other gadhafi's compound at this point it doesn't mean that he was inside or even an enormous fight for it. this really symbolizes control of the city in its entirety. now there still could be some spots of fighting and some resistance, but the fear now is that the post gadhafi is still out there and on the loose that he could be organizing a kind of insurgency to fight these rebel groups. >> of course the uk prime minister david cameron, president obama yesterday saying that gadhafi could now tell his forces, the loyalists to lay down their arms. no sign of course, of that. in fact, what we're hearing is this one russian report of a conversation with gadhafi today where he is still defiant. we saw the defiance of saif al-islam his son who appeared outside the press hotel in tripoli and showed that he in fact was not under arrest and

not under guard as the rebels had claimed. there is a command and control question for the rebel leadership in benghazi that of course told the world that the sons had been arrested yesterday. >> reporter: yes. this is a sprawling country. there are questions as to how much control and support gadhafi has in his overwhelm hometown. richard engel mentioned it a few moments ago, he does have some support there. that's where his tribe are. there are a lot of weapons stored there. how many people are there. what kind of fight are they willing to put up? that still remains to be seen. those pictures of sai firks overnight are surreal. he was educated in the uk. he was the apparent heir to his father. and he was credited really were trying to open up libya to the west. last night he show us up outside that hotel in a stretch white

limo in fa feegs and a full white beard looking more like his father than he ever has. >> saif was the real link purr sueding his father -- persuading his father to give up the nuclear weapon, the big change off the terror list, the repayments to the pan am families. the reconciliation with the united states led by the bush administration back in 2003 and 2004 and five and 2006. he really had been the conciliatory figure until of course after the rebelon broke out when he was blood thirsty in his comments equally to his father. >> he really did take on the lot of the same eccentricities of his father over the last six months coming out and calling the rebels rats and terrorists and al qaeda, talking in a lot of kind of rhetoric that being

out with the rebels has proven wrong pretty quickly. it seems he fell in file with his father as well. now they're both wanted at the hague for war crimes and they're on the run. where do they go? where do they hole up? what kind of support and organization can they drum up now? it's hard to imagine what they could do. as long as they're out there. it's going to be a question for the rebel leadership. >> stephanie, thank you so much. jim is at the pentagon. you've been reporting on the weapons. we know that gadhafi was very highly armed in terms of antiaircraft and other weapons. and chemical weapons. mike rogers the chairman of the house intelligence committee told us yesterday on this program that he is really concerned about those stockpiles and where the weapons may have gone already during the civil war. >> reporter: u.s. military officials told us this morning that they have had that chemical weapons site, that stockpile of muammar gadhafi's chemical weapons under constant 24/7

aerial surveillance for some time now. and they report that that area is still under control. there is no indication that gadhafi forces have removed any of those chemical weapons or that any rebel forces have penetrated the facilities. so as of now, they feel comfortable about those chemical weapon stockpiles. however, there is widespread concern among the military and u.s. intelligence officials about the stockpile of 20,000 shoulder fired antiaircraft missiles that gadhafi had because there's no accounting for many of those. some of those stockpiles had been looted throughout this rebel uprising. and there is concern that some of them have in fact left the country. that is of deep concern because those weapons could easily, for example, bring down a commercial airliner if they fell into the wrong hands. and i can tell you there is some note of caution. look, the storming of this taking of this compound today is a crippling if not killing blow

to the gadhafi regime, but there's still concern about exactly where se is muammar gadhafi himself? today we heard from nato officials kite the take of the compound there are still at least three key military compounds and areas under progadhafi force control that are east of the city including his hometown from which at least two scud missiles were launched over the last several days. and there's no clue, a senior nato official today said look, you know, the gadhafi regime is history, but we still don't have a clue as to where gadhafi himself is. and one more point. sort of a personal point, actually, those images today inside the compound of that euphoria is eerily similar to the kind of images we saw in baghdad when many iraqis

