people greater confidence that their rights are being protected. even as our intelligence and law enforcement agencies maintain the tools they need to keep us safe. >> tinder box fueled by wind and bone dry terrain from a record california drought. hundreds of firefighters are battling this explosive wildfire and threatening hollywood landmarks and thousands of homes. call of duty, more of my interview with robert gates, including the handling of sexual saults in the military and his criticism of the commander in chief for what he says not doing enough to rally the troops. >> i think the troops expect that from the commander in chief. with one or two exceptions, we really didn't hear that from the president. >> and happy 50th birthday michelle obama. welcome to the club.

>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington, the president defended the intelligence community for charges of abuse and argued technology is expanding so rapidly the u.s. has to be vigilant. while not weakening national security. >> what's at stake in this debate goes far beyond a few months of headlines or passing tensions in our foreign policy. when you cut through the noise, what's really at stake is how we remain true to who we are in a world that is remaking itself at dizzying speed. >> ben rhodes is the deputy national security adviser for strategic communication for the obama administration. thank you very much. a very big speech. what comes to mind immediately is the president defended what's been going on since there haven't been abuses and what he said last june when this first

erupted. why make these changes? >> well, andrea, the president was clear there has not been abuse of existing authorities and the collection of metadata creates a risk of potential abuse if we don't put in place stronger safeguards and that's what we've done today. for instance, on the section 215 telephone metadata program in terms of transitioning from the government holding the bulk telephone records of the american people. >> and he's given the attorney general and intelligence community 60 days to come up with a solution. but i'd be hard pressed and you would be as well to come up with what is the solution? if the government isn't going to hold the records and telephone companies don't want to, what third party that doesn't now exist is going to be able to do it and how will the intelligence community if pressed come up with a new way without losing any of the protections and safeguards that everyone acknowledges are necessary, a new way to store these data so

they can be accessed? >> well, andrea, first of all, effective immediately, the government is not going to query the database without going to a court and getting judicial review first. that's a step already in place. then there are three options. one is for the companies to hold this data again and the government accesses it through a query. two is create a mechanism that doesn't exist, a third party to hold this. the third point is that the president has pressed the intelligence community to go back and look at whether other existing programs can allow them to map terrorist communications, the main purpose of 215 without holding the data. it may be we can find a way to use our existing capabilities to map communications without having a need for the database of bulk metadata. that's what we're going to look at over the next 60 days before it's reauthorized in march. >> this is what the president said last june. watch this and we can talk on the other side.

>> i came in with a healthy skepticism about these programs. my team evaluated them. we scrubbed them thoroughly and expanded some of the oversight. increased some of the safeguards but my assessment and my team's assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. >> are we going to be weaker now against potential terrorist attacks because of these changes because very clearly, he was satisfied last june. now, unless he learns something from edward snowden, to the contrary, he is making changes now that will slow down the process. >> well, he's very clear that we have to protect the core capabilities that these programs give us. but in implementing these

programs, we can do so in a way that has more safeguards for privacy. to take a few examples the fisa court now, we won't have an independent voice at the table to raise privacy concerns on the issues. on the metadata, we don't think the government has to hold that metadata in order to be able to access the information we need to map terrorist communications. on the 702 program, the communications between foreign targets and potentially incidental collection on americans communications, we've also said we can find ways to purge the data to make sure it can't be used against americans in criminal proceedings. what these are privacy safeguards that contain the capability to go after terrorists but give americans that there is oversight and checks on powers and putting in place strict procedures so people have confidence that their civil liberties are not being violated. >> how much of this what you might call the angela merkel factor, that merkel's cell phone was among the cell phones

targeted? we're now told by officials as many as a dozen close and friendly foreign leaders will no longer be eavesdropped upon. >> well, andrea, i think that number is higher. what i'd say though is we have extraordinary capabilities to gather intelligence overseas and have a responsibility to do that and it helps our partners as well. but america has unique capabilities. we're addressing two audiences, public, we're going to extend the protections that american have to foreign persons, which is unique. it's something as the president said that i'm sure china and russia aren't doing, how long we hold this data and what we use it for is placed under some restriction. for the heads of state of those governments we're saying the norm is going to be that the united states does not conduct surveillance on you unless there's a particularly compelling national security need that causes the president's senior officials to recommend that to him. both heads of state and

