>> the state of the union, the state of congress, the state of the white house. and the state of the 2016 presidential campaign. tonight on "washington week." rnings we need to set our sights higher than just making sure government doesn't screw things up. we need to do more than just do no harm. i know the republicans disagree with my approach. i could see that from their body language yesterday. gwen: but it was more than body language. it was a significantly different world view. >> all the president really offered last night was more taxes, more government more of the same approach that has failed the middle class for decades. gwen: what instead? we dive into a debate that extends far beyond washington domestic policy to ri had and ha savannaha and jerusalem and tehran. >> new sanctions at this time are both unnecessary and far from enhancing the negotiations risk fatally undermining our diplomacy, making a deal less likely, and unraveling the sanctions that so many have worked so hard to put in place. gwen: we're back in iowa where a conservative summit is a

. >> president obama returned to the white house early this morning after a quick trip to saudi arabia to pay respects after king abdullah's death last week. back home the president face as political collision course with congress over the massive oil pipe line, immigration and college savings. >> we're learning more about the security scare at the white house earlier this week caused by that small drone that sparked a discussion about keeping the president and his family safe. kristen welker has more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. according to a source familiar with the incident the man who flew the drone is a government intelligence worker who told investigators he had been drinking before testing out the device at 3:00 a.m. on monday. sources say the man who lives near the white house wanted to see if the device could fly in bad weather. he lost control of the drone and it crashed into a tree on the south grounds, that sparked a shutdown and predawn search by the secret service. an employee with the national geosfashl intelligence agency he turned himself in. in a

chris jansing is nbc news senior white house correspondent. she's following the president's movements. chris, we know the president is traveling today. he's going to be in idaho, then kansas. how did these visits fit with the message coming out of the state of the union? >> i think there's no doubt that the message is both a combination of what the president wants to try to push in the coming months and in his last two years in office but there's a larger stage here on both sides because they're looking at this whole idea of economic opportunity for the middle class as sort of the defining issue of the 2016 campaign. so it's interesting, isn't it, that he's going to two states starting with idaho and then kansas, that he lost really badly in 2012. these are deeply red states. idaho, 33% of the vote. kansas, 37% of the vote. the white house is sending out the message, look these are issues that transcend parties. these are things that matter to everyone. but if you had any question about whether or not they were also part of the 2016 agenda som

what's going on in the white house right now? >> right now there's probably a frantic scramble for last minute edits and i'm sure cody is trying to keep more words out of the speech, various policy folks and fact checkers are trying to put more boards words in the speech. >> what's is the president's prep process? practicing on a prompter? >> he'll probably do one run-through on the prompter this afternoon with cody and probably dan and a few others and ben rhodes. then usually after he does one run through on prompter he has dinner with michelle and the girls. then maybe we'll go through it one more time and then he'll be good to go. >> let's talk about some of your handy work you've been responsibility for the lighter moments in president obama's states of the union. this one in 2012 you maybe wish you could escape this one. we got rid of one rule to force dairy farmers proving they could contain a spill because milk was classified as oil. i guess it was worth crying over spilt milk. what happened? >> this is what happens until

thank you for welcoming me again to the white house. you are a great friend to britain and to me personally. as leaders, we share the same values and as you said on so many issues we see the world in the same way. most of the time we speak the same language. in the last six years since you became president and in nearly five since i've been prime minister we face some big issues on our watch. and those challenges have boiled down to one word. security. economic security the jobs and living standards of our citizens and national security the ability of our peoples to live safely and in peace. and at the heart of both issues are the values that our countries cherish, freedom of ex- ex-pression expression the rule of law and our democratic institutions. those are the things that make both our countries strong and give us confidence that even in the midst of the most violent storms with strong leadership we'll come through to safer, to calmer and to brighter days. during your presidency you've had to deal with the massive banking crisis dee

house in 2004. that would be a different story with it? [laughter] and finally avik roy is a senior fellow at the manhattan institute and a forbes opinion editor and the author of the forbes blog apothecary and many readers are familiar with his trenchant criticisms of the patient protection affordable care act otherwise known as obamacare. he is also served as an outside adviser to the romney campaign on health care issues. he is a contributor to the national review on line and the author of the encounter broadsides how medicaid fails and he too is a yalie having studied at the yale university school of medicine as well as m.i.t.. please join me now in welcoming our panelists. [applause] >> i guess i will start out. thank you very much for that wonderful meditation on spenser and the cave of despair. i never thought about liberalism hanging itself. [laughter] but i rather like that outcome. when i read "suicide of the west" it's certainly a book that i'm very sympathetic with. after 9/11 i tutu ask