remember pulled down the bronze stereo chew of saddam hussein. they took off their shoes and hit the statue as it was dragged through the street only to see in subsequent days massive looting in the capital of baghdad and we know really seven long years of war. the only difference here is that the u.s. and nato have taken great pains to try to establish some kind of rapport, contact, and with this national transitional council to have a quote, ready made government to step into fill any governmental leadership void. they aren't there yet. there are still concerns about what's next. but the priority right now is finding muammar gadhafi because as long as he exists there will still be that gnawing in the back of everybody's head that in

fact he could still create and wreak some havoc there in libya. >> it's so eerie seeing these pictures as you point out, mick. seeing that statue come down. the golden fist, which was gadhafi's gaudy reminder holding the fist of a crushed american plane. that was his monument to himself and his resistance, his defiance to the world. and to see that come down it was april 9th, 2003, of course that the statue of saddam came down in baghdad and there's one other big difference here, there are a lot of differences given the ethnicity and the complexities of these two societies. one other big difference that there was of course the army in iraq and that army if it had not been dismissed could have provided some civil authority and some lessons have been learned. one thing that u.s. officials are telling me is they are not, not counselling the tnc to get rid of all the gadhafi loyalists. that they have to choose very

carefully among them but they need to some people to create civilian authority and military authority. and they can't simply go on a tear against all the gadhafi loyalists because they won't be able to rebuild the country. >> reporter: and you remember too, the debaathification, the saddam hussein party when they threw all the party members out of the government. they lost most of the intellectual sort of resiliency inside the iraqi government. so -- i believe the u.s. and nato also did learn from the mistakes that were made in iraq. but there are also different challenges here in that there are so many tribal factions. many more than they were in iraq that will obviously be competing for power and goodness knows the wealth of from the nation's oils. so it's not quite done yet. so people here rb sounding a note of caution.

clearly this event today taking that compound is a tremendous, huge, turning point in getting rid of the gadhafi regime. >> jim, the first reporter to break the story that military authorities many the u.s. felt the days were closing in honmo mar gadhafi last, i think thursday night or friday. so jim right on it. thank you very much. >> reporter: thanks, andrea. >> the president today in mar a martha's vineyard has been briefed on the latest developments. he spoke today to french president nicolas sarkozy about the developments in libya. as you know president nicolas sarkozy talking to the president also about foreign aid and plans for a french international partners meeting next week on this very subject. a few moments ago, i also reached u.n. ambassador susan rice and asked her about the next steps for the rebel government. >> as you know it's a fluid

situation and there's still pockets of fighting in the capital of tripoli and elsewhere. but what seems clear is that the rebels have made enormous progress and have reached the tipping point where it seems certain the days of the gadhafi regime are coming to a close. that said, what will come next is what we hope and expect will be an inclusive transitional government. of which is tnc will form the core. they have put together a rather detailed road map for how they see the transition unfolding. but this is going to be a challenge for them and for the libyan people because there are no institutions of state. there's no history of accountable or normal governance of any sort. it's been a one-man show for 42 years. i think it would be wise for us

to be realistic in expecting there will be growing pains. challenges within the opposition coalition as people from different parts of the country who have fought on different fronts as well as civil society and youth leaders and others come together and we hope unite around the program that the transitional national council has laid out for an inclusive transition process that respects the roul of law and allows the libyan people to have the opportunity to choose their leaders and their future peacefully. >> how much can we count on them? how concerned, for instance, should u.s. officials be by the fact that they said they had arrested srks aif al-islam the heir apparent to muammar gadhafi and in fact he shows up outside the press hotel parading around tripoli? >> we have been working closely with the tnc leadership in

benghazi and through the contact group in washington and new york over the -- we've found them to be credible and to have a set of objectives and a political program that we have confidence in. that said, this is a fluid, fast moving situation on the ground. i think it's not surprising that there's been confusion. the leadership in again gazy is -- benghazi is in remote contact with the rebels in tripoli. i don't know if this is a first or last potential disconnect or instance of reports that don't jive with one another. but we feel that the leadership that we have come to know have

