out a way of getting some accountability and some distributional justice. tony dokoupil who's going to paris. we'll be checking in with you next week i suspect. that's it for "all in" this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thanks, my friend. >> you bet. >> and thanks to you at home for joining us this our. in november 1994 a doctor named garson romalis was at home eating breakfast in his kitchen. his wife and his daughter were at home with him as well. his breakfast table was apparently next to a sliding glass door inside his home in this nice neighborhood where he lived on the west side of the city of vancouver. and as dr. romalis was sitting there eating his breakfast at his breakfast table somebody fired two bullets from a high-powered rifle through that sliding glass door into his home. one of those bullets hit him in the thigh. it actually got him in the femoral artery. he very easily could have died once that artery was hit.

he reportedly saved his own life by making a tourniquet out of the belt on his bathrobe and cinching that tourniquet around the wound in his thigh. dr. romalis survived that assassination attempt. dr. romalis was a gynecologist who sometimes provided abortions. anti-abortion protesters had previously picketed at his house in vancouver. but that attempted murder in vancouver, november 1994, that was the first time anybody had tried to assassinate an abortion doctor in canada. the next one was a year later. same m.o. dr. hugh short was a gynecologist in ontario right near niagara falls, right near the american border. he was sitting inside his house in november 1995. he was watching tv. and this time the high-powered rifle round came through a window of his home. it got him in the elbow. and he too survived that assassination attempt. then the next one was two years later. it was november 1997. dr. jack fainman was at home in winnipeg. he was watching tv at home. his wife was also at home with

him but she was in another room and a high-powered rifle round was shot through the window and very nearly killed him. that bullet hit the doctor in his right shoulder. at that time dr. jack fainman was the head of obstetrics and gynecology at a major hospital in winnipeg but that rifle round shattered his shoulder. and after that injury he never worked as a doctor again. for all three of those shootings it was the same m.o., bullets from a high-powered rifle fired through the window or through another glass entryway into the home, 1994, 1995, 1997. in all of those cases those doctors who did abortions, they were injured by that gunfire but not killed. and in each of those instances the shooter got away. and then there was a fourth one. it had been '94, '95, '97. the fourth one was 1998. and this one was not far from his second attack.

this one was just south of the niagara falls area on the american side of the border this time. this was a sniper attack, 1998, was another doctor who did abortions who was targeted just on the u.s. side of the border near niagara falls in a town called amherst, new york. quite near buffalo, new york. dr. barnett slepian was home with his family. he was standing in the kitchen of his home along with his other family members. he and his family had just returned from his father's funeral service. and again, high-powered rifle rounds came in through the window. and in this case the doctor was killed. initially the sniper got away again. he ended up leading police on an international manhunt that lasted for years. he was known to have dozens of aliases and multiple passports and apparently people helping him out at multiple steps along the way. he is known to have spent time in mexico and in ireland and in france, and it was ultimately

not until early 2001 that he was finally captured in france and extradited to the united states. he was a named suspect in the three attempted assassinations of those three canadian doctors in 1994, 1995, 1997. he was a named suspect in all three of those attempted murders. but when he was tried and convicted of dr. slepian's murder, he ended up with a life sentence in this country, and so the canadians decided to drop proceedings against him in the shootings of those three preceding doctors. those legal proceedings against him were dropped. but the odyssey of just that one killer from the first shots that he fired at that first doctor to face an assassination attempt in canada in vancouver in 1994, from that start until this guy was finally locked up for life in 2003, that nearly decade-long odyssey spanned at least five countries, involved a law enforcement effort literally the world over. but when they did finally get that guy, turns out he was not a unique case. you could just slot him right into a long line of people who have shot at and attempted to

kill and killed not just doctors who provide abortions but also people who work at abortion clinics, people who have found themselves at abortion clinics when anti-abortion extremists decide to carry out their attacks. ultimately, people have given up their lives trying to protect clinics and abortion providers from the repeated and determined campaign of assassination and terrorism that has targeted these kinds of facilities and these kinds of health workers for so many years now. in march 1993 it was dr. david gunn in pensacola. he was shot three times in the back when he arrived at the clinic where he worked during an anti-abortion protest. in july 1994 it was dr. john britten who was shot and killed along with a retired air force officer who was acting basically as a security guard for that doctor at that clinic. his name was james barrett. his wife june barrett was also shot and wounded in that same attack. in december 1994 it was two different clinics that did abortions in brookline,

