shining sea. yes, we can. yes, we can. >> now check out iran's president rouhani's just released version. ♪ >> and pardon me. these two lucky turkeys have been living up the at the wi willard continental hotel. this afternoon, they'll take a trip to the white house for a presidential pardon. we'll bring it to you live. and rock royalty. bon jovi shares the stage with taylor swift and the artist known as prince. ♪

good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we begin with the weather that's making holiday travel a nightmare for millions of americans already hitting the roads and stuck at crowded airport terminals. right now the worst of the storm is barrelling through the northeast, especially thousands of drivers along i-95 corridor, buffalo. city workers are already digging out before the next wave of winter weather hits. let's go to new york's laguardia airport where nbc's katy tur is tracking the travel for us. katy, what about delays? >> reporter: hey, a lot of delays across the country. there are about 2.4 million people traveling by air today. 250 flights have been canceled so far today within the united states. that's inbound and outbound. about 481 right now are delayed. just a few minutes ago there were only 239 canceled. so means there are still problems going on across the country as we speak. if you're going to the airport

and seeing there's no weather problems where you are, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. if you're flying somewhere that has bad weather or somewhere that's delayed because of other bad weather, you're going to run into problems. here at laguardia, there's not too many delays for outbound flights. only a handful fuful as of now. most of 15 minutes to an hour and a half in terms of waiting, which really isn't that bad. the inbound flights are much different. an hour delay for inbound flights here. about two hours down at philly. 30 minutes at newark, which is a lot better than we were seeing a few hours ago. travelers so far say they expected it to be a whole lot worse. most people that are coming here came here a little early but aren't seeing major delays. people are able to contact their airlines much more easily now ai days to find out if there are delays. you don't see as many people waiting and stranded at the airport as you used to. a lot of the airlines also actually were able to give out vouchers for later or earlier flights to make sure people weren't stranded in these situations. but it's not good, certainly,

but not quite as bad as we thought it would be. andrea? >> so not as terrible as it might have been, but of course for people on the road, it's already a problem. we saw the snow in buffalo. so already going up the northeast corridor it's going to be a problem up through to new england. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. the real issue is the wind. we're not seeing that much precipitation in new york any long longer, but the winds are expected to pick up. that can cause a lot of issues across the area. remember, just one airport having an issue can cause a cascading effect across the country. just because it's not terrible at the moment, it could certainly get a lot worse. >> katy tur on duty at laguardia. thanks very much. and now just days after the nuclear deal between iran and world leaders was reached in geneva, iran's president rouhani is celebrating his first 100 days in office and putting his own spin on the terms of the deal with world powers. in a number of tweets, he said, we'll have enrichment on our

soil and end sanctions in a comprehensive accord. iran will be treated as any other member of the npt, the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. a sharp contrast to what president obama and john kerry has been saying. joining me now is david cohen, in charge of the iran sanctions. thank you very much. i know this has been a long process, and congratulations are no o in order because many people say it was the sanctions you helped create that got iran to the bargaining table. the question from netanyahu and other critics on the hill is why take your foot off the accelerator now? why not, in fact, increase the sanctions to make sure that iran complies? >> thank you, andrea. good to be here. we are going to continue to enforce our sanctions, enforce our sanctions very vigorously. in this first-step deal, there is a very modest relief package that, you know, frankly the price for getting the iranians

to halt their nuclear program, roll it back in significant respects, and agree to really intrusive inspections over this six-month period is very limited. it's very targeted. and it's entirely reversible. so we have allowed the iranians to have a little bit of additional commercial activity, a little bit of money, but the vast bulk of our sanctions, the sanctions that have really brought the iranians to the table and that are creating the pressure on the iranian economy, those all still remain in effect. >> they remain in effect, but iran, the front page of today's "financial times," is iran telling the major oil companies that they are open for business. they're reopening. they're starting to contact these oil companies. they're anticipating what's going to happen six months from now. anticipating that basically the pressure is going to build, world pressure. we know that europe has long wanted to do business with iran and how hard it was to get the sanctions in place. japan and others very

