controversy. we will eventually sort that one out together. watch this space. it's friday, november 13th, and right now on "first look," breaking news. u.s. counterterrorism officials tell nbc news that jihadi john, the man behind many isis gruesome murders, was directly targeted by a u.s. airstrike. donald trump doubles down, talking about ben carson and a pathological temper. plus the donald gets specific about fighting isis. >> i would just bomb those suckers and blow up the pipes. i'd blow up every single inch. there would be nothing left. and acquittal for a good fella that leaves no convictions for one of the biggest cash heists in u.s. history. plus breezy blasts around the nation. as wild winds whip up waves in

michigan. and much, much more on a busy friday, "first look" starts right now. good morning, thanks for being with us. i'm shannon mulaire. we start with breaking news overnight. a u.s. airstrike targeted the notorious isis terrorist known as jihadi john. the pentagon says the drone attack happened last night in northern syria, in the isis stronghold of raqqah. jihadi john is a kuwaiti-born british militant seen in a number of isis propaganda videos that show the execution of westerners. right now a senior u.s. counterterrorism official tells nbc news there's, quote, no definitive proof yet that he was killed. nbc seas keir simmons is in london with the very latest on this developing story. >> reporter: shannon, good morning. u.s. officials saying that they targeted the man known as jihadi john in a drone strike overnight in the city of raqqah. that is isis de facto capital in syria. held by isis for some years now.

now the drone strike, according to tweets coming from people in that city, hit around 11:00 local time overnight near the clock tower, these tweets say. and according to u.s. security officials, the drone strike specifically targeted a car that the man known as jihadi john was said to be traveling in. his real name is mohammed emwazi. he was to be a man who was originally from kuwait, but actually grew up in london. but, of course, most people will know him as the masked man who only spoke -- they only knew his voice, and who was in those chilling isis videos in which a number of hostages were killed over sustained period of time, including the american journalist james foley and steven sokolof. so we don't know yet whether this drone strike has killed mohammed emwazi, but we know

that he was certainly targeted. intelligence services from the west will have been following his movements, waiting for an opportunity like this. it looks like they think they got it overnight. >> all right, keir, thank you. as we learn more about jihadi john in syria, america and its allies are simultaneously engaged in a major operation against isis in iraq. kurdish fighters backed by a u.s.-led air campaign are pushing to retake the strategic town of sinjar, an artery between the islamic state's biggest strongholds. nbc's tracie potts joins us now live from washington. and tracie, we have some late-breaking developments here. >> yes, we understand that the kurdish fighters, the peshmerga, have actually moved into that city and cleared it of any isis members as of this morning. now it's south of that area that keir was just talking about. this is inside northern iraq, as part of that big swath of northern iraq that isis had taken over. and it is a key town because it's on the supply route from raqqah, from syria, into iraq.

they have also taken up positions along a highway that was part of that supply route where they moved weapons out of syria into iraq. so this is part of the kurds, the iraqi's effort to push back isis. it's separate, but very similar to what we saw happening in syria overnight. in this situation, they've taken about 58 square miles in that area back from isis so far. and experts are telling us that as the u.s., and its allies, and of course the iraqis, try to push isis out of iraq, try to defeat isis in syria, look for isis to push back with targets outside of those two countries. shannon? >> all right, tracie, thank you. now to the race for the white house. his occasionally aggressive, sometimes outrageous, comments don't often come as a surprise but this time donald trump may have out-trumped himself. the evening started with president obama slamming the billionaire's immigration plan,

saying it wasn't realistic. then trump appeared in a one-on-one interview. that's when it started. a bold attack on ben carson with a controversial comparison. >> he said he's pathological, somebody says he has pathological disease. other people said he said in the book, and i haven't seen it, i know it's in the book, that he's got a pathological teller or temperament. that's a big problem because you don't cure that. that's like, you know, i could say, they say you don't care -- as an example, child molester. you don't cure these people. you don't cure a child molester. there's no cure for it. pathological, there's no cure for that. >> but trump wasn't done. speaking to a crowd of about 1500 in iowa he again launched into a wild, no-holds-barred assault on ben carson. >> he took a knife and he went after a friend and he lunged. he lunged that knife into the