responsible intentions and are acting credibly. >> how quickly can the u.s., the u.n. and others unfreeze the assets and get real money to the rebel leaders? >> andrea, we've been working on the process of beginning to unfreeze some quantity. an initial traunch of assets -- >> how much money? >> since in fact we recognize the tnc. we're looking at an initial traunch of roughly $1.5 billion that would be -- they would go for immediate humanitarian needs including through u.n. and other humanitarian organizations. there's an urgent requirement for fuel, for civilian purposes to power electricity, water facilities and the like. we're working to try to make resources available for that purpose as well as to help build

the capacity and resource base for core institutions delivering health care and education and other essential services. andrea, i've been in the middle of this, i can tell you it is a complex legal and diplomatic challenge to unfreeze these assets in a fashion that preserves the integrity of the libyan sanction regimes. we're working with our partners to do that as quickly as possible. it's not been easy. i'm hopeful that in the coming days that we'll be able to have released at least the first traunch. >> thank you so much, ambassador susan rice, ambassador to the u.n. >> and as we continue to watch these dramatic scenes from inside tripoli from outside the compound, the gadhafi compound we will continue to report all of these developments. we'll be right back after these messages. you're watching "andrea mitchell you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.re getting enough vegetables?

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these amazing breaking developments out of tripoli, we're joined by the chairman of the democratic caucus connecticut connecticut democrat john larson. at this stage with all the other issues congress has to consider what steps to take for libya? >> that's correct, andrea. what an extraordinary feat by this administration. secretary clinton briefed us about a month ago. she was so precise and accurate and there were many including myself that were in disagreement with the administration not over their action, but coming to

congress first to get approval. you look at the choice that this administration had, the aniluation of benghazi. you look how the president and the secretary of state have handled this. you see not one loss of life and no boots on the ground. i still disagree he should have come to congress first, this has been a remarkable job by the president and the secretary of state in achieving this goal. now, we're all still cautious because of gadhafi is still at large and is quite capable of doing harm internally. as well as externally. that still bears watching. but given the fact that midwest of the foreign policy that this path has handled, has been inherited, this clearly was an

initiative coupled with the capturing of osama bin laden that have been pretty extraordinary and are testimony to the men and women who wear the uniform, our intelligence, our people, and most notably the boldness of this president and the kind of approach that he and this administration are going to use all as the whole notion of the arab spring still unfolds before us. >> indeed, it does. thank you so much congressman john larson. good to see you sir. >> our bloomberg view come you willist and a professor of international politics at tufts policy an advisor to the late ambassador richard holbrooke here in washington. good to see you. the arab spring, let's take it from there. what message are these scenes from the streets of tripoli sending to assad and the protesters in syria and the other arab leads? >> there's two sets of messages going. one is to the arab spring.

one says arab dictator regardless of how atrocious his actions are in the end cannot survive. to diktors like assad and others in power, the lesson is you have to prevent a way nato to support supporters against you. without international support the rebels would not have survived. i think assad and dictators are worried. >> knowing how desperate and defiant muammar gadhafi is, what can we expect from him? is there going to be some sort of horrific attack, counterattack, last stand or running and hiding out in the bunkers and finding an escape route? >> i think the most likely scenario if he is not captured is that his presence could keep an insurgency in certain areas going. >> this could be like the hunt of saddam? >> it could be the hunt of

saddam and the present of one of his lieutenants allowed the insurgentsy for taking shape. that prevented iraq from settling down quicker. gadhafi can be a rallying point from an opposition to prevents this government from taking over and building libya back quickly. >> there's another lesson, that's for proliferators for iran and north korea. gadhafi gave up the ingredients of his nuclear program and delivered it in fact, to tennessee, where we all watched it being warehoused. is one of the messages don't give away your bargaining chips? >> absolutely. what the lesson of libya is that being -- playing by the rules, coming out from the cold didn't work for gadhafi. he paid up for lockerbie bombing. he gave up his nuclear weapons when the moment came he was vulnerable toon outside interference through nato. so countries like syria, iran, north korea are going to look at libya and say if you give it up,

