"andrea mitchell reports" weekdays at noon here on msnbc. thank you for coming in late on a friday. and after such a long week. thank you for being here. >> congratulations on a fascinating interview. >> thank you very much. thank you. i did it. i got my first ever clinton interview. with anybody named clinton. i never even interviewed george clinton. but we did it. "weekends with alex witt" starts now. the strongest ever recorded hurricane in the best earn hemisphere hits land and now hurricane patricia is getting weaker. where is the storm now and what damage was left behind? live reports ahead. a bad situation about to get worse today in texas. some areas could get seven inches to a foot of rain. some of it from patricia. plus -- >> i'm afraid that's -- you know, not necessarily what this particular committee is doing. >> hillary clinton opens up to rachel maddow about joe biden, benghazi hearing and what she did once the 11 hours of testimony were over.

hey, there. good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening right now. we begin with breaking news. the damage left after hurricane patricia roared across the mexican coast late last night. it's now a category 1 hurricane with winds topping out at 75 miles an hour. patricia was a category 5 storm with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. it was the most powerful hurricane on record in the western hemisphere. so the storm made landfall in a relatively low populated area. the central mexican coast. no deaths have been reported and patricia is weakening as it moves inland. but the hurricane is having an impact on texas. rainstorms spawned by patricia and other weather systems have inundated north texas on friday. rivers have overflowed their

banks and the rain is expected to continue through the weekend. let's go right to msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider who's in the studio with us. what's next? >> first off, the storm making landfall yesterday as the third strongest in mexico, as a category 5. the good news once it made landfall it weakened quite a bit, but unfortunately from the category 5 it takes a while to weaken and see things improve. this is what it looks like in mexico right now. you're seeing pictures there and landfall was 6:00 p.m., breaking lots of records with the strongest winds. it's interesting, this was also the fastest intensifying hurricane in the western hemisphere. that means we saw pressure drop

all the way from thursday morning to friday morning by over a hundred millibars. this was a tropical storm one minute and less than a day later it became a category 5 hurricane. that's up heard of. but patricia has shattered so many records and that's one of them. looking at the satellite loop, the storm is breaking up by the areas that we have the bright oranges and reds. those are the higher cloud tops. a little bit more improvement because it's interacting with land. so where we are right now, the storm is about 50 miles south-southwest, moving to the northeast at 20 miles per hour. the pressure has improved but look at the winds, down to 75 miles an hour. we went from the category 5 to a category 1 in less than a day. the track takes this storm further inland. as it works its way through the topography, where it's more mountainous, it will dissipate by a strong tropical storm later today. the risk for flooding throughout the region will persist for mudslides and heavy torrential rain throughout weekend. >> okay, so that's mexico.

sit -- stand where you are, we'll come back and talk about what happens when it gets into texas in a few minutes. let's guess more on patricia. this from bringing in dr. irwin redlander. so what is the first step for relief and medical workers? after a natural disaster like this, i mean, how do you assess what's needed? >> well, first of all, an awful lot of preparation has to go into making sure that people are ready in fact for what's coming. then the assessment takes place. we're waiting for daylight to see the physical damage and the extent of the injuries and fatalities and so on and so forth. so we'll learn more a lot more about that in the next few hours as the sun rises and we get a real sense of what's going on. but this will take a lot of preplanning to make sure there are medical facilities and capacities ready to be brought in and people will be transported out when necessary. part of this is going to depend on how effective it was to move

people out of the way of this storm. which is really one of the big challenges here. how do we evacuate effectively? did people heed the mandatory evacuations? >> that's one thing talking about a town like puerto vallarta, it's a relatively sophisticated town and tourism is a big thing. the two fishing villages, and one said he lives 15 miles inland and he said people are out in the street. that's one thing you identify. what about public health threats? what kinds of things can come in the wake of a storm like this that would face the population? >> well, one of the major problems actually is a whole host of public health threats. from flooding, we have stagnant water. there are diseases that can be borne out of that kind of situation. mosquito borne diseases, sewage

