north korean government is out with a new statement on the whole matter. you might be surprised by one of the proposals to the u.s. >> i think the american people would like to see us get some things done. the year ahead, president obama vows to get things done despite a gop controlled congress. reaction to what he hopes to accomplish before he leaves office. americans divided over cuba. i'll talk with a congressman back from the island nation and get his reaction to colleagues as opposed to president obama's move. the ferguson prosecutor in revealing new interview. he admits some of the witnesses may have lied to the grand jury about the michael brown shooting. hey, everyone. it's high noon here in the west.

welcome to weekends with alex witt. stormy weather coast to coast as tens of millions hit the road for christmas. by christmas eve, most of the lower 48 experiences wind, rain, or snow and the weather channel's reynolds wolf in times square with the weather for us. how bad will it get? >> reporter: gray skies but it's bright as it happens to be in times square. you can see a lot of people behind me making their way through times square. in terms of numbers, you have up to 330,000 people. on average, they come by here everyday but i'll tell you, might see more than that number because people are doing the last minute holiday shopping. with the weather as it is, that's certainly good news because there's some rougher stuff on the way. to the maps we go on the forecast you can expect the next couple of days with this big storm system to work its way across the continent going from west to east. eventually bringing a combination of rain, sleet and snow for a good third eastern of the country. mid-atlantic and northeast, it's the big issue for most people

with rain and it's going to be some wind. there will be spots with snowfall and high elevation. we're not talking massive blizzard conditions for the time being but when you have people out shopping for the holidays and just traveling, you're going to have headaches for so many people. guys, be patient out there in the travels. if you're going by road, both hands on the wheel. take it easy. that's a snapshot in terms of the national forecast. send it back to you in the nice warm studio. >> it is pretty warm. thank you very much, reynolds wolf. developing, four guantanamo bay prisoners sent back to afghanistan. according to the d.o.d., all four men at unanimously approved for transfer by the guantanamo review task force. nbc's kristin. what do we know about the prisoners and how does it play to the president's goal of closing guantanamo bay?

>> reporter: alex, we know the four detainees were transferred overnight and the u.s. military played to kabul. we get a statement out from the department of defense i want to read you. quote, this repateuation reflects the continued commitment to closing the detention facility at guantanamo in a responsible manner. as you pointed out, this transfer was approved quite some time ago. it has been in the pipeline for a while. these four detainees were deemed to not be a security threat to the united states, but there are broader implications here. one, it underscores the fact that the united states relationship with afghanistan is now at a much stronger place, particularly with the new president, ashraf gade in power. that was said by the president. and underscoring you see president obama and the obama administration really pick up the pace when it comes to releasing detainees. earlier this month, six detainees were transferred to

uruguay. you see these releases in the coming weeks. he's determined to close gtmo and when you have republicans coming in to control congress in just a few weeks. >> absolutely. kristin, let's switch to the president's end of year news conference yesterday. what was his main message takeaway? >> reporter: well, it was interesting. despite the bruising defeat that he and democrats suffered in the midterm elections, he said he was excited and energized about this coming year and looking forward to finding common ground with republicans. take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say. >> i'm being absolutely sincere when i say i want to work with this new congress to get things done. to make those investments. to make sure that government is working better and smarter. we're going to disagree on some things but there are going to be

areas of agreement and we've got to be able to make that happen and that's going to involve compromise every once in a while and we saw during this lame duck period that perhaps the spirit of compromise may be coming to the fore. >> reporter: and the president identified some of those areas of possible agreement as corporate tax reform and also, infrastructure projects, but he also noted the devils in the details. of course, we know that, alex and it's tough to get things done in washington. he draw the line in the sand with health care saying he's not going to compromise when it comes to his signature piece of legislation. >> as expected. okay, kristin welker in honolulu. investigation after a megabus from chicago crashed in indiana. it happened on the i-65 in seymour. several reports of slick roads due to light snow. no word on injuries or the official cause of that accident. the state department issued a worldwide travel advisory during the holidays. the attack this week in a sydney

cafe prompted the department to warn that terrorists are focused on hotels, shopping areas, places of worship and schools. gunmen in sydney took 17 people hostage on sunday and the gunman died. ray rice's then fiance crying and apparently kissing the star running back after rice knocked her unconscious in the casino elevator last february. they were both handcuffed and taken to jail after the february 15th incident. the request fought by the attorney who did not want the video released. suspended rice but reinstated eligibility last month. dodger stadium home to one of the highest paid players with a staggering payroll of $257 million. the l.a. dodd jers ended the new york yankees 15 year streak as the biggest spenders in baseball. beats $25 million, the yankees set that last year. north korea today is on a

propaganda offensive. the official state news agency quoting a government source says, we propose to conduct a joint investigation with the u.s. in response to groundless slander perpetrated by the u.s. by mobilizing public opinion. if the u.s. refiuses to accept our proposal and drags us into the case, remember, there will be grave consequences. the white house said yesterday tbls north korea was behind the cyber attack and sony made a mistake pulling its movie from theaters. >> we cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing accept socen here in the united states. >> the truman council. melissa rosenberg writes for the washington post. andrew, i'll reach out to you first. the president said there will be

a proportionate response. what is that to a country such as north korea? >> north korea could be added back to the state terrorism list with countries like iran, sudan and syria really putting them back in the role of pariah of the world community and leverage funds. could be added to antimoney laundering list, regime of north korean s. those are the covert policies and the president's reference to a proportional response to the time, place and manner of u.s. choosing leaves many other opportunities and options within the realm of u.s. national power. so the actions here by north korea took this from cyber theft on a scale of stealing information into a cyber attack that disrupted the systems and most importantly at the end, moved into cyber terrorism when they made threats against individual americans for physical violence. so this really has elevated the

situation to the point where the president can now use any number of tools in his arsenal of national power. >> andrew, a couple more questions real quick. an interesting discussion i had with my staff between our shows today about whether or not if the u.s. does have some sort of a proportional response. they make that public. i mean, for political reasons, do you publicize it? like, don't mess with us because this is what will happen or do it secretly and target them, and also, how do you think north korea did it? >> well, in terms of the how, we have to look at the fbi's public press release, which makes quite clear that they've done the forensic research and the technical work to determine this is attributable to north korea and that's based on a number of factors of similarities with malware. the north koreans used against south korea in 2013 and conjunctable with ip attacks. we can move forward with confidence that jim koh mee and

