battle after a descent. lander touched down on that comet surface. signal confirmed the landing about 28 minutes after traveling at the speed of light all the way back home. that's 317 million miles. mission control in germany received that message at just about 11:00 am eastern. >> a hard-fought battle. 1.3 billion euros in ten years in the making. last night it wasn't even clear that the landing would happen. the thrusters, designed to keep it on that comet, weren't working. again, finally, success. i'll be talking to an astronomer of how this could be a game changer going forward. back here on earth, history made today in climate change.

the u.s. and china, the two biggest polluters, brokering a significant deal on that front. both countries agreed to new deadlines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions the next two decades. here is the president on that today. >> as the world's two largest economies, emit ochters of greenhouse gases, we have the responsibility to lead climate change. >> they agreed to double the pace at which it's reducing carbon emissions by 2025. china, on the other hand, will boost nonfossil fuel share of all of its energy by 2030. these are slow processes under way but it is a significant step. that's because at this point, the u.s. and china produce 40%, 40, of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. a reaction from the hill? just a minute. over at the supreme court, justices took up the issue of race and voting today. returning to the issue of redistricting.

the court heard arguments from democrats and black legislators from alabama, who asked that the court strike down new legislative maps drawn mainly by state republicans. their argument is this. that those new lines unconstitutionally pack more voters in the district of black legislators in order, they say, to make surrounding areas more gop friendly. we'll be keeping an eye on that case and see how it shakes out. former navy s.e.a.l. is in the news. he claims he fired the shot that killed osama bin laden. and he's now sharing new details about the mechanics of that secret mission. that navy s.e.a.l. is rob o'neill, a sniper on s.e.a.l. team six. he says they prepared for months for this raid and that they thought it might be a one-way mission. here he is, recounting the minute he entered the room and laid eyes on the man behind 9/11. >> standing on two feet in front of me, with his hands on his wife was the face that i had seen thousands of times.

it was ubl. my first thought was we've got him, we got him. we just ended the war. >> thanks to our friends at fox news for that. disclosures, of course, come after another s.e.a.l. released a book claiming he was the one who killed bin laden, matt bissonnette, wrote under the pen name of mark owen, who is now being investigated by the pentagon for those disclosures. they are back, guys. congress is back. will they do anything? after nearly two months absent for these mid terms -- we all know what happened there -- today they returned to the ha hallowed halls of capitol hill. fresh off this re-election, mitch mcconnell met today with the shining new faces who will take over this chamber come january. take a listen. >> we're really excited about having a great new bunch here. we hope they'll be joined by dan sullivan and bill cassidy shortly. we are here to make the place

function again and to become to make progress for the american people. >> political correspondent kasie hunt is following this. casey, great to have you back on the show. >> reporter: great to see you, ronan. >> is there any legislative priority that's emerging for this lame duck senate and senate in particular? >> reporter: there's a handful of things to do, most importantly fund the government. they have to do that before december 12th. at this point it looks like there won't be any specific dissent on that. whether or not they're going to try to push through loretta lynch's confirmation as attorney general. it looks like they're thinking of putting that after the lame duck during the new congress. democrats seem to think she shou be fine either way. there will be a couple of things you'll see moving. also you'll potentially see a vote on the keystone pipeline. democrats think that holding a vote on that while they still control the senate might try to give a little bit of a boost to mary landrieu in louisiana, still fighting for her seat in a

runoff. the democratic campaign committee has pulled their ads away. they're not actually putting their money where their mouth is today. >> we've heard from so many republicans on this program and others that keystone is a big priority. msnbc's kasie hunt. >> thanks, ronan. >> what can this lame duck congress realistically accomplish? joining me from pennsylvania to talk about that, senator bob casey. >> thanks, ronan. >> i want to get to the challenges faces you and your colleagues but first the big news, jumping on the president's accord with china. listen to senator mcconnell on that subject this morning. >> i was particularly distressed about the deal apparently he has reached with the chinese on his current trip, which as i read the agreement, requires the chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emission regulations are creating havoc in my state and