massachusetts. the same gunman attacked both facilities, killed a receptionist who worked at each of those clinics. shannon loney was killed at the first clinic. leanne nichols was killed at the second clinic. the previous year in 1993 it was an attempted murder. an anti-abortion activist named shelly shannon who had shot a doctor who did abortions in kansas, a doctor named george tiller. she shot him through the arms in the parking lot of his clinic. dr. george tiller survived that attack. he went back to work the very next day. ultimately it wasn't until 2009 when they finally got him. a different anti-abortion extremist who had apparently been inspired by the earlier attack and by the string of attacks like them in this country. he went back at dr. tiller in kansas again, shot and killed him in 2009 as dr. tiller was serving as an usher at his local church. we remember the 1996 atlanta olympics bombing for a number of bizarre circumstances around that bombing. right? remember the wrong man, a security guard who had tried to

help in the response to the bombing was initially blamed for having committed it. we also remember the real perpetrator of the attack, a guy named eric rudolph, getting away and evading capture for years and becoming kind of an anti-abortion folk hero as he lived as a thief and a pseudo-survivalist and evaded capture for so long. what is less well remembered about the atlanta olympics bombing, which did kill one person, is that eric rudolph said he bombed the atlanta olympics specifically to punish america for the sin of abortion. and what is even more frequently forgotten about eric rudolph is that while he was on the lam, while he was on the run after the atlanta olympics bombing, he also committed another fatal bombing at an abortion clinic in birmingham, alabama. he set off a nail bomb, set it off by remote control. it killed an off-duty police officer who was working security for the clinic. that officer's name was robert sanderson. that same nail bomb also badly injured a nurse who worked at that clinic. her name is emily lyons.

and now we have new names to add to that almost unbelievably long list. at the planned parenthood clinic that was attacked by what appears to be a lone gunman on friday in colorado springs. there are nine people who were injured in that attack, most of whom are still hospitalized tonight. but we also now have the names of the three people who were shot and killed in that attack. the first one to be identified was police officer garrett swasey. police have also now identified the other two people who were killed in the attack. one was an army veteran who had served in the iraq war. his name was ke'arre stewart. he was 29 years old. the other person who was killed was jennifer markovsky. she was a 35-year-old mother of two who had moved to colorado when her husband was stationed in colorado because of his service in the military. and so officer garrett swasey and ke'arre stewart and jennifer markovsky, they've joined this long list of people who have been killed at the site of u.s.

clinics that provide abortions. and this happens at a time when abortion providers have been expressing alarm and have basically been asking for help in defending themselves against a recent uptick in attacks, physical attacks on clinics. just this month before the colorado springs attack on friday, naral had started circulating a letter asking the department of justice to please investigate the surge in recent attacks on abortion clinics as acts of domestic terrorism. they cited the videos released this summer by anti-abortion activists that targeted planned parenthood as a sort of catalyst for this uptick in attacks. naral says in their letters to attorney general loretta lynch "beginning in july, when the video was first released and continuing in recent weeks, there have been multiple arson attacks and an outrageous number of threats to u.s. abortion providers. since the first anti-planned parenthood video was released, there have been four arson attacks at planned parenthood clinics across the country, in new orleans, in pullman,

washington, in thousand oaks, california, and in aurora, illinois. just last month a clinic in claremont, new hampshire was attacked. someone broke out and used a hatchet to destroy equipment and exam rooms and break water and sewer lines, flooding the entire clinic. in addition, independent providers alongside with planned parenthood clinics have reported an increase in violent threats to clinics and clinic staff. we call on the department of justice to investigate these attacks as examples of domestic terrorism." again, that letter was circulated by naral as basically a petition to be sent to attorney general loretta lynch. that was circulated this month before the attacks in colorado springs. and at this point police have released no information about a potential motive for the shooter in the colorado springs attack. there are anecdotal reports that the shooter seemed to be mentally unstable and conspiratorial. his criminal record involves threatening behavior and