the fbi put together the picture that north korea is in fact behind this attack. the next question, there's an art to any use of foreign policy tools or national power. we can use a military equivalent or an espionage equivalent or diplomatic equivalent and sometimes, deterrents, in order to prevent north korea or other state actors from using these attacks in the future, we do need to own the fact the united states may be behind some actions in response. that said, other options, we certainly wouldn't want our government to advertise in advance. so i realize that i gave you a lawyer's answer. >> it's a mixed bag, understandably so. >> it depends on what's being used and how. >> okay. alyssa, you're well aware of the damage control yesterday by sony. reads in part the only decision we made in respect to release

the film is not to release christmas day in theaters after the theater owners declined to show it. without theaters, we could not release it christmas day. it's our hope anyone wants to see it will get the opportunity to do so. so did sony have any choice but to officially pull "the interview" if no theaters were to show it? >> i think it's a difficult situation, alex. with theater owners operating independently it's not like the old days the movie studios owned the theaters. other outlets refused to take on the movie and to a certain extent, that doesn't surprise me. netflix plans a big expansion in asia. it has marco polo, new show set in asian countries this week. it may not be wise for those into new territory to take on a project that seemed likely to play into regional tensions. >> would it make any sense whatsoever for sony to say the

theaters who said, look, we're not going to air this, the next time we have a big blockbuster, we're not putting it in your theater chain or is that shooting themselves in the foot? >> i think that's difficult. the chains who didn't want to show "the interview" were some of the biggest in the country. they don't own their own theaters. they need to get things in front of audiences and need the theater owners and the national association of theater owners which is the professional organization that represents the company. >> sony said they hope people will be able to see this movie. how will they go about doing that? >> that's an interesting question. president obama suggested posting the movie online. guacer, the gossip site, said they'll be willing to stream it. it would be a huge traffic boom for them, self-interest there. i think it would be wonderful if sony found a way to put it online. they would need a distributor both willing to do that and has cyber security of their own so that they could defend against

any hacks that happen in retaliation. >> andrew, could you categorize how vulnerable the u.s. is and are government networks as vulnerable as private networks to hacking? >> the first answer here, i think this is the first private sector hack remotely on the scale of the snowden theft of u.s. information. that was done by an insider threat leaking information but i think it opens this up. the private sector concerns that the u.s. government has been looking at for a number of years now. in terms of defending against these, any successful defense is going to require public and private partnerships. it's going to require the work of the fbi working with private sector companies. in this case, it's reported sony went to the fbi hours after they determined there was an issue. they were able to work together and collaborate in terms of the response immediately and i think that this is just a piece of the world security structure we live

in now. a couple of years ago, head lawyer edward cope said he made the assertion that cyber attacks certainly need to be evaluated under international law for law of war or law of armed conflict. we are moving into a new realm where our pentagon, the department of defense determined cyber space is one of the operational areas of war like the air, the sea, the ground. and this may be the first private sector attack that i think really illustrates the american people how important it is to have public and private sector collaboration on these issues. >> last question to you, alyssa, here. the violent repressive future that the cancellation of the interview promise is already here. what kind of pressure do you already see applied to film makers, writers and other art t artists? >> what's interesting about this moment is the sony hack is described as the new frontier in the way we respond to culture but really, it's the logical culmination of a place we've

been in for a while. it's become incredibly common for creators and critics to get death threats or threats of violence, in case of women, threats of rape, in response to their work or criticism. over incredibly small things. the design director of the video game black ops 2 death threats online for the speed of the way certain weapons fire in the game. and had bomb threats, industry awards, had to cancel speaking engagement in utah earlier this year because the state's conceal and carry laws means the university couldn't do the kind of security checks the make her feel safe. this is an incredibly common part of our dialogue. guardians of peace, behind the attack on sony, is exploiting the environment and by tying it to a state has put sort of new meat behind the threats. they've been able to escalate this existing environment but this is not their creation.

we have been talking to each other about culture for a long time. they're taking advantage of a degraded discourse. >> alyssa and andrew, thank you. changing relations. a person said he's never been prouder to be an american after this week's announcement and that's ahead. [ inhales ] [ male announcer ] at cvs health, we took a deep breath... [ inhales, exhales ] [ male announcer ] and made the decision to quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. now we invite smokers to quit, too, with our comprehensive program. we just want to help everyone, everywhere, breathe a little easier. introducing cvs health. because health is everything. introducing cvs health. dave, i'm sorry to interrupt... i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever,

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a live look at the streets of havana three days after president obama announced he was reopening american relations with cuba. it was a big topic during the president's final news conference of the year. >> this is still a regime that represses its people. and as i said when i made the announcement, i don't anticipate overnight changes. but what i know deep in my bones

is that if you've done the same thing for 50 years and nothing has changed, you should try something different if you want a different outcome. >> joining me now, new york democratic congressman charles wrank l. welcome, sir. nice to see you as always. >> good to be back. >> the president said it will take time. how long until we see these changes? >> a lot depends on the republicans, but i truly believe so many americans wanted this and they had a political impediment and that's the cuban community in florida. every president needed florida and they didn't want to offend anybody. all of this has changed now. the older cubans left. the young cubans have the same emotional feeling. we can increase vulnerability in

dollars. it means a lot to exporters. if it's not done during this administration, the political impediments impediments will not be on the political calendar and nobody is going to get hurt and all of america and i mean, all of americas in the hemisphere are the beneficiary. >> you clearly think this is a good decision. i know you were there recently in havana. categorize for me the state of affairs there right now. how vibrant is the population? how repressed is the population? what's your interpretation of it? >> i think castro admitted himself the embargo, they were involved in a struggle. president castro always, for anything that was going wrong economically could blame the united states and could blame the embargo. well, they won't have the embargo to blame anymore and the people are really, one lady told me in havana, she said, you

know, all of cubans like two things about american. i said, what are they? she said, one, american movies and the other is everything else. they just love us there and the american people love cubans. notwithstanding this conflict we've had with government. >> do you really think, speaking of the government, that the castro brothers, regardless who's in charge, fidel or raul, do you think they'll actually relinkish control enough to u.s. influence? they said it will not happen while they're alive. >> you hit the nail on the head. in an open society, they can't be in control over the minds of the people. they are now. these people love the ipads, the iphones, they love america, the movement, they love the freedom. and the more tourism we have, the more communication and trade we have, the more they'll truly

understand what democracy is all about. already, they want to leave cuba to come here and so this will only allow democracy to work and democracy works best not through government but through people understanding each other. so i'm excited about this. >> republican senator marco rubio, not so much. he's been out front on this issue and spoke with my colleague, avias balart. >> it's about condemning human rights abuses and condemning dictatorship. beyond leverage, being able to go to the cuban government and say, we know you desperately want diplomatic recognition from the united states. in order for that to happen, you have to take concrete steps towards democracy. that's not what the president did here. >> can you understand that perspective? >> yes, from an individual, but i also understand that a handful of people have emotional feelings about any international issue, not interfere with the president's decision to do what

