watching. thank you so much. keep up the great work. >> thank you.

>> thank you for having us. i turn you over to wolf blitzer right next door in "the situation room." jake, thanks very much. we new details from a memoir from robert gates. did the president actually believe in his own strategy? or did they put troops at risk? john mccain unplugged. one of the fiercest critics of the president's war strategy joins us live in "the situation room." in a matter of minutes, the senator talks about robert gates, two u.s. wars, and his own view of the president's performance as commander in chief. extending unemployment benefits, the president picks his first fight of 2014. telling lawmakers to restore jobless benefits to more than a million americans. but will congress show him the