violence, particularly toward women. the "post and courier" newspaper in south carolina reports tonight that the suspect in the planned parenthood shootings was charged with rape in north charleston, south carolina in 1992. it's unclear whether that rape charge was ultimately dropped or what happened to that part of this man's criminal record. that again being reported tonight by "the post and courier" in charleston, south carolina. there have been two law enforcement source that's have told nbc news that among the statements made by the shooter once he was arrested by the police was the phrase "no more baby parts." which could just be crazy talk. it could also imply some sort of anti-abortion motivations for the shootings. we just do not know. and so we are left with this incomplete picture. where we do have some knowns but we don't have the full picture, right? we've got an incomplete picture. we've got three people dead. we've got nine people wounded. for once in an incident like this we've got a person in custody. we've got this nine-hour

standoff that terrorized this community in colorado and no public statements so far from the gunman or statements that police are willing to attribute to him. we've got no definitive statement from police or prosecutors as to what they believe motivated this incident or this killer. but it also happened inside a planned parenthood clinic amid a nationwide upsurge of violent threats, and arson attacks committed against planned parenthood clinics and other abortion clinics across the country. and it comes after this decades-long history of more or less mentally unbalanced armed people motivated by anti-abortion ideology assassinating people at facilities that provide abortions. and so that is our set of known facts. direct and circumstantial. with that context in mind, while people are still in the hospital fighting for their lives, while the dead have yet to be buried, what would your reaction be if you were running for president of the united states and you

were asked to respond to this set of facts? what would you say if you were asked? >> do you think the rhetoric involved in the planned parenthood videos in this race had any impact or effect on the. >> well, i think there has been some vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro life. >> senator ted cruz of texas speaking with reporters in iowa about his reaction to the planned parenthood shooting at that colorado springs clinic. senator cruz volunteering that it may be vicious rhetoric on the left that should be looked at in terms of understanding these shootings. and you know, a number of presidential candidates have had more or less partisan or more or less sort of blame the victim kinds of responses to these attacks and we can talk about that in detail at some other time. i want to talk specifically about senator cruz, though. because senator cruz is linked

to this issue in one very specific way of his own making. because senator cruz as a presidential candidate has gone out of his way just in the past couple of weeks to court and celebrate and brag about his own affiliation with people who are at the very radical, bleeding edge of anti-abortion extremism and violence. and i'm not talking about just mainstream anti-abortion, mainstream pro-life figures. what i mean specifically is that two weeks ago ted cruz put out this statement touting the fact he had been endorsed by a man named flip benham. flip benham is an anti-abortion activist who was convicted a couple of years ago of stalk an abortion doctor in north carolina. he passed out hundreds of "wanted" posters with the doctor's photo on them and the doctor's name on them. they said "wanted" on them. a jury only took about 90 minutes to find him guilty of stalking that doctor. he was convicted of that stalking in 2011. ted cruz is touting his

endorsement by that convicted stalker in 2015. ted cruz also put out this lengthy statement praising his endorsement recently by the head of operation rescue. operation rescue is the group behind the aforementioned videos that started this spike in anti-abortion extremist violence that really took off this summer. troy newman, the head of operation rescue, argued in this book that the u.s. government should execute abortion providers. after one of those murders that i you just described at the top of this segment, after the double murder committed by paul hill, this anti-abortion activist, walked up to a clinic in pensacola, florida and shot the doctor and shot the retired air force officer who was trying to protect that doctor and shot the air force officer's wife as well and almost killed her. after that multiple murder this guy, who ted cruz is now touting the endorsement of, put out a statement lamenting that the murderer in that case, the assassin, was not allowed to present a defense in court claiming that the killing of the abortionist in that case was