. >> stahl: brill learned that when it came to controlling costs, the white house was told up front: >> brill: after costs, you're never going to get anything passed because the lobbyists will just not allow it to be passed. >> stahl: so let's go through what each entity won. >> brill: the drug companies-- they were going to get $200-plus billion worth of new customers able to pay for drugs. they were going to avoid the calamity of the real reforms that they were worried about-- price controls generally. >> stahl: canada. >> brill: you and i being able to buy drugs from canada. that would have cost them hundreds of billions. >> stahl: the hospital lobby did agree to cuts in how much the federal government compensates them for medicare patients, but brill says, overall, the tradeoff in new paying patients would more than make up for that. and the hospitals managed to keep other cost controls completely off the table allowing them to charge whatever they can get for hospital stays, and greatly mark up drug and test prices. in writing his book, brill wanted to find out how hospitals jac

the white house pledging usmght -- pledging u.s. support to france. critics are wondering if the president's policies are part of the problem. >> it will be a long-term problem and it doesn't benefit from down playing the significance this terrorist threat against the western world. bill: interrogation techniques exposed in gitmo is that contributing to the problem? martha: the president threatening a veto of a bill before it's even passed. senator joe manchin joins us ahead on that. bill will be omg it's cold outside. much of the country facing dangerously cold temperatures. one word for this week. layers and a lot of it. >> we are looking to when it will get back above zero. we'll counts it down. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees from the bank where no branches equals great rates. martha: this on the left is police activity in northern france, just east of paris northeast of paris and we have seen these police cars sitt

speaker boehner invited benjamin netanyahu to address the full congress, which the white house is not happy about. >> that was a bold and courageous move. it seems the president is out of step even with members of his own party and his global view of a national security in the united states, and who he really sees as our enemies and who he does not. who he's more interested in appeasing than setting a firm line with. that's a fundamental choice that people can make going forward, especially as it relates to 2016. this was a precursor and a setup for that platform. >> good transition. one more question on iran. i'll give it to bob. that is everyone is sort of looking to see what hillary clinton might say about the entire state of the union but on iran she says the congress passing more sanctions even if they were a slap back one, she said it would be disastrous for foreign policy. >> i think she's probably right. what none of us don't know is what is going on in the negotiations. there's a lot of back door negotiations. >> that's the problem. you just nailed the problem, bob. look, you

and among them more than 40 world leaders were marching arm-in-arm and the white house said it is not possible for the president to go. >> and security level, for a presidential visit or vice-president visit are onerous and significant. >> and the grieving and shocked nation trying to get to some normalcy. and staffers of charlie hebdo worked from a french newspaper. the goal to publish the next edition on wednesday. they have not yet identified any specific imminent plots in the country but stepping up security in federal buildings around the nation. the t.s.a. will conduct more random searchs. >>> the twitter account for u.s. central command hacked by isis sympathizers. tweets appeared with what seemed to be warnings from isis. they included information revealing contact information from members of the military. there were also threats warning american soldiers to watch their back. it appears that the central command's youtube page was also compromised and hackers posted war propaganda. >>> two suspects behind a violent mugging in fern rock and police hope will you recognize them. l

don't forget i'm heading to the white house on sunday for a live interview with president obama before the big game. later, we will sit down and talk about the issues of the day for an interview on the "today" show on monday morning. tune in for that. a man who will be in the spotlight on sunday, patriots quarterback tom brady is trying to bring home his fourth title, but will that quiet the critics with the deflate-gate hanging in the air. nbc correspondent peter alexander is here with the story. >> if there was one name in lights above the super bowl xlix marquee, it would be his. this is the a once in a time experience, but this is brady's sixth trip. none of them quite like this. the first quarter and tom brady is fighting a cold. >> i should be 100% on sunday. >> and his critics. days before number 12 looks to match his boyhood idol joe montana and terry bradshaw with a fourth super bowl ring, fans and former players wonder in the wake of deflate-gate this could come with an asterisk. >> the balls were deflated? >> what's the impact on brady's legacy? >> the pressure is inflated o

the white house says vice president biden will lead a u.s. delegation to saudi arabia in the coming days to pay respects to the king's family. king abdullah's half brother solomon immediately succeeded him. the 79-year-old had been performing many of his responsibilities during the past year. and solomon has promised to continue the current policies nunld with the death of king abdullah, the world's oldest monarch, anne-marie, is queen elizabeth. >> susan mcginnis. thank you, susan. >>> coming up queen elizabeth's son making a royal response. prince andrew speaks out for the first time about a sex scandal with an underaged girl. >>> and later internet interview interview. president obama takes some of the biggest questions from those on youtube. this is the "cbs morning news." leaking, going too often, and the strong sudden need to go. ask your urologist if botox® can help calm your bladder. ...and reduce your daily leakage episodes. the effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor

in the united states the white house saying look congress broke protocol by not telling the white house they are inviting benjamin netanyahu. the prime minister did not tell the administration that he accepted the invitation. here in israel, all the papers are talking about how the prime minister they think, angled himself for an invitation for congress. prime minister netanyahu is facing election in just over a month and these opposition parties think that gives him a leg up showing he is the arbiter of the united states relationship with israel. you know that is not the relationship between the white house and prime minister netanyahu not very good. president obama and him with a lot of tension. he has a lot of friends in congress. they share the same attitude on iran. they have common cause, but basically parties here in israel are saying crying foul and putting up petition saying he shouldn't go. >> interesting to see the tone of his speech to the u.s. congress. how critical he is of the obama administration because that would just i think increase the tensions between the white hou

