and data show so far it's not working. usually half measures don't end wars, they just keep them going. thank you very much for joining us and good night. big chill. another day of record lows expected in some parts of the country as winter makes an early arrival. where will it be worse today chill in the air at a gathering of world leaders. president obama delivers a stern message to one of his counter parts. risky business, the battle on tap toll ill on immigration up a the keystone pipeline pop could it all end in another government shutdown? for the first time ever, you can buy one of the superhero shows of all time. why did it take so long?

good morning. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." a city on edge this weekend. in ferguson, missouri, resident and police are waiting on the decision. new today, police tapes obtained by the st. louis post dispatch show officer wilson leaving the police station for the hospital two hours after the shooting, along with fellow officers and a union lawyer. and then returning to the station house two and a half hours later. also obtained, police radio chatter in the moments before the shooting when a dispatcher reported a theft in progress. >> it's going to be a black male in a white t-shirt. he's running. took a whole box of cigars. >> nine minutes later officer wilson says that he's on his way. >> 21, put me on can field. >> and then five minutes after r later h later after the fatal

encounter hints of what's to come and request backup from the other officers. >> get us several more units over here. there's going to be a problem. >> is there any available ferguson units who can respond to can field and copper creek? advise. >> now ferguson police chief tom jackson tells our affiliate station that officer wilson is not indicted he can immediately return to active due ten and michael brown's parents have now returned to the u.s. after their trip to switzerland. from there let's go to the weather and the deep freeze that's spread across much of the united states. here are some pictures from portland, oregon, alsowi boise, idaho. the arctic blast is expected to move to the great lakes region today. meanwhile in the midwest, crews are trying to clear a snow covered stadium in time for the game there today.

notre dame is slated to take on northwestern there this afternoon. on sunday, a second blast of arctic air hits the midwest. the record low temperatures are expected to last through the middle of the week. but for an exact read, mike seidel is joining me live now. >> good saturday to you. tracking our winter system th that's bringing us more wintry conditions. that's the understand gator of the precipitation. we'll see this throughout at least sunday here driving through the plains into the great lakes region. not talking heavy snow but enough to cause some travel difficulties out there. generally one to three inches but there will be pockets where we could see three to five in the plains, maybe a little more as we work our way into parts of the rockies. five to eight inches not out of the question. we've been deal with the cold, throughout the weekend that will remain. but next week an even colder air mass gets dumped into the u.s.

high temperatures into early next week, we're talking 20 to 30 degrees below average. so we haven't even officially started winter but sit feeling like it. we'll see how long this can last out there. very cold numbers reaching down into the deep south. we'll send it back to you. >> thank you so much for that. other news now, a doctor from sierra leone is coming to the u.s. today for treatment after testing positive for ebola. the 44-year-old, a permanent u.s. resident is being sent to nebraska medical center. he's the third patient to be treated at that center. the other two have made successful recoveries. graek life at west virginia university is suspended after the shocking death of a student which was announced on friday. students held a vigil for the 18-year-old who is a freshman, died after being found unconscious in a frat house on

wednesday. the death is alcohol related but does not say if drinking was the direct cause of the death. it is one small hitch for man kind. the european space agent's probe sits in idle mode. that means it may run out of power soon. >> we are not sure whether the batteries still have enough energy so that we can transmit the data when we will get the contact again this evening. >> well at this point the spacecraft's batteries have enough power for a couple of days. a surprise visit in iraq from the chairman of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey arrived just a short time ago. in the meantime, there's evidence that isis attacks have increased since the new air campaign began. nbc's richard engel has more. >> the air strikes are easy to count. each plume of fire and debris

has been numbered. the pentagon says there have been 883 air strikes on isis fighters, safe houses and vehicles in iraq and syria. the reported cost since air strikes began, 30 $0,000 an hour. but the effectiveness to have air campaign is more difficult to quantify. new data obtained by nbc news.com shows that isis attacks are actually on the rise chbl the attacks have been increasing steadily particularly since the fall of mosul and increasing further since the air strikes. >> the respected uk based terrorism and insurgency center says there were over 100 our tacks by isis in june and july. in august when the u.s. air strikes began, the number jumped to 171. and stayed relatively high in september and october. >> in response to the air strikes, it's intensified this insurgency. >> as we saw firsthand in syria,