stomach of his friend. but lo and behold, it hit the belt! it hit the belt. and the knife broke. give me a break. how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap? what the hell have we come to? what have we come to? when we have to believe this kind of stuff, and we're going to put somebody in office who considers himself to have pathological disease. >> all right the response to that from the carson campaign is simply, the campaign has no comment. carly fiorina got into it on facebook. donald, sorry, got to interrupt again. you would know something about pathological. how was that meeting with putin or wharton? or your self-funded campaign? anyone can turn a multimillion dollar inheritance into more

money but all the money in the world won't make you as smart as ben carson. but that wasn't it for trump. his tirade arrived at his plan for isis with some colorful language. >> isis is making a tremendous amount of money because they have certain oil camps, certain areas of oil that they took away, some in syria, some in iraq. i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. i would just bomb those suckers. and that's right. i'd blow up the pipes. i'd blow up the -- i'd blow up every single inch. there would be nothing evident. >> and this morning, ben carson is dealing with a much more personal issue about his close friendship with a convicted felon. nbc's chris jansing reports. >> reporter: ben carson calls alfonzo kosta his very best friend. he's the driving force behind carson's charity, owner of an italian resort where carson often vacations, but he's also a convicted felon. working out of this office as an

oral surgeon, costa pled guilty in 2008 to scamming more than $40,000 from insurance companies. nbc spoke exclusively to the prosecutor. >> he caused the insurance companies to finance the expansion of his business. >> reporter: as first reported by the associated press, in a bid for leniency, ben carson wrote a letter to the judge saying next to my wife of 32 years there is no one on this planet that i trust more. he testified at the sentencing, they became friends because our value systems were almost identical, adding, i love him. >> fraud is fraud. and dr. kosta pleaded guilty to fraud. >> reporter: but costa avoided prison, getting three years probation, including a year under house arrest in this mansion outside pittsburgh. and even that sentence was reduced by a year because of his work with carson's charity. four years after carson appealed for leniency for his friend he argued the opposite for everyone else. in a best-selling book calling for a saudi arabian solution for fraud. not advocate chopping off

people's limbs, but stiff penalties, no less than ten years in prison, and loss of all of one's personal possessions. costa, through his lawyer, declined comment. no comment from carson arriving at a fund-raiser but in a statement said of costa, i know his heart, i am proud to call him my friend, i am always, and will continue to stand by him. that is what real friends do. >> that was chris jansing reporting. after nearly two years an aging mobster is waking up a free man. yesterday afternoon, a jury in new york found 80-year-old vincent asaro not guilty. in connection with the 1978 lufthansa heist. the robbery netted $6 million in cash and jewels and became part of pop culture in the movie "goodfellas." among the prosecution's witnesses was asaro's cousin who wore a wire and testified. after his acquittal asaro was asked what he thought of valenti? >> you really don't want to know, honey. >> with yesterday's verdict, the

heist remains unsolved. all right. time now to get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, happy friday, landon. >> hey, shannon, happy friday to you, as well. stocks may struggle to end the week after the market fell sharply on thursday. the s&p 500 index is back in the red for the year on a sharp drop in oil prices. gold hitting its lowest level since 2010. and comments from several fed officials about the need for a rate hike next month. look for data today on retail sales and inflation. facebook is going after snapchat's turf. the social media giant is experimenting with messages that disappear after an hour. and just like snapchat, users can screen shot the chat window to save the message. facebook tells "usa today" it's testing the feature for now only in france. and if you're looking for a beachfront property, check out this listing. an 11 bedroom home in south florida can be yours for $159 million. among the amenities, gold leaf balconies, an ice skating rink,

go-cart track and a bowling alley. >> a couple bucks out of my price range but i like the looks of it. have a great weekend. thursday night football the nfl taking their new color rush uniforms to a whole new level, as the christmas ornament-looking jets and bills faced off at rainy metlife stadium. rex ryan's buffalo bills capitalized on a number of jets turnovers, including two interceptions. and then later the jets' devon smith coughs up the ball, duke williams grabs the ball, manages to race it into the end zone for the touchdown. in the end, the former jets coach managed to win for his red-on-red bills and some revenge, of course, on his former team. final score, close one 22-17. just ahead, hear from a couple who lost their foster child in a utah court because the judge doesn't think same-sex couples can be good parents. plus, on the heels of the missouri protests, college students from over 100 schools are fighting for financial relief. details on that, next.