systems sometimes stop working and all sorts of realities happen here. one of the things that's happen those with chronic medical conditions because of what the damage has storm has caused, for example, they'll lose access to their vital medications and other medical care they might need. we have massive problems in getting people the medications they need, getting them to actual health care facilities. then of course the opportunity for diseases to develop and spread in a population especially in a population that hasn't been in good shape from the economic and public health point of view before the storm. so in other words, the high risk populations get even a greater impact than people who are more affluent or well off. they're much more vulnerable, far less resilient and the storm just exasperates everything. a lot to be looking at over the next few hours. >> i know you talked about preparation which is incredibly important in a situation like this, but without that, given

what we're talking about this area along the pacific coast, that central part of mexico, how quickly can medical and relief supplies be gotten into that area? >> well, hopefully they have prepositioned enough supplies and personnel in areas that are relatively secure, although the problem with hurricanes of course is that rapid changes in intensity in location and in the direction can cause the best laid plans to get undermined by the best plans on the ground. let's say the roads are closed or flooding or mudslides are blocking the ability for people to get places, then dependens on the helicopters or the military and getting the roads cleared, that's a whole other story. sometimes we're using boats and other things to get to folks. so it's a complicated process but the trick is to make sure that all kinds of preparations

are made to cover a range of options so that then we the thing actually happens we're ready to do whatever is necessary. >> let's hope as bonnie was describing, she was saying this was a tropical storm and it quickly mushroomed into the cat 5, let's hope that mexican officials got things in place for those folks. thank you so much. i appreciate your insights. speaking of bonnie, we'll go back to you and talk about texas because i know that patricia is making things worse there. sort of compounding a bunch of issues. what's going on in texas? >> exactly. we see, alex, plenty of way in, over a foot just yesterday. it's still raining there and we call this training, when the rain comes over the same place, like trains on a train tracks. this means we'll see rounds of it through the weekend. three to six inches are expected. we're looking at isolated areas over a foot and this includes big cities like houston and into

dallas as well. we will see dangerous weather. as well as those southwest parishes of louisiana. watch out today, it will be tough. it will get worse by the time we get to tomorrow. >> thank you so much. we'll see you at the bottom of the hour. okay, let's talk about patricia now. a cat 1 storm. this is moving into the mexican mountains. nbc's joe fryer is in mexico this morning and talk about what you have seen overnight. >> reporter: yeah, good morning. what we have seen actually even just south of where the hurricane hit here in es stop pa is some wind and waves. things have died down, but half an hour ago we were seeing heavy rain and this morning the storm has weakened considerably. it's a breath of fresh air of relief for people up and down the coast. but the mexican government is warning people not to let down their guard as this history making storm moves through the country.

with the grace of a sledge hammer, hurricane patricia reached land, winds swirling at 165 miles an hour. images taken by tourists hunkered down in hotels showcased the driving rain, swelling seas and turbulent winds. damage reports quickly surfaced. washed out roads, toppled trees and uprooted highway signs. some of the most dramatic video comes from manzanillo, about 50 miles from where it first made impact. it hit sparsely populated areas, but it was still a wild ride for tourists stuck in the popular beach town, puerto vallarta. >> water, we have our food, we'll be in meditation and sending prayers for the area. >> reporter: hurricane patricia is not just strong. the storm is huge. spanning a 170 mile stretch of mexican's popular coast line. more than 7 million people in the storm's path.

stunning images from space show patricia's size, images from inside the storm show patricia's violent fury. hurricane hunters flew through the eye, collecting valuable data right before patricia reached land. at one point, winds had reached 200 miles an hour, the strongest storm ever measured in the western hemisphere. even though it weakened a little, patricia is still the strongest hurricane to touch down on mexico's pacific coast. yet somehow it could not ruin kelly and cobi collins' honeymoon. the extent of damage especially in low lying isolated areas really won't be known until later today when we have daylight and crews can really go out and assess everything. overnight, mexico's president said that the first reports indicate that the damage so far, not as extensive as initially feared. for a storm of this magnitude. alex? >> all right.

that's good news. joe fryer, we have a banner in the lower part of the screen, no deaths have been reported. we appreciate that. we'll check in with nbc's janet shamlian. in dallas they're getting deluged with a lot of rain there and a lot of cancellations at dfw and love field. meantime, hillary clinton sits down for an exclusive interview with my colleague, rachel maddow. coming up she talks about the 11-hour hearing and plus joe biden deciding not to run. >> i'm a huge joe biden admirer, a friend, a colleague. i know this was an excruciating decision in a time of such pain and grief for him and his family. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business...