air strikes have played a major role for the kobani. >> air strikes alone are not going to do this, not going to fix this. >> u.s. bombing has had an impact, forcing most isis fighters and all of its top leaders into hiding. but isis is still carrying out massacres. lieutenant general mike bar bare ro was one of the fon commanders in iraq. like many of his colleagues, he has doubts about the u.s. strategy. >> the isis state must be degraded and destroyed. you're not going to do that with the level of commitment we have now. it's too small, too late and it's going lead to a stalemate. >> the picture isn't totally bleak. the iraqi military hads made progress north of baghdad. but generally the progress has been sporadic and piecemeal and the air campaign against isis

hasn't turned the tide. the senate prepare to vote on the keystone pipeline but will it pass the president's desk. later i'm talking to john stewart own his new role and the question that left him speechless. are there any politicians whom you respect and who you think are doing good work? >> i think the satellite must have just cut out. >> did you like not understand the question? >> no, i understood it. suddenly, you're a mouth breather. a mouth breather! well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow, it opens your nose up to 38% more. so you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do, sleep. add breathe right to your cold medicine shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. and look for the calming scent of new breathe right lavender, in the sleep aisle.

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out during a parent faculty meeting. the school district is apologizing and saying that the parents were given the teacher's manual not the actual curriculum. but parents want to know why the teacher guide was so graphic. >> some aspects came across as a how to rather than here's the biology and the information. >> things that no sixth grader who is 11 maybe should ever be exposed to. >> well, chicago public schools admits it was a mistake. yeah, you think? and issued this statement. quote, the objection material was not and never was a pa part of the students' sexual curriculum. it was mistakenly included in the parents presentation. we agree with parents. it is not appropriate for elementary school students. president obama is wrapping up his trip. he's stopped in australia attending the g 20 summit. that's where the leaders are meeting to work out plans for the global economy. but the focus is once again on

the relationship between president obama and vladimir putin. kristen welker is traveling with the president and joining us from brisbane, australia. good day to you. >> reporter: good day to you. i made sure to practice that before i arrived here. you're absolutely right. that is the correct pronunciation. it's interesting, alex, thousands of protesters have already started turning out here. they're protesting russian president vladimir putin. a lot of theme hold him responsible for the plane tragedy. this that is coming along with a strong warning from president obama and european leaders to president putin, get out of ukraine or else there will be for sanctions. president obama and vladimir putin sharing the world stage at the g 20 economic summit but it's become a showdown between

putin and the west. overnight, president obama speaking to stutes in brisbane. >> in opposing russian's aggression against ukraine. >> the u.s. and europe already sanctioned russia over ukraine but putin is defiant calling the tlaets a mistake. it comes as russia announces plans to fly military flights near the u.s. the diplomatic tension has been front and center. cameras caught several chilly encounters in china. but for president obama, top domestic priorities haven't trailed far behind. despite a resounding midterm defeat for his party, the president is defying republicans signaling a willingness to go alone on immigration and most importantly, promising to go around congress to reform the nation's immigration system. >> that's going to happen.

that's going to happen before the end of the year. >> reporter: and on the controversial keystone pipeline, the president has dug in signaling he's veto legislation to approve the plan. >> good afternoon, everyone. >> reporter: still with republicans now in control, the president faces an uphill battle pushing his own agenda. >> it gives the republicans the ability to say, you said your policies were on the ballot. they lost. so it's time for our policies. >> reporter: no plans right now for president obama to meet with president putin although white house officials don't rule that out. they say he'll be meeting with his european counter parts here no discuss the crisis in ukraine. in fact earlier today he had an extended conversation with the german chancellor angela merkel. meanwhile, president obama will face serious political challenges when he returns home. the senate could vote tuesday on

a bill to authorize construction on the keystone pipeline. the house approved the measure yesterday. president obama said politics should not play arole role in. >> based on whether it accelerates climate change or whether it helps the american people with their emergency costs. >> good morning to you philip. thank for joining me. the keystone bill sailed through the house, including 31 democrats. no republicans voting against the measure. let's look at what you think about the 31 democrats who supported the measure. what's behind that? >> it's actually a variety of reasons. i took a look at this yesterday. a lot of them are red state democrats, people that represent states that are primarily republican states which i think makes sense. to some extent this is advancing the keystone pipeline has been

