look, i ate all of mine. it matches any good steakhouse if not better. walmart choice premium steak in the black package. it's 100% money back guaranteed. try it for your next backyard barbecue. aren't always the most obvious. take the humble stevia plant, with a surprising secret to share: sweetness. truvia sweetener. zero-calorie sweetness, born from the stevia leaf. from nature, for sweetness. lovely read susan. may i read something? yes, please. of course. a rich, never bitter taste cup after cup. 340 grams. [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] always rich, never bitter. gevalia.

landing was pretty hard. we knew something had gone wrong. >> the top collapsed on a lot of

people, to people are injured. >> we have multiple people coming down the chutes walking to their safety, which was a good thing. >> witnesses and officials describing the scene yesterday. the san francisco international airport at 11:27 a.m. pacific time, a both 777 with more than 3 pun people onboard crash-landed. two chinese citizens were killed, 182 people taken to the hospitals. welcome back, everyone, to a special early edition of weekends with alex witt on this sunday morning. nbc's jong yang once again joining us from san francisco's international airport with more. john, what is it first up the investigators get focused on today? >> reporter: well, alec, the investigators actually arrived yesterday afternoon, and they've already been going through the wreckage, the burned out fuselage that's sitting outside the runway, runway, 21 left. you can barely make it out behind me. we're a quarter of a mile from

there. and the debris field as it spread down the runway after hitting the seawall and then slamming onto the tarmac and skidding down the runway. they have already found the two data recorders, the black boxes on that plane. one, the flight data recorder that tells them the performance of the aircraft, exactly what was going on, and also the cockpit voice recorder which tells them what -- the conversation in the cockpit, what the pilot and the first officer were saying to each other as this plane was coming in for a landing. we expect to hear more from the ntsb later today as they talk about their investigation, but that investigation already well under way. those black boxes will be sent back to washington for analysis, and that will give them a great deal of information. we do know that on the ten-hour, 23-minute flight from seoul to

san francisco, there were no problems reported. the pilot did not report any problems until he made his final approach and hit that seawall here at the airport. alex? >> john, you confirmed the two chinese nationals that are dead, both female. what about the injured in area hospitals? how many are still in hospital this morning? i know it's fluid, but how many do you think are still in there? >> we're told there are about four dozen people still in hospitals, five dozen across the bay area, ranging from san francisco to the stanford university hospital in palo alto. we do now know the two dead are 16-year-old chinese students. they were part of one of two middle school groups coming to the united states for summer camp, alex. >> just heartbreaking. john janyang.

you heard no distress call in the last crucial minute on approach. what does that say to you? >> well, the pilots, whatever did happen didn't have a lot of time. as your previous guest mentioned about ten minutes ago, pilots first worry about flying the aircraft and navigating. the navigation wouldn't have have been a problem, but the flying, they had their hands full. >> so, jay, we've heard from passengers who said they could detect the plane was flying too low on approach. you've got to think the pilots would be able to visually see that as well. there doesn't seem to be any weather issue involved. it hasn't been definitively ruled out, but nonetheless. tell me what pilots do. are they looking at the instruments or out the window and say, wait a minute, we're too low?

>> absolutely. on a flight like this where there's good weather in san francisco, i believe you have a graphic of the visual approach. the controllers will ask the pilots to maneuver the plane. once they do that, they're clear to approach. so they're visually and manually flying the aircraft on that approach, and, yes, they can immediately see when the aircraft starts to sink below the normal glide path. >> the san francisco international airport is not the only one on a perimeter of water. you have laguardia, jfk, and l.a.x. as well. how difficult is that? are you presented with a problem? let's fats. water has a lower level of altitude. does that lend to confusion?

>> no. i would say the water makes the approach more stable because you don't have as many thermals, warm air rising off the paetschment that can cause turbulence over the approach. over the water, it's a constant temperature and the aircraft tends to be more stable. >> something we talked about. wind shear comes to mind. we know there have been fatal accidents in the past because of wind sheer. could that be a factor here? >> i haven't heard any reports that there were heavy winds, so i doubt that. thing this is one of two problems. either the aircraft was slowly losing speed and the two pilots did not notice it and it got slow enough that it began to staal, a wing staal, that it can no longer fly and starts to sink and when they realized it was too late, that's one

possibility. but there's another possibility concerning me because i am aware through researching it that there was a boeing 777 that landed short in london in early 2008, and that aircraft didn't have a total crash like this one did because it landed on the ground, but it was like a thousand feet short of the runway and it caused extensive damage to the extent that they had to remove the aircraft. it's no longer in service. >> okay. but overall, jay, the 777, putting it back into service, overall it's a reliable and safe plane? >> that's absolutely true. however, that particular incident resulted in a very similar situation to what happened here, and that's why it worries me. there was a feel oil heater that caused -- that apparently did not properly heat the fuel and there were ice crystals in that fuel that caused both engines to

quit at the last moment and that's why the pilots pitched up at the end. in this case, it could be very similar. >> very interesting point that you make. i had read about that, the ice crystals prevented the fuel from getting to the engines appropriately. good point you make there, jay rollins, for joining me with your insight. we're going to hear more from the witnesses from the crash landing in this hour coming up in about 20 minutes or so. in sanford, florida, tomorrow, day two of testimony of second-degree charges on george zimmerman. they heard similar testimony from the mothers frof trayvon martin and george zimmerman. martin's mother testifying for the prosecution and then just a short while later zimmerman's mother testifying for the defense. >> you heard screaming or yelling. do you recognize that? >> yes.