government and foreign publics can have some assurance the surveillance capabilities are focused on threats and not focused on necessary that is not necessary to hold and might be seen as an intrusion on their privacy. >> as many as 200 text messages a day were being collected from around the world by the nsa at least as recently as 2011. is that still going on? >> i would say generally that people need to draw a distinction. people aren't sitting around reading everybody's text messages all day. that wouldn't be a good use of anybody's time and not necessary, would be an intrusion on privacy. the fact of the matter is we do do bulk collection of communications to allow us to try to find the needle in the hey stack. the only time we will go after the content of those materials as the president said today, when we collect signals is for explicit purposes that we spell

out like counter terrorism and counter proliferation and counter espionage. these are very specific purposes in which we would seek to access the content and not scooping everything up and rifling through and looking at people's private data. we're looking for threats that could affect not just the united states but our allies as well. >> ben rhodes, thanks very much for joining us at the white house today. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza, and chuck todd, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily run rundown." the president and his team clearly responding to the outrage, to the bad public relations and diplomatic outrage. how much have they really done today in this speech? >> i think if this is an important issue to you, you're not satisfied, perhaps if you're in the intelligence community

side you are satisfied. he didn't get to his reforms. it took about halfway through the speech, spent 25 minutes defending these practices, 9/11, some of the left didn't like that when president bush used to do it. it was remarkable how much time he spent defending practices that were done. then the reforms today -- the most important reform that was done that is tangible is the fisa court reform, the fact there will be a public advocate in there. >> which the fisa judge said he does not like. >> that's a good thing. you should look at it -- you're supposed to be a little disruptive sometimes and it's supposed to be -- that operate looked like it was running too smooth. it sounds like it needs to be disrupted. many people look at that as a positive. on the bulk data, he didn't a lot of people say, no, why are we collecting this at all? that part of the debate as far

as the president is concerned is over. we're going to do this. the question is how do we do it? and i'm happy to reform how we structure this and how we do it but we really aren't changing that much. it is really about process than it is about the actual gathering of information. >> but the process in fact is going to be very complicated. chris cillizza, there is no road map from where they are going to store these data. and if the president is saying we need to have the metadata but we're not going to collect it -- we'll collect it but not going to store it on government property but at the same time most privacy advocates or many privacy advocates would acknowledge that it's not necessarily better to have the telephone companies have it. we haven't been -- we certainly have enough information recently that credit card and other information can be penetrated very easily. >> well, two things, the first

is to chuck's point, this is really a process argument. it's not should the data be collect the but it's who should hold the data after it's been collected. number two, you just heard ben rhodes talk about this. it's not clear who will hold the data. will it be these phone companies and will they create another entity whose job solely it is to hold the data. is there some way outside of the government that it exists now -- that's a whole other hornet's nest in terms of who wants to hold the data much less whether we should collect it. the thing i thought that was most interesting and chuck touched on this, this speech struck me as an attempt to reassure the american public, reassure foreign leaders and reassure foreign citizens that there is reason to have faith in the american government and what they are doing in regards with

the nsa. this was not a rejection of the surveillance programs. it was an attempt to largely defend why the surveillance programs are necessary and yes, we understand you're not happy so here are a few things we'll do to make it more transparent or make it sort of -- change it in some way but we're not going to fundamentally alter what president obama frankly still thinks judging from his record is the right thing to be doing. >> now, in total switching gears, i wanted to touch base as we go into this busy weekend about chris christie and the trip to florida and chuck todd, fund raising, trying to reassure the base and sort of find out just how much damage has been done as subpoenas are flying. >> this is -- there are so many things he's going to learn on this trip. he's going to have meet and greet with donors, home depot ken langone and meet and greet

and find out a firsthand look how does he respond to the questions they have. he's going to get a test a little bit there. what will be interesting is going to be a lot of other republican governors are going to be watching christie with scott and christie in texas and see is this going to be a distraction? christie has two or three weeks to prove, the first trips he does as republican governor chair and all of this stuff after bridge is going to be a distraction. is it an ongoing distraction where there's suddenly quiet pressure, why don't you take a leave of absence, we don't need to bring that problem and export it to states we're trying to hold governships. >> he's going to illinois next. we've got to talk about instant replay in baseball. chris, how is this going to change the game? >> as a big college basketball fan, i feel like i'm watching the game takes forever, maybe