other states around the country. >> senator, is this deal, in fact, just too soft? >> we'll have to see, ronan. i think it's far too early and i think it's premature for mitch mcconnell or any member of the senate to be -- two most important players in the world on a whole host of fronts, including climate change, have begun to sit down and work something out. i think it's way too early to judge it either way. but i think it's -- overall, it's a positive development. we have to confront this. i think there's some republicans in the senate who don't want to confront climate change even if they are not deniers, as some are. but even if they don't deny the reality of climate change, they want to keep pushing it down the road as a priority. i think we've got to confront it. it's a very difficult issue to

tackle. but i think it's got to be bipartisan. it doesn't help matters to right out of the gate dismiss what the president is trying to do and to really denegrade any process. >> the other big issue people are talking about on the hill today, immigration. clyburn predicting last night that republicans will try to impeach the president if he moves ahead on executive orders, which he has promised. >> i have been saying for several weeks now, long before the election, that if they maintain their majority in the house and got a significant majority in the senate there will be some reason found to introduce an impeachment resolution. >> senator, what will democrats on the hill do if that happens? >> first, ronan, i hope that

represe representative clyburn has it wrong. he knows the house certainly better than i do. if republicans do move forward with that kind of strategy, i think it would be terribly misguided. it would further divide the country. i think it would substantially damage the republican party. but if they want to go in that direction, that's their choice. what they should do is build upon the foundation that was laid way back in june of 2013 on immigration, where you had 68 members of the united states senate, including 14 republicans coming together on a bipartisan agreement on immigration, which would move the country in the right direction instead of using immigration as another way to divide the country and to kind of demonize those who are trying to get something done on immigration. >> senator casey, we have to

part ways. last question to you, do you ne specific names you see on the republican side coming into power that are actually looking for bipartisanship, reaching across the aisle? >> i think there are a number of folks. i don't want to get into a list. but there are enough republicans in the senate that can work together with our side to get some things done. in the short term, meaning the next couple of weeks, whether it's on appropriations or whether to create a 529 account for folks who have disabilities, first time ever in history we can do that. i think on issues like that, we can move people in the right direction. the next congress is going to be very substantial challenge. but i think on tax reform or on infrastructure and maybe, just maybe, ronan, on the minimum wage if we can get republicans to work with us. i think it's enough to make the sides come together. it's going to be very difficult. we have to do the best we can with the circumstance we face.

>> all right. a lot of words there. no specific names. we'll have to come back to that topic with you, sir. senator bob casey, appreciate your time. >> thanks, ronan. >> quick update we want to give you. something that caught our eye and frankly disturbed us. a video that just hit of three u.s. navy sailors from the u.s.s. ross being assaulted in istanbul, turkey. this happened yesterday. sailors were on shore leave when they were attacked by members of the turkish youth union, hit with rocks. they had paint thrown on them and then bags were placed over their heads. those sailors showed a lot of restraint. they calmly put their hands up. thankfully, they were able to get away. all three were unharmed and safely are back aboard the u.s.s. ross. hats off to the way they handled a difficult situation there. ten years and more than a billion dollars in the making. today, a big step for mankind. details on the breathtaking space mission. and a lot of really cool

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you have all heard that it has landed. >> 4 billion mile journey finally complete. first in human history finally reached. we have landed on a xh comet. by we i mean the european space agency. the spacecraft traveled around the solar system for ten years in a mission fraught with risk. all preparing for today's approach. it took seven hours for the lander to reach comet 67-p.

complicating that mission, the landing thruster meant to help hold it steady didn't even work. the lander was supposed to rely on harpoon-like anchors to fire and connect the comet. which also didn't happen. they're still determining why. it's still able, even with all those obstacles, to touch down on the comet's surface. this is a comet traveling 41,000 miles an hour. captain kirk himself, william shatner tweeted #comet landing, hooray. and, no joke, touchdown confirmed for away team philae 2014, captain. extra terrestrial intelligence, many of you know its fine work.