if you give up the nuclear weapons and then your people rise up against you, which is likely, then the outside world will intervene. you'd better keep those weapons. >> how challenging is it for the new interim government to establish order, assuming they can capture gadhafi, establish order not retailuate and not devolve into tribalism and factions and civil war? >> currently everybody's focused on gadhafi and his fall and this jubilation which is absolutely correct. we shouldn't underestimate that this is going to be very difficult. this was a country that was brutalized by dictatorship. there were very little institutions built in it. it is highly tribal. it is now divided into literally street combat, dividing tribes from theest, from the west. everybody has guns now in that are hands. you have a political leadership in benghazi which doesn't have a track record of ruling libya and

has very, untested relationship with the rebel commanders. it's not given that those commanders are going to listen to the politicians going forward. you don't have the advantage of the american troops in baghdad which could provide some nighttime curfew and some degree of stability. libya is going to be very tough. >> great to see you again. >> thank you. we will be right back with barry mcafter ree, the general himself. himself. stay with us. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ she is the greatest thing ever. one little smile, one little laugh.

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an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? breaking news. we continue to watch extraordinary pictures out of tripoli where the rebel groups have breached the come poupd of gadhafi. they not only breached the compound, but brought down that iconic statue, the golden fist statue brought down today.

joining us on the phone now msnbc military analyst general barry mcafrrey. we're watching history being made here. a lot of notes of caution. we were just talking about what could now unfold. we don't have u.s. troops on the ground as we did in baghdad to try to establish order if this becomes a prolonged hunt for gadhafi and a prolonged resistance. >> that's probably the good news. we do have on the ground from nato considerable number of both intelligence operatives and special forces people. this is libyan revolution. it's a still of two million people. there's no police there. we think the rebels have possibly 4,000 fighters in the city.

and it's incoherent. the only thing that's sure is this is the end of the gadhafi regime. we're talking about a bitter struggle, it might go on for a week or so before he's done and then the ensuing revolution occurs. which they try and put together governance. >> this is a society that is completely armed on a good day. so given the fact that there is going to be resistance from some loyalists and the need to try to collect weapons, how concerned do we need to be about the stingers and other serious weapons that are still out there? >> well, you know, i've listened to the commentary of the last two days. as a general statement i actually don't think we need to be too concerned about it. the only thing he's got that's dangerous are the chemical weapons, which i think we will be able to secure and then the sa-7 shoulder fired heat seeking missiles they're a potential threat to civil aviation all over the world.

so with the exception of those two things, the fact that there are thousands of ak-47s, land mines, hand grenades, rpgs, the middle east is awash in that kind of weaponry. i do think you're going to find an active attempt on the part of all nato intelligence services to locate those shoulder fired heat seeking antiaircraft missiles. >> barry mcafrrey, general thank you very much. >> good to be with you. >> as we continue to cover the historic events in tripoli. here at home we are facing with some real challenges. hurricane irene continuing to intensify as it barrels towards the bahamas. here in the states the eastern east seaboard has been put on alert as irene is expected to slam the mainland from florida to new enlangd in week. carl parker joins us. how closely can we predict the

trajectory of this hurricane? >> we're leaning more towards north carolina than florida. it looks like it could be a major hurricane when it does come on board. here's the latest on the storm. it's a category two hurricane with 100 miles per hour wind. it's going through an intensification phase. there's an eye developing. the eye wall is getting into the turks and caicos islands. it's going to be a very tough afternoon there. very tough for the bahamas. this could be a hurricane through the length of the bahamas. it looks like it's going to clear florida to the east. still could have some imkt pas of wind and high surf. the best guess is the storm is moving to north carolina this weekend. could be a major hurricane as that happens. beyond that and continue up into major metro areas in the northeast. we are looking for an extreme threat in the northern and central part to have bahamas. the worst hurricane they've seen nins 1999 with floyd. here across the northeast we have a medium threat that would come up dramatically in the next couple of days depending on the