primarily a republican priority. but there are a number of democrats representing minnesota, and new york state that have a variety of reasons they're behind it. some of them are in swing districts. a lot of people who had narrow victories last week are behind it. but there are concerns about for example the extent to which oil is being shipped on railways across the united states because there is this backlog of pipeline capacity. that makes people nervous, having these oil laden trains. there's a wide variety of reasons. but on the whole the democrats said no to the keystone pipeline and the reason for that is clearly environmental. >> what about the politics angle though. here you had the president saying, let's not look at this issue on politics. but senator mary landrieu, her actions are clearly political because he's facing a runoff election next month. >> the only reason this conversation is happening right now is base senator landrieu

facing this runoff race. the interesting thing is the house bill that sailed through was being pushed by her opponent in that race. this is something that senator mary land draw arieu and the de are trying to see if they can get enough votes through for a filibuster. in january that wouldn't be a problem. this is primarily a political play at this point. >> think the president uses his pen and vetoes it? >> i think that's probably more likely than not. it's hard to call these things but this is a president who just this week said i have this new climate agreement with dhie that, which is something that gained a lot of attention and signaled some real steps on the international change for fighting climate change. the keystone pipeline, it's a different type of oil product that actually is more carbon intensive than normal oil.

that has been a reason why it's been a focus of environmental groups to try to block the pipeline. i think it's going to be hard for obama to say there is no additional environmental costs to this. as the job estimates out there, most are going to be short term construction jobs and not the thousands and thousands of long term jobs that some of the advocates have promised. >> what about immigration reform, certainly another hot button issue, one according to some factions of the republican party could shut down the government. and the president says he's going take executive action. >> to speaker boehner several months ago that if in fact congress failed to act i would use all of the lawful authority that i possess to try to make the system work better. and that's going to happen. that's going to happen before the end of the year. >> okay. the counter of that, we'll listen to this from house speaker john boehner saying the president can't take action on

his own. >> we're going to fight the president tooth and nail if he continues down the bath. >> the government funding bill could have that strict language. >> all options are on the table. >> all options are on the table. is the speaker threatening a showdown here? >> he's definitely threatening a showdown to the point that the president said my policies are going to be on the ballot and the republicans seized on that saying now you've lost. the republicans definitely have a way of saying, look, people don't want you to do this. the president seems to be more 'em boldened since election day and has taken several actions that i think were alluded to earlier. and i think immigration is one of those things where he's say look, i'm going to deal with this. he's a lame duck president. at this point he has two more years but he doesn't have any more elections he needs to be responsible for. he's willing to move forward on

this. >> do you think the government would really shut down? we have to hear the very definitive words of mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, he said no way, not on his watch is it going to happen. talk about the fight between the senate and the house. >> the fight between the senate and the house is eternal, god bless them. i don't know that anyone would have thought a month before the shutdown in 2013 there was actually going to be a shutdown. these things can change very quickly, especially with a lot of energy coming from the more conservative action of tf republican party. my colleague robert costa wrote a great piece about the politics of the shutdown yesterday. and it really looks as though there are people who are saying this is our only way to stop the immigration measure from going forward. it's a very emotional issue. and that sort of emotional issue can prompt the emotions that say to heck with it, let's just shut it down. >> good to talk to you. holy dvd batman, i love saying that.

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time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics. let's go now to our three big money head lines. hope for the holidays. wild and crazy pies. hoe lie dvd batman. joining me to break it down, regina lewis. hope for the holidays? this is all about retail sales, right? >> yeah, retail sales up .3% in october. directionally it's terrific. and it is fueled literally by declining gas prices now under $3 for most americans. it's a holiday bonus and that's particularly powerful for retailers who cater to low and middle income customers. walmart by way of example were very sensitive to the changes in

the discretionary income. and aggregate, these gas price declines add up to $100 million extra in consumer pockets every day. so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. could be a very merry holiday. >> very merry christmas inside. what about the wild and crazy pies. what's going on there? >> pizza hut is doubling their menu with some eclectic culinary combinations. they're changing the logo, the pizza boxes and their attire. they're going after millennials here who are used to having unlimited choices and want to put almost anything on their pizza. we'll see if it works. they've claimed two billion combinations with names like this. >> well they're fun names. how about holy dvd batman. the first ever batman dvd release. remember this? here's a clip of it. here we go.