the white house was not consulted in advance. it said the invitation goes against diplomatic protocol. >> ifill: shiite rebels in yemen took the pro-american president captive in his own home today. hours later, the state news agency reported that president abd-rabbu mansour hadi reached a deal with the rebels. the agreement calls for the gunmen to pull away from the hadi residence, and to give the shiites more say in yemen's affairs. that includes more representation in parliament. >> woodruff: france has announced nearly half a billion dollars in new spending, over three years to fight terror. the measures include hiring more than $2,500 new officers, giving them better weapons and expanding surveillance of some 3,000 islamist radicals in france and abroad. prime minister manuel valls says the paris attacks show the need to act. >> ( translated ): one should never under-estimate the magnitude and the difficulty of the tasks of the intelligence services. that's why the first urgency the first requirement is to further reinforce

. >> how concerned are the saudi's about the indications coming out of the white house that getting rid of the president may no longer be a priority. >> they were unhappy with the decision because they were focused on going after assad. syria and beirut. you are seeing it in damascus. the reports are that the military leaders from iran in damascus and syria have concern about that. even the free syrian army view the army more as a side than isis. -- assad than isis. >> thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> islamic state is threatening to kill two more hostages unless they free an iraqi woman for her connection to hotel bombings. the voice is the voice of a japanese journalist who was seized in october. people in new england will spend the next few days digging out of lots of snow after a brutal blizzard pounded the region will stop most of massachusetts is expecting at least two feet. that is half of a meter. the bbc has this report. >> new york city in a state of emergency. a curfew was and forced and band people from leaving. new yorkers were told to get out of the

for both chemowe ares of congress will be under republican control while a democrat is in the white house. joining me now live with a look at the top stories to watch out for in 2015 mark murray. mark, 2015 has hardly begun but it's never too early to start talking about presidential politics and the 2016 race is already on everybody's mind. what are some of the names to watch out for. >> a lot of names will be the ones we've been talking about over the past few months. the democratic side you have hillary clinton. on the republican side you have someone like jeb bush chris christie, the republican governor of new jersey. marco rubio, the senator from florida. there's also rand paul, the senator from kentucky. it is wort noting there's just one person who has filed the presidential exploratory committee that is jim webb a former democratic senator from virginia. and jeb bush has been the only other person where he's said he's actively exploring a run. we'll see the dominos falling. >> let's switch government branchs and talk about the legislative branch. the next session starts on tuesday

white house. new information on the president's speech right, jim? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. the white house is sort of scratching its heads and the folks here are trying to figure out, what do they do about those impromptu moments you sometimes see during a state of the union address? you'll recall the you lie moment from several years ago when the president was giving the state of the union address. well something not quite the same but an unrehearsed moment may occur and we're expecting it during the state of the union speech. democratic source tells us gwen moore's office has been in touch with the white house about a plan she says that she and roughly 50 other members of congress all house members at this point plan to hold up pencils in solidarity with "charlie hebdo" newspaper magazine in france after those brutal attacks in paris, but this is not a coordinated effort with the white house, wolf. we do expect the president to talk about the attacks on "charlie hebdo" in paris, but as

response at the white house right now. peter, as we mentioned we heard from president obama just this past hour he talked about helping to hunt down these terrorists. what else are you hearing in terms of the american response? >> well want to give you a sense about the situation for americans who are presently overseas. we spoke moments ago with a top senior official. she is the president's top adviser on counterterrorism and issues of homeland security. and she says that while security has increased at diplomatic posts and embassies over the course of the last year, there hasn't just been no change at the u.s. embassy in france but really no change at embassies across that region throughout europe right now. she indicated there is no actual intelligence, at this time no threat that they are aware of to u.s. personnel or u.s. sites throughout europe right now. as for the military installations throughout that region, as well for my colleague at the pentagon right now. we are hearing that at this point, no decision has bee

the white house just addressed this. here is josh earnest a few minutes ago. take a listen. >> there's no arguing that who republicans decide to elevate into a leadership position says a lot about who -- what the conference's priorities and values are. and, i mean ultimately mr. scalise reportedly described himself as david duke without the baggage, so it will be up to republicans. >> some barbs there but relatively gentle ones. seems the furor is dying down at this point. will there be any repercussions for scalise? >> this is a reset opportunity for democrats who want to bring this issue up when members are in town after the post-holiday time, people are in front of cameras again. there's a chance to have that kind of briefing where that criticism can play out. we heard from debbie wasserman schultz on paper today also raising these questions and steve scalise will be back in town later today. he'll be a part of the events of the new congress and will surely be questioned on camera about this. he's not making any new comments today but he'll have to address