doctor, first up, why land on a comet? >> to begin with, this is a technical tour de force, ronan. you played a little bit of the applause out of darmstadt, germany, where folks are over the moon about this. well over the moon actually. you know, they're trying to one up, i think, the 1969 landing on the moon by the u.s. and saying this is an equivalent achievement. it is technically. why do you want to do that? why do you want to put this little, i don't know, mechanical mosquito on the surface of this comet? we're interested in comets for three reasons. one, comets could ruin your whole day by slamming into the earth so you want to learn something about them. >> we've all seen armageddon. >> that's right, "deep impact," "armageddon." if you want to deflect one, how hard would that be? second thing is, you look at the oceans, all that water. where did it come from? a lot of that water, we think, came from comets.

you look at the pacific, atlantic, you're looking at comet juice. a lot of it is comet juice. is that really true? that's important to know not so much for our world but other planets. the third thing is comets have been out there for 4 billion years cooking up organic chemistry, putting carbon compounds together and make things like amino acids. these are the components of proteins, dna. it's not clear they ever cooked up life but they may have brought the ingredients for life to our world. now that's important to know, too. >> you mentioned the contrast with the moonlighting. what's the significance of it not being accomplished by nasa? what does that reveal? >> you know, i think there's a lesson in that. a lot of people have been saying for some time now that nasa, because of budget limitations fundamentally, it's relatively a small budget within the federal budget, is slipping behind and other countries are getting up to speed. for a long time nasa has a

monopoly on the big space missions. that's not true anymore. there are not too many big new ones in the pipeline. you can say what do we care? you could have said that 500 years ago when the europeans were beginning to explore the new world. >> right. >> a whole lot of countries didn't get involved and they suffered for that. >> important reminder to look forward even when it's not obvious why. dr. seth shaustek, appreciate your expertise. >> pleasure to be with you, ronan. breaking news unfolding in new york city. new york's fire department is responding to a report of a window washing platform hanging from world trade one. it's not clear if anyone is on it. take a look at this picture posted on twitter. this platform became disabled while on the 50th floor. we'll continue to follow this story and bring you more information as we get it. we'll be right back. i sure hope so.

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disturbing story we brought you a while ago, navy soldiers from the u.s.s. ross being assaulted in istanbul, turkey. the soldiers were on shore leave when they were attacked by members of the turkish youth union. bags were placed over their heads, paint thrown on them. video that's going viral now. jim miklaszewski is joining us from the pentagon. are we getting more motivation about the attackers? >> no navy sailor is going to want to be called a soldier. but nevertheless -- >> absolutely. >> right. these three navy sailors were off the u.s.s. ross destroyer that had been put into istanbul and they were taking liberty, touring istanbul where, as you see in the video, they suddenly were set upon by a group of about 20 wrung men, said to be part of a right wing activist group called the turkish youth

union. and it first started out with some harmless taunts, "yankee go home" that kind of thing. suddenly escalated, as you see here. it became physical. at one point, there were objects, paint, thrown at the three sailors. they were grabbed and then the activists tried to put -- and did, in fact, temporarily put plastic bags on their head. now, what's remarkable about this is that the sailors did it by the book. they were not provocative. they were not an tagonistic. they fled and made it back to their ship safely. u.s. ambassador officials, u.s. navy officials are consulting with turkish security forces. obviously, those that were involved in this assault on these three sailors are on camera, shouldn't be hard to find if they're activists. so the u.s. would anticipate that some kind of security, some

kind of legal actions are taken against these. there was a similar episode that we didn't hear about, which occurred apparently a couple of months ago in turkey. but because there was no video, it didn't make a splash. again, the sailors are safe. that's the good news. and they, as i said, operated and conducted themselves by the book. >> as you say, no video in that other incident. very dramatic video here. that's one reason this is taking hold. thank you for following that. another story gone viral right now on twitter, sadly now deadly weather that a lot of the country is seeing. more snow swamping parts of the upper midwest as a deadly winter storm finally tapers off. that snow is leaving behind a bitter arctic chill even where there's no longer snowfall, dramatic drops in temperature that will be felt even in cities along the east coast. in the 60s here at 30 rock but