it's the time i root for, georgetown is not very good and fouls a lot so the play stops a lot. they are constantly going to the monitors to examine fouls. he like goal line technology in the world cup, baseball already with apologies to chuck's national league, baseball already takes too long -- >> no it doesn't. >> hours. hours. >> they need it -- look, we're all for this. we want to get it right. there's a poor picture detroit tigers who lost a perfect game and on instant replay would have overturned. do what wimbledon did, there are ways to technology with lines and baselines and putting technology into the wall. i think you can do it faster where you know for sure -- you're not letting the eye do it. you're letting a piece of electronic, no, it went over the line. the foot hit first, the bag went off at this point in time. there are -- i think they need to move quickly because i do

worry this will lengthen baseball. the rap on baseball it's too long. it's not as long as chris thinks it is. >> he is notorious -- >> he's got add. >> occasionally -- fine. >> see you later. thanks, chuck. see you later, chris. coming up the outbreak, dangerous drought conditions sparking explosive wildfires like this one threatening los angeles. the latest on the fire fight out west coming up. [ male announcer ] this man has an accomplished research and analytical group at his disposal. ♪ but even more impressive is how he puts it to work for his clients. ♪ morning. morning. thanks for meeting so early. oh, it's not a big deal at all. come on in. [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

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this incredible nasa image shows the enormous plumes of smoke seen from space. it has burned 1700 acres and 30% contained. miguel almaguer reports. >> reporter: overnight fueled by wind and across bone dry terrain, the colby fire threatened to again explode out of control. >> water drops on homes and you don't see that often. wow. >> reporter: thursday the blaze barrelled towards million dollar properties. the inferno moving so quickly, firefighters gave extra hoses to neighbors to join the fight. >> when it was coming down, it jumped seemed like 50 feet in no time at all flying down the hill. >> reporter: with hot embers flying through the sky and trees shooting flames into the air. 5,000 scramble to evacuate. most getting out with just the clothes on their back. the historic singer mansion

owned by the famed sewing company was surrounded by flame and guest home a complete loss. ron galloway barely escaped with his life. >> it went so quick. it was like get out. >> reporter: the damage could have been worse because this area was already under a high fire threat when the blaze broke out, crews were already scattered across the region. this morning three men are in custody. police say their illegal campfire sparked the blaze with most evacuation orders lifted -- >> my structure is still standing thankfully. >> reporter: crews warn these drought stricken hills remain a tinder box. >> former defense secretary robert gates has a new book "duty." the former secretary sharply criticizes congress and some members of the obama administration, including the president. i sat down with gates for an interview and we began our

conversation there. >> you write in the book about so much internal dissent over the foreign policy team. in reretrospect, is team of rivals a bad idea? >> no, i point out in the book, i know afghanistan has gotten all of the atepgs, but i'm pretty explicit in the book about the fact that on virtually every other foreign policy issue, particularly from the beginning of the administration to the arab spring we were in accord whether it was the outreach to missile and iran or new missile defense system for europe, how to deal with china, middle east and so on. there really was a lot of accord. there was a lot of disagreement over afghanistan and that has gotten -- >> and egypt and libya -- >> then there was a big difference over the arab spring, particularly egypt.

where interestingly enough, the team of rivals, if you were, were all together. the vice president, secretary clinton, myself, national security adviser, chairman of joint chiefs, all were in accord that we handle mubarak on a different way. then the president went a different way. the kaleidoscope changes again on libya. but there again, the vice president and i are on the same side. >> you're criticisms of the president despite the fact that you supported and agreed with where he came out on afghanistan, but your criticism is about his lack of passion, not communicating adequately to the troops. talk about that, how you feel he let down these heroes by not letting them know more vverballt why this war was so important after running on the platform of saying that afghanistan was the

good war. >> as is clear, i say in the book i supported all of his decisions in afghanistan and continue to support them, the strategic agreement with the afghans and so on. the two things that troubled me the suspicions of the motive of the senior leadership up to the surge. and second his unwillingness to speak out frequently and publicly about the need to be successful in afghanistan and why the cause that the soldiers and marines and those were fighting for was just, why it was nobel and why their sacrifice -- i think the troops expect that from the commander in chief. with one or two exceptions, we didn't hear that from the president. and you know, the troops are smart. i mean, they know the score.

