♪ why do people yawn why are there stars at dawn ♪ ♪ the questions and adventures never end ♪ on this sunday night, capitol kay, i don't the explosives new claim by a fired staffer who accuse the house benghazi committee of partisan attacks on hillary clinton while the committee chairman strongly denies that plus, after weeks of uncertainty, republicans try to persuade a familiar face to become the next house speaker. deadly force, nearly a year after the fatal police shooting of a 12-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun, what two independent reports say about the killing of tamir rice. the hidden world, forgotten in a famous bell tower, now uncovered after decades collecting dust, revealing secrets of our distant past. and the homecoming, how one small town managed to bring back high school football almost three decades after the last

touchdown. nightly news begins now. . >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight, kate snow. good evening. we begin with those new claims by a former staffer on the house benghazi committee that would seem to reinforce what hillary clinton has long been saying. an intelligence officer in the air force reserve who was fired from his job as an investigator on the benghazi committee said today it had evolved into "a partisan investigation." a characterization the committee vigorously rejects. it all comes just as republicans in the house are struggling to find new leadership, exposing deep divisions in the gop. we begin with nbc's kristen welker in washington. >> reporter: stunning allegations from air force major bradley pod liz cat. >> this has become a partisan

investigation. >> reporter: former investigate with the republican-led committee investigating the benghazi attack says the group's actual target is hillary clinton. >> i honestly i do not believe this investigation was set to go up after hillary, i believe it shifted that way. >> reporter: he claims he was kicked off the investigation for taking military leave and resisting pressure to focus on clinton. >> i'm scared. i'm going up against powerful people in washington. i was fired for trying to conduct an objective, non-partisan, thorough investigation. >> reporter: congressman trey gowdy, chairman of the committee, said podliska was targeting clinton himself and cut because of his poor performance. podliska filed a grievance but never mentioned clinton but he denies he was handled classified information and his committee was told in april about his concerns. meanwhile, tonight, the congressman is defending the committee's work. today, the clinton campaign called the allegations explosive, saying they underscore the investigation has been a partisan sham from the start. this after house majority leader

kevin mccarthy suggested the committee was aimed at dragging down clinton. >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable, right? but we put together a benghazi special committee, a select committee. what are her numbers today? >> reporter: after heavy criticism for that remark, mccarthy withdrew his name from the bid to become speaker of the house amid the growing chaos a hard push to recruit consensus candidate, congressman paul ryan. today, even some republican hardliners said they will support him. >> i think he would be a wonderful speaker just like i thought he would be great vice president or president. >> reporter: now, the house is in recess for a little more than a week. there is broad agreement that lawmakers need to name a new speaker as soon as they return with some in the republican party expressing concerns it could hurt their chances for taking back the white house in 2016. meanwhile, clinton will testify before the benghazi committee on october 22nd, a key test for republicans as well as the democratic front-runner who has been consistently dogged by that issue as well as that

controversy over her e-mails. kate? >> kristen welker starting us off. thank you. as hillary clinton prepares to face senator bernie sanders and others in tuesday night's democratic debate, the wildcard in all of this, of course is vice president joe biden, who is said to be close to deciding whether or not to run. nbc's ron allen is in greenville, delaware, near biden's home. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, kate. the vice president has been here all weekend. we have seen him out and about enjoying himself with his family, including his grandchildren at a sporting event, amid reports that there's a family meeting that may help him decide whether he wants to run. the vice president has said he is not sure whether he is emotionally ready to take on that challenge of running for president while the family continues to grieve the death of his son, beau. we do not expect to see him on same for the first democratic debate on tuesday, under the rules, we understand he could take part if he announces any time up until the event. other observers say how hillary clinton does before the benghazi committee and the continuing e-mail controversy could also impact the vice president's

decision. he takes voters away from hillary clinton, adoreding to the most recent polls. and the question now being asked as well of when does it become too late for the vice president to jump in? right now, however, it appears he is focused on his family here while the waiting and guessing continue. kate? >> all right, ron allen. one day, we will get a decision. thanks so much. almost 11 months after a police officer in cleveland shot and killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun, two independent reviews were released this weekend. they found the officer's action was justified. nbc's rehema ellis reports tonight on the findings. >> reporter: tamir rice was only 12 years old when last november, he was seen on surveillance video in a cleveland park waving what turned out to be a plastic pellet gun. police say the orange tip was removed. >> it's probably fake but he is scaring everyone. >> reporter: within seconds after arriving at the park, officer tim loehmann shot and