track. we could potentially be talking about widespread tree and power line damage and millions of people without power if it does come up through the 95 corridor. back to you. >> carl, thank you very much for some ominous warnings on that storm. after spending months as an accused sex criminal dominique strauss-kahn has now left a manhattan courtroom. he left early yore today a free man after the judge acting on an extraordinary request from prosecutors dismissed the case entirely. strauss-kahn said in a statement quote, these past two and a half months have been a nightmare for me and my family. we are gratified that the district attorney agreed with my lawyers that this case had to be dismissed. nbc's legal correspondent, sa va na guthrie joins us now. multitasking today. >> good to see you. >> this case is so fascinating. which is truly interesting about the 25-page document that the prosecutors laid out was just how damaging they thought the

testimony from the witness would be and why the case was fatally flawed. as a lawyer, what is your analysis? >> well, it's incredible because here we have this 25-page dossier against the complaining witness who in a normal rape case is aligned with the prosecutors. when you read that you saw how great the breach between the prosecutors and the accuser was. this is someone who utterly lost the faith of prosecutors because they say that she repeat willedly lied to them. lied to them with regard to dominique strauss-kahn. they claim that she lied about a prior false allegation of rape that she had claimed she was raped in her native country. and more so these prosecutors said she lied to them convincingly, persuasively, that she was emotional. they told a story that prosecutors initially believed. once she came forward or her lawyer did and said that was actually a false claim of rape, prosecutors were not in a

position necessarily to belief her when she made those claims against dominique strauss-kahn. so you really just -- it was really a story of how her credibility fell apart in the eyes of the prosecutors. she also had other issues in her past such as allegedly lying on her asylum application. she's an immigrant to this country. lying on other kind of federal forms. there was an issue of a conversation she had had with an association who's coronetly in jail in arizona and whether or not she had said that she knew that dominique strauss-kahn was a machine of means and had money. there were just problems shot through this case. prosecutors ultimately found that they couldn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. the last point is every day of the week prosecutors in this country look at the facts of cases and they may make a practical judgment if they can prove that case beyond a reasonable doubt. this case was all the more extraordinary because it wasn't just a matter of we believe her but we don't think we can prove it. these prosecutors are saying we don't believe her.

>> which is so extraordinary. will that have any impact on the fact she has a civil case upon strauss-kahn where the beg your pardon is much less demanding. lower threshold we've seen in previous cases how people can within civil cases where they lose prosecutions. so is that still a legal threat hanging over strauss-kahn? >> it is. people say why doesn't she get her day in court? she can still get a day in a civil courtroom where the issue is not whether the defendant goes to jail, but whether she's entitled to money damages. the problem for her is all these issues of credibility the prosecutors laid out in that paper will be just as relevant to any civil case as they were to a criminal case. but as you point out correctly, the standard of proof is lower. so perhaps jurors if it got to that point hearing this case they may feel that, by preponderance of the evidence by this lower standard that perhaps he was guilty. what is clear is that there was a sexual encounter between

dominique strauss-kahn and this accuser. what could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt according to prosecutors was that it was a nonconsensual or forced encutter. the case rose and fell on that issue. >> of course, he was at the time the leading contender to become the chief challenger to nicolas sarkozy to become president of france, the socialist nominee intended. he at the time was the head of the international monetary fund. now he says he's going to be returning to france. he no longer has the monetary fund post. he's no longer a viable politician by most accounts. he certainly feels that he has been vindicated. one wonders about the new york prosecutor about the d.o. going ahead with the case the way they did with such strong language about how certain they were -- they were refusing to release him on bail. some argue if they had taken the time, let him go out on bail and taken two weeks to investigate rather than immediately

indictmenting they might not have had this outcome. >> it's hard to know. the prosecutor has been criticized six days they had to indict. some argue they could have taken their time and perhaps these issues of credibility would have been apparent to them preindictment and dominique strauss-kahn would not have had his life ruined. it's one of those things that you never know and the prosecutor was looking at a situation where if he had been able to board a flight to france, it was unclear that they'd ever get him back in this country. obviously the prosecutor did what he thought he had to do. it's the prosecutors who came frd to the defense and to the court to disclose the issues with credibility with this accuser. >> savannah guthrie, thanks for taking the time with us today. we'll see you on "nightly news" tonight to continue to report on this fascinating case. and we return to of course the developing news, the breaking news out of libya. the breach of the gadhafi