"necessary." after the killer in that case was convicted and sentenced, troy newman said there was "no justice in that case because the court prevented the killer from preventing the legal defense that his conduct was justifiable defensive action." in other words, that the abortion provider needed to be killed. troy newman, who ted cruz is so proud to have an endorsement from, he put out a press release specifically touting the endorsement of troy newman. as i mentioned, he runs an organization called operation rescue. the person with whom he runs operation rescue is a convicted clinic bomber who's spent time in prison for having tried to blow up an abortion clinic in san diego. this guy who ted cruz is so proud to have endorsed him, he's touting this endorsement as a reason to vote for ted cruz for president, this guy troy newman to this day maintains an online list of names and addresses and up-close photos of individual

abortion providers for the convenience of the anti-abortion movement. do you know anybody who works at a planned parenthood clinic? know anybody who works as an abortion provider? have you ever checked any of the anti-abortion extremist websites to see if they're listed there with their photo and their address and everything? so all the candidates are going to get asked about a terrorizing attack in a multiple murder like this. and you would hope for the best. you would hope for leadership and compassion and good judgment from a leader on an issue like this. specifically in this case, when we don't know anything from police about what might have motivated the attack, you'd hope that nobody would get out over their skis in terms of assigning meaning to events and actions which are as yet officially unexplained. but ted cruz, alone among them, he is in a weird position of his own making because of how much he has cozied up to the people who have literally justified and all but encouraged physical

attacks on abortion providers in the past or even who have been involved in those incidents themselves. he has put himself in a weird position on the subject already. and so maybe he's just feeling the pressure from that or something. i don't know. but for whatever reason ted cruz, after singling out vicious rhetoric on the left, ted cruz in that same interaction with reporters about this incident came up with the single strangest response to this crisis and this attack that i think anybody could have imagined. >> we don't fully know the motivations of this deranged individual. we know that he was a man who registered to vote as a woman. the media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point there's very little evidence to indicate that. >> there was a quote he said "no more baby parts" as he was apprehended. >> it's also reported he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist if that's what he is. >> senator ted cruz is in a bad

position as a political leader here because of the way he has touted endorsements from people on the violent end of anti-abortion extremism who have said publicly and repeatedly that abortion doctors ought to be killed. to get away from that now he has seized on what appears to be an inaccurate voter registration record to claim that the shooter at this planned parenthood who killed three people and injured nine people must have been in his words "a transgendered leftist activist." okay. and maybe we're now seeing how ted cruz handles high-pressure situations. maybe we're now seeing what ted cruz does when he's backed into a corner. especially one of his own making. but this is a very strange line from him in the midst of a very strange campaign from him in which he has on purpose aligned himself specifically and by name with the parts of the extremist anti-abortion movement in this country that has veered with shocking frequency over the years from protests and virulent

charges and rhetoric over the line from that into domestic terrorism and assassination. cecile richards, the president of planned parenthood, joins us next.

so my guest for the interview tonight is the national president of planned parenthood. she's going to be here live in studio to give us her response to what happened at that planned parenthood clinic in colorado springs on friday, that rampage there that killed three people and injured nine. again, the president of planned parenthood, cecile richards, is here next. stay with us.

want to survive a crazy busy day? sfx: cell phone chimes start with a positive attitude... and positively radiant skin. aveeno® positively radiant moisturizer... with active naturals® soy. aveeno® naturally beautiful results®. today was the first court appearance of the man accused of killing three people and injuring nine others at a planned parenthood clinic in colorado springs on friday. the suspect appeared in court via closed-circuit video. the reason it appears he's wearing something strange is he's dressed in what officials call a suicide prevention

garment. while he was on that closed circuit feed to the courtroom he spoke only four words -- yes, yes, and no questions. he's being held in jail without bond. he's expected to be formally charged next week. police have released no information about the potential motive in this case or even basic information like what kind of weapon he used. but the shooting in colorado on friday does come after a string of recent threats and vandalism and arson at planned parenthood clinics and abortion providers across the country, in louisiana and new hampshire and california and illinois and washington state. now with this latest attack three people killed and nine more injured at that clinic in colorado. joining us now for the interview is cecile richards. she's president of planned parenthood federation of america. cecile, thank you for your time tonight. i know it's been a really hard few days. >> it's good to see you, rachel. >> was this shooter known to planned parenthood prior to this weekend? was he on your radar at all? >> no, he wasn't. we're -- you know, the whole

thing came as a surprise. and of course our hearts go out to the families and the victims, the victims' families. and of course the many people that were injured on friday. it's been extraordinary that frankly the staff in that health center as well as law enforcement in colorado worked so closely together to bring this to an end and we're really grateful for that. but it's been a really tough time for planned parenthood. >> i think i'm right in saying this, and tell me if i'm wrong. as far as i understand it, you're obviously working with police in this ongoing investigation and as part of that you're not talking about whether or not any of the folks who were injured were staffers or volunteers at the clinic. >> that's correct. we're really working with law enforcement and trying to respect their process and the privacy of our patients and staff. >> can you tell me generally about either security concerns or contact with anti-abortion demonstrators and protesters or any form of extremists at that clinic in colorado specifically? >> sure.