they know the mission is important. so they fought with valor and sacrificed with valor, but i think it would have been a good thing to have heard more from the commander in chief why it was worth it. >> you're unsparing in your criticism of joe biden. you haven't contracted that at all. will he make a good commander in chief given his suspicious and questioning attitude as you describe it in many debates towards the military? >> well, somehow i suspect the democrats don't want a republican handy capping their 2016 race. i say in the book very clearly that i had a lot of respect for joe. i like him. we sat next to each other for two and a half years. we have a very cordial relationship. as i suggested, the irony is for most of the obama administration, we actually agreed on most issues other than on afghanistan. now, that's a big deal. >> but you say that he didn't --

he made bad foreign policy decisions for 40 years. >> he -- beginning with his vote against the aid package for south vietnam as part of our arrangements for getting out, to voting against virtually every major weapons system part of the defense buildup under president reagan and reagan's strategy for dealing with the soviet union and voting against the first gulf war and so on. when i say that in the book, it's really referring more to the period when he was a senator than as vice president, although i don't minimize the extent of our disagreement on afghanistan. although, i do take -- i blame myself. i criticize myself in the book for not reaching out more to the vice president in the fall of 2009 to see if we couldn't privately figure out a way to minimize our differences. >> the fact is though that the

president clearly let the national security team kind of dominate military and foreign policy to the extent that national security aids were reaching out to commanders in the field. you write in the book, you said to biden and others, the last time we looked they were not in the chain of command, the president was. you would take orders from the president not from the -- >> that's right. and i worked there in the white house and on the national security council staff for nearly nine years under four presidents and write in the book if some of the things had happened under henry kissinger and xoe krost, that happened under president obama, a staffer would have been fired in terms of reaching out to four star combatant commanders and others. >> you took some very tough actions, firing the air force secretary and general in charge over the nuclear command. now we have another investigation into misbehavior,

cheating scandal. >> my reaction was i thought i took care of that problem. >> well, what -- do we have to worry about the -- >> i don't think you have to worry about the security of the weapons or the efficacy of our deterrent and so on. the problem that was identified in 2008 when i fired the secretary of the air force and chief of staff, was that particularly after the end of the cold war, that the nuclear mission became in terms of career opportunities, became secondary or even ter sharery in the air force. and resources were cut in terms of maintenance and in terms of -- this was not where the high flyers in the air force wanted to go. >> it's not a great career move all way down. >> so without that sense of immediacy to the mission, discipline became lax and we've seen all of these others

problems. the interesting thing though is you have not seen anything comparable in the nuclear mission on the navy side with the ballistic missile submarines and maybe it was because they go to sea all the type, that discipline has to be maintained. but there's been a real difference in those two elements of the nuclear mission. >> bob gates, we'll have more from that interview coming up in a few minutes. meanwhile, two soldiers who die in an aircraft crash in bagram air field have now been identified. chief warrant officer andrew mcadams, 27 years old, leaves behind his wife carol and 3-month-old daughter and drew scobie leaves behind a 4-year-old son and wife mckenna expecting their second child in june. the department of defense says the fatal crash is still under investigation. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open.

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in veterans of the intelligence community pushing back on the president's comments. >> it appears the president will now demand that the nsa go to the fisa court before they ask the data a question. i was director of nsa on september 11th. that procedure reminds me of the way we operated before the september 11th attacks. that makes me uncomfortable because in addition to this specific thing, it sends a message to the bureaucracy that we're trending back to the old ways of doing business. >> joining me now is congressman adam schiff, democrat from california. are we going back to a september 10th mind set? >> no, i'm surprised to hear the former director say that. i think that's shockingly inaccurate. what the president has said, we're going to go to fisa court when we want to query this data

base except if there's an emergency. the 9/11 transformation was one about coordinating information about the left hand and right hand knowing what each other are doing. that's not implicated in the decision to have a court review when there's no exjent circumstance and it was a sound decision by the president. >> chuck todd and chris and i were talking about how defensive the president was, not defensive in a -- but how much he defended the program. and is not abandoning the mass collection. as long as the mass collection is going to continue and he's only putting up the issue of where it is stored, does that not go far enough to satisfy privacy concerns? >> well, it certainly won't satisfy some of the privacy advocates that don't want to see the private companies hold the data for any period of time. but the president made a sincible decision and we're going to see an end to the bulk collection of data.