they'll drop down to the 30s by tonight. it's getting colder in the midwest as residents dig out from as much as two feet of snow. take a look at this in minnesota. snow sk blamed for deadly accidents that have claimed at least four lives. thoughts with all those families, of course. all right. turning to some cultural craziness, more twitter stories. look at some other issues spike on social media today. we do mean issues. big issues. very, very big. yes. we made kim kardashian trend again because we're the worst. business woman and performer covers paper magazine's winter 2014 issue with the headline "promising to break the internet." and on a prominent display of the feature of hers that the internet loves most dearly, plastered across the tabs here in new york. we'll have to let you imagine the close-up here if you were to zoom in. you get the idea. she poked fun of the images last night on twitter. quote, and they say i didn't have a talent.

try balancing champagne on your ahem -- lol. after three long years of research and development, i don't know what that looks like. are they injecting pumpkin spice serum into rats in a bunker? starbucks releasing a new holiday drink, chestnut praline latte. actually i have one here. there are 49 grams of sugar in this one venti. 49. and just a hint of cocaine. all right. what's -- i'm being told i can't say that. last, but not least, president bill clinton, weighing in on the latest president, fictional one, fitzgerald grant.

>> but the thing about "scandal" and "house of cards" that makes it fun to watch, is i can't imagine that either a president, spacey, or the president's chief of staff on "scandal" could really get way with murder. i wish i had known about that in office. i mean, you know, think of all the opportunities. >> so many people to get rid of. >> so little time, so many people that have it coming. >> so easy. >> yeah. >> come on, mr. president. name some names. perhaps another member of the clinton family also feels similarly? i guess we'll see. we'll be right back. then there's trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence. our expertise, technology, and high quality parts means your peace of mind. it's no wonder last year we sold over three million tires. and during the big tire event, get up to $140 in mail-in rebates on four select tires. ♪

fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know genies can be really literal? no. what is your wish? no...ok...a million bucks! oh no... geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. welcome back, everybody. update on breaking news unfolding in new york city. we brought you this earlier, two window washers hanging from world trade one in lower manhattan, according to the fdny. the new york fire department is readying a high angle rescue, the technical terminology being used. the platform became disabled while at the 50th floor.

terrifying height there. look at that picture. another picture from twitter which shows a different angle. just how high up this platform is. 50 floors. we'll continue to follow this story and bring you more information as we get it. hopefully everybody comes out of that safe. new details from the ferguson grand jury investigation, coming to light just now. nbc learning that forensic scientists dr. michael bodden will be testifying before that jury tomorrow. he says he believes brown was shot six times and also said he saw no signs of struggle, big points of contention at this point. ron allen is following this. we really appreciate it. how does the fact that he's testifying fit into the bigger picture of evidence to this jury? >> reporter: we don't know what is in that big picture so rampant speculation of what this

all might mean. it's opportunity for the prosecutor to say, look, we're leaving no stone unturned. we let the grand jury hear from the families, forensic expert. his interpretation of the evidence as we're trying to be fair and impartial, the prosecutor will probably argue when this is over, regardless of what the outcome of this is. so at this point, some of this is science. i don't think there's much dispute between the various autopsies that have been bodden's and one that was leaked that suggested michael brown was shot at least six times. the question is interpretation of what those wounds mean, what the angle was, what the direction was, how that comports with the witness testimony. brown family has maintained that the autopsy show that is his hands were raised at some point in this process, in a surrender mode. others say that's not what was happening when brown was shot and killed. >> ron allen, thank you for foing this story for us. always helps to get your