killed the boy, never told, the caller said, the gun was probably fake. now, two independent reports conclude the rookie officer acted reasonably. one investigator, a colorado prosecutor wrote -- >> don't shoot. >> reporter: the death of tamir rice, along with other police shootings, has sparked protests across the country, including this one today in cleveland. >> it just seem like the officer didn't give the young man a chance. >> reporter: his young age added to the outrage. >> why would you kill any of them? you killed a 12-year-old. >> reporter: but another investigator, a retired fbi agent wrote, "rice's age was not releva releva relevant," adding --

an attorney for the rice family called the report biased. >> the prosecutor has evidently been on an 11-plus-month journey to ensure that there is no accountability and no indictment of the officers who were responsible for the death of tamir rice. >> reporter: meanwhile, the prosecutor's office says it continues to investigate possible criminal charges against the officer and is not drawing any conclusions from these reports. instead, it will leave it up to a grand jury to decide if the officer should be held accountable in the death of tamir rice. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. we turn overseas now to the deadly terrorist attacks this weekend in the capital of turkey. more than 90 people were killed when two suicide bombers attacked a peace rally not far from the train station in ankara. nbc's keir simmons is there tonight and has our report. >> reporter: they were linking arms, marching for peace.

[ explosion ] when this happened. amid the terror, 95 people died, 245 were injured. this student was there. >> someone missing the leg. >> the leg was missing? >> reporter: he holds up a picture of his best friend. they went to the protest together. >> after the first explosion, we all run -- we all run. >> right. >> and the second explosion, my friends, i cannot -- i couldn't find him. >> reporter: his friend had been killed. he was just 22. there are shrapnel marks on the sidewalk from the force of the blast, an attack sickeningly reminiscent of the boston bombing, two explosions in a packed, crowded place, and everything caught on camera. [ explosion ] turkish media replaying the terrifying scenes tonight report that one of the killers may have been the brother of a suicide bomber from a prior attack in

july. no group has claimed responsibility, but the government suspects isis or kurdish militants. while these kurds are furious, accusing turkey of failing to protect them again and again. [ gunfire ] [ there were clashes with police today, turkey descend nothing bloody politics, increasingly affected by the syrian civil war across his border. the man who sold pretzels at this street store was killed with his 8-year-old son. the shrapnel cutting through their clothes. today, turkey is in mourning after its deadliest attack in years. officials believe the death toll from the blast that struck right here could go even higher and the fear here now is that the security of elections planned three weeks' time may be threatened, throwing the country into yet more political turmoil. kate? >> keir simmons in turkey, thank you. russian president, vladimir putin, today defended his country's military intervention in syria's civil war, saying it

would help efforts to reach a political settlement. for its part, the u.s. gave up this past week on a highly promoted pentagon program to train and arm a syrian rebel force. we get more on that from our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. >> reporter: it was a program created in the midst of war. a year ago, as isis was gaining ground in iraq and syria, washington found few reliable allies on the battlefield, so the administration launched a $500 million program to train a new syrian rebel army. this past week, the secretary of defense announced the program is over. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard. >> reporter: not satisfied? by all accounts, it was an utter failure, even according to captain amara wawi, the spokesman for the syrian fighters we interviewed outside of syria. he asked us not to say where.

>> translator: this is a huge humiliation for the americans. we expected a thousand syrian fighters to be trained. >> reporter: al wawi is exactly the kind of syrian rebel the americans were looking for, a former soldier who defected and has been fighting inside syria for years now. he told us the first group of 54 u.s. armed and trained fighters was quickly overrun by an extremist group close to al qaeda. >> translator: as soon as their commander crossed into syria, he was taken and two days later, their base was attacked. >> reporter: the next class was even worse. the 72 trainees, seen here in a video supplied by al wawi, handed over much of their weapons and vehicles to al qaeda's affiliate and some joined the militants. from the very beginning, the u.s. government was worried, if it armed rebels in syria, that the weapons would end up in the wrong hands. and that's what happened. so, why should they keep going?