well, colorado springs has always been the site of a lot of protests. and unfortunately over the last three or four months as you kind of mentioned earlier in the show we've had renewed protests at a lot of health centers across the country. so we've been very vigilant about security. there's kind of three things we do in the security realm. one is we work very closely with the locke p law enforcement. the second is we do enormous training with our staff all across the health centers. and the third is we invest in the best equipment we can to protect our patients and our staff. that's our highest priority. fortunately, there in colorado springs the staff were incredibly well trained. they took action immediately. and i really do believe that because of their actions working closely with the police they were able to prevent this from becoming even a worse tragedy than it already has been. >> it seems like from what we already know, and again, it should be clear a lot of details of this have yet to be discussed publicly by police, but from what we know from contemporaneous reporting it seems like the way the gunman

was confined after his initial entry into the building, the way he was not able to get access to other people who were inside the building, and specifically the existence of that camera system that police could tap into, both to see where people were who needed to be potentially rescued and to see who he was, it seems like that was key to the death toll not being higher than it already was. >> you're correct in that there's a lot of details still to be sort of talked about publicly, but absolutely, our staff and the police worked hand in hand. and because of a lot of the video equipment that we do have they were able to really follow the shooter and to again over a series of hours finally bring this to a conclusion and get him out of there and get the rest of the staff and patients out of the health center. >> does that -- obviously that's got to give you some confidence in those protocols and the equipment you've got. will anything change? will you do anything differently because of this?

>> we always -- this is obviously the kind of circumstance that we plan for but hope never happens. but now that it has we'll be looking at everything we can learn from this to improve security for our patients and staff. that is our highest priority. it always has been. and as you know, i think you know, the next day actually, even despite the tragedy of friday, health centers were open in colorado. they were open all across the country providing health care to women at planned parenthood health centers. really folks just carried out the health care -- the needs of the patients and i'm incredibly proud of the staff for their resilience in the face of this kind of tragedy. >> i don't want to push this point too hard because again, we don't know anything about this gunman. police are being very tight-lipped in terms of where he was coming from and what might have motivated this. i also want to say that i do not think there is a direct line between being against abortion rights and supporting violence

against abortion providers or clinics. but is there a clear line to you, a clear place where criticism or argument does cross over into encouraging people to act violently or inciting them to act violently? do you feel there's an identifiable place that people should be more shy about than they are? >> well, i mean, what i can tell you is from where i sit at planned parenthood we have seen over the last three months as there have been renewed and aggressive attacks on -- not only on planned parenthood but on abortion doctors, harassment of women at health centers, the escalation over the last few months has been very significant. and i do think it's time for people in this country, elected officials, leaders, people who want to be president of the united states, to really think carefully about the way they talk about health care providers in this country, the way they demonize women and the decisions they make about their pregnancies.

i think it's time for everyone to take stock of that because i do believe words have consequences. >> and you think that the rhetoric in what purports to be mainstream politics has a direct effect in non-mainstream extremist and violent -- >> well, i'm just saying i don't know what the direct correlation is but i have never seen the kind of rhetoric we're seeing now in this presidential election, the demonization not only, again, of planned parenthood but of women who have abortions, of doctors who provide abortions, which are safe and legal in the united states of america. women shouldn't have to fear for their safety. they shouldn't have to be harassed just for exercising their right to health care in america. and unfortunately, i think that's what we're seeing more and more at health centers not only in colorado but across the country. >> cecile richards, president of planned parenthood. thank you for talking to us. again, i know you have a lot to be managing right now and a lot to be handling. thanks for talking to us. >> absolutely. >> good luck. we've got a lot more to come tonight. stay with us.