he was a white house correspondent. there instances here but i have great faith in the jury system and the ability of the courts there. thank you so much for being with us and putting up with the wind outside there. good to see you again. people are still talking about this incredible strength and fortitude of a 7-year-old girl surviving a plane crash that killed her parent sister and cousin and she walked barefoot through the woods at night to help find help. nbc's gabe gutierrez has been following the story from the scene of the next kentucky. >> investigators with the national transportation safety board moved the plane's wreckage to get a closer look. they are trying to find out exactly what caused this crash, but also how this 7-year-old girl survived. her family was returning home to illinois from a vacation in florida when their plane crashed sometime around 6:00 p.m. local time on friday here in kentucky. it was cold on the ground and dark but somehow this young girl sailor managed to crawl out of the plane. she

white house aides warned today the president would veto that bill, as well. a confrontation between senator mcconnell and the environmental protection agency will have to wait. the e.p.a. announced today a final rule on carbon dioxide emissions from new, coal-fired power plants will be delayed until mid-summer. mcconnell's home state kentucky, is a major coal producer. he's vowed to overturn the new rule. the director of the f.b.i. now says there is "very clear" evidence that north korea was behind the hacking of sony pictures. james comey sought today to answer skeptics, who've said the u.s. provided no evidence to support its claim. he told a conference in new york that u.s. investigators tracked the hackers and found the evidence. >> several times they got sloppy. several times. either because they forgot or they had a technical problem, they connected directly. and we could see them. and we could see that the i.p. addresses that were being used to post and send the e-mails were coming from i.p.'s that were exclusively used by the north koreans. >> woodruf

. >>> well, for the first time tonight the white house released the president's speech to the public before it was delivered. they also made it interactive. for those who followed online, the president's speech was complimented with graphics and statistics that related to the president's remarks. they could also tweet their favorite lines. >> just a short time ago jurors broke off deliberations in the trial of former tv sportscaster don tollefson. the jury deliberated late into the night after getting the case late today. "eyewitness news" reporter justin finch is in doylestown with new detailsism the jury had the case for some five hours and it became very clear that they were nowhere near making a decision in the tollefson case. throughout deliberations they raised several questions their most recent centering on exact dates of eagles away games, witness testimony as well as financial records of certain victims in this case. for weeks these jurors watched tollefson defend himself against allegations that he fleeced his victims of 340 thousands. that money paid to his charities in e

and because also time-warner was supposed to come fix the cable at the white house between the hours of 8:00 and 11:00 and someone has to be there. [ applause ] you know that. that's the rule. that's right. anthony fox had to stay behind, but luckily the person who had to do it last year, energy secretary ernest moniz, did get to attend. and you could tell he was pretty happy to be there. check out ernest moniz. >> today, america is number one in oil and gas. america is number one in wind power. every three weeks, we bring online as much solar power as we did in all of 2008. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: that's not just a a look, that's a way of life. [ laughter ] >> steve: moniz. all right. >> jimmy: apparently, he took his current job after stepping down as president of the lollipop guild. [ applause ] let's see what's going on in the rest of the country. this is pretty interesting. i read that millennials will soon become the largest generation in america. and these 18 to 34-year-olds are set to remake america in their image. in fact, it's easy to imagine the huge changes in store once t

and juan zarate, former white house deputy national security advisor for combatting terrorism from 2005-2009. he's now a senior advisor at the center for strategic and international studies. juan zarate, peter neumqn thank you for joining us. peter neumann first this claim by al qaeda in yemen that they are the ones who directed these attacks in france what do you think of this? >> i think it is plausible. al qaeda in yemen has always been the most professional al qaeda affiliate. they have always been focused on attacks in the west and very professional. and of course it is also true that al qaeda has something to prove. ever since last year the jihadist movement has essentially been split into two groups, islamic state and al qaeda. islamic state has been on the offensive, al qaeda has been side lined and al qaeda doesn't like it. they want too show to the world they still exist and one thing they think they can do better than i.s.i.s. is pull off spectacular attacks on the west. it would make sense. woodruff: juan zarate the question is why weren't these men being followed, especiall

let's go to peter alexander at the white house. good morning. >> hi savannah. good morning. tonight the refrain and this morning the reality check. calling for action even if little is likely. with an audience of 30 million americans, president obama was upbeat ask optimistic touting major accomplishments and pressing republicans to turn the page. >> the state of the union is strong. >> for 60 minutes and more than 6,000 words, president obama in his next to last state of the union took credit. >> the stock market that double and health care inflation at the lowest rate in 50 years. this is good news people. >> casting aside his lame duck status and a confident president laid out a list of proposals in helping the middle class. tax hikes for the wealthy, paid sick leave and free college tuition. any challenge republican support of the keystone pipeline. >> let's set our sights higher and pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that has 30 times as many jobs a year. >> on policy he urged president obama to lift the trade embargo and the battle tow defeat isis will take time. >>