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hurricane patricia roared

ashore in southwestern mexico as a category 5 storm with wind speeds topping 165 miles an hour. it's since been downgraded to the category 1 storm. there are early reports of flooding and landslides but no word yet on fatalities nor major damage. patricia's center made landfall in a relatively low populated stretch of the jalisco state coast. good morning, janet shamlian. i know that residents are bracing for more heavy rain and flood threats and they have gotten a ton of rain there. what are officials doing about this? >> reporter: well, they're very concerned because it's still coming down, alex. 16 inches of rain last night. flights were cancelled from dallas' airport and despite warnings not to drive through it, the lives of first responders were put in danger by some motorists who insisted on driving through it.

soaking cities across texas, this is corsicana where high water shut down interstate 45. around the city, rescue after rescue. >> i was pretty much holding her around the waist and holding on to the metal on the bridge. and then just trying not to let go. >> i have a female and her 3-year-old daughter, saying they have the water in the vehicle. >> reporter: across the north and eastern parts of the state, a deluge. some motorists ignoring the warnings, attempting to drive through the rising water. >> you can see how the rain never stops. >> reporter: the system hobbled air travel. more than 500 flights cancelled with a ripple effect across the country. as much as ten inches of rain. texas has been dry for months so it's not all bad news. >> here in dallas they have had more rain in the past day since they picked up since july 4th. this is a big help for the farmers and lowers the fire danger. >> reporter: but this morning a second perhaps more dangerous threat.

the remnants of hurricane patricia could deliver flooding in southeast texas and along the coast. houston has gone to the level 1 alert. >> it is a dangerous event. we will have a lot of rain in a very short period of time. >> reporter: a hard hit region bracing for what could be round two. yes, so the focus is now shifting to houston and along the coast. but as we know, patricia has been downgraded to a category now 1. that's not to caution people, because that can be a significant rain maker and what's important note here, alex, these are areas that flood at the drop of a hat. i mean, you can -- it could be a cloudy day in houston and you can think it's going to flood. it doesn't take a lot to flood along the coast of southeast texas so any amount of rain could bring us flooding. we had a bad experience in may as you remember that same system that took its toll on wimberley. we don't know how much of a rain maker it will be, but as you saw what houston is doing, putting out the warnings early, people

shouldn't drive in this weather that's coming, really tomorrow night into monday. alex? >> well, to your point about houston, bill karins said if forecasts hold true, houston can get six to ten inches in the next 24 hours so that's definitely bull's-eye right now. >> reporter: yeah, six to ten inches would ensure a lot of flooding in houston. >> thank you very much. everyone, we keep covering the weather for you, but right now we'll go to politics and what has become the strongest week yet for hillary clinton. the democratic front-runner is back on the campaign trail today and has not taken a break since testifying before the benghazi committee for 11 hours on thursday. in her first interview since that grilling, she spoke to my colleague rachel maddow last night about the question on the minds of most people. >> what does a person do after

11 hours of testimony? you're the only human being on earth who's done 11 straight hours. what did you do after? >> well, i had my whole team come over to my house and we sat around eating indian food and drinking wine and beer. that's what we did. >> was it like, let's talk about tv, not about what happened? >> yeah. we were talking about sports, tv shows. it was great. >> well, that wide ranging interview, she responded to trey gowdy's admission that he didn't learn anything new from her testimony. >> we live in a complicated, dangerous world. so we do want to have a good conversation where people come to the table ready to actually learn about what we can do. i'm afraid that's, you know, not necessarily what this particular committee is doing. >> joining me now is philip bump with "the washington post."