♪ okay. what took so long and do you think these really fun and cheesy scenes are going to hold up after nearly five decades? >> well it's interesting. the first part of your question were legal rights issues. hollywood can be complicated that way. but they've remastered 120 of the original episodes from the ' 60s and apparently it's incredibly well dub. true fans will take advantage of this. you can preorder it now. i when on amazon this morning. people are really excited, willing to pay $139 for the dvd set, 179 in blue ray. bing watching is a trend. maybe people will sit down and watch 120 of these. >> we'll see. it's fun to have them on dvd that's for sure. thank you so much. have a good one. a town in limbo. ferguson, missouri is planning for a garage decision that could

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." it's time for you fast five headlines. the relently arctic cold is going to be sticking around for most of the country. a new shot of cold care from canada will deep the temperatures below average into middle of next week. a not guilty plea for a man accuse of abducting a philadelphia woman off the street el this month. he was indicted on friday on a federal change of kidnapping. thousands took part in a marge in the southern mexican state where 43 college students went missing two months ago. last week mexico's attorney general reported that evidence suggests that the students were killed and their remains burned. independent investigators have disputed those claims. parents are demanding answers. bill cosby's upcoming appearance on the late show with david letterman has been counseled.

he was supposed to be on the show on wednesday. the 77-year-old cosby was never criminally charge in any of the cases. he has declined to comment. some incredible pictures from a whale watching trip in norway. unusually large numbers appearing this year. pretty dramatic. ferguson, missouri is waiting on word whether officer darren johnson will be charged in the death of michael brown. as ferguson awaits that decision, new details today about the encounter between wilson and ferguson. they obtained police surveillance video showing footage of officer wilson and then audio of wilson's radio calls. authorities are calling for calm no mat whaer the garage decides. >> i don't know what's going to come out of this grand jury, but i know what must come out of it. this neighborhood has to stay.

> . >> what's coming out that's sticking? >> reporter: this new information gist us a wider picture of what happened in those minutes leading up to and after michael brown was killed by officer darren wilson. but it doesn't answer the big question, what exactly happened in that vehicle. it doesn't give us any insight into the behavior of brown or how officer wilson responded. during a struggle brown reached for his gun, they struggled and that's when the first of two shots went off. while this give us more insight, as you mentioned there was a brief encounter. it seams to be a little more than 60 second when wilson arrived and from the time he was killed. so it gives us a broader picture of exactly what happened but again, the details are still so skant at this point. >> the timeline, you're saying it's 60 to maybe 90 seconds at

the most. our affiliate in st. louis is reporting that the ferguson police chief is saying if he does indict officer wilson, he gets fired instantly. if not diindicted, he gets to return to work immediately. >> reporter: it's almost laughable. given the environment here, darren wilson is public enemy number one or two, either before or after prosecutor bob mccullough. i cannot imagine any circumstance where he would be welcomed back in this community. it's hard to imagine he would want to come back to this community given the climate. his life has been threatened. i can't imagine that. but if tom jackson is saying he's still in charge, and if his officer is cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, then he's back on the job. >> what's the feeling on the ground there about what the grand jury will decide? are people getting a sense it's going to go one way or the other? >> reporter: they're not getting a sense of one way or the other. for the last few weeks in the

leadup to these days now where the grand jury seemed to have concluded their interviewing of witnesses, people have still on pins and needles. the community is still very anxious. we're in a holding pattern at this point. for days the energy had been drumming up and now it's relatively quiet. with all of the speculation, no one know what is the grand jury will do until the prosecutor says we have a decision we're red do announce. >> how concerned are police and community leaders there about the reaction if there is no indictment? >> reporter: we've heard a lot about law enforcement preparations. they've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on weaponry and riot gear. but in the conversation i had yesterday with captain ron johnson with the missouri state highway patrol, he says he doesn't expect it to be as bad as some may hope it to be or expect it to be. he believes this community will come together and that their character will really be revealed. so while their preparations are

being made and clearly there is a lot of anxiety and people are concerned that there may be a throw back to those fiery days in august when mass protesters took to the streets. but right now at least from captain johnson who will be in charge of patrolling the protests if they happen, he's not concerned that it will be that bad. >> do we have a timeline of expectations? is the grand jury still meeting? >> reporter: we don't. typically they meet once a week but they can also meet when f they can. on thursday when they interviewed the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy at the behest of brown's family, it was understood that he was the last witness. from that point they could have met over the weekend or not. they would meet anytime this week. it could be as early as monday or as long as the next couple weeks. who knows. >> you said as early as monday because there was some speculation that they could make the announcement over the weekend. i know that they've put out something that said they would give a heads-up to the schools in the area, at least three

hours so that kids could be brought home. there are concerned that there could be a reaction here. do you think they will not announce this weekend? >> i don't get the sense that they will, but then again they could. according to the prosecutor, they will give school officials 24 hours' notice if they plan on making the announcement over the weekend. three hours' notice if it's during the week. it's still early. we're not at the 24-hour point just yet. but talking to folks here on the ground, it doesn't seem that anything will come down on sunday but it could. it's possible. if we get word, there we have it. if not, we're expecting it to drag on into the week. >> i'm going to let you get inside and warm up. i can see your breath there. it is cold in ferguson, missouri. >> reporter: it's a chilly morning. let's go now to one of the biggest divorce settlement ever, a billion dollars. she says it's not enough and plans to appeal. hallie jackson has more.