. >> the iowa caucus is about a year ago, but the race for the white house is seemingly heating up. on the republican side there reports that new jersey's governor chris christie is preparing to set up an action committee. he is far from alone. national correspondent peter alexander in washington. good morning. >> good morning to you. here we go again. sources close to chris christie said nothing is set in stone, but he seems interested and during his speech he sure sounded like he would rather give a state of the union than a state of the state. that escalated quickly. almost overnight the republican field is filling up. >> the nation is set boy anxiety. >> during his state of the state address tuesday, he seemed to be targeting a wider audience than those in new jersey. >> we need a new jersey renewal and american renewal. >> the protester that heckled christie last fall. >> sit down and shut up! >> this time no confrontation. the field is shaping up to be crowd and unpredictable with mitt romney back on board after two losing campaigns. an adviser said i would be surprised if he

joining me now from the white house, we have a lot of news. kristin, why the quiet so far on the white house end of this conversation? >> ronan, good afternoon. it's not unusual for the white house to withhold final judgment but the president himself signalled he will likely veto the legislation saying that it's not going to create as many jobs as republicans have predicted and he expressed concerns about pollution and the environment. we heard that message echoed by white house press secretary josh earnest. josh is going to get a number of questions about that again today. in addition keystone he wean 'tis pate they have the coming weeks to repeal. we don't expect a lot of progress. having said that the president and congressional republicans who now control congress have signalled they want to find common ground on issues like trade, infrastructure corporate tax reform and there is a lot of pressure on republicans to get something done because they do control congress now. you recall americans were fed up with the gridlock in washington. the

owes $4.5 million in taxes, visits the white house a couple times over the year. as racist as they come and our president uses him as -- >> i don't disagree with the president. race relations are better and the fact we can have more open discussions. rudolph giuliani and charles barkley saying things no way they could have done that decades ago. al sharpton and eric holder benefits the society. i agree with jonathan and say to wayne, fighting this drug war, spending billions of dollars on the drug war, it doesn't do good. republicans like rick perry talk about sentencing reform a big part of the 2016 election. they're going to have to reach out beyond their typical base and you're going to see people talking about you know, not only reforming sentencing and things like that but limiting the drug war, which is costly. >> fair enough. let's stay on race for a second. stay in new york city. hold on wayne. bring this up. it's very important. mayor giuliani took over for mayor davids dinkins. race relations were horrible in this city under dinkins. crime was rampant. t

>> from the white house, nbc's kiss ten kristen, thank you so much. victor i'm told two hours passed right now. that's it on "the rundown." next up tamron talks with the deputy mayor of paris and a whole lot more. we'll be right back tomorrow. i'll see you then. good job! still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. u for calling colonial penn life insurance company. i'm glad i was able to help you today. hi, my name is diane tull, and i'm a customer service representative for colonial penn life insurance company. insurance can sometimes be difficult to understand, but here at colonial penn, we make it simple. alex trebek has been representing colonial penn for over ten years and is here to tell you how we do it. thanks, diane. i'm happy to be here with these knowledgeable colonial penn representatives. i know that customer service is a priority for them. i've been representing colonial penn for over ten y

you don't hear that phrase uttered by the white house. the white house prefers a different label not radical islam but violent extremism. >> we have not chose ton use that label because it doesn't seem to accurately describe what happened. we also don't want to be in a situation where we are legitimatizing what we consider to be a completely illegitimate justification for this violence this act of terrorism. >> so is this semantics, not using the word islam or muslim to describe what happened here? or is it an important distinction? vice president of the muslim youth organization one of the largest organizations in the world, author of the book also. this is tackling one of those tough questions. cnn political commentator and host of his show 9:00 a.m. east on saturdays. michael, i want to start with you. you are not pleased with the white house decision not to use the word radical islam or muslim extremism. i think that's probably putting it lightly. >> i think it's dishonest by omission. nobody is suggesting we describe these terror act

finally, this is the evidence that if it goes to the white house, the white house pays it. to its credit, what the white house maintains, ss a realtime analysis of -- and you can pull this right off their website, even though i just apparently destroyed it -- is month by month you can read the rules that have been received by the white house, the stage they're at, and the action that the white house has taken on. and what these data tell you is that everything that goes to the agency gets serious scrutiny and almost everything that goes through it gets changed at some level. there is some change that the white house is taking credit for. now, the data that i'm prying to work on, i'm actually -- despite the fact that nobody seems to buy it i'm going to write a fifth dee diggsedition to the book. too bad i got to it so late because the christmas season as passed. i missed a marketing opportunity there. what i'm trying to do is i'm trying to get the information out of the general services administration which for some reason has been given responsibility to count rules and reg