is in america's best interest. so i can understand from his family background, feelings he has against castro and the communists that are there, but i don't think his voice when we talk about communists in vietnam and communist china, this is emotion emotional. this is the prevailing view since the trade embargo since the '90s but hasn't changed. >> why hasn't it changed? freedom of the press, freedom of religion, political prisoners being released in order to advocate all of this. >> political, release, my god. we had the release of alan gross. we had the release of 53 political prisoners. we released their prisoners. now, i think that you cannot have high demands on the cuban people. they've been our friends for all

of these years and we've had this artificial 54 year embargo on them. like i said, when people feel the power and the ability to have their own government, this is done through an understanding and a love of democracy. and that is going to happen. you can't just lock them up and cut them away from this thing. they're going to have the internet. they're going tor tv. they already have one station and they'll have access to everything else. young people, young cubans talking to young americans. you can bet your life, that's the biggest key to open up democracy that you can think of. >> can we get some of the cars back here? those are the coolest cars. how is it they've had the parts to sustain these cars for half a century and we can't find them in the states? going to cuba. >> first of all, they get parts from russia. they get parts from the european countries and they alter them.

they have developed an industry of replacing parts for cars from the 1950s and there were millions of dollars and they're so proud of them. each one of them is a masterpiece. >> oh, they're beautiful. so fun to see on the streets there. well, thank you very much. charlie rangel, happy holidays to you. surprising news out of ferguson, missouri. did the prosecutor in the michael brown trial willingly allow witnesses to perjure themselves? given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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welcome back to weekends with alex. there are some stunning new comments from the st. louis prosecutor on how he handled the grand jury investigating shooting death of michael brown at the hands of ferguson police officer darren wilson. told a radio host on friday some witnesses before the grand jury likely lied under oath. kolic also said he has no regrets hear from non-credible witnesses. listen to this. >> early on, i decided that anyone who claimed to have witnessed anything was going to be presented to the grand jury. i thought it was much more important to present anybody and everybody and some, yes, that clearly were not telling the truth. >> let's bring in karen desoto, criminal defense attorney in legal analyst. what do you make of these statements, you can bring anybody and everybody in.

it's okay if they're not telling the truth. >> witnesses and who you put on the stand, remember, bob mccull lock is a person who campaigns, not appointed. he has to curry favor towards the public. that may have a lot to do with it. but obviously, he made some comments that are a little bit jarring for people which is that people went and they testified and they lied and he may have known that. >> can i get specific on one here? >> sure. >> made reference to a woman who claims to have seen the shooting. mcckol lock clearly isn't presenting charges against those who lied. isn't that perjury? >> yes, that is perjury. witnesses lying, how odd. the decision to put that person on, apparently, he made a policy decision, alex, and that policy decision was we're just going to

put everybody into the grand jury. let me make a distinction rather than just a prosecutor presenting condensed evidence for whatever purpose. this was more of a investigative grand jury wherein the jurors are going to ask questions and he made this policy decision. >> does that mean that he knew that they were potentially going to lie before they go to the grand jury? >> well, that's the question. was he suspicious? i mean, obviously anyone you're putting on the stand, you have suspicions they're going to lie or self-serving or not tell the truth. right? that's what cross examination is for. she was questioned before and grand jurors taking the place of investigators and detectives at that point. >> can we go back to the not prosecuting someone for perjury? don't they have to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> we've had this conversation for years. people who lie about being raped, lie about their spouss

molesting their children and whether or not they're prosecuted. we are surprised they decide not to. this is one of the decisions, kb again, you have the prosecutor elected that may feel the need to kowtow towards the public. this is a passionate issue and prosecutors have a lot of discretion and this is one of the situations that no matter what he is. it will be bad. >> can mckuhlloc be finished for this? >> the only time we had this discussion somebody got in trouble was the duke rape case, prosecutorial misconduct. does this raise to that? the answer is we don't know what the answers are, what he was thinking before he presented the evidence and he was not the prosecutor ultimately presenting the evidence. >> what do you think happens next with this? >> you know, i've been saying for a long time that this is one of the situations where, you know, it's nice to call attention to it, but there needs to be changes. so there needs to be some mediation and a restorative

justice program in ferguson, missouri, and again, how many times have i said, i don't believe that prosecutors are judges, should campaign or be elected. they should be appointed positions because, again, to get to the truth doesn't mean you have to be out there campaigning and put money into it. that's one of the situations. you're not going to be, make both sides happy ever in a criminal justice situation ever. >> okay, karen desoto, we're happy you're with us. >> thanks. one word can sum up the press. i'm not done. that was the subject of the e-mail sent by the old political arm organizing for action. when the news conference ended, he hit on topics like the sony hack and how he wants to work with republicans and how he wants to defend his record, especially on the economy. >> as a country, we have every right to be proud of what we've accomplished. more jobs, more people sninsure

growing economy, less deficits, bustling, booming energy. america's resurgence is real. >> lawrence fox who covers congress for the national reporter and phillip. i'll start with you. this is what your colleague wrote yesterday. throughout the nearly hour long press conference, obama was in command displaying little of the disconnectiveness and listlessness into the past year and was also considerably more concise in his answers than he's often been. he went off script to great effect a several times, cracked jokes and entirely comfortable in his own skin. what do you make of the performance? >> chris is my boss so i certainly agree with him but i think he's right. barack obama, i remember his end of year conference last year. fairly loose, going on vacation. makes people feel like they're in a good mood.

