good morning. it's friday, october 16th. i'm jonathan capehart in washington. president obama announced his decision to halt the withdrawal of american military forces from afghanistan, leaving in place thousands more troops than originally planned when he leaves office 15 months from now. flanked by vice president biden, defense secretary ash carter, and the chairman of the joint chiefs, general dunford, the president reviewed the accomplishments in the nearly 14 years of fighting and what is still ahead. >> afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be. they're developing critical capabilities, intelligence, logistics, aviation, command and control. and meanwhile the taliban has made gains, particularly in rural areas. and can still launch deadly attacks in cities, including kabul. pressure from pakistan has resulted in more al qaeda coming in to afghanistan, and we've seen the emergence of an isil

presence. the bottom line is, in key areas of the country, the security situation is still very fragile. and in some places, there's risk of deterioration. i've decided to maintain our current posture of 9800 troops in afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. their mission will not change. our troops will continue to pursue those two narrow tasks that i outlined earlier, training afghan forces, and going after al qaeda. second, i've decided that instead of going down to a normal embassy presence in kabul by the end of 2016, we will maintain 5500 troops at a small number of bases. by now it should be clear to the taliban and all who oppose afghanistan's progress, the only real way to achieve the full drawdown of u.s. and foreign troops from afghanistan is through a lasting political

settlement with the afghan government. i know that many of you have grown weary of this conflict. as you are well aware, i do not support the idea of endless war. yet given what's at stake in afghanistan, and the opportunity for a stable and committed ally that can partner with us in preventing the emergence of future threats, and the fact that we have an international coalition, i am firmly convinced that we should make this extra effort. president obama had not planned to take any questions after his announcement, but he stepped back to the podium after this question. >> mr. president, can you tell us how disappointing this decision is for you? can you tell us how disappointing this decision is for you? >> this decision is not disappointing. continually my goal has been to make sure that we give every opportunity for afghanistan to succeed while we're still making sure that we're meeting our core missions.

and, as i've continually said, my approach is to assess the situation on the ground, figure out what's working, figure out what's not working. we're going to continually make adjustments to ensure that we give the best possibilities for success, and i suspect that we will continue to evaluate this going forward, as will the next president. >> a wave of violence continues between israelis and palestinians this morning. cameras were rolling as palestinian protesters threw rocks at israeli forces in bethlehem yesterday. soldiers responded by firing tear gas canisters. israel set up roadblocks in east jerusalem and deployed soldiers across the country. during a news conference, israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu said he's willing to meet with palestinian president mahmoud abbas, as violence and tensions continue to rise. yesterday marked a big deadline in the race for the white house, the release of fund-raising and spending reports for the third quarter. the campaigns of democrats hillary clinton and bernie

sanders posted the biggest numbers, with clinton raising nearly $30 million, leaving her with $33 million on hand. sanders is not far behind, having raised $26.2 million with $27 million still in the bank. and his campaign said last night that he's also raised more than $3.2 million since tuesday's debate. now turning to the republicans, ben carson raised the most, with nearly $21 million. followed by jeb bush with $13.4. and ted cruz with $12.2 million. donald trump raised the eighth most of any republican, though he's repeatedly expressed his willingness to self-fund. now, as for cash on hand, cruz finished the quarter with the most in his campaign. though that doesn't account for outside spending groups, carson, marco rubio and bush are also close behind. yesterday, two of the top republican candidates for president threatened to pull out of the next debate unless there are changes to the format. in a joint letter to debate host cnbc, donald trump and ben carson insist that the debate be

shortened to two hours, instead of cnbc's proposal for two hours with up to another 16 minutes in commercial breaks. and they also demand candidates be given opening and closing statements. trump and carson described their demands as, quote, very reasonable format changes. cnbc, which is a sister channel of msnbc, says it hasn't done opening and closing statements in past debates, and will, quote, take the candidates' views on the format into consideration. as they finalize its structure. last night, trump said the network is motivated by profit, and while at a chili cook-off in iowa, carly fiorina questioned her opponent's stamina. >> they've sold out all their commercials and they want to increase it by an hour. now if you look at the debate, even though it was pretty boring, from last night or the other night with hillary, and the group, that debate, it was a two-hour deal. i spoke to the rnc, and so have other people, actually, and you know, they don't like the idea, because it's unfair. it's unfair to the viewers.