updates. one interesting note today, michael brown's parents are taking their story to the world right now. they traveled all the way to geneva where they just testified before the u.n. committee against torture. >> to get justice for our son. it couldn't be a better place that we can start at. we want to just thank you for having us. >> that same committee today and tomorrow will hear from u.s. officials as well. they are there to highlight u.s. policies against cruel and inhuman treatment. essentially torture. they're also arguing that solitary confinement in u.s. prisons doesn't count as cruel and inhumane. my next guest disagrees and he has some firsthand experience to back that up. shane bauer was held in isolation for 26 months in tehran prison. months after his 2011 release, he traveled to pelican bay state prison. he was horrified by the

conditions he found in solitary confinement there. shane is now a senior reporter at mother jones and joins me now. thank you, shane, for sharing your story and what you've seen as a reporter, which is also striking. i want to get to -- >> thanks for having me. >> -- your piece in a moment. is solitary confinement torture? >> well, torture is a legal definition. there's kind of a fine line between what's torture and what's inhumane, which has to do with the treatment of the person put in solitary confinement. what i felt was torture -- i felt myself losing my mind. i saw my thoughts slowing down. i saw myself becoming kind of more animal like and just being separated from human beings for just months really kind of changed my psychological makeup and was terrifying. time was the most terrifying thing to me, just the minutes

that were coming, the hours that were coming, the days that were coming. >> you write about this very eloquently. one quote from that article. for hours, days, i fixated on the patch of sunlight through those barred and grated windows when after weeks i fell to the ground, utterly broken. sobbing and rocking to the beat of my heart. it was the patch of sunlight that brought me back. its slow creeping against the wall reminded me that the world did, in fact, turn and that time was something other than the stag nachlt nt pool my life was draining into. here there are no windows. >> it's hard to compare both situations. you know, there's some ways that are clearly worse in iran, where you have a large amount of political prisoners that are physically tortured. but what really shocked me about the united states and in particular pelican bay prison in california, one of many super

max prisons in the united states, one that i visited, you know, the duration of time that people spent in solitary confinement is just way, way longer here. people have been in solitary confinement for literary decades in the united states and people who haven't committed violent infractions in prison. they were initially put in solitary confinement because they had the wrong books, books by the black panthers. one man had journal writings on african-american history where he was citing the numbers of hangings and that was called gang ideology, hanging of african-americans in history. another thing that shocked me was the actual cells themselves in that prison. there were no windows in that cell. so people can literally go for ten years without ever seeing a tree. never going outside, only living in this kind of concrete box and going out to a larger cell to exercise alone. >> shane, it's so valuable to

get your reporting on this and your personal experiences. especially right now as we see both this delegation going to the u.n. and arguing solitary confinement isn't torture. you mentioned the legal definition of torture. a lot of reports swirling that the cia will aggressively move toward a policy that torture treaties maybe don't apply to us. your testimony is really valuable as we look at that news. up next, president obama and chinese president xi jinping, agreeing to a landmark deal to cut pollution and tackle climate change. all-star environmental block, including the one and only environmental advocate, erin brockovich. to stretch around the earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better.

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angle rescue. that platform apparently became disabled at the 50th floor. obviously we're hoping nobody gets hurt. there's some people involved in the rescue operation. th we'll get back to that shortly. major new climate deal between the u.s. and china. it has been historic first. both countries committing to changes in the coming years since they are the world's biggest polluters. jake schmidt national resources defense. the u.s. is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by the year 2025. china, on its park, will try to peak carbon emissions by 2030, ramp up its use of nonfossil fuel energies. does the science suggest this will help substantially or is it

too little too late? >> thanks for having me on. this is clearly a big step forward. two of the biggest emitters. the kind of signals that they send in terms of how to deploy more clean energy is powerful in terms of reducing emigs and also shows other countries that there's a path forward for them. >> is it realistic for the u.s. or china, for that matter, to make these cuts or does do yours and other environmental groups feel like these deadlines will slip by like so many before them? >> it's a little too early to call it quits. china is grappling with the worst air pollution in history. they know they have to deal with that. that's the solution to carbon. they're, i think, committed to moving forward on that. the u.s. has signaled that it's going to start to clean up the power sector, start to make our cars more efficient and start to make our appliances more efficient. these are critical building blocks for the future. you know, we constantly find that the more that countries