>> translator: if america is serious, they have to keep on training a large number of fighters to fight the terrorist organizations. >> reporter: but the u.s. is not going to throw good money after bad. from now on, it will focus on working with established rebel groups instead of trying to raise a new rebel army. richard engel, nbc news, istanbul. the pentagon said this weekend it will offer what it called condolence payments to families of the victims of that u.s. air strike on a doctors without borders hospital in afghanistan. the mistaken bombing killed at least 22 staff members and patients. the pentagon say it had will also make payments to repair the hospital. we got a deeper look this weekend into the world's most secretive state, as north korea celebrated the 70th anniversary of its ruling party. nbc's bill neely was among the journalists invited inside north korea and he has our report. >> reporter: it was the biggest military parade in north korea's

history, mass ranks of troops marching past the country's young leader, kim jong-un, in the undisputed goosestepping capital of the world. this is an army that still sees the united states as enemy number one. for them this is much more than a mass demonstration of loyalty. this is a defiant message to america. their commander's message that was the u.s. policy of trying to stop north korea getting a nuclear weapon had failed and that america had been drive nen into a corner. this is a countries who country is virtually brainwashed early, drilled from 5 years old to hate america and to obey without question. yao me park escaped south korea with her parents after years of indoctrination at military school, speaking to nbc's kate snow. >> the school teaches that at any moment, america will try to overtake us. >> reporter: they dare not step

out of line and when i talked to them, they didn't assuring me they love their leader like a god. kim jong-un is saluting the crowd. this parade, of course is all about him polishing his image as a tough guy with his finger on the nuclear trigger. the lavish parade was a costly extravaganza in a country where millions live in poverty and in desperate hunger. bill neely, nbc news, pyongyang, north korea. when "nbc nightly news" continues on this sunday, the relics of an ancient world newly found after being hidden for decades in plain sight. and later, the controversial and heartbreaking play that has and heartbreaking play that has the world of baseball buzzi look, and heartbreaking play that has the world of baseball buzzi the wolf was huffing and puffing. like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor.

she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! (children giggle) symbicort. breathe better starting within 5 minutes. call or go online to learn more about a free trial offer. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. (vo) what'scorn? dog food's first ingredient? wheat? in new purina one true instinct grain free, real chicken is always #1. no corn, wheat or soy. support your active dog's whole body health with purina one.

feel free to be yourself all day.... just switch from denture paste to sea-bond denture adhesive seals. holds stronger than the leading paste all day... without the ooze. feel secure. be yourself. with stronger, clean sea-bond. but it is not the device that is mobile, it is you. real madrid have about 450 million fans. we're trying to give them all the feeling of being at the stadium. the microsoft cloud gives us the scalability to communicate exactly the content that people want to see. it will help people connect to their passion of living real madrid. ♪ it's the final countdown! ♪

♪ the final countdown! if you're the band europe, you love a final countdown. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. we are back now with a fascinating window on life as it was tens of thousands of years ago. it comes from a treasure trove of fossils, hundreds of thousands of them lying for most of a century in a bell tower and largely forgotten, until now. nbc's jacob rascon has our report. >> reporter: high above the university of california-berkeley, hidden inside the bell tower, a unique

collection from a forgotten time has been gathering dust for decades. >> i don't want it to be secret, although it is really fun to show someone for the first time. [ dinging ] >> reporter: only a select few have keys to this restricted area where hundreds of thousands of fossils are coming back to life. >> this is actually the skull of one of the ground sloths we had here in california. >> reporter: ph.d. student eric holt, like a kid in a candy store. >> they are just absolutely cool. >> reporter: from saber tooth cat skulls to mammoth tusks, some of these bones have set undisturbed for a century. >> we had camels in came. we had mammoths and mastodons. we had giant saber tooth cats, we had dire wolves. >> the fossils removed from the tower, brought down here, laid out and cleaned, measured, classified, analyzed. >> reporter: they are also cataloged online and

paleontologists from around the world are noticing. scientist at berkeley say the fossils are key to understanding the california ice age some 30,000 years ago. they could reveal why these animals became extinct and how humans and climate change played a part. >> and that's exactly the sort of crisis that we are facing now. >> reporter: 20 tons of fossils in the heart of campus, still largely a myth to students. >> kind of like a secret society-type thing almost. >> reporter: the historic bell tower striking a link between the past and the present. jacob rascon, nbc news, berkeley, california. >> cool stuff. up next, a high-flying act that had all of us gasping today. when my doctor told me i have age-related macular degeneration, amd we came up with a plan to help reduce my risk of progression. and everywhere i look... i'm reminded to stick to my plan. including preservision areds 2. my doctor said preservision areds 2

has the exact nutrient formula that the national eye institute recommends to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd... after 15 years of clinical studies. preservision areds 2. because my eyes are everything. nobody's hurt,but there will you totstill be pain.new car. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about.