i don't care. i can stand for five hours. i could stand for ten hours. but, it's unfair to the viewers. it's too long. >> i think i need to spend as much time as possible answering the american people's questions. so i'm all for three hours. i'm sorry that they apparently don't have the endurance to go the distance. and i also think prepared statements are something that politicians rely on. let's take the moderator's questions and take as many of them as we can. let's turn now to vice president joe biden. as pressure continues to mount for him to make a final decision about his plans for 2016. yesterday, while waiting to greet the south korean president outside the naval observatory, biden deflected questions from nbc's kristen welker. >> are you running for president? >> i'll answer in korean. >> have you made your decision yet? >> i can't hear you. >> have you made your decision yet? do democrats deserve your decision, mr. vice president?

[ inaudible ] >> it's good to see you all. >> you got to love kristen's persistence. kristen is now reporting that a source close to the vice president say he is making calls to people on the ground in early voting states. we're told that these are not calls to contributors, but rather to people who would organize his ground game. the source says biden is trying to assess if he has a real shot of winning those early states. and while biden continues to mull a run, hillary clinton keeps campaigning. and picking up endorsements. the democratic front-runner was courting the all-important latino vote yesterday in texas, and locked up a key endorsement in hud secretary and former san antonio mayor julian castro. >> in 2016, the latino community is going to play a critical role in electing our next president. so you couldn't have chosen a better city to kick off latinos for hillary than right here in the alamo city.

i look forward to the moment on fox news when brit hume has to turn to bret baier and say, bret, we're calling the 38 electoral votes of the state of texas for the democratic nominee and next president of the united states, hillary rodham clinton. >> i got to tell you, i love being la hillary. i promise, i'll keep working on my pronunciation. to say it just right, but i want you to know, i am not just la hillary. i'm also tu hillary. the leading republican candidate for president says that immigrants from mexico are rapists and drug dealers.

and candidates are even talking about changing the constitution to take citizenship away from people who were born here. so i plan to continue pulling out that kind of hateful speech whenever and wherever i see it. because latinos and latinas, you're not strangers. you're not intruders. you're our neighbors, our friends, our families! >> and earlier, at a u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce event clinton addressed whether she's considering castro as a running mate. >> i think really highly of him. and i am thrilled to have his endorsement today. both he and his brother, the congressman, are just among the best young leaders in america. regardless of category, or the fact that they come from san

antonio. so, i am going to really look hard at him for anything. because, that's how good he is. and he deserves the accolades he's receiving. >> the longest-serving republican speaker of the house in u.s. history, dennis hastert, has agreed to cut a deal with federal prosecutors. he's expected to plead guilty to allegations of past misconduct. nbc justice correspondent pete williams has the details. >> reporter: lawyers for dennis hastert told a federal judge in chicago that he has agreed to change his plea to guilty. the former speaker, now 73, was accused of evading federal banking rules and making payments of nearly $2 million in hush money to cover up past misconduct. he was also charged with lying to the fbi about it. law enforcement officials have said the misconduct was sexual in nature, involving a male student when hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling keach in new yorkville, illinois, during the 1960s and '70s. that person's identity has never

been revealed. the sister of another former student there in the early '70s, steve reinbolt said her brother told her years ago, before he died, that hastert sexually abused him. she told nbc news today she's thrilled by world of a guilty plea. >> i would have liked to have seen him go to trial for more details to come out. but the main thing is, is that the truth has come out, and his actions have been revealed. >> reporter: dennis hastert was once the republican party's white knight elected speaker in 1999, after the leading candidate for the job, bob livingston, admitted he'd had a series of extramarital affairs. during the clinton impeachment debates, hastert condemned the president's conduct. >> he has abused and violated the public trust. >> reporter: a guilty plea would allow hastert to avoid a humiliating trial that could delve into the details of his past. former federal prosecutor says the government gets something out of the deal, too. >> the government is rightfully concerned about protecting the identity of victims.

there are frequently victims who don't want to testify. who don't want to go forward. >> reporter: hastert's first state champion wrestler says today he still respects his former coach. >> he will always be my friend, forever. he has been, he will always be. >> that was pete williams reporting. the judge in this case set october 28th for hastert's plea hearing. now, still ahead on "way too early," it was an all or nothing game five between the dodgers and the mets out in los angeles. we'll take a look at last night's highlights. plus, major flooding has left drivers stranded in parts of california. meteorologist bill karins will have that, and a look at today's forecast. those stories and more when "way too early" comes right back.