>> and who do you recognize that to be? >> trayvon benjamin martin. >> do you know whose voice that was screaming in the background? >> yes, sir. >> whose voice was that? >> my son george. >> george zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to the shooting death of trayvon martin. he claims self-defense. so no experts being allowed to weigh in with their testimony on exactly who that voice is on the 911 tape. so how does this affect the jury? >> the jury is left to its own devices to decide which mother it believes. and you now see, alex, how important it would have been for the state to get that expert testimony in to say based on our expert testimony, it's trayvon martin. and listening to the dueling mothers it's hard to think where

the jury beliefs. >> do you think they'll say, i hope it's her. >> it's not a personality contest. >> they said basically the same thing. >> we'll see tomorrow whether the defense brings in additional voice witnesses to corroborate their version of event but absent the expert testimony it's much more difficult as it should be for jurors to say based on a parent, i believe this mother or that mother. >> it was interesting when he started the cross-examination. we know he had to lightly tread there, but in the very beginning he offered his apologies, accepting responsibility. i want to play what he said and then get your reaction to why hoe was rebuffed with this. here it is. >> if it was not your son screaming, if it was, in fact,

george zimmerman, than you would have to accept the probability that it was trayvon martin who caused his own death, correct? >> all right. that was the sound bite from later where he's again treading so lightly. but first off he does say -- >> i'm sorry for your loss. >> we're ak noming it. and then immediately they say objection. why? >> that's common. a lot of attorneys do that. you don't want to look inhuman and that's a common thing for attorneys to say, i'm really sorry for your loss but and you start your cross-compassio hfcr. you want to seem a little human, you don't want to tear her apart but with the next comment use your conclusion and are you prepared that trayvon martin might have caused his own death, that's a mistake obviously, and yu don't use conclusions. that's an argument for the end of the trial. that's not something you ask somebody's mother. that's clearly a mistake on his

part and probably would have liked to have taken that back. >> what was interesting also at the end of the day on friday, the defense asked for -- moved for an acquittal. >> right. >> it did happen. >> is that typical? >> it's typical and not a particular surprise to me. maybe karen will agree. >> you'll get sued for malpraj it is if you don't. that's very common. at the end of a criminal or civil case if you're the prosecutor, you'll have to say they didn't make their case. >> mark o'mara has not said whether he's going put george zimmerman on the stand. he also made mention that he was surprised that trayvon martin's father was not put on the stand for the prosecution and he may call him, get inside of his head. do you think he will? >> my understanding is trayvon martin could not conclusively decide that it was trayvon's voice on the tape. there's that possibility. certainly when, by all accounts,

and, again, thing karen will agree, that george zimmerman will take the stand is improbable at best and o'mara is always going to hold out his options. one never knows. but i thing it's near impossible. >> do you put him on, defense attorney karen? >> do i put george zimmerman on? >> yeah. >> what i would you have to? you have his statements. >> contradictory. >> you have a lot of contra dik willtry, but right now the prosecution has a lot of waelk facts and the only two people who knew what happened was trayvon, who unfortunately is not here, and george zimmerman. if you follow the jury guidelines and instructions, you're in a good spot. you have the 911 tape and the neighbors. stop while you're ahead. >> all right. we'll be watching tomorrow with your help as well. lisa green, karen desoto. thank you, ladies.

we also want to state that mr. zimmer haan has sued nbcuniversal for defamation. the backlash of all the offers being made to edward snowden. mine was earned in djibouti, africa. 2004. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal.

begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

new information this morning in the edward snowden saga. russian media now reporting venezuela has given the nsa leaker until tomorrow. it's a diplomatic problem for the white house that now pales in comparison to the crisis in egypt where they've been thrown into upheaval. joining me now, steve thelma, senior white house correspondent and lauren fox from u.s. political report. welcome to both of my friends. steve, i'm going to begin with you. i'm going to start with the

edward snowden matter. what are the repercussions? >> well, there's no doubt, alex, the word embold emboldens is the right word. stick a finger in the u.s. eye. having said that, the important thing to remember is venezuela's offered asylum, bolivia, nicaragua. snowden isn't there yet. the u.s. is working this very hard. the president of the united states said a couple of weeks ago he wouldn't scramble jets to get snowden but they're scramblingle air traffic control towers of europe and had four countries refuse to let that airplane fly over when they thought he was on board. >> we've pretty much suspected they've been doing heavy negotiating behind the scenes. do you think the u.s. has spent