reluctantly gave up their oil purchases. they're now all crowding around and beginning to do the dealing, and it's going to be very hard for america to stand alone with israel, perhaps, in the doorway and say, wait a second, we don't have everything we need yet from iran. >> well, we're not standing alone. we're standing still with our international partners, the p5-plus 1. >> for how long though? >> well, this first-step deal lasts six months. the idea is that in this six-month period, we will see, we will explore whether a comprehensive deal can be reached. so the pent-up interest in both iran and around the world in reopening that market is obviously there, but in the meantime, whether it's those oil majors or, you know, other businesses, banks around the world, they know and they should know that if they try to get into the iranian market during this six-month period, until and if we ever relieve the rest of the sanctions, they will be in

very serious peril. >> now, president rouhani gave an interview yesterday in tehran. he is basically saying they got the right to enrich, something that secretary kerry has strongly denied. both sides left the table pocketing achievements but not agreeing on what the achievem t achievements are. there's a lot of ambiguity, diplomatic language built into that. it wasn't explicitly in the draft, but they're still working on the technical side. what about the possibility of confusion and of tehran thinking that they now have the right to enrich? certainly it is implicit in them being able to continue to enrich up to 3.5% and continue to stockpile. >> i would say two things. first, this is an interim deal. this isn't the comprehensive arrangement. and the united states has been very clear that no country, iran included, has a right to enrich. that's been said explicitly to

the iranians. they understand that is our position. one thing that's not am bbiguou in this agreement is the sanctions relief and what's not included in the sanctions relief. i want to be as clear as i can be to the international community, to the businesses, to the banks who think that it might be open season for business in iran. it's not. we will continue to enforce our sanctions very, very vigorously. >> president rouhani's tweet was, quote, atmosphere has changed. before there was question of whether more sanctions would be imposed or not. now there's a freeze on sanctions. and there is a freeze on sanctions. >> there was an agreement not to impose new sanctions authorities. there's absolutely no freeze on our enforcement of the existing sanctions. i would urge president rouhani and everyone else to stay tuned. because we're going to enforce our sanctions. anyone who is violating our sanctions, seeking to evade or circumvent our sanctions, we will take action against. >> but you can say that you still have the oil embargo and

the other important banking sanctions, but if you're unfreezing up to $7 billion in a combination of things, their assets, they still have the oil in the ground. they eventually will be able to produce it when sanctions at some point are lifted, presumably if this goes well, and you're giving them access to money. you're propping up their economy at a time when they were basically, you know, down on the mat. >> well, the relief package includes about $4 billion in allowing the iranians access to their own money. about $4 billion. then some other commercial trade that is worth about $2 billion. that is economically insignificant to iran. if you look at what they have been deprived of in terms of their oil revenue over the last two years, it's more than $100 billion. if you look at their foreign reserves that they don't have access to, it's about $100 billion. if you look at their budget deficit, it's north of $35 billion. so this very modest sanctions

relief on the order of, you know, $4 billion to $6 billion will not make any economic difference to iran. >> thank you very much, undersecretary david cohn. again, this is a very big step. good luck to everyone for whether or not it is going to work six months from now. >> thank you. and guantanamo bay is back in the news. after a secret program to convert prisoners into double agents for the cia has been exposed. the compound of cottages where prisoners were held was code named penny lane after the iconic beatles song. here's part of a report i filed earlier for "today." >> reporter: now abandoned, the secret program may ring a bell with viewers of "homeland." >> i got plans for you, much bigger than you spilling a few state secrets. >> what plans? >> i'm going to plant you back into iran. from now on, you work for us. >> reporter: the aim, according to former officials, sending alleged terrorists back home to work undercover for the u.s. if it worked, the payoff would be huge, penetrating al qaeda.