. >> in 2016 mitt romney is considering a third run for the white house. what is behind his change of heart? i'm chuck todd. joining me are david brooks, andrea mitchell helene cooper and rich lowery. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." good morning. france's leadership has declared that the country is at war with radical islam. after three days of horrific terror attacks which brought fear and despair to the city of paris. 17 civilians are dead, 12 at charlie hebdo, four shoppers at a shupupermarket and a police officer. an alleged female accomplice is on the run. she wasn't part of the attacks, contrary to some reports out there. overnight a german newspaper, which printed cartoons from charlie hebdo, was targeted in an arson attack. no one was injured. two people have been arrested. this morning, a video has emerged appearing to show amedyhmed coulibaly. there's a massive rally today taking place in the french capital part what have the prime minister has called a "cry of freedom" with up to a million people attending along with dozens of world le

erin mcpike at the white house, thank you. christi? >>> victor americans can travel to cuba this weekend without special approval from the government and some important people are getting ready to make that trip. we are live for you in cuba with those details, next. hi, i'm jay farner, president of quicken loans. and we're here in detroit with our amazing team members. the best part about working with quicken loans is that you have a mortgage expert on the other line that's always gonna find out the best possible solution. we just don't treat you as a loan number. we wanna make sure that we help you out. we're people just like them. ya know, and we know that they have jobs, they have kids, they have soccer. their home is where their heart is. so we wanna make sure that we take care of them. call quicken loans today for a mortgage experience that's engineered to amaze! . >>> the door to cuba has opened just a little bit wider. new travel rules are in place now, which makes it a bit easier for americans who want to visit the island natio

the white house should be extending an olive branch to the taliban. it's the thought that counts. there's a travel agent for nirvana. beautiful. >> today -- what the press secretary did today, he did not deny that they participate in terrorist activities but he didn't want to say that they are terrorists. do you think that they are needing to have some clarity so they don't have generals like the other day saying you need to tell us where we are headed? >> i think the reality is -- by the way, it's manmade disasters that's what they were calling it. >> i am a manmade disaster. >> i think what they want to do is negotiate with the taliban, which is what you said earlier. remember, the taliban was in charge of afghanistan before the united states went in and roused them. so what you're dealing here is a straight-sponsored terrorist activity and secondly in terms of reconstructing afghanistan, which is what we want to happen in order to keep the peace and keep control and influence, i think they don't want to alienate the taliban unnecessarily. one point, i think that you are on targ

but will the exact truth ever be known >>> the race for the white house 2016. an event in iowa could give us a better look at what might be running for president >>> up in the air. the future of a magazine that's been selling quirky items for years now in doubt. what will happen to sky mall magazine and why was it so fascinating to read? >>> good morning s. welcome to "weekends with alex witt". alex is off today. president obama and the first lady are headed to india. they just left moments ago. we learned the president will cancel the end of his trip to india and fly to saudi arabia. let's get to kristen welker. talk to us about what led to this change and what's the purpose to it >> reporter: good morning. the white house made the announcement that president obama is going to cut his trip short and travel to saudi arabia early this morning. the president is expected to meet with the new saudi king while in riyadh tuesday. vice president biden was initially slated to lead the delegation. in a statement, josh earnest stated "as the presidents and vice president

he will likely make several stops including congress and the white house. the hope will go to new york city and visit the united nations and several other significant sites. in philadelphia for several days culminating with his outdoor mass. an estimates two million people are expected to line the ben franklin park way. he will also try to visit a children's hospital or a juvenile prison. all of this has yet to be officially concerned. you can get details right away with the nbc 10 news app. our team will push alerts out to you once they come into the news room. >> millions celebrating the regular si of martin luther king junior today. >> nbc 10 was on the scene for several events. police join lawmakers and faith leaders to remember dr. king through song and dance. they were on hand. paul moore recited the famous "i have a dream" speech. >> another musical tribute to dr. king. a high school choir did a number of productions. >> vice president joe biden spoke at a memorial in honor of dr. king in wilmington today. mr. biden talked about the need to improve r

twice he considered the white house. there was even a plane ready to take him to new hampshire to file before the deadline but each time the decision was the same. >> it would be in the best interests of the democratic party that i abandon this now. >> reporter: those who knew cuomo say he wrestled with decisions because he knew he just didn't want it enough. to cuomo the highest calling was public service which he saw andrew having much in common with first love baseball. >>> and there's still much more ahead on "world news tonight." the scare on the slopes. >>> and a huge change today that had so many people racing to get into the dmv. >>> and one of the biggest rock stars in the world, what he says about his future and what he may never be able to do again. i found this out at the free dr.scholl's foot mapping center. in less than two minutes i got my foot map and my custom number. i'm a 440. i'm a 210. 340. that number matched the dr.scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts with just the right support to help relieve str

white house press secretary says the device does not pose a threat to anyone in the building. right now president obama and the first lady in india. we continue to follow any more information coming out of our nation's capitol and we of course will pass it on. >> 8:11, our coverage of this major nor'easter continues coming up next. >> let's show you live look from the mobile weather lab once again light snow and slow travel as we take a look at the roads in gloucester county. it is fairly quiet right now but yes from what we are hearing from katie and everyone else, yes the worse is yet to come. stay with us, coverage continues after short break. be right back. >> we are staying on top of this storm for you. checking the roads right now in the suburbs jill melwert from "kyw news radio 1060" is making his way across the area. >> from malvern, chester county jim i understanded you may have some precipitation coming down? >> yes. it is snowing. not really sticking on the road. i'm long lancaster pike here, through malvern and frazier it is a little bit after snow squawl here, aga