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this consolidation? >> well, it's really the end of an era, as you suggested, for the iconic brand of usairways, and from 9:55 p.m. pacific time, the last usairways flight will take off from san francisco on a red eye to philadelphia. and from that point, american will begin to integrate the i.t. reservation systems. now, they hope to have all the reservation systems merged by saturday morning, and this is what's crucial for the flyers, as you asked, because in other mergers we've seen with the likes of united, continental most specifically back in 2012 you may remember there were some delays, real hiccups causing passengers when that merger took place. american says they've been working for about 22 months now, since this merger formed, to make that process as seamless as possible. and jonathan, there's another story we're watching moving in the tech space and this is based on yahoo! they've announced a new account key that will help people logon to their e-mail accounts without using a password. simply what you do, if you have the yahoo! e-mail app on your

smartphone, all you do is you get a push notification and it asks you whether or not you want to sign into your e-mail. all you do at that point is tap yes or no and it will take you seamlessly to your e-mail account and this is seen as a way not only to help password protection and fend off hacking threats but also to take on the large competitor google make. back to you. >> huh, that's an interesting idea. nancy hulgrave, live from london. thank you. bill karins, time now for sports. we begin with a do or die game five between the mets and dodgers in los angeles. top of the first inning, the mets' daniel murphy hits one into the gap in left center. curtis granderson scores all the way from first base. and the mets jump out to an early 1-0 lead. murray slides into third base safely for a triple but the dodgers would strike back early bottom of the first now, game tied at one, the bloop to shallow left, gonzalez comes in to score and the dodgers lead it 2-1 after one inning. fast forward to a wild play in

the top of the fourth. daniel murphy is on first base, duda walks and murphy trots to second before turning on the jets, and stealing third. and murphy would later score on a sac fly to the game at two -- tying the game at two. murphy wasn't done. here he is in the top of the sixth inning, sending a zhaball into right field. they take the one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. kendrick was the dodgers last chance. >> to the plate, and he struck him out! and the new york mets have won the series. >> the mets hang onto win it. they advance to the n.l. championship series for the first time since 2006. their best of seven series against the cubs begins tomorrow night at citi field. let's turn to the nfl, and thursday night football between the fal consequence and saints

in new orleans. atlanta was undefeated heading into this one. but it was all saints last night. running back mark ingraham scored a pair of touchdowns. drew brees threw for more than 300 yards and the saints top the falcons at home. let's turn now to former nba and reality tv star lamar odom, who continues to fight for his life in a las vegas hospital after being found unconscious at a brothel on tuesday. odom remained in a coma yesterday, but a source close to him tells espn that he's continued to make small progress over the past 24 hours. that comes as the brothel owner tells nbc news that odom paid $75,000 at the establishment outside of las vegas, and was planning on extending his stay when he was discovered unconscious on tuesday. now let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, how'd i do on that mets play by play? >> my favorite part of your sports cast is when you laugh at yourself, by the way. >> because, i mean why not?