this is the type of russian jet that was shot down along the turkish-syrian border last week. it's a supersonic bomber called an su-24. last tuesday one of these russian jets was fired at and brought down by a turkish military jet, by a turkish f-16. the turkish government said that that russian jet had crossed into their air space in turkey and so that's why they decided to shoot it down. it's been six days now since that fatal incident, and there are now two big changes that have come about as a result of that shootdown. and they're connected.

the first of the two big changes, number one, is that russia and turkey are no longer talking to each other. there's no more military to military communication between the russian military and the turkish military as those two countries both fly missions over the same territory in syria. that development, the first one, is all the more significant when you consider the second big change that has now happened since the shootdown, which is that russian jets flying over syria are now for the first time being armed with air to air missiles. these are missiles designed to take down other airplanes. the russian military is now arming their jets with air to air missiles and they've also reportedly been moving surface-to-air missiles into syria for the same purpose, potentially shooting down other planes in the region. in response to this news today a pentagon spokesman said this, "whether it's putting air to air missiles on planes or putting in surface to air missiles those are things that clearly are not about isis since isis doesn't have any aircraft."

oh, right. isis doesn't have any planes. neither do any of the other syrian opposition groups that russia says it is fighting against in syria. most of the non-russian planes over syria now are in fact ours. they're either u.s. military jets or they're jets being flown by members of the u.s.-led coalition in syria. and those u.s. and u.s.-led coalition aircraft are now flying their missions over syria amid brand new russian anti-aircraft missiles both on russian planes and on the ground. what could possibly go wrong?

new delhi in india held a half marathon yesterday, and in one very specific way that half marathon did not go well. more than 30,000 -- yeah. look. more than 30,000 people ran in this race amid just stunning air pollution and smog. some runners actually wore face masks, wore sort of pollution masks during the race. two runners were reportedly taken away by ambulance. a number of people collapsed at this half marathon. that was the scene at new delhi yesterday. this was the scene in majoring, china today.

it was an orange alert for terrible air quality in beijing today. authorities urged people to stay inside unless they absolutely had to go out. at the level of one particularly dangerous particulate was found to be 25 times what the world health organization considers to be safe. this day today, this orange alert day in beijing, was the single worst air quality day they have had of any day this year in that big city. but there was one person who was not there to experience that smog which covered the chinese capital today, and that was the chinese president, who had already left beijing for paris to participate in the largest gathering of world leaders ever all in one place. and i mean that without hyperbole. yes, every year hundreds of world leaders gather in new york for the u.n. general assembly. but that's spread out over a week and a half. not everybody's there on the same day. at the u.n.'s conference on climate change today over 150 national leaders congregated in

paris all on the same day in the same place. the heads of more than 150 countries. and aside from the question of whether or not those 150 world leaders are going to achieve the kind of agreement they want to achieve, having more world leaders in one place on a single day than ever before in human history also poses its own logistical concerns. obviously, security is foremost in everybody's mind. particularly with france under an ongoing state of emergency after the november 13th terrorist attacks in paris. the security concerns stemming from the terrorist attacks led france to ban all large-size protests and demonstrations that had been planned around the climate conference. yesterday, though, protesters still illegally took to the streets. police fired tear gas to try to disperse them. they arrested over 300 protesters. they do say almost all of the arrested protesters have now been released. at the place de la republique, which has become a memorial site for the victims of the terrorist attacks in paris, protesters

left rows and rows and rows and rows of shoes. thousands of shoes as a poignant silent protest about the climate. other activists, artists, plastered protest posters like these at paris bus stops. the artists mocked up fake ads that looked totally real like this one for air france. we have the air france one there? we have one for air france that says "of course we're not fighting climate change. we're an airline." and then there's this volkswagen one that says "we're sorry that we got caught." which is of course about their diesel emissions thing. they did like 600 different posters like these, fake ads, all over paris bus stops, for this huge climate conference. apart from the security concerns, though, and the climate protests bubbling up all over paris, there's also just logistical concerns and the etiquette of not stepping on giant egos, which comes from trying to make meaningful change and trying to make sure that all these world leaders get heard and there's time for them to do actual work together.