take action, the more willing they are to take the next step. >> vacatijake schmidt, thanks f joining us. >> thanks for having me. few people know those threats more than consumer advocate erin brockovich. you have been the voice on a lot of these contamination issues. you are in the process of filing a major lawsuit in west virginia to deal with a chemical spill that our viewers will want to hear an update on. first i would love to get your reaction to this big climate deal. is this significant? is this enough? what does it reveal? >> well, from my perspective, obviously, there are two huge issues, air and water. china clearly has a problem and it is alarming to look at, you know, we are the second largest, you know, polluter. i think there's always room to move forward. i think that we've made some great strides. i don't think it's a little too late. and i think it's encouraging for -- especially in china. the air pollution is so significant. >> you do see this kind of

hugely expansive capitalism that's often not accompanied by regulation or oversight. are you concerned about the practices of chinese businesses in terms of environmental condition t-- contamination? >> we need to move forward. one thing that does concern me is we do have a lot of regulations in play and we're adding more regulations and it doesn't always get things done. and i would like to see more enforcement. i would like to see more oversight. we have enough regulations right now and we are being affected by that. we're not enforcing that. if we could just begin to do that, we would also see further reductions. >> the human consequences of that. you filed this lawsuit. you were telling me it will be filed by tomorrow. >> supposed to be filed by tomorrow. >> about a really dramatic story in west virginia. tell us about what went wrong there. >> what happened in west virginia was an above-ground storage tank, which we've now learned that we don't really regulate or have much oversight of what chemicals are in these storage facilities that sit on

our rivers and if there is, in fact, a breach -- which there was -- our municipalities and intakes can suck that chemical in. you can have, obviously, very quickly an exposure to people. and that's what happened in this situation. now, what's going on legally is there was legal action against the company, who is bankrupt. there's nothing there. what will happen in the lawsuit that should be file bid tomorrow or friday is a class that is looking at west virginia american water company, a private water utility, who, in fact, should have had the oversight. they're the gatekeeper. and this spill occurred -- see, nobody was prepared. that's the thing that i think boggles my mind and many other people. we have to become prepared, that these type of instances are going to occur. they immediately shut the system down. but their failure was carbon filtrations were not working. they did not clean their system before they opened it back to the consumer and delivered the

chemical right to every individual homeowner's tap. >> so many families' nightmare. this is widespread. something of a water crisis in this country right now. look at these numbers, erin. 772,883 people in california, as of last month, relying on groundwater that's contaminated in some way, according to the state's water resources control board. this is what they're admitting to. >> correct. >> what needs to change? >> first, i think we need to make it a priority. that's something that i do not see happening, whether it be at a federal level or local level. and we've got infrastructures that are failing and we've got a whole host of reasons why we're having pollution. the first problem is we simply have to address it. we don't have that much water in california. what we do have, you're now telling us, in fact, is polluted. so the first thing is that recognition. i could sit here, but i wouldn't have enough time, to rattle off

situations like west virginia, and we're having to shut down intakes to algae blooms because we're not controlling our farm run-off. up in ohio we have to shut our water systems down. there's peop in michigan, in chicago who are not getting water at their tap. i mean, we look at other countries in this situation, we will come to their aid. when are we going to come to our own aid? we have a water crisis in this country that's looming and is going to get bigger. and we need to take some action and be prepared and start safeguarding this system before, frankly, it's too late. >> erin brockovich, a lot of powerful interests in this country that don't want that clear, loud voice of yours heard. thank you for sharing it with us. >> you're welcome. thank you for having me. that breaking news we've been following this hour, two window washers hanging precariously from world trade one. former commissioner of the new york city fire department, who