that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. at safelite, we know how busy life can be. these kids were headed to their first dance recital... ...when their windshield got cracked... ...but they couldn't miss the show. so dad went to the new safelite-dot-com. and in just a few clicks, he scheduled a replacement... ...before the girls even took the stage. safelite-dot-com is the fast, easy way to schedule service anywhere in america! so you don't have to miss a thing. y'all did wonderful! that's another safelite advantage. (girls sing) safelite repair, safelite replace.

it was a tough day for air travel if you were flying on southwest airlines today. there were long lines, about 450 flights were delayed because of what the airline called technology issues on mobile apps, airports and reservation systems throughout the system. the airline asked customers to arrive two hours departures and it was processing people manually. drama at the bank of america 500 at charlotte motor speedway. during the prerace program, arinda wallenda, the wife of nick wall len dark perform and acrobatic routine suspended from a helicopter, at times, there you see it using only her toes to hang on. as you can see, she made it safely down to firm ground with no problems. and that moment baseball fans were talking about today, a crushing setback for the new york mets last night, as chase

utley of the donors slid into second base in the seventh, sending ruben tejada of the mets flying. tejada suffered a broken leg in the takeout and was carted off the field at dodgers stadium. the dodgers went on to win it, 5-2, after that controversial play, tieing you the playoff series at one game each. it was a special night out for that heroic survivor of the deadly shooting at an oregon community college. chris mintz, who blocked a classroom door and was shot seven times by the gunman, was an honored guest at last night's oregon football game. the university offered free tickets to all students and staff from umpqua community college for the game against washington state. and when we come back, the remarkable homecoming for one high school football team. it takes a lot of work... to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the nutrition that i'm missing.

boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a great taste. i don't plan on slowing down any time soon. stay strong. stay active with boost®. why pause to take a pill when a moment spontaneously turns romantic? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away

for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com technology empowers us it pushes us to go further. special olympics has almost five million athletes in 170 countries. the microsoft cloud allows us to immediately be able to access information, wherever we are. information for an athlete's medical care, or information to track their personal best. with microsoft cloud, we save millions of man hours, and that's time that we can invest in our athletes and changing the world.

finally tonight, football season has special meaning this fall in one tiny town in north dakota. for years, there weren't enough kids to support a high school football team, but people there missed the game. and now, after almost 30 years, they are celebrating the return of the comets. here's nbc's mark potter. [ cheering ] >> reporter: homecoming day in alexander, north dakota, and the high school football comets are on the field after a very long absence. it's been decades since alexander had its own team. cheering them on is leslie bieber, the school superintendent, who fought hard to bring football back to the community. >> they have something that they haven't -- that they have been starved of for 27 years. so, you can feel that energy and that pride. >> reporter: football ended in alexander in the late 1980s when

small farms collapsed and there weren't enough kids for a team. but seven years ago, an oil boom began, attracting new families, and this year, the comets are back. [ cheering ] there are only 13 players, but it's enough for a six-man football league. so, how are they looking today? >> looking pretty sharp today, actually. miles from where we were a few weeks ago. >> reporter: a few weeks ago, many of these boys had never even played football and still have a long way to go. but at a pregame rally, it's clear the whole town loves them. [ cheering ] on game day the weather turned bad. after very heavy rains, it's now cold and windy, but the town still turned out. and they couldn't be more enthusiastic, even though the comets are having a tough day against a more experienced team. >> oh, gosh, we are loud. and usually, the loud esteem out there, even if we are losing. >> reporter: for her son, number

25, this team is really important. >> i used to be a bad kid and football saved my life. and i owe everything i have to football. >> reporter: one more reason no one really cares about the lopsided score. the fact they are losing big, did that -- >> that don't bother me. >> reporter: a source of pride for everyone here, especially the boys who are now a team. they are the alexander comets. mark potter, nbc news, alexander, north dakota. >> we wish them a great rest of the season. that is "nbc nightly news" for this sunday night. up next, "football night in america," the san francisco 49ers versus the new york giants. lester holt is back here tomorrow. i'm kate snow reporting from new york. for all of us here theat nbc ne good night.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> just across the river from new york city sits metlife stadium, the site for "sunday night football" and two teams who may be headed in opposite directions. 34-year-old eli manning and his giants return home looking for their third consecutive victory, while colin kaepernick and his team have had little in the way of offense, and that's just one of the problems that are among the question marks surrounding