to tempt the prisoners, the cia offered plenty of perks. real beds and mattress, private kitchens and showers, even pornography for those who asked. and they were paid millions of dollars from a secret cia account. >> joining me now is william cohn, congressman from maine, secretary of defense from the clinton administration. great to see you. thank you very much. >> good to be with you. >> it occurs, what is the point of going to these hard-core terrorists and trying to convert them? it's right out of a scene of "homeland," as we were sug suggesting. are you surprised they were doing that in 2004, '04, '05? >> i'm not surprised. frankly, any intelligence agency is always going to try to recruit to find some vulnerability on an individual making him more loyal to the

united states. >> despite the risk they could become a triple agent. >> yes, that's always a risk. the real issue is, it's a big risk. is there a big payoff? you have to put some judgment in the hands of your intelligence agency and certainly the president of the united states to say, is it really worth the risk? are we going to get people that we can count on? and there's a risk, as you pointed out, of a triple agent as well. that goes with the spy business. >> speaking of spy games, there's another story which involves a very prominent israeli-born hollywood producer who is now at least on one interview acknowledging he did work for israel's government. importantly, according to an author whom we've talked to, he was working on the nuclear issue, helping to find -- you know, to get the centrifuges for israel, was recruited back in

the '70s and actually helped get the nuclear bomb triggers for their program and helped fund solidarity in poland. a wealth of things. the most prominent arms dealer for israel. how does someone work in both hollywood and at the same time for the government of israel? >> again, i'm not surprised. he's very prominent. i guess a question i have that's not clear to me from the reports, is he an israeli citizen? he said, i'm proud of what i did for my country. >> yes, he is an israeli citizen. >> is he an american citizen today? because then we raise the issue, wha what happens if you have a situation in which american interests are not actually parallel with israeli interests? where does your loyalty lie under those circumstances? so if he had to pick and choose, which would it be? if he's still an israeli citizen, clearly his loyalty would still be to -- >> our best understanding is he's still an israeli citizen. we've reached out to him and

haven't heard back. at the same time, there's some who suggest he was even involved in the scientific agency that was helping with the notorious pollard case. >> well, that's another issue. that particular agency was closed down in 2007 once it became clear there was some surface evidence he was involved. we'd have to ask him some more questions. was he involved in the pollard matter? was he really trying to obtain u.s. intelligence secrets to convey them to the israeli government? that's what jonathan pollard has paid for with a life sentence. >> i wanted to ask you about hamid karzai, another great friend of the united states, speaking ironically of course. only yesterday he totally stiffed the national security adviser and started upping the ante on an agreement he had made only a few weeks earlier with secretary kerry for a post-combat arrangement starting in 2014. >> he's playing a very dangerous game. look what happened in iraq.

the president made a decision, if we can't have a bilateral security agreement, what used to be a station of forces agreement, if we can't have an agreement by the end of december, there's going to be no deal. that means all of our troops are coming out. mr. karzai will no longer be in office after the spring. perhaps he's planning on moving to switzerland. that would put his country in a very difficult position. it would reverse many of the gains that have been made with sacrifices of american lives. that would be squandered if he continues to play this game. i don't know what he's trying to do. it's bad for him. it's bad for the countries who are supporting what we've been doing in afghanistan and will lead to this kind of retrenchment we've seen take place in iraq. >> should we take a hard line with him? >> absolutely. say, sign the deal or there's no deal. the military has to plan. how many troops are going to be left? how many of our allies will be

with us? where will they be stationed? how much equipment will we leave behind? what do we dispose of and bring back home? those decisions have to be made now. >> bill, this has been quite a segment. thank you very much. and who is having the best week in washington? our vote goes to these two turkeys after being pampered all week at a posh d.c. hotel. they're at the white house getting ready to meet the president of the united states. coming up next, we'll go live to the traditional thanksgiving pardon ceremony there on the north port koe. it's a rainy day here. >> okay, show time, guys. i've observed you under a number of conditions. this is the final. we won't have you wigging out in the president's face. i just don't like the photos. you both did fine. troy, i want you to know it was neck and neck, but i'm giving it to eric.