i don't know if you agree many me, i think she was deserving of at least two glasses of wine after that hearing. >> i think we were all after watching it. >> good point. we have not seen any new polling post hearing, but does what we witnessed on thursday help end the scrutiny she has been under regarding the handling of the attack? >> i think the only thing that will end the scrutiny is once election day and/or her presidency is over if she happens to win. i think a lot of this is focused on of course it's very important to understand what happened in benghazi and how it can be avoided in the future. but a lot of this is about her being the democratic front-runner for the presidency. i think that, you know, "washington post" showed that more than half of americans saw this hearing as being partisan. >> okay. that may be, but considering all the fallout since the majority speaker kevin mccarthy's gaffe about the hearing, trey gowdy said he didn't learn anything new from clinton's testimony. where do republicans even go

from here with this committee? >> a great question. where they go with the committee i don't know. i think their biggest success has been in uncovering the fact she had an e-mail server in her house. that was done through digging and exploring what they had at hand. i think it's definitely the case with what -- with what house majority leader kevin mccarthy said -- implying it was focusing on hillary clinton makes it harder for this committee to keep doing hearings like we saw this week. >> clinton discussed with rachel maddow about joe biden not launching another presidential bid. >> now that he's said he's not running, are you jealous? >> that's a really good question. >> i mean, he doesn't have to go through all this. >> he doesn't have to go through it, well, bless his heart. look, i'm a huge joe biden admirer, a friend, a colleague. i know this was an excruciating decision in a time of just such pain and grief for him and his family. he is liberated and i don't think history is done with him.

there's a lot for him and for the president to keep doing in the next year and a half, and i want to build on the progress that they are leaving behind. >> how much of a relief do you think this is for the clinton campaign and to use her terms building on the progress, how much does this build toward sealing the deal for her to win the democratic nomination? >> i don't know that the clinton campaign was worrying about beating joe biden, but they share the same voters. if joe biden wasn't in the race, a vast majority will support hillary clinton. without him in the race, she doesn't have to worry about keeping her base solidified. bernie sanders lost a lot of the momentum over the summer. it's hard the see a -- to see a scenario that she isn't the democratic nominee. >> come see me soon. thank you. hurricane patricia is not alone, a look at the world's strongest storms coming up.

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and that's hurricane patricia, which is now a category 1 storm. it's crossed mexico, it's doing so right now. it's a far cry from the category 5 that came ashore in the sparsely populated area of mexico. why officials say they're not out of the woods yet. at its peak, patricia reached 201 miles an how making it the strongest storm ever recorded in western hemisphere, but some of strongest storms were not far behind that number. in november of 2013, typhoon haiyan had winds of 195 miles per hour. allen is the strongest storm

ever in the atlantic basin. that made landfall in texas. and in 1979, typhoon tip hit japan, killing dozens in the resulting floods there. then in 2005, hurricane wilma was the recent major hurricane to strike u.s. and killed 87 people in the caribbean up, mexico and the u.s. new information about the rescue effort after a soldier was killed. ns. we ask questions here. look for risks there. and search for opportunity everywhere. global markets may be uncertain. but you can feel confident in our investment experience... ... around the world. call a t. rowe price investment specialist, or your advisor... ...and see how we can help you find global opportunity. t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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it moved to the coast earlier friday. had winds in excess of 200 miles an hour. the most powerful hurricane on record in the western hemisphere. but that hurricane is also right now having an impact on texas. rainstorms spawned by patricia and other systems have inundated regions of north texas yesterday and into right now. that's going on in dallas. rivers have overflowed their banks, the rain is expected to continue through the weekend. diana park alford is from columbus, ohio. she was vacationing in puerto vallarta when hurricane patricia roared ashore. diana is joining us on the phone right now. with an early good morning to you, thanks for joining us, i heard you were evacuated from your hotel. can you talk about what you saw, diana? >> sure. we were up early obviously. we were here for our company incentive trip, so they were 34 people -- salespeople on vacation. so we heard it was the worst hurricane ever.

so the hotel in the morning side that person going to evacuate into the ballroom. which was their shelter. and as we rounded everybody up, it changed within the hour because local authorities said that we had to evacuate completely. so we left the now amber and secrets resort, they bussed us out, 2,000 people to the university and it was a waiting game. it was nerve-racking obviously because we were hearing all the reports and families were calling and texting about how horrible it was going to be. we were there for about 11 hours. the staff was great. and we did get heavy rain and some wind, but nothing like -- of what was expected, thank god. >> yeah, because apparently it wasn't a direct hit to puerto vallarta where you are. but diana, i can't imagine what that's got to be like. you hear about something being the worst hurricane ever recorded in the western hemisphere. how scary was that? >> yeah. needless to say, we were