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welcome back. we have much more on the breaking news unfolding in new york city. look at that live picture. two window washers hanging precariously from one world trade in lower manhattan. we just learned they're 69 stories up. we were previously reporting 50. that's incorrect. they're 69 stories up. the new york city fire department is ready with whatthy call a high-angle rescue. they're not in any imminent danger. former new york city fire commissioner under mayor bloomberg joins us right now. thank you for taking the time to do this, commissioner, and help us to understand. first off, you have a lot of experience with these kind of rescue operations. how will they rescue at such a high floor? >> well, the fire department has a particular expertise in this area of collapse scaffoldings.

and there will not be a number of things they can do, but they will be trying to secure these two people. they could have safety ropes they attach around them. i understand from your lead-in that the two window washers, despite their damaging from the 69th floor, that they are secured by cables, is what i heard. >> uh-huh,hat's what we're hearing now, yes. >> so, what the fire department will do is get up there. they will either from windows, probably not the top of the building, that's a long way to go, but i would think they would connect with these two and with safety ropes, make sure they can get them inside. but they deal -- the fire department deals with scaffold

collapses all the time, so they will be quite comfortable, depending on the circumstances in what they do. >> commissioner, really helpful to get your take. i want to you to stay right there because we have a lot more questions about how the mechanics will work. i want to go to an eyewitness on the phone. we have a twitter picture you can put up. thank you for taking the time to help explain what you are seeing. what is the mood down there? everybody is just watching from down below. when we saw the cart twisting to the side, people started taking photos, meaning everybody was just curious about it. literally like two minutes later a lot of fire department trucks showed up. it was very fast. >> do you see any activity happening inside the building? are rescue workers going? >> i don't because i'm actually

a block away so i could see better. >> as it was happening, did you see any specific activity that might suggest what kind of rescue operation they're staging? one thing for the audience we are reporting, just coming in there's a possibility they may try to rescue if not a cable from the outside, through the inside by breaking a window. did you see any rescue workers on the ground floor? >> no, from where i am i can't see anything. i saw a helicopter around it. >> obviously, a lot of news choppers trying to capture this as well. >> is there any word filtering through from the communications these individuals have on the platform to the crowds around watching. did you hear anything before you went a block away? >> no, no, no, nothing. actually, everybody is just curious. they look kind of safe.

did you see people inside the building evacuating? are they staging any evacuation? >> no. >> really helpful to get that update. commissioner, we mentioned they're looking at two potential avenues for staging this rescue. one would be affixing a cable from the outside to bring them up to the roof. the other apparently is to try to break the window from the inside. what kind a precedent is there for both? >> i think there's lots of precedence for both. they can easily, if they have a window close to them, they can easily take care of that and reach out and secure both men. secure the scaffold is a primary concern, if it looks as though it may be dangerous, maybe

release and fall, but they're going to focus on these two individuals. they're going to get ropes around them, if they can. and i think it sounds like something they can do. they have done this hundreds of times, new york fire department. >> thank you, commissioner, and thank you to our eyewitness on the scene. helped to get your experience on how these rescues are staged. a dangerous operation happening there. our thoughts with the workers on the platform. thank you for joining. "the reid report" is up next. she'll be continuing our coverage of this breaking news. . for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta and the well-crafted all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen.

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ask your doctor about invokana®. hello, everyone, and welcome to "the reid report." i'm joy reid live today in washington. on this busy wednesday we start with breaking news from one world trade center in new york where two window washers are

dangling 68 floors from the ground. a cable on the scaffolding the window washers were standing on, snapped. two are hanging from the scaffolding. police and fire department are on the scene. on the phone with me now is former new york fire department commissioner, who served under mayor bloomberg. nick, tell us what's going on at this moment. >> well, it's hard for me to tell you from behind my desk, but typically what will happen now is that the fire department that has tremendous experience tease in dealing with collapses like this, scaffold collapses, will, obviously, will obviously try to secure those two people. i understand they may be hanging -- i mean, that is that they have a capable someone told me earlier, they're not in danger. i don't know that for a fact but it's a dangerous situation, obviously, and i think the fire department