compound today by the rebel forces. now trying to gain control and still looking for muammar gadhafi. joining me now from "the new york times," from capitol hill is "the new york times" reporter. jeff, let's talk about the implications of all of this. the president has been meeting with john brennan. he's talked to nicolas sarkozy today trying to manage all of this. some would say that the u.s. policy of patience and of letting nato take most of the lead has been vindicated at least by the fact that the gadhafi regime is over. >> i think andrea it's been vindicated in the short-term. this is an engagement that president obama was not necessarily fully inspired on. he was sort of reluctantly dragged into this. i think it does quiet some of his critics at least for now that he was leading from behind. you haven't heard much from his republican presidential opponents from jon huntsman or mitt romney who were very critical of this. i think it does give him some

sense of vindication. it may be fleeting. he spoke yesterday from martha's vineyard about sort of looking forward to working with our new friends and partners. there's not much of a sense of what type of partnership this will be. i don't think you hear all that much signs of excitement or glee at the white house. but they do feel vindicated in the sense that once again in taking the long-term view he is building up his foreign policy credentials. >> at the same time charles plow from "the new york times" joining us from new york. a lot of challenges here. we see in the latest gallup rankings that even michele bachmann would be in a statistical dead heat with president obama and mitt romney would beat him. >> right. what you see happening here in libya is great for them. hopefully it's good for democracy in that country. as we saw with the killing of

osama bin laden, these kind of foreign victories don't have a long resonance with the public. there was a little bit of a blip for obama and then it slowly faded away. in fact, at this point looking at gallup polling his negatives on foreign policy are as high as they've ever been in his administration. so he may get some lift from this, but it is very likely that it will fade away. what you have now is real campaigning on the republican side. and you don't -- you haven't had the obama machine really kick in to gear yet for that side. it's probably a little bit too early to say. you're still within even when you see the michele bachmann line up, you see mitt romney slightly ahead of obama, those things are still within the margin of error. we still have to wait to see what happens when the obama machine really kicks in.

and you see them -- of obama on the economy at this point. unfortunately the economy has not rebounded the way that the administration has wanted it to. that has meant that people are now looking at him wanting more from him. >> and charles, and jeff to both of you. charles, first to you, youchb written about this recently, the intangible qualities that the president seems to be lacking right now in terms of his voice, in terms of his ability to inspire. what do you think is the issue there that you've tried to diagnose? >> i think what's happening there, the president is also his republican competitors is that the american people are now tired. and they're scared and they feel like they're being sold a bill of goods. that people keep telling them that i have is silver bullet,

that i can make things better. in fact, what people refuse to say or cannot say for political reasons is this economic condition that we're in may in fact last for a very long time. we may not get out of this for a very long time. if you are unemployed today you may be unemployed three years from now. the long-term unemployment rate is going up. what the president was able to do in 2008 was to connect with what america needed at that moment. what he has not been able to do is to transition and connect with america as it changes and needed something else from him. >> jeff, as we go to break, do you see a republican leader emerging from this pack right now or is it too early to tell that? >> i think you see several potential republican leaders emerging. this is a long way to go in this contest. these republican candidates mitt room knee in particular skill has some navigating to do in his own primary electorate here. we're not sure how he would

emerge, how any of them would emerge at the end of the day. i think charles is right. the president is sort of in a tough situation selling things here. the white house's biggest strategy is hoping that side by side president obama looks better than the republican. >> it's always the contrast, indeed. great to see you today. thanks very much. i will be back with the latest on libya. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com.

we want it now. we want it now. and with all due respect, it is not to say that the president is not doing all he can, but you can only be so wise by yourself. >> the congressional black caucus that was obviously maxine waters continuing their cross country job initiative. today in miami thousands of unemployed floridians flooding today's job fair look for work.