>> with a billion dollars you could buy a private island, your own nba team or a trip to the moon. but sue ann hamm is not satisfied with the divorce settlement she was awarded. he's disappointed with one of the biggest divorce announcements in history. one divorce attorney not involved in the case says it makes sense. >> swe have to divorce ourselves pun intended from the numbers and focus on the legal principles. >> the former ms. ham argues the settlement is not fair. her soon to be ex-husband is one of the richest men in the world. the two were married 24 years. she's a lawyer and economist. he's and oklahoma oil magnet with a net worth of $18 billion. that's why sue an ham's attorney says it's not equitable that he's getting less than 6% of the couple's worth. >> i would say he wouldn't want

to have the equitable division done in the reverse. >> mr. hamm's lawyer did not comment on the appeal but told nbc news that we believe it is a fair and ek wet tabl outcome to the case, arguing that the company was mr. hamm's for over 20 years prior to the marriage. still -- >> i would tend to think that she has a very strong case on appeal. >> and that may pay off for her, proving if money can't buy love, not even a billion dollars can buy a clean break. that was hallie jackson reporting. funny man jon stewart own his new role in the director's chair. the gripping story that led him to it. the setting is perfect. you know what? plenty of guys have this issue, not just getting an erection, but keeping it. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. and you only take it when you need it.

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make it progresso or make it yourself comedian jon stewart has added another bullet point to his résume, writing and directing his first future film. it tells the story of an iranian journalist who was accused of being a spy after he appeared on

"the daley show". >> she's not a spy. >> it's comedy show. it's stupid. >> he's a comedian pretending to be a spy. >> can you tell me why an american pretending to be a spy has chosen to interview you. >> why would a real spy has a tv show. >> joining nenow, jon steward. this is fun to talk to you about, a film. >> nice to be here. >> let's talk about this in this sense. there's a sense of poetic justice in you making this fill. in america you can poke fun at whoever you want. not quite so in iran. you see this as a continuation of what you do on "the daily show". >> i think a continuation of what you do, which is trying to express ideas through different works, whether it be standup or the daily show or film. but this one especially because it's so much about expression and information and journalism.

and as technology has sort of demock kra tiezed who is a journalist and regimes all around the world have cracked down more on bloggers and activists and journalists. this was a chance to tell his story and a universal piece to express what so many are going through right now. >> was this just this particular story that you wanted to tell? >> this particular story. he had become friendly after he was released from prison when he work would bring him through new york and he and i would hang out and have breakfast and talking about politics and family and culture and all these different things. he was writing his him mayor. i was going to try and help him get it produced. but i don't know anything about doing that. so about a year and a half into it when we couldn't get writers and directs aboard, the feeling was just if we wanted to see this film made in our lifetimes

and we did think it was a relevant current event film, that to expedite it i was just going to go off and write it. i felt like i had a clean idea of the narrative structure and just wanted to get it moved forward. >> yeah. but for your directorial debut you did not take it easy. you had a skeleton crew on location in jordan during the summer. how difficult was the transition from television into doing this? >> well, jordan in the summer is very similar to basic cable. so it wasn't that different. no, that's not true. >> yeah. >> you know, it was a challenge. but some of that i think was heightened, the atmosphere and the excitement. and in some ways by taking us out of that confident zone, it helped galvanize the team. >> i got to ask this.

i don't think you feel guilty about it. i've read that. but he did appear on the show just before he was arrest. the clip was shown to him during his interrogation. is this at all a may cya copa t him? >> i don't know if it was a mea culpa. i also think -- the trust truth is when we was arrested, other people we had spoken to had been arrested as well. hundreds of thousands had been arrested. it was clear they were doing a sweep of the reformist movement. and elements in the reformist movements and western media that may, in their mind, have collaborated in this effort to ask for recount or bring protest to the street. we never viewed it in the context of oh my gord, the iranian government is targeting daily show participants. it was a much larger effort on their point. >> in the time since you started

this project the u.s. seems to be making some progress with iran. we just learned about the president sending that letter to the ie to la and then you have this pr campaign. are you hopeful, jon? >> i'm always hopeful. the reality of the two situation, the level of dialogue between our two countries since '79 has been, you know, on the one hand we refer to them as the axis of evil. on the other hand they refer to us as the great satan. so the caricature and the one deposition nal nature to have dialogue has to improve. >> so you're hopeful in a sense but does that hope also translate to here domestically? are there any politicians who you respect who you think are doing good work? >> i think the satellite must have just cut out. >> did you like not understand the question or -- >> no, i understood it.