and, shannon, dangerous winds cause travel troubles. power outages and downed trees across the midwest yesterday. where are those winds headed today? we'll let you know coming up in your forecast. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look." 50-mile-per-hour gale force winds are causing intense waves on lake michigan. with swells reaching as high as 20 feet, authorities shut down the grand haven pier. and advised people to stay away from the coast. officials warn that flooding and more power outages may occur across the area. again, that same storm bringing all those winds towards the great lakes continues to howl. look at the current wind gusts now spreading into new york city. laguardia, wind gusts of 35 miles per hour. watch out for travel delays later on today. from the great lakes, right through the northeast as this windy pattern continues. otherwise it is a decent day, windy but sunny in new york city with a high of 56. 46 in chicago. chilly in the midwest. a stormy in the pacific northwest. showers along the coast, and

snow in the higher elevations of the cascades. heading into the weekend, looking chilly, blustery across the northeast, windy with temperatures in the 40s, warming up in chicago. still wet in the northwest, and for your sunday we are warming back up to the upper 50s to low 60s from d.c. to new york city with lots of sunshine. the weekend overall, windy to start, sunny in the northeast to finish. >> all right, raphael, thank you very much. utah judge has ordered the removal of an infant from her home because her foster parents are gay. judge scott johanson felt the child should be raised by heterosexual couple. becky pierce and april hoglund have been raising the 1-year-old for the past three months and were shocked by the ruling. >> we knew that he didn't like same-sex couples. but we didn't expect this to happen. >> well, now they, and the division of child and family services, are challenging the judge's decision. there is a new interim president at the university of missouri. michael milton was tapped after the previous president resigned following protests over his handling of racial incidents on

campus. mean while three 19-year-old missouri students have been charged with making terrorist threats on social media. they threatened to shoot others at college campuses throughout missouri. one of the suspects, hunter park, faced charges yesterday and was denied bond. throughout the united states, protests have spilled over to 110 college campuses. dubbed a million student march, students like these in philadelphia rallied against a number of issues including rising tuition and student debt. some are calling for abolishing tuition altogether. and in honor of guinness world records day, records were being broken worldwide yesterday. in japan, the record for the fastest 100 meters running on all fours. and in delhi this indian man achieved two world records. one for the most lit candles in his mouth. that's a popular one. he had 15 candles. and the most matchsticks extinguished on your tongue in one minute. you guessed it. he got to 30.

just how concerned are the republican kingmakers over a potential trump or carson nomination? details next. is that you can create wealth through capital appreciation, and this has been denied to many south africans for generations. this is an opportunity to right that wrong. the idea was to bring capital into the affordable housing space in south africa, with a fund that offers families of modest income safe and good accommodation. citi got involved very early on and showed an enormous commitment. and that gave other investors confidence. citi's really unique, because they bring deep understanding of what's happening in africa. i really believe we only live once, and so you need to take an idea that you have and go for it. you have the opportunity to say, "i've been part of the creation of over 27,000 units of housing," and to replicate this across the entire african continent.

thinking of new ways to make treat time fun. (vo) at the friskies playhouse, the cats and us are always busy. that's how we came up with new friskies pull 'n play. with tender string treats cats can eat. that part was their idea. lucy always thought strings should be edible. chloe thought the same. and charlie, well, he's up for anything as long it's fun. new friskies pull 'n play with tender strings. the whole new way to treat 'n play.

prge! a manufacturer. well that's why i dug this out for you. it's your grandpappy's hammer and he would have wanted you to have it. it meant a lot to him... yes, ge makes powerful machines. but i'll be writing the code that will allow those machines to share information with each other. i'll be changing the way the world works. (interrupting) you can't pick it up, can you? go ahead. he can't lift the hammer. it's okay though! you're going to change the world. did you guys see this? ben carson wrote a column last year where he compared today's america to the collapse of the roman empire. and our decline is partly because we're too arrogant. yeah, we're too arrogant. said the man who owns a painting of himself and jesus.