as a practical matter though, this program is on an 18-month life. i think it goes away in 18 months. >> when congress has to reauthorize. >> when it has to be reauthorized. so i think as a practical matter we're going to move to the model where the telecommunications companies hold on to their own data and use the period it takes congress to act or 18 months if we don't act to develop the technology at nsa to compare and talk to these data bases among providers. >> as a result of snowden disclosures that foreign governments now know more about what we're doing than they know about their own governments, that all of america's secrets are out in public. >> i think that's absolutely true. i think citizens of other countries far nor about the united states than their own governments are doing. as the president alluded to today, who are complaining most loudly about the u.s. are doing are doing their own espionage

without the privacy protections. it's also true a lot of programs in particular, the 702 program that looks at the content of foreign communications, just as often has helped more often protect our allies from a tax within allied capitals as it has to protect our own citizens. they've been the beneficiaries of a lot of our efforts. >> thanks for being with us today. >> coming up next, more of my interview with robert gates, including the strategy for fighting one of the military's biggest battles, the sexual assaults within the ranks. ♪ we're gonna be late. ♪ ♪ ♪ oh are we early?

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now more on our interview with defense secretary robert gates about his new book "duty" talking about military sexual assault and don't ask, don't tell. >> you and mike mullen testified

about don't ask, don't tell, dramatic testimony, particularly the comments from admiral mullen and you were pressured by rahm emanuel and others in the white house to move quickly. then you wrote you were surprised when jay johnson and the others did the study, there was less resistance to changing and getting -- >> i think we were all surprised. the reason i wanted to do the review and the reason the president agreed to it, mr. president, everything we know about the attitude of the troops is anecdotal from bar talk someplace or whispers in the baracks or something like that. we don't really know -- nobody knows what the troops think so we don't know whether we'll have a serious problem. and i think one of the benefits of the review was first of all that it let us know that there wasn't significant resistance in the force to change. but second it helped us pinpoint where the problem areas might be so we can address those in

chaining and in regulations and so on. >> do you think similarly that now with the controversy over assault -- sexual assaults in the military, that perhaps again the commanders don't really know and might be surprised if they went let's say as gillibrand has indicated, went outside the chain of command for outside prosecutors, perhaps it would be a good thing and you all again would be surprised on this social issue? >> i think that the root of the problem is leadership. only when people are held a accountable for failures and senior leaders are fired because they haven't taken it serious enough that you again to get the reverb race through the force. >> in retrospect, did you and others not take it seriously enough? >> i think that we did not -- i

think we did not appreciate how serious a problem it was until probably around 2010. and at that point i devoted -- i allocated a lot of money to better training our prosecutors because the defense lawyers for those who are accused are experts in defending sexual abuse cases. the sexual assault cases our prosecutors are generalists, even when we went to trial we were getting beat but we didn't keep rape kits as long as regular police departments did. there were a lot of things we weren't doing in terms of getting good prosecutions and we all located a lot of money to that. there's been a lot more done subsequently in terms of changing and in the role of commanders. i do believe keeping this in the chain of command is important. my own view is that if a

commander makes a decision that seems contrary to what the decision of the court-martial or the jury is, that that decision oug automatically be reviewed at the higher level and i also strongly support providing legal assistance to victims of sexual assault as they have done. and i think that allowing somebody who has filed a sexual assault charge to leave a unit immediately and be transferred into a less hostile environment is really necessary as well. >> and finally, on the troops, you said that you think that perhaps one of the reasons for the increase in suicides is the extended tours of duty. >> it's a very complex problem because a significant percentage

of suicides are committed by troops who never deploy. and trying to figure out -- and the truth is, i think as a former university president, there is a suicide problem with that generation and that age group of 18 to 25. every university president has had to deal with suicides on his or her campus. it's clearly more widespread now in the military. actually it wasn't when i became secretary. the military members were below the civilians suicide rates. i think it's the repeated deployment is a constant stress but most of the time we found it has to do with problems with a marriage, financial problems, but they have to all be aggravated by the cost of military service. and so figuring out -- i think this is one of those problems the military leadership has jumped all over it and doing

everything possible to try to get to these kids so that they don't end up with a sense of hopelessness and being so alone. >> do you regret going back into government and answering the call to service and duty? >> not in the slightest. i talk in the book about how much i didn't enjoy the job and detested the fighting here in washington and so on. but being able to lead and to serve with the men and women in uniform was the most gratifying greatest honor of my life. >> robert gates, his memoir is "duty." coming up, minding the gap. mya harris joins me on one of the pressing civil rights issues of our time. that and more from the shriver report here next. [ male announc] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