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and live pictures right now from the white house north portico. moments from now the president and his family expected to fulfill a tradition dating back to president bush 41. the actual pardoning of a thanksgiving turkey. joining me now, jeffrey goldman, david road, and nbc white house correspondent kristen welker. kristen, first of all, breaking news from the white house. we're expecting an announcement today of another delay in their deadline for the online small business enrollment. they'd already delayed it from october to november or december and now it's going to be delayed another year. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. an administration official confirms that for me today. another setback for the obama administration, effectively announcing it will delay the

online enrollment process for small businesses. now, important will point out that small businesses will be able to enroll through a broker, through an agent, directly through the insurance company, but as you know, andrea, the administration currently scrambling to fix the website in the midst of a number of glitches which have prevented individuals and businesses from signing up for insurance. so this is another setback. republicans already seizing on this to pounce. the rnc releasing this statement, which reads in part, quote, it's time we stopped delaying pieces of obama care and instead scrap it and start over with common sense reforms that will actually lower costs and increase access to care. no surprise, of course, that the rnc has seized on to this to fuel their argument that obama care should be repealed, but again, we're expecting the administration to give us more details. they're going to hold a conference call in a matter of minutes. andrea? >> and while we wait for the turkey and the president, we

will bring that to you live, of course. you can see the turkey is ready. it's a windy day there on the north portico. the turkey is certainly ready for his moment. i assume it's a his. >> his, her. i think it's two hims. >> two hims. >> thank you. krist kristen, you know everything. every single thing that has to do with the white house today. let's talk more seriously for a moment about iran and some of the decisions that were made and the diplomacy of john kerry. david has been writing about this. the pluses and the minuses. kerry, a lot of success, short-term success. of course, jeffrey goldberg here also covering all of this. but there's also a lot at stake here if it doesn't go well. >> i think short term is the right word. what he achieved with iran is similar to what he received with the israeli-palestinian peace process. this is a freeze with iran's nuclear process. now there's six months of

negotiations to see if there's a real long-term breakthrough. with the israelis and palestinians, it's a nine-month negotiates process. he deserves credit. it's good both of these processes are moving forward, but these aren't landmark breakthroughs yet. i think some of the praise of the iran deal and criticism of the iran deal are both exaggerated at this point. we have to see what's going to happen now. >> jeffrey, you have been talking to israeli officials as well about their strong objections. >> yeah, i mean, there's a fight in israel about how strongly these objections should be made and how publicly they should be made. i think they're going to ratchet it back. they've gotten the message from the p5-plus 1. this interim deal is a done deal, so just chill out. one of the reasons they're so upset is because this has boxed out military action for at least this period of time. you know, my assumption is that

they're not going to reach a final deal. they may never reach a final deal. my assumption is also at the end of the period, both sides will probably say, you know what, let's have another six-month deal. these things -- david is exactly right. these aren't agreements. these are truces. that's all they are. >> it's going to be like a continuing resolution. an endless stretching out. >> at the end is a real nuclear option. that's the problem. >> some have suggested, i heard michael haden on "morning joe" say at the end of the six months, if this is going to keep stretching out, that's when netanyahu has to ask himself, when is iran most vulnerable to a military attack and least likely to have cheated and continued. >> and when does he have that window of opportunity? which he might never actually have. >> by the way, the state department has just announced that secretary kerry is going to israel next week. >> right, to keep that other ball in the air. >> with netanyahu. i also wanted to ask you from your knowledge of israel about the story that's been breaking today about a billionaire

hollywood producer, israeli citizen. apparently he was recruited and is as famous in hollywood as anyone but also famous in israel. tributes to him all the time from netanyahu and others as being the father of their nuclear problem. having gotten the centrifuges, gotten the nuclear triggers, helped create their arms and scientific program. what about this interesting duo role? >> it's like an israeli "argo." >> and was involved with the jonathan pollard case. >> yeah, these are all rolling out. i think he's very proud of his involvement in this. i'm just very curious to know, you know, at what point did he get fully sucked into this and really how important was he in developing israel's nuclear program? because this story does have a little bit of hollywood in it. since the main character is a hollywood figure, there's a