nervous. again, keeping up with all the media and everything and family saying it was the worst. so we really prepared for the worst. you know, 44 of us thank goodness our whole entire company got to be together. trying to ease the moods, and the hotel staff did a great job. i mean, to make everybody relaxed. they were away from their families. we were very appreciative of it. but for 11 hours to be confined into a school classroom -- >> yeah. and right now, so where are you right now? and how soon until you're able to get back to columbus? >> so our company got here on wednesday, and we had one and a half good days of sun and then we were -- we were brought back to the hotel last night at about midnight. so we evacuated starting around 9:30 in the morning. we're all comfy in our rooms now. looking out at the calm ocean from here. and we're all heading back on sunday. >> well, i guess the statement what a difference a day makes really is true here. diana park alford, thank you for

calling in. we appreciate that. >> thank you. msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider returns. so patricia now being reduced to category 1 storm. is it still a threat for the area, bonnie? >> absolutely, alex. even though we look at it as a category 1, it was a category 5 when it made a landfall. a lot of intensity and the result is strong winds. that's what we're seeing right now. we are not only looking at the risk for wind, but torrential downpours. because the area is so mountaino mountainous, we're likely to see more landslides and flooding. well, there are two things. scope of the storm not that wide, not as wide as hurricane sandy, for example. what we did see this one, it's breaking up a little bit as it interacts with the land. so we're getting a little bit less intensity. looking at the satellite perspective and it's evident here as you look at the current conditions. we have winds at 75 miles per hour. so a category 1 storm as opposed to a cat 5. the track takes it further

inland throughout the day today. by the time we get to the afternoon hours, it will weaken a lot. it will get closer to tropical storm intensity. but still not weakened enough. we would like to see it dissipate. what's happening in texas is fascinating. you have gulf moisture, a front and it just enhances that dangerous situation. the latest computer model shows a mess of rain. a lot of rain for texas especially into houston. you can see that the moisture just comes together from two different sources towards houston into port arthur and then into southwest louisiana, lake charles will see heavy rain there. and houston can see an additional eight inches of rain as we go through the next three days. 8.4. you can see that here. unfortunately the threat is still in mexico, but also in texas. >> sounds like texas is getting a double whammy. thank you so much, bonnie. well, getting relief and medical supplies to those

displaced by hurricane patricia is a top priority of government and nongovernmental organizations. jeff, welcome to you. what are you hearing as to what is needed in mexico as a result of hurricane patricia? >> the best way to help right now is to make a financial donation to the charity of your choice. making that cash gifts allows the charities to buy whatever is needed and food, water and medical supplies are a top priority. >> okay. talk about salvation army's typical response to a natural disaster like this. i want to put it into context what i'm reading from the red cross. they had 18 emergency damage assessment teams out there. given the scope of what you know with hurricane patricia there, is that adequate? is that enough? >> well, i think right now you are in that damage assessment phase. we have advanced teams on the ground. and right now, you've really got to get an idea of how big this event is going to be.

one thing about this hurricane, certainly we're looking at where it made landfall, but the impacts are in that country and eventually up in the united states. it's not a good idea to concentrate all your resources in one place. you have to fan out to hit every place. >> and jeff, you mentioned cash donations are super practical for people right now. but in terms of what you all find when you're on the ground, what's the major need after a storm like this? >> well, certainly i think the first things are things like food, water, medical supplies. from there, you move into the area of temporary shelter, clothing. and then months later we're talking about long-term reconstruction so that can include all kinds of building materials. >> yeah. and quickly, as we look ahead to houston when you heard bonnie giving us the weather forecast of maybe eight or nine inches over the next three days, that could have major flooding. what are the words you want to get out to houstonians if they're listening?

>> we have over 30 units in houston. if you don't have to go out, don't. one of the worst things you can do is get in your car, drive down those slippery roads or even worse go through a flooded roadway. that's probably the most dangerous thing that you can do. you take your life into your open hands when you do that. >> all right, jeff, from the salvation army, thank you. hurricane patricia comes on the heels of the tenth anniversary of hurricane katrina. the katrina relief operation remains the largest such effort in the red cross' history. providing financial help to almost 1.5 million families and providing almost 4 million overnight stays across 31 states. hillary clinton is on the campaign trail today. where she'll be joined by her husband at a campaign rally in iowa. this event comes two days after she testified before the benghazi committee for 11 hours that's a performance which by many accounts helped her score political points.

