and good day to you. thank you for joining us on what is a very busy "newsday." i'm kristen welker in for andrea. we begin with breaking news. comedy legend bill cosby has been charged with aggravated indecent assault. a first-degree felony. the charges filed in pennsylvania stem from a 2004 encounter. montgomery county district attorney elect kevin steele says the comedian will be arraigned this afternoon. >> the evidence shows mr. cosby established a relationship with the victim after meeting her through her work associated with temple university's women's basketball program. through the course of their association, the victim came to consider mr. cosby her mentor and her friend. on the evening in question, mr. cosby urged her to take pills

that he provided to her and to drink wine. the effect of which rendered her unable to move, she gave in to the advances and this resulted in the accounts against him. >> mr. cosby has never been charged with a crime despite dozens of women accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior. cosby has denied these allegations. the alleged victim in this case, andrea constant, first accused cosby after the incident. a previous d.a. declined to charge him in 2005 but prosecutors took a second look at the woman's allegations after new information came to light in july of 2015. cosby's lawyer called the allegations, quote, ridiculous. authorities did not identify the victim by name but constant was named in her previous lawsuit.

joining me now is msnbc's craig melvin, wcau's rosemary connors at the news conference and the former assistant u.s. attorney laura cotes. rosemary, break it all down for me. what were the highlights? >> reporter: here's what i can tell you, kristen. bill cosby is going to be arraigned here at the district court here in montgomery county on the charges of aggravated indecent assault. he's expected to arrive here this afternoon around 4:00. we expect this arraignment to be face-to-face with the judge. as you mentioned, that statute of limitations was just about to run out. that's why we are hearing about the criminal charges. this all stems from that 2004 incident at cosby's home right here in montgomery county. we're getting some more details in the affidavit which they did release at the news conference not too long ago. this stems from the incident brought on by andrea constant who brought the civil case against bill cosby. she was an employee at temple university at the time. she claims she was drugged and

assaulted. that she was in and out of consciousness according to the affidavit she says she felt paralyzed. the affidavit also gives bill cosby's side to the story, he says they were in a romantic relationship. that this was a con whsensual sexual encounter. and he gave her nothing more than an over-the-counter benadryl. andrea constant says and maintains she did not consent to any encounter with him. kristen? >> rosemary, great reporting. craig, i want to shift over to you now. you have been tracking this story from the very beginning, really. i know that you spoke with the victim's attorney. what did the attorney tell you? >> she said, first of all, andrea constant is a massage therapist in canada. we should not expect to hear from her. she moved there shortly after the incident in question. here's a statement from the attorney, though. she said, on behalf of our client, andrea constand, we wish

to exfriend our appreciation to the montgomery county district attorney's office, the coupty detectives, and the police department for the consideration and courtesy they have shown andrea during this difficult time. we have the utmost confidence in mr. steele, ms. feden and their team, who have impressed us with their professionalism. in that this matter is now being pursued in the criminal justice system, we will not comment further. she also went on to tell me that they have been in constant, if you will, conversation over the past few weeks and months with the district attorney's office there trying to provide as much support as possible. i can also tell you that we spoke to a prominent pennsylvania legal expert a short time ago. one of the big questions that's been asked over the past hour and a half or so is whether we could hear from some of the other 40 or 50 or so accusers in this case. this pennsylvania legal expert tells nbc news that it is possible for cosby's other

accusers to testify if the case announced today in montgomery county does, in fact, go to trial. this is wesley oliver, a criminal justice program director at duquesne there in pittsburgh. and he says that in the past, in the past the other accusers could testify to prove what's called a method of operation. so this means that while cosby's charged with one count of aggravated indecent assault pertaining to this one alleged victim, other alleged victims could, in fact, testify that they were subject to the same behavior perpetrated by cosby, kristen. >> craig, thank you for that. laura, pick up on that point that craig raises, please. we know that we're anticipating to hear from gloria allred later on today. she's representing some of the other alleged victims. could this lead to more charges? or do all of them sort of fail to meet the statute of limitations? >> well, in the cases, craig is

absolutely right, in the cases where there is the evidence, other prior bad acts by the alleged victims, that testimony could come in the motions hearing or thereafter in trial if they can show that there is a pattern of behavior. but remember, just because you have been accused of previous crimes does not mean you have committed the exact crime you're being charged with. so a judge is always going to be very skeptical about allowing all the testimony to come in. but for the limited purpose of showing, look, the m.o. this person has for drugging women, they are unconscious or unable to protect or defend themselves. then a sexual penetration occurs. that's the key here. and why it's the kind of testimony that probably will come in at trial. before everyone starts salivating over this case, there are a lot of other legal hurdles. and that is, just because his deposition reveals that he admitted to penetration of the victim doesn't mean necessarily it comes in at criminal trial.