tendency to build on it, let's say, but we'll see. >> we reached out to him. his assistance said he will not be available for interviews. he is traveling. so stay tuned on that. >> maybe traveling to iran. who knows. >> who knows. and david, i want to also ask you about the karzai, you know,er can flufl. it's more than that. him stiffing susan rice. this is after john kerry had negotiated a deal. kerry has been the karzai handler, the karzai whisperer, if you will, even when he was a senator. now we have the national security adviser going over there and leaving empty handed. what do you make of that? >> it's a stunning sort of gamble on the part of karzai. in something i wrote, i said kerry deserved a diplomatic medal of honor for the amount of time he's spent talking with hamid karzai. i think it's vital that the u.s. take a very hard line here. most afghans, particularly in kabul and in the north, absolutely want this agreement. they want american troops to

stay. and this is a rare possibility for the u.s. to make this clear, we are going to leave, and maybe hurt karzai standing inside of afghanistan. so they should not budge and, you know, if it actually comes to it, plan to leave u.s. troops to get them all out of afghanistan. >> and kristen, you're there on the north lawn of the white house. what are you seeing behind you, if you can figure that out as to when we might see the turkey? >> reporter: well, i think we're going to see the president in a few minutes. he's going to come out and announce who the national thanksgiving turkey is. that goes to a bird named popcorn this year. his alternate will be caramel. i have a few details about both of these birds. they're about 20 weeks old, weighing in at 38 pounds. i can tell you that popcorn, who is the national thanksgiving turkey, his favorite song is "halo" by beyonce. he likes to eat corn, not

surprisingly. and he's described as having a prideful walk. what makes this interesting is that the white house asks americans to go online and vote who should be the national thanksgiving turkey. so seems like popcorn won out this year, but caramel will be his alternate. they both kind of win out because they wind up going to george washington's mt. vernon through the christmas holiday. this tradition dates back a ways. it dates back to john f. kennedy jr. he was the first president to pardon a turkey. and it is a tradition that obviously a lot of folks look forward to. andr andrea? >> and jeffrey goldberg, one could ask why? >> one could ask why about a lot of things. i love the view of the turkey right now, by the way. he's giving his backside to the camera. >> well, he's finally turned around. >> i think it was a bold choice for the white house to institute

a death panel for turkeys, by the way. a public vote on who should live and who should die. a very interesting choice given the timing of everything. >> of course, these turkeys -- >> they're all going to live. >> they're all going to live. they don't live very long. >> not too long. but very comfortably. >> very comfortably from the willard to williamsburg. >> they're going to have a nice colonial lifestyle. >> as we wait for the president, we should point out 42% of men will be cooking the thanksgiving turkey this year. so this year for the first time, men are going to be among the experts answering what are expected to be more than 1 million calls into butter ball's famous help line. nbc's kevin tibbles found out they had to pass a rigorous training exercise. >> what's a typical male caller say aside from help? >> first of all, you've got to talk them down. you got to talk them off the ledge of turkey crisis.

there's no crisis we can't handle here. >> and as you can see, people from the turkey federation are coming out. they helped grow these turkeys, or raise these turkeys. i don't know. i'm not a turkey expert. but they're coming out of the north portico. then we're expecting to see the first family as well. it's a windy day there, as kristen welker can attest to. it has not been the best weather here. we had a huge rainstorm overnight and this morning when we were all doing the "today" show. it has stopped raining as hard as it had previously. look at those flags going. soon we're going to have the president of the united states. jeff goldberg, as we look at the north portico, and kristen, chime in here, popcorn is certainly ready for his moment. >> ready for his close-up. >> ready for his close-up. >> you know, by the way, you are an expert on turkey.

i want to argue against it. >> i can cook. >> i mean the country that bridges asia and europe. i don't want people to think you're not an expert on turkey. >> thank you. and here's the president with sasha and malia. >> the office of the presidency, the most powerful position in the world, brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities. this is not one of them. but the white house turkey pardon is a great tradition, and i know malia loves it, as does sasha. generally speaking, thanksgiving is a bad day to be a turkey, especially at a house with two dogs. so i salute our two guests of honor, caramel and popcorn, for their bravery. they came all the way from outside badger, minnesota, to be with us. they, like my chief of staff, are vikings fans.