but i think it speaks to the larger state of where he is right now and i think that state is that he's unencumbered by the midterms and the election. there's no election nationally for two more years but i think what he's doing is he's excited to be in a fight. for four years, harry reed has been the bull work and harry reed no longer in a position of power. democrats can still be obstructive but now president obama said i'm ready to fight. the republicans said, hey, don't do this thing on immigration and he said, to heck with it and did it anyway. he feels that's what's energizing him more than anything. >> lauren, do you think this is a preview of next year with a completely republican controlled congress? might be a little different? >> i think the tenor will be tougher if the president is able to accomplish anything with the republican controlled congress. he even started to point to this, the republicans in congress said we'll vote on

keystone when we get back in january. the president hinted yesterday that that's something he hasn't made up his mind about. sort of hinted it's not something he's pleased about. i think it's one of the issues tblgd be the very first mark where we see the political fireworks go off when president barack obama and republican congress come back together. >> regarding keystone, there aren't as many jobs as think they are. this is canadian oil, not u.s. oil we're talking about. president obama repeated, phillip, again that he wants to work with republicans get things done. here's that. >> i think there are real opportunities to get things done in congress. as i said before, i take speaker boehner and mitch mcconnell at their words to want to get things done. i think the american people would like to see us get things done. i think the question is going to be, are we able to separate out those areas where we disagree

and those areas where we agree? >> why do you think the reality of working together happening, phillip? >> when obama was elected in 2008, he said he was going to break down walls and work together with congress. it didn't happen because republicans put a lot of obstruction, but i poked around a little bit and found that times when congress was one party and the president was another were some of the most productive over the course in getting legislation done, in part, there's no acrimony on the hill to prevent bills from getting passed. i think it's the extent of which he uses his veto power. i think it will be the first step to fox's point and it will be interesting, quite frankly. >> lauren, do you see areas where the republicans and the president can work together or do you think it's been tainted due to the president's action on immigration? >> i think that going into this, the politics of this have been

tainted but the president mentioned a few things yesterday. infrastructure projects. roads, bridges, kind of basic building blocks of the united states. the president said, let's get back to work. let's get back to doing things. that's something congressmen back in districts with projects money and projects flowing to them, that's something that makes constituents happy. i think that's a possibility. tax reform is another thing the president and republicans keep talking about. i think that's going to be really tough to handle, especially with paul ryan at the helm of the committee in the house of representatives. i think if he eyes the 2016 but things could be politically complicated there. >> good to see you both. lauren fox, phillip, good to see you. >> thanks, good to see you. a ticket forward, my next guest offers people the trip of a lifetime. our time. built-in nav, heated seats for mom, dvd with wireless headphones for the kids! and tons of room for the golf clubs!

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ticket around the world has a winner. toronto native jordan nisoni.

plans to travel around his girlfriend, after they broke up. offered the ticket free to any woman with his exgirlfriend's name and now launched a charity so others without means might travel the world. joining us now in studio. we have to explain to people who maybe aren't frequent travelers, couldn't get the name changed on the ticket. couldn't cash it in, well, someone's got to use it. so that's how this all came about. i'm curious, how many responses did you get? >> there were thousands of e-mails globally. of that, there was, i would say a couple hundred elizabeth gallaghers around the world. in terms of canadian elizabeth gallagher, there were 18. >> you had to go with someone canadian. a passport issue. >> yes. >> got that. what did they say? a pitch as to why they should be the next elizabeth? >> a little bit. this whole thing has been very surreal. but it was an introduction to their lives in a sense. hey, here's my story.

here's what i do. here's what's going on. >> and how did you choose the woman with whom you'll be traveling? who i understand, it's not a romantic relationship. she's involved with someone and might be a good travel partner. >> take the ticket go. the whole point was it's an around the world ticket and it was going to go to waste. why do that to go to somebody who hasn't had an opportunity to see much of the world? >> this has inspired to do something incredibly cool. talk about what you'll do next. >> sure. the thing that broke, what is this all about? what's the social good angle and what happened was there was thousands of e-mails who came in around the world with human stories about how they wanted to see the world but didn't have means to. people terminally ill, severely impoverished, and bad backgrounds. travel can be transformative in my life. can you help me? and i didn't have a good answer for that and i started to think, what if we created a make a wish foundation only for travel where

the beneficiaries could be the whole background and make the travel dreams come true with the idea travel isn't a luxury, it's a rite of passage and a transformative thing for many people from adverse backgrounds. we've laufrnled it. it's great. >> congratulations on that. elizabeth gallagher the second. how well do you know her and how she's going to be a good traveling partner? are you sure about it, even? >> wing we both appreciate that this is very much just a social experiment and you know how it is traveling with somebody. everything is elevated and more intense. we know there will be twists and turns. ultimately, she's very, she wanted to take the ticket and do something dwragreat with it. pay for it in her own way. that's the own way. i don't want money just do something good for someone else someday and that was enough for me. >> that's cool. how many places are going to

visit? >> we're going through europe to milan out of paris. i'm looking forward to christmas in prague. that's been a long time dream with the christmas markets and the rest, it's going ton phenomenal and also, new delhi, india. we're going through thailand and back through india. i've always wanted to see new delhi and the surrounding area. it's going to be fantastic. >> safe travels. can't wait to hear how it turns out. >> thank you shs appreciate it. >> ahead inside north korea and the regime inside the sony cyber attacks. someone had a first hand account of what it was like from someone who used to live. i have the worst cold with this runny nose.

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north korea today is sayinged tsaying it had no part in the sony attack. they want a joint investigation with the u.s. of the leak the day after president obama and the fbi said the attack on sony was carried out by north korean hackers. let's get some insight from suki kim who lived and worked in

north korea as an english teacher. your new book, without you, there's no us, as a memoir of her time in north korea. suki, i'm glad you're here because it's such a repressive regime and closed society. tell me about what you experienced in north korea. >> i lived for six months teaching the sons of elite in a private university. that was in 2011 and i was teaching 19 and 20-year-old young men and a lot of them majors in computer but didn't know the existence of the internet. >> they didn't know the existence of the internet and their major is computer science. i guess the equivalent here. what were they doing? >> only learning english because it was the year when the regime

change was coming, so it was a particular situation. what i did observe is that they had so little awareness of their outside world because it was such a controlled system. their system absolutely controlled them in every single way, and, you know, obviously information was at the top list of those things that they did and the government didn't want them to know and internet was out of question. >> is their internet exposure, can you get it any way there for students in a highly specialized field like that? >> they call it intranet, a predownloaded information. so that has nothing to do with the internet as we know it. but they think that's the internet. >> you're a teacher. how difficult was that for you to witness that, to see these students basically spinning their wheels instead of really getting an education? >> well, it's not, the system there is not, it's all about the

great leader in every single way. every student says the pin that shows his face. every television program is about the leader and building is the picture of a great leader and the room is about the great leader, every song about the great leader. to the extent the great leader controls the world is more like a cult, religious idolatry. it makes the whole sony hack interview scandal quite interesting because, you know, it's not like an assassination of a president. that's not really how north korea could possibly look at this. because the great leader there, kim jong-un is far bigger than that. he's almost like a godlike figure and also like a parent. so it's not, it has nothing to do with the assassination of a president. >> like a political assassination.