>> and just explain that a little bit, because a lot of people might be confused by your final point, laura. explain that discrepancy how that plays out. >> certainly, now a defendant has to right to take the stand or not take the stand. if he chooses not to take the stand, his prior testimony in a civil matter, it would belie the senses to say i can use your testimony against you in the criminal trial and avoid having you take the stand in my criminal trial now by using your deposition from before. if he takes the stand, it can be used to try to impeach him, having lied in some way, but it's not an automatic thing that it comes in. now, it was used by the prosecutor most assuredly to base his charges on, but it cannot be used just as a carte blanche to replace the requirement that the prosecution has to prove his guilt. he doesn't have to prove his innocence. >> and laura, what are you expecting to see today in court? obviously, his arraignment, mr.

cosby expected to appear as rosemary says. >> he will. and he'll plead not guilty and they will set a motions schedule to decide the issue we were just talking about, which is we need to know whether it's going to be, what is called a drew motion. will there be a motion set to address whether the other umpteen victims and their testimony can come in to betress this victim's allegation that he committed a sexual act against her. it will be the very first thing they'll decide and he will plead not guilty. >> and i understand he could face as many as ten years behind bars if convicted? >> absolutely. up to ten years. now, the maximum sentence may or may not be dulled down if convicted, but certainly he is facing that. and this is a game changer, kristen. it's the first time he's been charged and it will have a domino effect on the other cases. and i can bet that gloria allred, it will impact the 29 victims she represents in her case. >> craig, pick up there, laura cams it a game-changer. talk about the enormity of this,

bill cosby is a comic legend. he's also an icon in the african-american community. >> not just in the african-american community, he wasn't just a big deal to black people in this country. keep in mind, for all of the '80s and a good chunk of the '90s, bill cosby was one of the two or three biggest names in television. we all grew up watching "the cosby show." it introduced a different type of black family to a lot of people in this country. after the show went off the air, his philanthropy continued and periodically we would see or hear from bill cosby, who made it a bit of a habit to criticize the behavior of specifically a young black man who dressed a certain way or talked a certain way in this country. there are probably, you know, arguably one or two other legal cases in recent memory that conjure up the image of

someone -- michael jackson or o.j. simpson in court standing before a judge professing their innocence. i mean, you're going to have bill cosby, my understanding they don't allow cameras in the courtroom here in montgomery county, but you're going to have a 78-year-old tv icon, movie legend, fi laphilanthropist act standing before a judge saying he's not guilty of sexual assault. that's a really big deal, kristen. >> craig, great perspective. rosemary, i want to give the final point to you. you are from philadelphia, i'm from philadelphia, i'm your former colleague there at wcau, bill cosby was a hometown hero for pennsylvanians. what is the reaction there? what does this mean for the people there? >> reporter: kristen, as you well know, he was a popular celebrity here. very much so on temple university's campus. he served on the board of trustees up until this time last year when he resigned, a very welcomed face, welcomed guest at the commencement every year. especially for that temple

community. this has been very difficult to process. a hometown hero, somebody who has contributed to temple, to other foundations and organizations within philadelphia. so no doubt people here in philadelphia will be watching and waiting to see what happens in this criminal case. >> indeed. great point. rosemary connors, craig and laura, thank you so much for helping us understand this breaking news situation. we really appreciate it. and we want to go to another breaking news story. this one out of missouri where 18 million americans are bracing for what has been described as historic and dangerous flooding. 16 counties in missouri are currently under flood warnings including the area where the missouri and mississippi rivers meet leaving many in need of rescue and preparing for more of an onslaught as the waters threaten hundreds of homes. at least 20 deaths over the last several days blamed on the flooding. joining me now on the phone is missouri governor jay nixon. governor, thank you for joining us. our thoughts and prayers go out

to all of you right now. >> thank you very much. the water is continuing to rise. it's going to reach historic levels, far more than '93, a couple feet more than in those areas and we are working a number of water rescues as well as shelters opening and continuing sandbag operations in order to evacuate folks. >> can you give us a sense of how many people are currently in danger and what you're telling folk there is right now? what's the message? >> the small town of valley park, we are evacuating about 300 people out of their houses and businesses there as the water is rising and some of the levees have -- when you go to historic numbers, when you are 200 feet over a 500-year flood, as we work out there, that's one of the reasons i called up the national guard to make sure the soldiers were out there, not only to help get people out but also to keep security once they are out. the bottom line is that we're seeing excruciatingly high levels, a number of water rescues, traffic being moved around, i-44 closed near st.