tamron hall host of "news nation" joins us live from miami. hi, tamron, what is happening there today? this has been a powerful trip and a strong political message? >> absolutely. in fact, this is the fourth town hall/job fairs hosted by the congressional black caucus. i'm told about 3200 people have shown up here so far. this ends at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. you can bet there will be people flooding in here before the last hour. this is again another side of just how hard americans are being hit by this unemployment in the african-american community in south florida we're looking at 15% unemployment rate. some neighborhood haves the unemployment rate at around 32%, which is as you well know staggering. a congresswoman from this area referred to it as an epidemic. a lot of people are here hoping for an opportunity. i've been told that a few companies have done onsite interviews. this is not a pass your resume around and cross your fingers.

some companies say they have opportunities available and they're ready and willing to hire. i'm told at the jobs fair in detroit sprint hired three people and the cleveland clinic says that it is prepared to hire at least 100 people. whether all of these people will come from the folks who showed up from the jobs fair, we can't answer that. there are companies ready and willing to hire. they say this is not just a p.r. stunt. they're available and willing to hire people. it is tough to see this. i've got to be honest with you. i was driving in, i saw a young man in his early 20s, he's fixing his suit in the reflection of someone else's car car to come in here and get a job knowing that the odds of leaving with one are slim. hopefully not slim to none, but certainly slim. >> it's like the pictures outside of atlanta. snaked around that building in their sunday best in sweltering heat in sults and ties and high

heels and just thinking that they wanted to put their best face forward, but knowing they had to be just cringing inside at the odds. the bad odds against them. what about the political situation? the heat, the rhetoric has escalated as the black caucus has moved across the country. certainly i think exacerbated by the president's initial stops on that bus tour were in let's put it bluntly lily white sections of the country where unemployment is not nearly as high? >> that has not been missed. last night i moderated the town hall where several people showed up. that issue was brought up. what is this president, what can this president do for the community to spur jobs? and quite honestly, you know, after two hours of conversation you could see that the audience was torn, this is a key kwing state. we know that. an african-american turned out full speed ahead for this president the first time around. i've got to be honest when

reverend jesse jackson referenced the audience and asked this they were going to vote for him again, they said yes, but there was a hesitation. chairman cleburne was rousing the audience, like the other members of the caucus, they're saying you have to be obligated to yourself. you have to get out and vote, but you can't be indebted to this president based on race. we have to look for results to our community. here's what say. >> you are committed to turn this thing around and all you have to do to commit yourself. >> and he was referring to thurn thing around referring to the momentum and the tea party and the effect on the political climate, but the bottom line is that the congressional black caucus members know they need the president re-elected and they know that the audience wants the president re-elected and the reality is that the governor of the state who is a republican said it loud, it is about jobs and getting people back to work and when in the end

it is time to vote, black, white, asian or whatever, and you will look if your life is better and if the prospects are better and this is resonating, is their life better or can things get better? and the black caucus says if it is not good now imagine with the tea party or the president michele bachmann as congressm congresswoman wilson brought up here, but it is all about the jobs. >> all about the jobs. and the president will give a labor day speech in detroit to a union group and they are getting the message and they are certainly planning that now. and tamron, coming up on "newsnation," you have congressman cleaver and maxine waters and you will have the main players on your show on "newsnation" at 2:00. thank you, tamron. great job out there. >> thank you. and coming up next, what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? we will be right back. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc.

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welcome back. i'm tamron hall live from miami and we are getting reports out of washington that is affecting our transmission from there and there is an early report and i'm waiting to get the details that there may have been an earthquake in that area, so i will continue to update you on the breaking news out of washington, but as you know, for this day and all of yesterday, we have been covering the extraordinary news out of libya where we watched earlier the rebels take over the compound of moammar gadhafi in the center of tripoli, and our colleague richard engle was inside of the compound and richard put it best that we have been talking about the possible fall of tripoli and it could fall and now you could categorize it as tripoli has fallen. joining me is chris kuhns who is reacting to the breaking news, and senator, are you there? >> hello. >> hi, are you there, senator? >> i'm doing okay.