i'm not sure that they know -- uh-oh. yeah, see? i'm not sure they know that my bears are heading to minnesota on sunday, but in the spirit of thanksgiving, i'm going to give them a break. we are also exciting to have students from badger high school here. where are you guys? there they are, right there. finally, let me say thank you to the chairman of the national turkey federation. give him a big round of applause. [ cheers and applause ] now, 80 turkeys on john's farm competed for the chance to make it to the white house and stay off the thanksgiving table. it was quite literally the hunger games. and then after weeks of vocal practice and prepping for the cameras, the two tributes, caramel and popcorn, went head to head together for america's vote as top gobbler. the competition was stiff, but we can officially declare that

popcorn is the winner, proving that even a turkey with a funny name can find a place in politics. as for caramel, he's sticking around. he's already busy raising money for his next campaign. on a more serious note, later today michelle, malia, sasha and i will bring a couple less fortunate turkeys to a great organization that works to help out our neighbors here in d.c. who need it most. i want to thank the turkey farm in orfield, pennsylvania, for donating those dressed birds for the fifth year in a row. this is a reminder that this is a season not only to be thankful for the incredible blessings that we have but also to remember the neediest and generously serve those who are not as fortunate. you know, this is a quintessential american holiday. during this time we give thanks

to our friends and family, for citizens who show compassion to those in need, and for neighbors who help strangers they've never met. we give thanks for the blessings of freedom and opportunity that previous generations worked so hard to secure for and we give thanks for the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform who serve our nation around the world. for those of you who are watching, you keep us safe, you make us proud, and you remind us of our own obligations to build on the work of our predecessors and leave something better for our own kids. so on behalf of the obama family, i want to wish everybody a very happy thanksgiving. tomorrow as we gather with our own friends and family, we'll count ourselves lucky that there's more to be thankful for than we can ever say and more to be hopeful for than we can ever imagine. now, before these turkeys get away, with the power vested in me, i want to grant popcorn a full reprieve.

come on. popcorn, you are free from cranberry sauce and stuffing. we wish you well, and we're going to give caramel a break as well. all right? congratulations, everybody. [ applause ] >> and with that, the president has ab solved or pardoned or blessed the turkeys. as any father, you're a father of teenagers, as any father of teenage girls know, they're sitting there saying, oh, come on, dad. >> there's nothing teenage girls would want to do more than just sit right there and watch a turkey being ab solved of its sins in the cold with their dad. >> but they'll go out this afternoon, as they always do, the obamas go and help feed the hungry and some of the soup kitchens here. that is also a wonderful tradition which he also alluded to. happy thanksgiving, my friend.

david, thanks for putting up with all of our turkey silliness here. and kristen welker, get inside and warm up and thank you. and we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] making a pie that pops is surprisingly easy.

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and with both sides claiming victory with the interim nuclear deal with iran, critics in congress are threatening to ratchet up the sanctions pressure. joining me now is congressman adam schiff of california. just back in town from having traveled with the president over the last two days. so we heard him on that trip defending the deal and basically saying it's easy to bluster, he used that word, and play politics, but it's harder to do real diplomacy. >> well, he's absolutely right. it doesn't get more difficult than negotiating with iranians. but i think this is a positive step forward. i hope that the congress will work with the president. we're going to be in a much better position if we are united with executive and not at odds

as we go into this six-month period. it's going to be very difficult to get to a final deal. this gives us the possibility of doing that, but there are tremendous obstacles in the way. and i don't underestimate the task ahead. >> president rouhani is already saying we're open for business, and we see in "the financial times" today, they're already talking to the oil companies about what could happen six months from now, as early as six months from now, and redoing deals even though those sanctions are still in place. >> they're obviously putting their best spin on this. i think the administration is right to be re-enforcing with our allies. there's going to be no let up in the sanctions. there is this partial lifting of a freeze on iranian assets. unless we get to a final deal, not only will the freeze go away, but we're going to be implementing new sanctions. so it's very important that the business community understand this is not carte blanche. and i think they get that. i can't imagine major companies