given the lack of knowledge with the internet, would that extend to computers in general? i mean, were you surprised the fbi and president said we concluded that north korea is behind this attack? >> no, not at all. i think what is really peculiar about north korea is that it is so compartmentalized. tiny basically engineered hackers that's considered a government unit has nothing to do with the rest of the country. the rest of the country has zero access to anything and that's actually how the government controls it. i wouldn't be surprised if the hackers knew nothing else, like sweat shop workers or something. but their students, at tthe eli creme de la creme, had the -- no

knowledge of the internet. >> many people go starving. did you witness that? >> i did witness but even in that school, a privileged environment, electricity got cut everyday and lack of everything from medicine to anything was pretty much obvious. which really made me shudder to think what is going on in the rest of the country, which, of course, their government will never let you see and that's a part of, you know, the reason we know so little about north korea is because they absolutely control every single communication method. and if they were to, logically speaking, if they were let all the students know about the internet, then they would discover things. how can you maintain the system of the great leader if you were to let people know about the internet? >> suki kim, it's a fascinating

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biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth. north korea is threatening grave consequence if the u.s. fails to cooperate in a joint investigation. until now, newly released video of the moment after rice struck his fiance, why was his attorney fighting to keep from going public? traffic taum caught on camera. a right turn goes desperately wrong. and irs warning, why the wait for you tax refund next year may get a whole lot longer. good day to all of you. weekends with alex witt. a new denial over the sony hack

attack from north korea. quoting a government source saying we propose to conduct a joint investigation with the u.s. in grounds to groundless slander perpetrated by the u.s. in mobilizing public opinion. if the u.s. approves and continues to talk about some kind of response by dragging us into the case, it must remember, there will be grave consequences. kristin welker in hawaii. who makes the move now? >> reporter: the senior administration officials haven't yet responded to the joint investigation by north korea. so we're waiting on a white house response to that. in the meantime, strong words from president obama on friday to sony pictures for pulling the movie "the interview." of course, a satire about killing north korean leader kim jong-un. sony made the decision after a series of cyber attacks and violent threats that have been attributed to north korea. on friday, president obama said

the move by sony was a, quote, mistake. take a listen. >> i wish they had spoken to me first. we cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the united states. because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don't like or news reports that they don't like. >> reporter: now, the ceo of sony fired back at the president saying that the company didn't have any other option. they also said that they are looking into other ways to release the film. in the meantime, president obama will likely be briefed on a range of options for how the u.s. might retaliate. president obama says that there will be some action, but he's

being tight lipped about what that action might look like. alex? >> thank you very much from hawaii with the beautiful backdrop, kristin. we appreciate that. michael lynton saying the company did not consult the white house after. in an interview with cnn, they say consulted with the state to determine whether it would have any political heat. lynton said experts there were no problem, so they continued to proceed. and sony said in a statement it's still exploring the options to release the movie. the internet file-sharing company bittorrent and sony wants to defend the principles of free speech. it is super saturday, last saturday before christmas. it's expected to be the busiest shopping day of the season, surpassing black friday. if you're out there hitting the malls today, you'll have a lot of company and competition.

ann thompson at the store. >>. >> reporter: ann, the rush is on. millions of americans are expected to jam malls and stores today in what's called super saturday and set a new trend in shopping. welcome to the shopping season's home stretch. >> american girl dolls and legos and my oldest, all things clothes and fashion. >> reporter: the rush to finish the lists could make today the big shopping day of the year. >> i've been feeling the pressure for weeksme. more now that we're less than a week today. >> reporter: expects sales to hit $10 billion surpassing black friday for the first time in a decade. a big number driven by big discounts. >> i think there's deals to be had if you're smart about your shopping. >> reporter: deal news said last minute santas find savings on 40 inch to 50 inch tvs, home appliances and clothes.

the princesses of frozen are among the hottest toys, so several retailers put in perennial barbie on sale. last minute cuts on coach handbags but in the market for the fitness trackers, strong demand is making bargains rare. even though we can let our fingers do the shopping, today, expect to be shoulder to shoulder with fellow procrastinators. >> 90% of commerce is in the brick and mortar store. it's what we'll see in the last few days leading up to christmas. >> reporter: all kinds of instore conveniences to make easier to endure. extended hours. toys r us open until 2:00 a.m. and kohl's won't close from now until 6:00 p.m. christmas eve. also working in everyone's favor is an improving economy with lower gas prices, falling unemployment rate and improving consumer confidence. when all the buying and counting

is done, shopper traffic expects this season's holiday sales will be almost 4% higher than last year. alex, back to you. >> all right, ann thompson. i'll take it. thank you so much. a long and difficult struggle. that's what cuban president raul castro said about the normalization with the address to parliament. from havana, jacob rascon. what did we hear from president castro? >> a couple of interesting quotes. the one he mentioned, cuba faces a long and difficult struggle before the u.s. removes the embargo because he believes cuban american exiles will try to sabotage the process. we know that that's in part true. those in little havana, for example, in miami, a lot of them very angry. those of the older generation and then said this, the cuban president in the same way we have never demanded the u.s.

change, its political system, we will demand respect for ours reiterating the fact that according to raul castro, none of the changes that are proposed will lead to any changes politically here. that is where he says he's putting his foot down. very important to realize that on the streets in havana, the people don't pay much attention to all of this talk. they don't want to talk politics. they're interested in how will these changes affect and improve the day-to-day life here from the phones they have to the food they eat to the cars that they drive and they're very optimistic that that will in fact happen. and how a thawed u.s. cuba relationship will improve their relationships. one in five people has a family member in the united states. one of the some 2 million cuban americans and many of them say they've talked on the phone and now after not coming for five, ten years, some of the family members say they're going to consider coming and visiting

family in cuba for the first time. that's exciting to the people on the streets. again, according to those we talked to, really, no controversy here because they don't want to get into the politics. they want a better life. jacob rascon. >> jacob, you say the people are excited. is this the major topic of conversation. is this what everybody is buzzing about? >> reporter: it is in the headlines but in a different way. the way raul castro presented the news to the people was headline. the cuban five are all home. victory for fidel castro, for raul castro. that's the headline. and then, by the way, u.s. and cuba are going to thaw their diplomatic relationship and, by the way, we may end up helping you a little bit on the travel. but all the people cared about was new economy, new tourism, the possibility for change, new

travel from the u.s. to cuba. that's what they cared about. >> that wasn't exactly the headline. jacob rascon, thank you. detainees sent back to afghanistan. the department of defense announced the transfer this morning. all three were approved by the guantanamo task force. 132 detainees remember. upcoming changes at the irs may help tax cheats get away with it. we'll look into that. we go inside what looks like an ordinary tavern to find a magical holiday splendor. s? ... ... get cascade complete. one pac cleans better than six pacs of the bargain brand combined. cascade. now that's clean. which means it's timeson for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen.