devoted to take back the white house, they will look for the nominee here today. there will be more than two dozen republican names on the stage. there will be a crowd of more than 1,200 with tickets and another 1,000 people on the waiting list. here in iowa conservatives are gearing up for an all-day republican rally. >> we are heading into 2016. we are riding a wave. >> reporter: billed as the iowa freedom summit a potential of candidates. most popular with the tea party. ted cruz scott walker rick perry and sarah palin. asked by abc news on thursday if she might run. her answer? >> of course. >> reporter: but today is also a test for chris christie. he gets the gop establishment spotlight to himself. without jeb bush or mitt romney here to face iowa voters. >> governor christie of new jersey is the best known candidate and the one who probably has the most to gain or lose. >> reporter: not in iowa this weekend. >> thank you all. >> reporter: but appearing very much in the game. >> i know you are on the fence. >> no i'm not. >> reporter: feeding the presidential

. >>> jeb bush is severing more tiess as he actively explo run for the white house. he stepped down from boards, both businesses and non-profits. and an aid says he will be reviewing remaining business relationships in the coming year. >>> okay. frigid temperatures did not stop more than a hundred people in maine from doing something most of us wouldn't consider doing on new year's eve. >> they stripped down to bathing suits and jumped into the frigid waters of the atlantic. but it was all for a good cause. >> yeah this year's annual polar bear dip and dash raised more than $18,000 for the natural resources of maine and its work to fight global warming. it was barely 20 degrees in portland yesterday. >> i couldn't do it. >>> well, still ahead, new details about the mother shot and killed by her 2-year-old. how the child was able to get the gun from her purse and pull the trigger. >>> plus survival story. a terrifying fall for a 10-year-old when he lost his grip on a ski lift. >>> well, the bulls are still running as we enter the new year after stock markets hit new h

. >> jeff: president obama and the rest of the first family returned to the white house today from their vacation in hawaii. they flew from honolulu where bird strikes are a common problem as they are near many airports. chip reid found out what's being done. >> reporter: at honolulu international airport, planes take off and land every few minutes and at the military runway fighter jets add to the mix. but in this tropical paradise, there is a problem, birds, birds and lots of birds. birds ingested into jet engines are a disaster. there are about 60 bird related collisions in honolulu, and the number might be significantly higher without the bird-scarers. >> reporter: why do birds seem to love airports? >> you have pretty much the perfect environment. you got a lot of open grass areas, surrounded with trees. >> reporter: darrin phelps leads a team of six, using to protect bird strikes, they use an array of tricks like shell crackers, high powered lasers, they constantly adjust their tactics because birds figure them out. >> reporter: birds are not stupid. >> by no means. they learn to a

house. it was a gop beauty pageant in iowa. big names like chris christie, mike huckabee, rick perry showing up. sarah palin and donald trump were also there to serve a little bit of red meat to the heavily conservative audience. not in attendance, mitt romney. or jeb bush. george stephanopoulos joins us. was there a candidate that stood out to you? >> a couple. no question. scott walker. governor, wisconsin, won re-election this year. a breakout star for a lot of conservatives. he delivered yesterday. she's excited -- he excited the crowd yesterday. also, ted cruz. he revved up the crowd. his refrain was show me. he says he's the one that's been there for conservatives. mitt romney took a lot of shots from the podium. to did jeb bush. and hillary clinton. i don't think you would be surprised by that. >> two people that riled up the audience not surprisingly donald trump and sarah palin. let's play a snippet of what sarah palin had to say. >> thing like that. it must change. things must chan

when you talk to white house aids they use the word liberated to talk about the president. basically he doesn't have another election but he doesn't have to worry reallydemocrats getting re-elected. now having said that of course he cares a great deal about who the nominee of the party is in 2016 and he wants that person to become the next president because that assures his legacy. but he feels liberated right now and they use that term all the time. i think the second thing on the economy it's notfimproved, it's that they see finally the permafrost appears to be thank -- thawing. 53% said the economy was good. that's up 13 points from october but more important that was the highest that number's been since 2007. in the gallop poll people's feelings about their own personal income highest its been since 2007 when this great recession started. so there is some purchase for the president's argument that things have gotten better. and to the extent people didn't see!u their lives reflected in those good economic numbers. the president in his pitch was not only pitching to prog

nbc national correspondent peter alexander is at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. we are hours away from president obama's sixth state of the union address, but this one will be different with republicans controlling congress. still, the president has vowed to go on offense with showdowns looming over the keystone pipeline and immigration reform. >> my fellow americans -- >> reporter: when president obama lays out his to-do list tonight much of it will be wishful thinking facing a republican-led congress for the first time in his presidency. he's previewed policy priorities. >> around immigration, around cuba and climate change. >> paid sick leave, free community college tuition and cuts for the middle class and he'll hit the familiar refrain. >> about the state of the union. >> the state of the union. >> is stronger. >> is getting stronger. >> the new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows most americans are more satisfied with the economy than at any time in the last decade. the president's job approval has approve