>> yeah. okay. we'll go on to next one i have here. >> i got no names, man. i got no names. >> are there any potential 2016 can dates you're surprised about? >> here's the thing. the only thing i was going to say is i think the system is incentivized slightly backwards right now. the media system is incentivized for extremity. extremity of opinion is what gets pronounced. and the political system is incentivized towards money. those two things working together have created a little bit of the kind of kwag mire that we're in. i'm hope that it's going to swing? >> the film is "rose water". thank you so much. getting covered, everything you need know about round two of the affordable care act enrollment which starts today. have all of the kinks been

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a beautiful look at a credit crisp sky in washington, d.c.. well, take two. the second period of obama health care rollout. seven million americans have been enrolled but some will need to re-enroll to keep their coverage. joining me now is the president of the enroll america, the nonprofit tasked with promoting obamacare. and a good morning to you. have all of the kinks from the first rollout been smoothed out? >> alex, great to be with you. it's an exciting day because the

health insurance market is open for business. we have made sure that it's ready for consumers and to shop around for the plans that are best for them. >> okay. we'll see how it goes smoothly today. we're crossing our fingers. as you know, the department of health and human services reduced the number of people that will be enrolled by 2015 by about 4 million. what changed? >> this is the first time that hhs has put out an estimate of what they expected enrollment to look like and they took time to assess where the market is today and look at past market estimates to really put together a pragmatic approach about what to expect. but i will say, for a group like us, enroll america, that's focused on getting the word out to consumers, we're not spending our time judging how many people might enroll, we're getting the word out to consumers, making

sure that they know that financial assistance is available to them because at the end of the day, that's what really matters. >> how does someone know whether they need to re-enroll and how many people will need to re-enroll? >> we encourage all consumers who enrolled during the first enrollment period to go back and check out their options and really because it's in their interests. they might be able to get a different amount of financial assistance. they need to update their information. as you noted, they likely might want to shop around and see if there's a better plan for them this year. we found a 25% increase in the number of insurance companies offering plans on the marketplace this year. for a lot of consumers, they will be able to find more options. we encourage everybody to go back. it won't be too long of a process. you'll update basic information and have a chance to compare your options and see what is best for you and your family this year. >> can i ask you about timing, though? the potential price increases

were released yesterday. was the timing designed to scare people to re-enrolling on the eve of being able to do so or give them an incentive? and what is causing the price increases? >> well, this is really getting into some specifics about how the aca works and the availability financial assistance is based on the plans available and this is based on a really great, new story, which there are new plans available to consumers. it's always in the interest of consumers that they have more options and more plans available to them. this is really based on some really good news for consumers. >> also tieing for the open enrollment, several videos were released showing speeches by jonathan gruber and this is the comment that got the most attention. here it is. >> to get a law that says

healthy people pay in and sick people don't, that would not have passed and basically called the stupidity of the american voter, that was critical to get the thing to pass. >> john said on msnbc this week he regrets the comments and they were made off the cuff, the insults to the american people aside. my question to you, are the facts of what he said still true? >> look, jonathan gruber's comments were really stupid, honestly, and offensive to a lot of people. but they were not accurate. you heard him talk about the idea of healthy people helping to subsidize coverage for folks that are sicker. well, that's how the entire health insurance market works in this country. that's the idea of health insurance. and that's always been part of the aca. the idea is that no matter who you are, no matter what pre-existing conditions you might have, you should have the opportunity to get quality,

affordable health coverage and now we're seeing the 10 million people who didn't have it last year have it this year. the question whether the aca is working just as it should, it is. >> anne filipic, thank you. >> thank you, alex. straight ahead, more smart political talk with "up with steve kornacki" though we have krystal ball in the chair. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. you know how fast you were going? about 55. where you headed at such an appropriate speed? across the country to enhance the nation's most reliable 4g lte network.

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