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announced on friday that unemployment rates fell in 41 states last month and held steady in six more before

heading to hawaii, president obama took an economic victory lap in his weekly address. >> the steps we took nearly six years ago to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. over the past 57 months, our businesses have created nearly 11 million new jobs. and a hopeful sign for middle class families, wages are on the rise again. >> joining me, democratic congressman john yarmouth of the budget committee. good to see you. do you see gains with wages that have really lagged. >> actually, they have started to rise here in kentucky and in my district in louisville. unemployment on the state level down to 6%. the lowest it's been since 2008. we are starting to see income rises and one of the factors in that, interestingly enough,

because insurance premium increases are dropped significantly, employers are able able to provide wage increases. that was not the case in 2008 because insurance premiums were rising at 20%, 25%, and in my state, 38%. there's moderation and room to provide salary increases which is a good thing. >> you attribute that to the aca. >> a lot is attributable to the aca. >> yes, what do you plan to do to keep the gains going? >> as a member of the minority, it's going to be tough. one of the things we need to do with a possibility for bipartisan cooperation is infrastructure. if we make a significant investment in infrastructure, which we need to do as a nation, we can create a lot of very good paying jobs. and provide some investment for the country which is absolutely necessary. i don't really hold much hope for raising the minimum wage on

the national level but i think there's going to be a lot of pressure to do that. in my own district, just yesterday, the metro council raised the minimum wage to $9 an hour the next three years. this is a growing trend. i think it would be behooved for congress to seriously discuss doing this on a national level, so that we don't have the kind of competitive issues we might have jurisdiction to jurisdiction. those are a couple things we can do, i think, to help solidify the gains in the economy that have been made. >> okay. as you well know, sir, thursday, the irs commissioner warned the agency's $350 million funding cut in the new budget will have a major impact. because he expects significant delays in processing the refunds. he said the only people who will benefit are tax cheats. hitting voters in the wallet is how to upset them. who will feel the impact of this politicalically? >> this is part of the strategy that republicans implemented over the last few years and that is, do as much as you can to

make the government ineffective and then they'll blame the party that actually supports a strong central government. and so i suspect that it will be mixed. i know a lot of people will blame democrats just because we happen to have the president of the united states. but this is actually, you know, this is a budgetary right now. republicans control both houses of congress. they will be as of january 6th. so we'll see where the chips may fall, politically. but the fundamental question is, why do you want to do this? why do you want to shortchange an agency that helps stabilize the budget, that brings in revenue, which holds people to accountable for the actions they have, why do you want to do that and penalize the people every january count on refunds in a quick basis because they need the money to pay their bills? average refund $2800 for american and those are going to be delayed this year. if you're trying to get

assistance from the irs, that's probably only half according to the commissioner, only half of the people are going to get personal attention with questions they have. why do you want to penalize the american citizens just because you have this philosophical objection to government? >> let's talk about the north korea, sony hack. let's look at the president in his year end briefing yesterday. >> they caused a lot of damage. and we will respond, we will respond proportionally and we will respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. it's not something that i will announce here today in a press conference. >> what does that look like, a proportionate response? >> i have no idea, alex. i suspect it has something to do with disrupting their ability to function online. but i think the most important question is, what are we going to do as a country to provide

cyber security for our businesses, for our individuals, and for our government? i mean, that's the scary thing about this. even though we've been on notice for a number of years now, that our systems are vulnerable. we haven't done much, obviously, to secure them. and this needs to be a national priority, a top national priority because i don't really care what happens to sony. they made an economic decision to produce this movie in the first place. they well knew that it was potentially disruptive and potentially politically offensive to the north koreans. they made that decision. they have to deal with the ramifications of that. but as a country, it's very frightening to believe a government like north korea could create this kind of havoc online with basically no accountability. this is something i think we need to focus totally on in congress right now.

because this could be much more than sony. it could be utilities. it could be our financial sector. it could be important government resources. >> yeah. so cyber security, can i ask, first amendment rights and the like. i know that you were a magazine and newspaper publisher before your time at congress. how would you have reacted at sony? >> if i had been an executive at sony, i would have done what i am obligated to do and a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. in my opinion, having screwed up, the first decision to produce this movie in the way it was produced and they knew there was a vulnerability here, a liability potentially. so i would have made an economic decision, as somebody involved in government, there's nothing i would ever do to say to sony,

you can't produce this movie. you can't air it. that would have been out of bounds in the system of government but they're economic actors on a world stage and different considerations. so they have to live with the repercussions of what they do. and they made that decision. so if they burn $75 million or whatever it is, that's their problem. again, i think as a member of congress as opposed to an executive of sony, my concern is how vulnerable we are, we need to shore up our cyber security in an immediate fashion. >> representative john yarmut, good to see you. happy holidays. one video today that you certainly will not forget and it could serve as a lesson for all of us. my name's louis,

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it nearly killed him. see this video. various show the bicyclist who try to pass a truck. see on the right? the driver turning and apparently didn't see the bicyclist, the cyclist himself completely oblivious to the mortal danger he's facing. you'd expect the worse, but this shows the bicyclist just lying there stunned but overall, okay. look at that, okay. suffered damage, but did you see there, a passing motorcyclist seems to be just kind of oblivious to the whole thing, unphased and zooms on without any concern. the truck driver, meanwhile, is blamed for the mishap because not only hit the bicyclist but drove away without stopping. well, amazing video there. good news for the holiday shoppers out on the roads this weekend and estimated 99 million americans who traveled to the holidays. national average for gas is $2.43 per gallon. how low can it go?

founder of oil price information services, good to see you, tom. welcome back to broadcast. >> nice to be here. >> first of all, do you expect prices at the pump to keep on falling? >> maybe 10 or 12 days more and then probably ramp up a little bit and in 2015. >> prices could fall to $35 a barrel. what needs to happen for prices to go that low and what would happen in 2015? >> actually, nothing would need to happen. if opec meets in june and i suspect they do earlier than that, like the thanksgiving meeting, we could see prices dropped below $40 or $35. you almost need to suspend your disbelief but my hunch is that we're dpoing to move a little bit higher in the mean titime a they'll be compelled to do that,

otherwise there will be a lot of oil in the second half of the year. >> what would that mean for the american economy as well as jobs and the energy industry? >> well, it's a double-edged sword. right now we're looking at 2015 as probably, maybe we'll save about $100 billion or we'll have $100 billion in more disposable income. if prices were to spend a lot of times below $50 a barrel, it really does not gout the shale boom. it was built on wonderful technology but pretty plump prices, well above where they are right now. >> so how much of this, then, is intentional by the opec state to hit the production growth in the u.s.? >> you know, i don't know what's inside the saudi mindset right now. certainly, they're gaining some leverage against russia which meddles in the region. they're gaining some leverage against iran, one of the rivals in the region. i don't know necessarily whether they want to take out some vengeance upon the oil shale community or not.