the conference is so crowded with very important world leaders that some of them ended up today waiting hours for their turn at speaking from the podium. and those logistical issues today and the worries about sort of etiquette and egos and how to manage all of these heads of state led today to something we are not used to seeing in the united states, which is when our president got publicly interrupted. and it was not a heckler. and it was not just a gentle interruption. it was more like he was at the oscars and the equivalent of the orchestra started to play to try to get him off the stage. it happened during president obama's speech today repeatedly, and it was a very weird thing. watch this. >> here in paris let's reaffirm our commitment -- [ ding ]. that sources will be there for countries ready to do their part to skip the dirty phase of development. here in paris let's make sure these resources flow to the countries that need help. [ ding ] >> there are hundreds of

billions of dollars ready to deploy to countries around the world if we get the signal we mean business this time. let's send that signal. that's what we seek in these two weeks. >> let's send that signal. that is not the presidential's elevator arriving at its proper floor on the parking garage. that was the beep to apparently try to tell him he was going over time. this is the first effort to get a binding global agreement on climate in 18 years, since kyoto. and the u.s. did not sign on to the kyoto agreement you might remember. president obama is determined to get the united states to sign on to something this time. but what that might be and the power of president obama's domestic political opponents to try to stop him from doing that, that right now tonight is very much a live question. a live question that we will now put to nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing, who joins us live from the middle of the night now in paris. chris, thank you so much for staying up to be with us.

>> love it. love being here. >> is there a feeling among the u.s. delegation, among people covering this and who know this subject tightly, is there a feeling that there is going to be something to sign, that there is going to be a binding agreement, that the u.s. is going to be part of something quite different than what we have done in the past? >> i think there's a sense of optimism. there's also a sense of urgency and they kind of go together. when you think about first of all what they're doing here it almost boggles the mind. they're trying to get virtually every country on earth to sign on to an agreement to say we are going to cut our greenhouse gas emissions. so that is an enormous task that they've taken on. but i think if you listened today, and a lot of people got those bings that the president got because a lot of people were supposed to have only three minutes and they kept running over. you listen to what they say, it was extraordinary. you had francois hollande, who obviously is the host here,

saying never have the stakes been so high. you might not be surprised by that. but then you hear vladimir putin, who hasn't exactly been a friend to environmentalists, say it's one of the greatest challenges to humanity. the president presented this kind of apocalyptic vision of what would happen if we didn't get a climate accord, and he tied it to when he went to alaska and he saw the glaciers melting, he saw the impact firsthand. but for me when i was listening and when i was reading the translations of some of the really small countries, frankly places i'd never even heard of before, tiny little island nations whose very existence is being threatened, you realize that there is this sort of unanimity of opinion that something has got to get done here. and remember, even after kyoto in 2009 in copenhagen, those are two examples where people had been working on this issue for decades, long before it became a part of the real lexicon, you know, got disappointed.

this time they think that there is a will that something actually could get done. i keep asking people for percentages. they range from 70% to 90%. there are still obstacles but there is a sense here that there's a will to accomplish this. >> and chris, in terms of that likelihood of success, are there -- you mentioned some countries there that obviously are key to be on board and you might not expect going along with an international effort on any subject let alone this one. are there specific countries that are seen as kind of being the worry point, countries that are going to be the most difficult with getting on board with reforms? are there weak spots and people know who those countries are? >> so essence the other really interesting part about this because when you look today the president made a very pointed decision that the first person he was going to meet with was china's president xi, somebody he's got a lot of disagreements with, whether it's the south china sea or cyber security.

but they've been working very closely together over the last year or two to really talk about how to move this forward. somebody he has a close personal relationship with and there's been a lot of jokes about the bromance between president obama and prime minister modi of india, that's a real concern here. and in fact, when you talk privately to some folks in the white house, they bristle a little bit because there's been so much pushback. one of the key questions here is between developed countries and developing countries. as you know, india is the fastest growing democracy in the world. but they really believe that in order for their economy to flourish they have to be given a lot of help, and i'm talking hundreds of billions of dollars worth of help to keep that moving forward. otherwise, they need a break on these carbon emissions. and so yeah, it is sort of this strange bedfellows here, and behind the scenes that's where a lot of the nitty-gritty work is being done.