are going to want to sink a lot of resources into something that may completely evaporate in a few months. but we have an opportunity here, and there aren't that many to avoid another military conflict, to bring a halt to iran's program. it may happen, it may not. but i think it would have been irresponsible not to test whether we can get to an agreement. >> do you have any concerns that the deal does not involve the missile technology? one could ask, why do they need long-range missiles? why are they developing them if they don't have a weapons program? >> nuclear energy, for that matter. a nation awash in petroleum resources. certainly. i would love the agreement to have gone even further, but the agreement did achieve a very significant objective. it rolls back all their 20% enriched uranium. it puts a freeze on the iraq heavy water reactor. these are things that would have not happened over the next six months if we didn't have this

interim deal. we'd still be trying to see if we could get to a final deal in six months. the difference is all this would be going ahead at pace. so look, i think it's positive. the most difficult challenge i think at the end of the day to getting to a final deal is iran will have to come clean on its weapons work. and that, of course, will run contrary to its entire story, its entire narrative and whether they will be willing to do that. it's going to be tough. >> do you see any sign that this could be transformative in other areas, syria, for instance? >> you know, it has that potential. obviously, we've had a poisonous relationship with iran for decades now. there are very real internal limits on what rouhani could do, even if he wanted to do it. but there is the potential of putting the u.s.-iranian relationship on a different footing. you know, we're certainly still going to have major differences with iran on a whole host of issues. just as we do with russia. but as we saw with russia and the chemical weapons in syria, there are areas of overlapping interest.

indeed, we had that opportunity in confronting the taliban with iran, but that did not materialize, but there is a potential here for a different kind of a relationship. >> congressman adam schiff, thank you so much. >> you bet. >> and happy thanksgiving. great to see you here. and in the u.k., you could say that they were living on a prayer at kensington palace last night. prince william pulled double duty, hosting a charity event for homeless youth and also singing back-up for bon jovi. ♪ living on a prayer ♪ take my hand, we'll make it i swear ♪ ♪ oh, living on a prayer before using her new bank of america credit card, which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life

she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you. yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

♪ hark how the bells, sweet silver bells ♪ ♪ all seem to say throw care away ♪ ♪ from everywhere, filling the air ♪ [ female announcer ] chex party mix. easy 15-minute homemade recipes you just pop in a microwave. like caramel chocolate drizzles. happier holidays. chex party mix. welcome back. what should the republican party be thankful for as we enter this holiday season? let's ask michael steele, msnbc analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee. welcome. >> hello. >> happy almost holiday.

>> yes. >> well, you're smiling way too broadly, mr. steele. >> i'm thinking about my turkey. >> you're thinking about your turkey, thinking about the polling, the generic ballot polling with the ten-point bump for republicans in the last month since health care began to -- >> it's amazing what will happen when republicans shut up and listen. >> that's been your advice to tea party colleagues. >> shut up and let this thing unfold naturally the way it will. there's a lot of lessons, particularly going into next year. as this thing continues to unfold, obama care is not done yet. the website is just the first cog in the wheel that's being created here. >> and as we speak today, the white house is about to announce another delay, another year's delay in online enrollment for small businesses. >> yeah, and again, i just don't understand why the administration at this point doesn't take the advice of senior democratic leaders and just delay this whole thing.

get the ground floor right. i mean, if you don't build the foundation correctly with this, andrea, as you know, this will topple over very quickly. the idea that you're inviting people into a system that is untested in any form or measure, that has problems with the website. you think think is problematic for folks, what happens when they actually try to put in a claim or get the kind of care that they're looking for if doctors aren't in place, if technicians aren't in place who are going to be part of this new system. so i think that the better part of wisdom, and i get the politics, but the better part of wisdom is to really step back and say there are too many moving parts and elements that we don't know answers to yet. let's just step back and make sure we can begin to at least address some of those concerns. but they won't do that, this thing will continue to unfold. the president in measure after measure will say this will stay, this will delay, this will go forward. that's not the way to do it.