we'll find out at the opec meeting in the second half of the year. and that will determine what we may for probably the next few years. >> with all of these factors in play, tom, what do you think is the fair price for oil? if it's not manipulated, what's fair? >> i think a fair price about $70 a barrel or so. i think we had a fear premium of $20 to $30 a barrel. right now, we have a little bit of a fear discount. the fear that perhaps opec is not going to do again. non-opec production continues to grow and have a surplus of a million and a half and million barrels a day of oil come the second half of 2015. >> you know, north dakota being the epicenter of u.s. oil production right now, all of these low oil prices. does it make it cost-effective to be producing oil in north dakota? >> we'll find out. i mean, in some counties in north dakota, you can bring oil to market at a break-even price, probably less than $30. in other places, it's probably closer to $60 or more.

one of the things, these low prices will drive more efficiencies. they'll also drive out some of the invest. . i mean, a lot of the projects to bring oil on in the second part of this decade are being cancelled right now. >> tom, thank you. see us again. america getting a first look at newly released video of ray rice the night he attacked his fiance. what insight does it reveal? we'll take a look. female announcer: sleep train's interest free for 3 event!

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then the spill. now the scrub and the second guess.

finally, the rewash. or you can make it easy and do the pop with tide pods. the first 3 in 1 laundry pack. it cleans, brightens, and removes stains in one step. tide pods one step to an amazing clean. with alex witt. it's 33 past the hour. never before seen imaages of wht happened on then fiance janay. it was obtained exclusively by nbc news. >> reporter: it's the video ray rice fought to keep from reaching the light of day. but abc news won a court battle to get it. in it, you see the then baltimore ravens star being held by security. moments after the infamous elevator incident in which he knocked out his then fiance.

the assault eventually led to rice's suspension from the nfl before he won reinstatement last month. in the never before released scenes, we see jannay palmer at first seemingly wanting nothing to do with rice after the fight. she also receives medical treatment. and then at one point with both of them in handcuffs as jannay was initially accused of assault, the couple is escorted into an elevator and rice and palmer appear to kiss. rice's lawyer opposes the release of the video saying his client, this is a time of healing and he quite naturally doesn't want another media showing of what must have been the worst event of his life. the couple married following the atlantic city episode. and in an exclusive interview on today, jannay said she was able to go from rage to reconciliation. >> i didn't hear anything. i knew he hit me and i was

completely over it. i was done, didn't want to hear anything. of course in the back of my mind and heart i knew that our relationship wouldn't be over because i know that this isn't us and it's not him. >> big deal is for me to always protect her. that's why i say i take full responsibility. she can do no wrong. this is something that, as a man, you have to own and, you know, we're hardly sorry. >> that was nbc's chanel jones reporting. president obama's decision this week to normalize relationships with cuba has ignited a fire storm of opposition. protests in miami scheduled to begin half an hour or so from now. critics in open dialogue with cuba saying it won't lead to a country less repress iiv ivrepr. jaime joins me now. a welcome to you, sir. i'd like to get your reaction when you heard of the president's decision. >> well, i have a couple of

concerns. given the economic conditions of cuba and the decline of venezuelan support, the president could have extracted more concessions from general raul castro and second, probably more important, this marks a change in american foreign policy to latin america. since the carter/ford era, we rejected military in america and supported them in government and election. all of the sudden now, we are engaging with a military dictatorship, following without engagement with the military dictatorship in egypt. so this means that or may send a message to latin america we are going to be okay with military dictatorships again. >> i had asked this earlier of representative charlie rangel who just returned from havana. of the things that might have been attached to this deal is release of political prisoners, thousands of cubans remain in

jail, freedom of press and the like. are those the type of things you would like to see attached to this? >> absolutely. i think the road to ending the embargo is going to be a long and difficult road. first of all, there is no willingness on the part of the cuban government to offer any concessions. this is a stalinous regime that's been oppressive for years. raul won't be a leader that is willing to change cuba. concessions are going to be difficult to get. also, cuba is tied to iran, to the worst terrorist groups such as hamas to venezuela to north korea. so all of those relationships are difficult to change or break. the problem is that his president is focused on cuba. in 2015, he'll have to be

focused on major problems. terrorism, the war in iraq and the war in afghanistan, problems with russia. problems in the korean peninsula. so cuba will take a third or fourth level of importance within the administration. third, i think that the congressional opposition to the president will come not only from republicans, but also from democrats led by senator menendez and congresswoman debbie shulz. he's going to have a hard road in congress. and finally, the embargo is so complex that dismantling this is going to take time and it's going to be very difficult for example. property rights in cuba. the american properties were confiscated without payment in 1960 by the castro regime but also thousands of cuban american properties were confiscated.

those people that lose their property will file lawsuits or already filed lawsuits in american court. so there is a group of lawyers here in miami waiting to garnish any benefits from trade between cuba and the united states and to garnish any funds. >> clearly, you've given extraordinary thought to all of this and make cogent and important points. i know, jaime, you said the cold war survives because cuba lives in the cold war. but doesn't president obama have a point when he said we can't keep doing the same thing over five decades and expect a different result. >> he's right in that respect, but doing something else may be worse. he may be consolidating this dictatorship for a number of more years. i would prefer for the president to wait until there is a transition, new leadership emerging and offering the concessions. if we offer all the concessions now, what do we have then to negotiate with a future

government? so i think the process on negotiation has to be very hard, very difficult, and very well-thought out. otherwise, we're going to give the house and get little in return. >> jaime sichliki, nice to be with you. christmas levels at a new level but you wouldn't know it from the outside. kellie cobia. >> reporter: i spend way too much on holiday decorations every year. christmas lights, candles, can't get enough of the sparkle. but $40,000? that's how much this pub, the hanging gate pub in england spent over the years and driving by, you wouldn't even know it. inside, giant snowflakes, a

polar bear, five snowmen, make that six. every nook and cranny is covered in holiday cheer. >> it was christmas for us, really. the whole year really because we're thinking about it for months. >> reporter: and working on it for three weeks. 6,000 glass ornaments hand tied with five miles of string and 40,000 staples to hang them from the ceiling by the staff. >> we've got things stuck in us and glitter all over our faces for weeks. >> reporter: they've been doing it over 20 years and each year, it gets bigger and bolder. there are 35,000 lights in this pub and an over the top electricity built to match. over $6,000 a month to keep them turned on. why spend so much time and money on santas and snowflakes? just count the meals coming out of the kitchen. they've been booked solid since

november. >> it's that good. >> 11 months straight in one month. >> reporter: just from the christmas lights? >> just from that. >> reporter: and the other payoff. >> the kids faces seeing, oh my god, they just love it. >> reporter: if you're dreaming of a colorful christmas ducking under the decorations, better hurry. they're already filling up for next year. >> the pub owners say they're saving up for next year so they can start decorating the outside. imagine how many staples they'll be using next year, alex. >> wait, kelly, where is this place, right in london or outskirts? where is it? >> reporter: no, this is a very country pub in the peak district close to manchester. they're close down by snow for two or three weeks sometimes in the winter.