joining me is a reporter from the bbc who covers the state department. welcome back. good to see you. >> thank you. >> as someone who's followed secretary clinton's tenure at the state department, what did you make of how she handled the questions? >> well, it was -- her performance was not a surprise to me in some ways, although of course nobody expected it to take that long. we knew that it was going to take about eight hours, but the extra hours were really what made this perhaps an epic hearing. i think that she showed the same calm demeanor that i have seen her demonstrate on the road when meeting with foreign leaders and meeting after -- in meeting after meeting. flying around the world, battling jet lag and yet standing there, sometimes next to leaders that she didn't necessarily agree with or appreciate like the president of yemen at the time, abdullah

saleh. it takes an inner calm to deal with situations like that and i think we saw that on display two days ago as well when she had to -- you know, all this incoming fire at her and she managed to maintain her calm. she learned something from her last testimony in front of congress as well in 2013 where she briefly lost her cool and that's the sound bite that everybody remembers. i cover her on the campaign trail. and i see how she is different as a candidate from 2008 because of her experience as secretary of state. >> at the start of the hearing, kim, you tweeted, clinton's opening statement on benghazi is also her vision for american diplomacy and power. how so? and how much do you think her performance is going to help her gain support from that portion of the democratic establishment who felt that benghazi had damaged her chances? >> yes. i write about a lot of her vision of american power and her

views on american foreign policy in my book "the secretary" which is about her tenure. i found that opening statement was a way for her to appeal to those americans, democrats, independents, but perhaps also center right american voters who are dismayed by what they see as president obama's retrenchment on the international stage. you know, in syria, or in ukraine. to remind them that there is of course a cost for action when you do send diplomats to dangerous places. that comes with a cost. but retrenchment also comes with a cost and that's a question that americans will have to try to answer over the course of the next year and a half. what is it that they are willing to do to maintain their status as the world's superpower? >> all right. good to see you, kim, come see

us again. i appreciate it. >> thanks. new revelations are emerging about how the u.s. serviceman was killed in the raid against isis in iraq. new questions are rising about what u.s. advisers are doing there. we've got trouble in tummy town. peptocopter! ♪ when cold cuts give your belly thunder, pink relief is the first responder, so you can be a business boy wonder! ♪ fix stomach trouble fast with pepto. called "squamous non-smallced luncell",er previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy,

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another step on the journey... will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com hurricane patricia's now a category 1 storm with winds of about 70 miles an hour. it could have been worse. the fury peaked yesterday with sustained winds of about 200 miles an hour. as for the impact there are reports of flooding and landslides but no major damage reported at this time or fataliti fatalities. we will keep you updated on the latest on msnbc. the death this week of delta force master sergeant joshua wheeler during a rescue mission in iraq has triggered the obama administration to say the u.s. is in combat missions in iraq five years after the end of the

war. >> great value by raids of this kind and i expect to do more of this kind of thing. but one of the reasons for that is that you learn a great deal. they will be in harm's way. there's no question about it. not -- i don't want anybody to be under illusions about this. this is combat, things are complicated. >> there's much different than the message that president obama has been repeating since the isis offensive began. >> we will not be sending u.s. troops back into combat. the american forces are not returning to combat 678. >> jack, good morning to you. before we get to the secretary's comments, what can you tell us about soldiers of this elite level, like master sergeant wheeler. the types of missions they conduct, the kind of training they have? >> very severely tested. the training is incredible. long lasting. they weed out lots and lots of

people, the large majority of those who try to get into units, special operations units like this are weeded out well before they ever get to units. these are the best people and most experienced people we have. sergeant wheeler himself had been on 14 deployments. a lot of them in special operations organizations. these are absolutely the best people we can find anywhere, alex. >> i think it's worth noting he had 11 bronze star medals. we should note the father of four sons, the most recent born in august. a real tragedy for the family. does it surprise you that u.s. forces were this involved in a rescue movement, we were after the kurdish officials? >> yeah, in is conducted by organizations like this. special operations forces are the ones who are most actively engaged on the ground with enemy forces to conduct things like raids, hostage releases and so