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hardships that women face in america. special anchor maria shriver had the extraordinary story of evelyn win dixon by the age of 32 was a divorced homeless mother of three. she considered even taking her own life by jumping off a bridge but decided to work her way back and today she is the mayor of riverdale georgia with multiple graduate degrees and living the american dream. >> i had the vision of what it could be -- at the age of 58 with no political experience, dr. dixon ran for mayor of riverdale georgia. >> i won my whole campaign for $2,318.57. >> reporter: she built a new city hall complex and cleaned up the city and ran unopposed for her second term. >> is it hard being mayor? >> reporter: i don't think of myself as mayor. i feel i'm the momma of the county. >> reporter: there are millions and millions of women today who live on the brink of poverty. what would you say to them? >> find something to believe in.

it's not going to be sunny every day. >> reporter: at the age of 64 she prays her life becomes an example for others. >> i am the american dream. i am. i made it. i might have been homeless on the way up there and food stamp and section 8 and still might be full figured but i'm here. >> indeed she is. joining me now is mya harris at the center for american progress. visiting scholar at harvard law school and former director of the northern california aclu and partnering on shriver report. she is so full of life and hope and it came from a point of desperation shared by so many women across america. many single moms, many left with no visible means of supporting. one of the conclusions in maria shriver's report, get as much education as you can. don't drop out of school. >> that's exactly right. she's an incredible woman. i saw her at the shriver

committee and she is so representative of so many women across the country who are courageous and strong and going to work as hard as they can to realize their dreams and take care of their families. but the problems that wefamilie. but the problem that we face, they're working as hard as they can playing by the rules. and the nation has not kept pace with what their current reality is. >> you talk about the wage gap as a gulf. and even though the broadly quoted data is 77 cents to the dollar, that is worse for women of color. and for single women and for people without education. >> that's exactly right. you know, it's amazing, andrea that 50 years after the passage of the equal pay act, we are 50% of the workforce. we're half of the electorate. we earn the majority, actually, of college degrees and advance degrees, but still make less than men. this is something you see across education, across job, across geography and can't be fully explained by the personal choices that women are making.

and so we've made some progress on the wage gap over the last 50 years clearly, but that progress has stalled and it's come to a virtual stand still over the last decade. and this is a real problem when you look at women like the mayor, look at other women who are struggling at or near the brink of poverty. because in today's family, 40% of women with children are -- the families are relying on mom's wages for the primary or the sole source of income. and so increasingly what we're seeing today is that families are relying on women's wages, whether you're talking about single-parent families or two-parent households. in order to have the overall economic security for the family and be able to lift themselves out of poverty and into the middle class. and education clearly is an important factor there. education is a mitigating factor, certainly, in terms of the wage gap. and why in the shriver report, one of the things we've called on women to do is to pursue education and -- and to, you

know, delay having children and family until they're able to do that. . we also need to provide the supports to women to be able to pursue that education. supports like affordable quality child care so they can go to school and get their degree. supports like affordable student loans, so they can pay for their tuition. i know for me, i was a single teenage parent, and i could not have done what i've been able to do had i not had access to child care and not had mechanicians for me to pay for college tuition and law school tuition. >> it's a great lesson and we thank you and all the work you've done with maria shriver on the shriver report. this has been an eye-opening week for a lot of people. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life.

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online and on twitter. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on news nation. hi, tamron. >> we're following developing news in our next hour. what could be a heartbreaking end to the search for a missing boy with autism. he ran out of his school more than three months ago. police are now investigating whether remains found overnight are his. plus, more on the changes the president says are being made to the nsa. but has the president pleased anyone with his ideas that were just announced? representative keith ellison, a critic of the government's data collection program will join us live. and happy birthday mrs. obama, behind the scenes of the plans for the first lady's birthday bash at the white house. plus, we'll show you her official aarp photo with her new car and all. [ male announcer ] marie callender's knows all white meat chicken was made to be blanketed in golden breadcrumbs. with whipped mashed potatoes, topped with a thick homemade gravy. so she makes her country fried chicken to be eaten together. so they savor every last bite. marie callender's.

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what could be a tragic and disturbing end to the search for a missing boy with autism in new york. remains have been found several miles from the school where avante disappeared. clothes match what avante was wearing. new subpoenas on the bridge scandal involving new jersey governor chris christie. and as he heads to fundraisers this weekend, new reports that some in his party think he should take a break from the national stage plus, a victory for voting rights. a key part of voting i.d. laws in the country struck down by a judge. keith ellison will join me live. hi, everyone, i'm tamron hall, the news nation is following what president obama is calling, quote, substantial reforms to the government surveillance programs the president defended the need for surveillance to prevent terror while