first of all, by the president. who had that meeting and you showed the picture today of him with prime minister modi. but remember, this is going to go on for another couple of weeks. and you've got thousands of delegates here, thousands of diplomats who are going to continue to do this work to try to get this done. >> nbc's senior white house correspondent chris jansing at the u.n. climate conference in paris. chris, again, i know it's the middle of the night there and you've had an incredible day. thank you so much for staying up for us. i appreciate it. >> thanks, rachel. >> super happy to have that report from chris. and that point about india and sort of all eyes on india right now, particularly in light of president obama's really good personal relationship with the new leader in india, it is going to be fascinating to watch. this is also one of those rare events where you see presidents, you see heads of state doing their own negotiating, doing their own meetings, trying to work things outs one on one rather than just leaving it to their minions. stuff like this doesn't happen very often. we'll be right back.

i have a thing for you to put on your calendar. thanks so house speaker paul ryan and his new thanksgiving

beard. speaker ryan today officially invited president obama to deliver the 2016 state of the union address. now we know when it's going to be. january 12th, tuesday, january 12th. that is officially a date now. you and me, we're going to be here together tuesday january 12th. you can put it in your calendar. you can put it in our calendar in pen. just write sotu, you will remember, i swear.

we got one story left for

you tonight. it is some really, really good news for one presidential candidate who really needs it. it's the sort of thing he wouldn't expect to have the opportunity to get until much later in the campaign but he's down in the dumps. it's a really good thing. it just happened for him and it happened early. that story is next.

want to survive a crazy busy day? sfx: cell phone chimes start with a positive attitude... and positively radiant skin. aveeno® positively radiant moisturizer... with active naturals® soy. aveeno® naturally beautiful results®. this weekend governor chris christie of new jersey got the endorsement of the "new hampshire union leader." that is great news for him right now. he's at the relegated to the kids table part of his campaign. he could use a boost. this is an unusually early endorsement for that newspaper. that comes for governor christie just in the nick of time. it's also had a secondary effect. the editorial newspaper at the "star ledger" is tom moran who has covered chris christie for

14 years. upon seeing this new hampshire endorsement headline for governor christie today tom moran was so flabbergasted at that endorsement he called up his counterpart at "the union leader" who said basically who are of youing looking at the same guy i am? he wrote, quote, take bridge gate, the editorial made no mention of it. how about pension reform. the board of manchester did not know that christie made his core promise on that. the editorial said he dealt admirableably with super storm sandy. that would come to the shock at victims. 67% say they're dissatisfied with the state's response. how about the nine credit downgrades on his watch as governor? you get the idea. i hate to second-guess a fellow editorial board. but this editorial confirms my worse fears about this presidential race. it's all about performance, not substance.

that's the view of chris christie's home state. you know, still, good news for chris christie in new hampshire. he got the big new hampshire endorsement which he does sort of desperately need. he needs something good in. because despite all the time he has spent in that state he's still hovering around 5% in the polls. national numbers are worse. governor christie needs a boost. maybe this endorsement will do the trick. john mccain's got the endorsement in '08 and went on to win the new hampshire primary and nomination. again, a union leader also endorsed this guy in 1988, pete dupont, who finished fourth in new hampshire and did not go on to be the nominee. then they picked pat buchanan twice, also not the nominee. in 2000 it was steve forbes who not only did not win the new hampshire primary, you get a gold star if you remember that he existed. the last time around the paper endorsed newt gingrich who then went on to finish fifth in new hampshire and not become the nominee.

so maybe this endorsement turns chris christie into magic or maybe it turns him into newt gingrich. back home in new jersey, it early money is not on the magic option. early money is not on the magic opposite. "first look" is up next. it is tuesday, december 1st. right now on "first look," in paris, president obama pledges action on climate change. >> the united states of america not only recognizes our role in creating this problem we embrace our responsibility to do something about it. >> for the first time the suspect in the deadly siege at a colorado planned parenthood appears in court. but police remain tight lipped on a possible motive. plus a winter storm zeros in on the upper midwest. cyber monday smashes sales records. and why steven spielberg is in a rush to make the next indiana jones film. "first look" starts right now. good mornin