more diplomatic capital than it's worth trying to get him back? >> i think the leaks were serious for the u.s. government. this has thrown a wrench into a lot of things, in the way they hire government contractors. in the way that they're interacting with other countries and a never a positive thing when national security sequans are revealed. it's legitimate and it is a reason why the u.s. is not going to give up and continue having conversations with these countries, especially in europe when it comes to airspace to make sure edward snowden doesn't get to where he wants to be. >> lauren, i'll tay with you. the public perception was the white house just sat back and watched this unfold including secretary kerry, secretary of tate from his yacht, but then there's aarticle from "the new york times" that says they were trying to broker a deal up to the last minute so what looks better to be uninvolved or too

involved? >> oh, i think it's -- >> i'm sorry. >> i think one of the key things we're going to have to look for mere and maybe a key the obama administration of what cards they're playing here will be what they do with this $1.3 billion aid they give to egypt. obviously this is something the u.s. government if a coup happens and the military takes ov over, a legitimate government, the u.s. isn't supposed to be giving aid anymore. so how active is the u.s. in making thure that that aid doesn't get to the country obviously the way around that is if egypt proceeds with a legitimate election process, the aid can be reinstalled. that will be a key moment. >> steve, i did cut you off. if you want to take a crack at answering that, the perception the white house was involved or not involved. what's your assessment there?

>> clearly they're involved and with the military. that's the main relationship we had even before mubarak fell and they have a close working relationship and remains involved and is going to remain involved. probably the one bright side we can see going forward we still have that relationship. >> okay. steve thelma, lauren fox, thank you so much. we have breaking news covering about the plane crash. this is a little shorter than usual. tonight marks the end of the 19th essence festival in new orleans. it's a three-day celebration of african-american music and culture and this year msnbc teamed up with essence to broadcast live from the festival and nbc's mara schivavocampo has had a front row seat to all of it in the big easy once again. so let's talk about what's going to happen behind you there today.

>> good morning. it is sunday, of course. a number of spiritual events performances from yolanda adams. don ny mcclerklan and we'll see a mother's prayer vigil where we're hear from mothers who have lost children to violence. the mayor of new orleans will be at that event as well and later tonight, the party continues on a number of musical performances, it'll all be closed out by mrs. carter herself beyonce, the last performer, this is beyonce, i cannot wait for that. >> i know. >> good tickets so i'm excited about it. i've never seen her live and that caps three days of what they like to call a party with a purpose, of course, in the evening you do have these musical performances but for the first year as it's changed its name from the essence festival to the essence musical festival. they have the empower.

experience, a number of panels, discussions with newsmakers, conversations about issues really important in the community and like you mentioned for the first time this year msnbc has become a broadcast partner and have been broadcasting all week from the floor of the convention center. it's been a really great experience because it gives us a chance to meet our viewers. as you know, alex, sitting in a studio talking to a camera. you don't always get a chance to g meet the people that watch. they're meeting all the folks down here. it's been a good time and a party with a purpose. >> you know what's fun watching the broadcast and at the end the directors take a live shot. everyone is so enthusiastienthu. you stay get out of the studio. we'll watch once again. thanks, mara. >> thanks, alex. we will have our continuing

coverage beginning at 10:00 with melissa harris-perry and "the ed show" and at 1:00 p.m. eastern with "politics nation." the national transportation safety board is currently investigating after the 777 landed at san francisco international airport yesterday. two chinese citizens died. dozens injured and many taken to the local hospitals. 307 were on board. everyone is now accounted for and here's how one eyewitness describes what happened. >> i was sitting in my hotel room on the fourth floor and i heard a boom and i knew something was wrong. i immediately turned around and saw the aircraft tumbling nose down. it was like the nose of the plane was in the dirt and the tail was up in the air and it was kind of twisting at the same time, and that's when it came to rest in a big dust ball where

it's still at right now. >> we have a news conference expected later on this morning and bring that to you once it happens. that's a wrap of this hour of "weekend with alex witt." next "up with steve kornacki." keep it right here on msnbc. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker every day. ♪

♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ small businesses get up earlier and stay later. and to help all that hard work pay off, membership brings out millions of us on small business saturday and every day to make shopping small huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. with olay, here's how. new regenerist eye and lash duo. the cream smooths the look of lids... softens the look of lines. the serum instantly thickens the look of lashes. see wow! eyes in just one week with olay.

the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ is

. investigators are looking for answers after it slammed into the runway alt san francisco international airport. we're standing by for a live report on exactly what we know about the deadly crash of flight 214 there and what's the status of the victims of the crash and go to our correspondent as soon as we're able to. right now i want to start with our top political story, a remarkable strategy being considered right now in some quarters of the republican party for how to save that party. i've kind of got