i'm on capitol hill, and just felt an earthquake, so i will say that if that is what you are reporting, that helps me understand why there are alarms going off all around me now. >> yes, sir. so let me, we were talking about libya, but let's talk about what is going on the ground there in d.c. and what did you feel and what is going on there? >> it was a brief but noticeable shaking, tremoring of the earth, and everybody around me sort of stood up and looked outside and looked around and tried to figure out what just happened. it didn't last long, but it was very unsettling. so, anyway, i'm -- i'm outside now, and i just went outside now, so. >> tell me, if you can, and again, i know that you mention that it is unsettling and you are trying to process what is going on, but tell me what you see and hear around you. >> folks are all just sort of outside of the buildings looking around to see if there is any aftershocks, but i'm hearing

alarms and sirens from the buildings in my general area. most of the folks around me seem calm. it was with a fairly brief, but very noticeable shock. i mean the whole ground just shifted several feet and couple of directions. it was pretty -- i have not been through an earthquake before, so memorable. >> senator, did you see obviously from delaware, you would not expect to experience anything like this and let alone in the nation's capitol not known for the earthquake, can you tell me if there was debris or falling glass or anything of that nature? >> not that i can see. it was relatively mild, and i don't see any physical impact anywhere around me. >> our pete williams also in the area says that they felt a mild tremor in northwest washington, d.c., as well, but back to the sirens, do you know if there is an evacuation of any sort taking place, sir?

>> i don't know. i'm outside, and i can hear the sirens in the distance, but the senate is only going to be briefly in pro forma session today and i may literally be the only senator here. so, there is relatively few staff here at the moment. much of the capital is on recess this week. >> is your staff with you, senator? >> yes. there's now announcements being made about evacuation and clearing the area, so, if we can return for a moment. >> go ahead, sir. i want to update the audience that the pentagon is being evacuated after the earthquake was felt as well, but let me get your quick reaction to tripoli, and we are juggling a bunch of things here, and what is your reaction to the rebels penetrating the compound and tripoli has fall snen.

>> i think it is very encouraging news that more than 40 years of dictatorial rule during which moammar gadhafi terrorized his own people, and attacked americans and the world at times, it is very encouraging to see the libyan people succeeding and rising up to overthrow his regime with critical assistance from the united states. i think that this is a validation that the strategy that the obama administration undertook worked. it was a six-month-long squeeze play with a combination of freezing their assets, isolating the regime, and recognizing the rebels and then contributing some of america's critical military assets, but with no boots on the ground, and with no american troops at risk or lost ultimately succeeded. >> thank you, senator, reacting to two big breaking stories that we are following. libya the international story,

but we have to get back to the earthquake and i want you to be safe you and your staff and there are a lot of evacuations so please be careful, sir. we are following breaking news out of washington, d.c. where a magnitude 5.3 earthquake has been felt this thed.c area, and the pentagon has been evacuate and we were talking to senator coons who was slightly shaken by the tremors they felt, and the senator el thie telling me live ground shook beneath him literally as well and andrea mitchell who would be with you now was interrupted with her show, and andrea is on the phone, and can you tell us about what you are feeling from the washington bureau? >> well, i have never felt anything like this, and we were on the air and everything started to shake, the desk and the cameras and the floor and everything around me, and you know the studio on the third floor of the building on

northwest and it was shake sing demonstratively that everything was bouncing up and down, my papers and everything and at first -- it never occurs to you when you live in washington, it is an earthquake and then people, the technical folks came in saying it is an earthquake and get out of here, and they grabbed all of us and we started to go down and walking pretty fast down three flights of steps, and we are all now outside and couple of hundred people from the washington bureau here in washington, d.c. having experienced i think our first earthquake. we are told it is 5.8 and that will be verified later. >> that is what we are hearing as well. andrea, i am getting word that there are people in north manhattan who are also saying that they felt something there as well. so, all of these details are coming in to our us, but 5.8 magnitude, and andrea, i'm no