republican, steve scalise, gave the key note address at a white power conference 12 years ago. which brings us to a segment we like to call, "a couple things". ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: okay. so, congressman scalise, a couple things. first thing, you said you didn't know anything about the crowd you were speaking to because tools like google weren't available back then. which is a great point. except it was 2002 and we definitely had google. [ laughter ] of course, back then, we called it google. second thing, you just didn't attend the conference, you gave the keynote address. i've gone to weddings where i didn't know the couple, but when i was there, i didn't give the best man speech. third thing, kenny knight, the man who asked scalise to speak at the conference, defended him by saying he and scalise never talked about race or the jewish question. the jewish question? now, i love to think the jewish question is, aren't jewish people great? but i'm guessing it's not. [ laughter and applause ] also, fun fact. kenny knight was fired from his job as a police officer a

they really brought the house down. so here to perform a song, ladies and gentlemen, off their boxed set, this is "black simon & garfunkel." [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ this is that ice cold michelle pfeiffer that white gold ♪ ♪ i'm too hot hot damn call the police and the fireman ♪ ♪ i'm too hot, hot damn make a dragon wanna retire man ♪ ♪ girls hit hallelujah, whoo uptown funk gonna give it to you, woo ♪ ♪ saturday night and we in the spot, if you don't believe me just watch ♪ ♪ la, la la la la la la la la la la ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: give it up for black simon & garfunkel, everybody! that is all the time we have for audience suggestion box. stick around. we'll be back with more of the "tonight show," everybody. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ at cricket wireless, we think you shouldn't have to worry about adding up all the taxes and fees to your monthly bill. that's why our plans start at just $35 bucks, after $5 auto pay credit, all in. taxes and fees included. i've had a lot of ho

what does the white house get out of this? how does it help the president? un we point out, he's not running for reelection. how does it help his agenda to be doing this? >> sure. well, the new media offers opportunity for the president to extend his message. twitter, facebook online digital engagement increases that echo chamber so that the president can engage with his base, to push his agenda and his policies, but also reach towards new audiences as well. >> woodruff: i mean, does that mean, for example oimmigration. he wants a certain kind of immigration policy to be passed by congress. is this going to make it more possible to get immigration or child care legislation or anything else that he's pushing for? >> any time a political leader, including the president is engaging audiences and helping them to carry his message forward into new network, into new places, that's effective. that is the way that new media works these days. >> woodruff: and bill powers how do you see that? i mean, is it-- does this translate into something that has tranchible benef

and senate. >> you've been in the white house, brad. if you were advising president obama, from his side of the aisles, take off the republican hat, put on the democrat one for a second. would you say it's important to get into a duel here right now, stand on principle or do you compromise? >> no, listen to the american people. senator brown has it right. elections do have consequences quoting our president. barack obama should go up to the hill compromise with congress, come with his wish list. the house and senate comes with theirs. attack things that you can do immediately. start small. build big. we've seen so much gridlock here. a lot of people have been in washington for so long. we'll tell you the partisanship and the rancor is worse than it's ever been. reason the republican party itself. everyone now talks about, oh everyone should compromise. when has that happened? when is the last time that happened? >> ronald reagan is the perfect example of it. he had many battles with tip o'neill. but they were able to compromise. the opp

i want to go to white house. nbc's kristen welker is there. what is -- kristen, good morning -- the white house telling you? >> we got a written statement from president obama which i've i'm going to read. i strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the charlie hebdo magazine in paris. our thoughts are with the people of france at this difficult time. france is america's oldest ally and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the united states. time and again, the french people have stood up for the universal values that generations of our people have defended. france and the great city of paris where this outrageous attack took place offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers. we are in touch with french officials. i have directed my administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice. i can tell you behind the scenes about what further reaction we might hear from the president. white house press secretary josh earnest appeared on "morning joe" earlier

deal with the white house press corps. deal with bill o'reillys, he should on on here. >> "outnumbered," mr. president. got a seat for you. are you kidding? >> deal with unconventional outlets that speak to youth. you have to get the youth excited. in 2008, i will never forget i was teaching at time. i saw so many kids excited about that presidential election and about his ideas. maybe those ideals didn't come to fruition they were excited about politics for first time i had seen in my lifetime. that matters. >> melissa, is the point here though, that so that maybe your kids will watch the videos since they liked them? then your kids will run in say mommy, mommy, guess who is supercool and change your mind? >> my kids love youtube. i try to keep control of it. everything is on that. bethany, one of her most watched videos how to look great at the gym. there is also bangs for back to school. so i don't think he will get a lot of very tough questions. if i were feeling like i was getting a bruising right now i would want to