to make that much money in one month is huge for them. they can basically pay for their entire year in one month. but if you want to go, you're going to have to make your plans. it's not an easy trip to get there. >> it sounds like it's worth it. that sounds so much fun. thank you for sharing that story, kelly. appreciate it. president's decision to normalize relationships with cuba and how it may affect the white house in 2013. that's next. for most people, earning cash back ends here, at the purchase. but there's a new card in town. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back when you buy and again as you pay. that's cash back twice. it's cash back with a side of cash back. the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase

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the best way to capture the moment is to feel it, even if you can't see it. a war of words over cuba. this time, not between senator and the u.s. rand paul called senator marco rubio an isolationist who wants to build a mote. responded in kind. >> the embargo is not what's hurting the cuban people. it's the lack of freedom and the lack of confident leaders. >> joining me now, democratic strategist, jimmy williams and

msnbc contributor as well as republican strategist, joe watkins, white house aid under george h.w. bush and good friends to me. thank you for joining us. reach out to you first. at a time when the gop is about to take the control of the capital and prepare for 2016, we have the sparring between two leading contenders. what's the impact on the party? >> well, no real impact on the party. at the end of the day, shows all americans, especially democrats and independents that their republican parties, there's diversity even within the republican party. being republican doesn't mean you're one side or other side of an issue but clearly, rand paul disagrees with senator marco rubio. rubio has personal history here because you consider the fact he's couban american. if you were oppressed, you might not want to be so quick to enter into this new laugh. >> jimmy, you're laughing. you heard about the corralling

cats within the republican party. you know john boehner had a heck of a time the past couple of years. you have to give credit where it's due, don't you think? >> the big tent is the far right. not much of a tent, is it. i love you, john, but i got to be honest with you. the lack of the thought diversity in the gop is something we can always debate. marco rubio doesn't like this, i get it but has no problem with said r saudi arabia, they behead gay people. and then has no problem with us having embargoes with those countries. i find him talking both sides of his mouth a tad bit disingenuous. how about rand paul on in? >> a poll from a leading newspaper says 48% of cuban americans oppose normalizing

relationships. 44% support it. does the cuba question hold any sway over voters outside of florida? >> it is -- i mean, that's a democratic shape over there. younger cuban americans are not as concerned. the polling absolutely shows that. i just think, listen, you can hold on to the relic of what this thing was. this began in '61. i wasn't even born. has it worked? not so much. the castros still in power. if marco rubio has a problem with the embargo isn't the problem, what they're doing or lack of democracy is a problem, then let's have that dialogue with the cuban people and their government. even as bad as it is. i don't have a problem having a dialogue with them. listen, the idea that this is going to, in any way, sway cuban americans, the older cuban americans don't want it. the younger ones, a little more blasé about it. >> i just want to make sure

people aren't being brutalized while having dialogue. they want to make sure that certain things happen before you have dialogue. parameters. >> people are middle east, and we have an on going dialogue with all those countries. we can't have this litmus test with cuba and treat everyone differently. >> can i ask you, joe, specifically, jeb bush, potential intentions for 2016, former florida governor, how does cuba play to his narrative? if he wants to win the presidency, if he runs, he's got to win florida. >> of course he has to win florida. i think he'd have a great chance if he runs for the presidency. i think he'd be a strong nominee if he was the republican nominee if he chooses to run, which i hope he does. he's been clear where he stands on this. he, of course, has tweeted and put on his facebook page where he stands and why he's opposed

to this. i think he's very, very thoughtful about all this. he realizes the importance of dialogue, but he doesn't want to do it at this price. >> okay. good-bye, guys. good to see you. >> thanks. >> there's a new report about this week's deadly siege in australia, and it indicates the cafe may not have been the original target.

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new information today on the possible original target of monday's terrorist attack in sydney, australia. a newspaper is reporting that the target might have been a network tv studio as it was airing a morning broadcast. i want to bring in julia to talk about this. are you hearing about whether or not this is the case? >> channel 7 has not confirmed whether or not this is the case, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest so. they've released some footage of him pacing up and down the

studios a half an hour before he started the siege in the cafe just opposite. he's had a long standing grievance with the broadcasting in which he thinks they unfairly described islam and terrorism, and he thinks they did basically slur muslims. he's putting complaints to several government bodies, as well as politicians. it's quite clear he has a vendetta. he's appeared there twice before outside the broadcaster, handing out pamphlets. they stepped up their security recently. we had an increase terror threat where we found intelligence saying people had intended to behead someone in martin place, which is exactly where the siege was. fortunately for those at channel 7, their security was strong enough to deter him. >> right. you wrote an op ed about the terror attack and how australia is no longer isolated from the

attacks. we cannot rest on the laid back identity. if tolerance can seep through the holes, it will be a triumph for all who oppose the terror and sick violence that can capture the imagination of a madman. in about 30 seconds, can you talk about the precautions australian officials have taken to protect their country from terrorist attacks and elaborate? >> yes. the major precautions had to do with foreign fighters and cracking down on people going to conflict zones. now it's on them to prove why they might be going to certain areas. in syria, for example, if the government determined that was a problem. they have surveillancsurveillan. there's pressure on journalists not to report on secret operations. we won't be changing gun laws. some people suggest it might have helped the situation. there is a strong opinion in the australian public that we need tougher gun laws than exist. >> in 5 to 10 seconds, australiaaustralia

-- australians, they're resilient but this was tough. >> right. we're more acutely conscious of the threat but determined to get through it together. >> thank you so much for your time. i appreciate it and good to see you. that's a wrap of the show. see you back here tonight at noon eastern. i'll be looking for you. 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 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on select new volkswagen models. i was out for a bike ride. i didn't think i'd have a heart attack. but i did. i'm mike, and i'm very much alive. now my doctor recommends a bayer aspirin regimen to help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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