forth. the administration would have us believe before that in fact we had no people in combat in active combat. and those of us who spent time as advisers and in special operations organizations know that that can't possibly be true because advisers and special operations forces are always engaged with the units they're training, with the units they're accompanying in armed combat with the hostile enemies. no surprise to people in the military we'd have casualties in operations like this, alex. >> couple questions here then. should the u.s. be doing the boots on the ground missions like this and if you have secretary carter saying that the u.s. will be doing more missions like this, what does it tell you about the state of the offensive against isis and how the government assesses the strategy? >> to answer the last part, there -- it's clear that the administration intends to ramp up its participation in actions like this. we're not putting conventional

troops on the ground to be sure. that means that we're go going to rely on special operation like this. secretary defense said it quite ladies and gentlemen, please expect that we're going to do lots more of these and you'll see casualties in the future. >> and should we be doing them? >> yes, the only way we can prosecute the war on the ground. the question real is how long will it take and how many forces will we actually have. i think if you want any results of any kind, you'll have to do not just these, but lots more of these and i think the secretary of defense was setting us up to see lots more of them in the future. >> colonel jack jacobs, many thanks. hillary clinton will hopes to widen her double digit lead in iowa with two important campaign stops today. that's next. plaque psoriasis...

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breaking news from mexico where the full impact of

hurricane patricia is still unclear. so far, though, no reports of death or major damage. the storm was a category 5 when it came ashore and it has now weakened to a category 1 with 70-mile-an-hour winds. we'll of course continue to monitor this and bring you live rout rou reports throughout the day. fwloo what is left of the democratic field is gathering tonight for the annual jackson dinner. hillary clinton will be looking to have a much better showing than in 2007 when the dinner was seen as a breakout point for obama's victory in the iowa caucus. joining me is alex seitz-wald. what all is at stake tonight? >> good morning. yes, the stakes are definitely high and they're a little different for each of the three remaining candidates. for hillary clinton will, it will be all about whether she can fire up the grass roots activists. these are the people that she will need to turn out for her on a cold february day next year to go to the caucuses. she comes off a strong week, had that great testimony before the benghazi committee.

that's really where she shines in those grueling grinding work of government. but firing up crowds has never been her strength. that's what president obama be did here in 2007. for bernie sanders, the question is organization. to get people to come to this event is an early test. we had already this morning a couple dozen hillary clinton assu supporters out here getting ready. sander has support, but the question is whether he can translate that into the kind of real support that you need. but the biggest stakes is on martin o'malley that is sort of the third wheel. a lot of questions about whether or not martin o'malley can continue to stay in this. he's been struggling financially. he really needs a breakout moment. he didn't get that last week at the debate. this will be another chance for him. but otherwise i think you'll start hearing questions about how long he can stay in. >> and when we talk about those

rallies in '07, the optics of that, i know there were reports of empty bleachers away the clinton camp. a although she is having a rally today before the dinner with big name guests expected, right? >> that's right. we have two big name guests. bill clinton and katy perry, this is the first time that bill clinton and the former president of course has come out to campaign for his wife. he's done some behind the scenes events, some fund-raisers. briefly appeared on her announcement in roosevelt island in june. but this is the first time he'll be firing up a crowd and they are also bringing out katy perry, huge pop star. that just shows how they're not taking this for granted. they're pulling out all the stops because they're very much aware of what happened here when barack obama just totally blew the lid off in 2007. they do not want a repeat of that with bernie sanders, so they're drawing people out with these two big guests and march them all over to fill the stadium behind me and get them all cheering for hillary clinton. >> no chance of a repeat of '07.

no chance at all. okay. alex seitz-wald, thanks so much. we'll check in with you today. that's a where that of this hour of weekends with alex witt. be sure to join me at noon. but straight ahead, we have smart political talk on up. and then at 10:00, melissa harris perry. when something works, people stick with it. more people stick with humana medicare advantage. because we stick with them. humana medicare advantage. the plan people stick with. with their airline credit card miles. sometimes those seats cost a ridiculous number of miles... or there's a fee to use them. i know. it's so frustrating.

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hillary's best week ever. between mor good morning. we'll bring you the highlights of rachel maddow's exclusive interview with hillary clinton in just a moment. but first we want to take you to mexico where the pacific coast of that country is weathering the strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall. hurricane patricia made landfall as a category 5 storm. it's now weakened to a hurricane 1, but it is still a very