this is -- we're too arrogant. >> well, the political rhetoric got nastier and more personal this week and it all started with donald trump on "snl." >> well, first of all, thank you for not asking me what i said in the tenth grade. i appreciate that. >> ben carson claims that when he was a kid he tried to stab another kid. so, now he's found himself in the very unusual position of having to say, yes, i did, too, try to stab somebody. >> you could call this anything you want. but if i become president, we're all going to be saying merry christmas again. that i can tell you. maybe we should boycott starbucks. i don't know. seriously. >> in two years, you really made america great again. >> see, i told you. it's more than just words and the silly hair >> yes, marco rubio wants to have a beer with malala. who is both a practicing muslim, and 18 years old. >> i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. >> there are more words in the

irs code than there are in the bible. and not a one of them is as good. >> you're a racist. >> who the hell is -- oh, i knew this was going to happen. who is that? >> trump's a racist! >> it's a silly argument. it's not an adult argument. it makes no sense. >> all i can say is you're lucky in ohio that you struck oil, that's the one thing. how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap? ♪ getting in on this you used to call me on the cell phone ♪ >> all right. bloomberg reporter kevin cirilli joins me now from washington. good morning to you, kevin. >> happy friday, shannon. thanks for having me. >> happy to have you. all right, trump in iowa, he hit four states in four days, but has he outtrumped himself? he's talking about ben carson's incurable pathological temper, comparing it to something else

he says is incurable. you've heard it by now, child molesting. so was this a bit out there, even for trump? >> it was a bit out there. it's not a reference, i think, that anyone should be making lightly or in the political sphere. i mean, that -- yeah, it was a bit out there. but the bottom line is this, mr. trump is now going after dr. carson. these are two political outsiders. there's clearly a hunger among the republican electorate for a political outsider. and, you know, these are half of the electorate of the republican party right now are supporting either of them. so, for the political establishment candidates, they're hoping that this battle at the top will eventually give an opening for them, one of them, to rise. >> so, well, and i think that's one of the things that perhaps some of the republican elites are a little bit worried about here. you look, you have carson, you have trump, are they getting a little bit nervous here? it sounds like they may be ready to call in mitt romney. >> i don't know if they're going to be able to call in mitt romney, shannon, but i will say this.

i think that the political establishments have had years to kind of test the mood of the country, and get out of washington and get out of the beltway and take the pulse on what's really happening in america, and there's a clear frustration among the electorate, and a craving for an authentic and candid candidate. i will say that people like senator rubio, as well as to some extent former florida governor jeb bush, and of course people like new jersey governor chris christie, are getting a second look right now. but, governor bush has failed to connect, and i think senator rubio right now, this is his moment to see if he's going to be able to sustain. it remains to be seen, though. >> perhaps opening the door for someone like rubio. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for joining us. have a wonderful weekend. >> you, too, shannon. thanks for having me. a moving ceremony at the white house thursday. army captain florent groberg received the medal of honor. capital groberg says his instincts kicked in when he tackled a suicide bomber in afghanistan, saving the lives of other soldiers and sustaining a serious leg injury in the process.

>> flo did something extraordinary. he grabbed the bomber by his vest and kept pushing him away. and all those years of training on the track, in the classroom, out in the field, all of it came together in those few seconds. he showed his guts, he showed his training, how he put it all on the line for his teammates. that's an american we can all be grateful for. that's why we honor captain florent groberg today. >> captain groberg is just the tenth living recipient from actions in iraq or afghanistan to receive the nation's highest military award. i'm shannon mulaire, and this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" is up next. have a great day, everybody. at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like ordering wine equals pretending to know wine. pinot noir, which means peanut of the night.

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breaking news overnight. the notorious isis militant who appeared in videos showing the beheadings of three americans targeted by u.s. airstrikes. the big question this morning, is jihadi john dead? plus -- >> -- getting killed by these people. trump doesn't have a plan for isis! i said, no, i have a plan. but i don't want to tell isis what it is. because i want to win. i had to. i said to my wife, i said, you know, i got to tell them about this plan. i'm going to have no choice. because otherwise i'm not going to win. people think i don't have a plan. i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. >> donald trump's wildest speech

yet and we just scratched the surface. wait until you hear the tirade he unleashed on his closest opponent, ben carson. and the u.s. secret service hit with another scandal. a 37-year-old officer assigned to the white house accused of sexting with a 14-year-old girl. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning. it's friday, november the 13th, i'm louis burgdorf. we begin with breaking news overnight. a u.s. military strike targeting the notorious isis militant known as jihadi john, a senior u.s. counterterrorism official confirmed the strike but tells nbc news that there is, quote, no definitive proof yet that he was killed. joining us from