>> another big political step the administration took yesterday was to say that they're going to issue new rules to try to rein in groups. they're going to say we're not going to impede your freedom of speech, but we're going to say if you do this right before an election and do this so overtly, you're not going to have tax exempt status. can they get away with that? >> well, we'll see. you know, this administration has had an uncanny pinch on revising the law or ignoring it altogether, putting its own set of rules in place. >> well, that's because in fairness, groups -- this just exploded, what had been a very narrowly interpreted function for -- >> right. >> -- for groups not connected to a campaign literally exploded into more than $1 billion.

>> whether or not they get away with it remains to be seen. a lot of folks are looking at this particular effort by the administration going into next year. we get the politics. you know, i don't know how it plays out, to be honest with you, simply because, you know, the administration so to speak there are things that they don't like, but then there are things they do themselves that you sit there and go, i thought you didn't like that. you've got that aspect of it on the political side. i just don't know how it plays out. we'll see in the next few months. >> i sense another court challenge. >> that's ultimately where it's going to winds up, in front of the courts, very much as we saw with obama care, the supreme court decided yesterday to take that additional step to look at whether a public -- >> exceptions. >> public company can make a religious exception as well. you'll have a number of tracks into next year, one in the vein of obama care and exceptions to

obama care and political side with fund raising and big dollar donors and how that plays out. >> thank you very much. nasty weather is continuing to rain and some places snowing on thanksgiving travel plans. millions of people along the east coast, high winds could ground the balloons at tomorrow's thanksgiving day parade in new york city. out west, clear skies over the golden gate bridge in san francisco. at the busy portland airport in oregon, beautiful skies there as well. we'll be right back with more on the turkey day parade. as a business owner, i'm constantly putting out fires. so i deserve a small business credit card with amazing rewards. with the spark cash card from capital one, i get 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. i break my back around here. finally someone's recognizing me with unlimited rewards! meetings start at 11, cindy. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day.

what's in your wallet? i need your timesheets, larry!

as my friend tamron hall prepares to take over. hi, tamron. happy and safe thanksgiving to you and all of you out there and also to many people out there, happy hanukkah tonight. it is first time hanukkah and thanksgiving are occurring on the same date, an occurrence that won't happen again for more

than 70,000 years. the hebrew and of course the other calendar. thanks to all and happy parade and football. tamron, i hope you have time off. >> i do. you work harder than anyone in the building. what do you have planned? >> lots of turkey. >> does andrea mitchell prepare the turkey? or do you call your friends like martha stewart. >> that's a state secret. >> i tried last year and left a turkey bag in the turkey -- >> i cleaned it and i swear to you -- >> tamron. >> i served it to my guests, they never noticed. >> i think they may know now. >> our football team the cowboys are playing. are you a ravens fan? >> ravens, go ravens. >> thanks, tamron. >> it's good to see you. >> have a great day.

>> coming up in our next hour, right now more than 2,000 flights across the nation delayed. that will wipe the smile right off your face. this morning there are around a couple hundred and the roads are not much better, icy conditions to blame for the traffic backup and dozens of accidents including this pileup in philadelphia. we're tracking it all for you. plus, reaction to the stinging critique of capitalism. this has a lot of people talking and you'll have people talking about it over thanksgiving dinner. >> grammy award winning physician, esperanza spalding will talk about her new single, urging our leaders to close the camp at guantanamo bay. she's on tour and taking a break to join "s news nation." they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights

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>> "news nation" is following how the extreme weather is sweeping across a third of the countries is affecting plans for millions of people on the busiest travel day of the year. more than 3 million plus travelers expected to fly today. this is what many -- take a listen what many are facing across the airports around the country and of course on the east coast especially right now. long lines, delays and cancellations, according to the site flightstats, which checks flights worldwide, more than 400 flights have been canceled and more than 2700 others delayed. and one glance at flight aware's misery map, that's what they call it, deemed the misery map, it shows and not just airports in the path of this storm system that's affected. so far airports in new york city, washington, chicago and boston and atlanta are all seeing the most cancellations and delays and still some passengers were optimistic t