>> it's the genius that you are. let's talk a little bit about what happened in california yesterday afternoon and evening. the pictures were amazing. we had a very heavy rains that moved through california. california's topography, they've had a lot of fires, and the way the hillsides are, they get a lot of rain in a hurry, you get mud and debris flows and they had some bad ones yesterday. some spots picked up one to two inches of rain. look at these cars. this was about an hour outside of l.a. heading towards the central valley. the golden state freeway, interstate 5 was closed for a portion of time. they're trying to clean that up overnight. imagine that. let's talk a little bit about what we're going to be dealing with. yesterday noaa came out with their winter outlook. of course the eastern u.s., remember how bad boston was last winter, areas of the great lakes. we're expecting a much milder and less snowy winter. in general they're saying the odds are we're going to be warmer than normal the northern half of the country. the southern half of the country because it's going to be stormier with the el nino

pattern you'll be a little cooler. doesn't mean you're getting a lot of snowstorms, just cooler than average. as far as precipitation goes. wetter than normal in southern half of the country, drier than normal in the northern half of the country. this doesn't mean you can't get a big snowstorm or two, but you shouldn't have the huge snowy and cold winter anywhere in the northern half of the nation. as far as this weekend goes, very cold conditions out there this morning with freeze warnings. then that cold air is going to move across the great lakes, ohio valley, into the northeast. we're at peak leaves out there in many areas of northern new england. and we're going to add on top of these peak leaves, it does look like some snow. especially up in the adirondacks the white and green mountain. as far as the forecast goes, cold air is pouring in today. there's not a lot of travel trouble. travel and storms, albuquerque, phoenix, possibly, oklahoma city. saturday looks cold and chilly in the morning. not a bad afternoon in new england. highs only in the 40s and 50s. and then jonathan by sunday, again, it's cool in the east, but this is it, jonathan. we're warming up next week back in the 60s and 70s. a brief cold shot this weekend and then everyone's going to be

smiling once again. >> nice. cashmere weather, bill. still ahead -- >> i'm still waiting for you on my cashmere sweater. >> i'll send you something. friendly game of rugby turns rough when the mayor of london takes on a 10-year-old. "way too early" is back in a moment. think your heartburn pill works fast? take the zantac it challenge! zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. when heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than nexium or your money back. take the zantac it challenge. more "sit" per roll. more "stay" per roll. more "who's training who" per roll. bounty is two times more absorbent. so one roll of bounty can last longer than those bargain brands. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty. the long-lasting quicker picker upper.

now let's get a check on the morning's other headlines. for that we head to the control room and louis bergdorf. >> thanks, jonathan.

london mayor boris johnson is making international headlines this morning after he managed to flatten a 10-year-old boy during a friendly rugby match in tokyo yesterday. though the boy told reporters he felt a little bit of pain, he added that he and the mayor had been, quote, enjoyable. i don't know if that's actually the case. now seasoned watchers know this isn't the mayor's first overzealous sporting moment. just last year he tripped a small child during a soccer match outside a city hall. and then there was the mayor's legendary attempt at zip lining back in 2012 which left him tangling midair above a crowd at an olympic event. give him an "a" for effort. finally let's turn to vermont senator bernie sanders. yesterday we showed you sanders dancing backstage at the "ellen" show. the full interview has now aired and before we show you some of it, a warning, the dancing just didn't stop. >> please welcome senator bernie sanders. ♪

>> you seem to start out as an underdog, and all of a sudden, everyone is talking about you. and first of all, it must feel amazing because it's happened pretty quickly. >> yes. >> and what was the moment that all of a sudden you realized oh, this is going very well? >> we went to minneapolis, minnesota, and we, in a rhetty short time period, said we wanted to do a rally. and we thought we would have, you know, a fie hundred people coming out. we had to change the venue. we thought we'd have a few thousand people coming out. we walked in. we came in, drove by, and there were these long lines of people. and i said to the guy who was with me, what's going on? what kind of ball game going on here? what are all these people lining up to see? well, turns out they were at our rally. i think we had 7,000 or 8,000 people. that gave me a clue that the message we were bringing forth

was resonating with the american people. >> burn, baby, burn. it's friday, jonathan. it's a disco inferno. >> that does it for us and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe," the totals are in. the "morning joe" table will break down what the fund-raising and spending numbers mean for the health of the candidates' campaigns. and candidate lindsey graham will join the show with his thoughts on president obama's decision to keep troops in afghanistan, and olivia wild and luke wilson join mika and joy -- joe, to discuss their new gripping film "med low dnd." that and much more coming up next on "morning joe."

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. good morning everyone. >> the mets. >> friday, october 16th. welcome to morning joe. this in the elevator. >> meet the mets or as we use to say meet the