louis and the water is still rising. >> governor, you talk about the rescues, do you have a sense of how many you have made today alone? >> i don't have the numbers today but can easily tell you there have been hundreds of water rescues throughout the state. we have had 13 fatalities in our state already that are confirmed. we are working a number of other cases as we speak. but i can confirm 13. 12 of the 13 were folks that drove into water. and you see a lot of those. and now counting the water rescues also, some folks that didn't want to leave their homes even though they were given the right to evacuate are being picked up literally off the top of their roofs by boats or other methods. >> how can the community members help and what should folks there be doing to make sure that they don't get into the path of danger? >> a couple of things. first of all, we want to thank the nongovernmental organizations like the red cross and others opening shelters at the churches and high schools around the area and supporting our first responders.

also, your -- that's very important, those folks have been extremely helpful and those faith-based. we are trying to get people out it, so it is extremely important not to drive into it. and we're not going to let people in except the homeowners and the business owners. we'll continue to protect this area to make sure that folks can reclaim their property when the water goes down. >> and, obviously, your state saw historic flooding back in 1993. just to take a step back, give us some perspective, how does this current flooding compare to that, governor? >> well, in 1993 the mississippi river, as most people know, flooded about 48% of st. charles county right there in st. louis. so a large county, population of almost a quarter million was halfway under water. on the mississippi river, when you get down south of perriville and down near the mark on the illinois side, that river is going to be 2 feet higher, the mississippi river, than it was

in 1993. so we are dealing with historic amounts of water. the good news on this is that it's relatively dry now. and we have a number of days here where it's not going to rain. so while the crests are going to be historic, they won't last as long as the 1993 flood. so we are hopeful if we continue to win flood fights tonight into tomorrow and make sure folks are safe, on the backside of this it will be quicker to come down than it was in '93. >> governor, when you see all this flooding, a lot of people start to think about the drinking water. what is the message there? and do people need to be extra careful right now? >> well, we're bringing in a lot of water. we lost one water treatment plant last night in high ridge. so you have 20,000 folks there that don't have water coming to them. once it was inundated. so we are, with our state of emergency folks, bringing in bottled water and things of that nature to make sure they are okay, but a lot of the water plants are down near rivers because that's where the water sources are cheaper to get to.

and, you know, it's -- so bottom line is, we're having to bring water in to take care of those communities until we have them back online. >> and to what extent are there still serious concerns about the sewage? >> i think you're going to continue to see sewage problems. you know, we had one plant overtopped yesterday around st. louis county. and in that sense, you're seeing it, so that's the other thing, if you have sewage escaping like that, it's best if folks stay away from the water. so it's cold and it's nasty. we're trying to take care of it and make sure everybody takes health precautions also in these difficult situations. >> and governor, just finally, this is all unfolding in and around the holidays, how is the community there holding up and supporting each other? >> everybody's done really, really well. i want to thank the first responders and work all through the holidays, the state of emergency management people have worked through the holidays, and the national guard and soldiers that i called up 26 hours ago that dropped everything they were doing with their family. and many have traveled 100 miles

or more to put themselves in harm's way for the people of our state. so i feel very good about the community. i'll be specific in a little while here and put eyes on the ground and be down with the teams there in an hour or so. so we'll have a better chance to see it there. we are finishing up all the planning here in jefferson city, but i'll be on the ground in that area here within the next hour or hour and a half. >> governor jay nixon, thank you for the update. again, our thoughts are with you during this difficult time. >> thank you very much. coming up, high security after paris and san bernardino. law enforcement is on heightened alert as revelers get ready to ring in the new year. we'll talk about the threats with state department spokesperson john kirby. that's coming up next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

welcome back. here in the east coast we are 36 hours away from ringing in the new year. a big party for millions of americans, but also a few challenges for law enforcement in major cities across the nation. amplified by arrests in belgium and turkey this week connected to possible holiday terror plots. state department spokesman john kirby is joining me now in our studio. thank you so much for being here. really appreciate it. >> my pleasure. glad to be here. >> we'll start with the breaking news with the arrests in belgium and turkey over suspected terror plots over the new year. does that give you heightened concern about the security of americans? and are you tracking any known threats right now? >> i think we are always very concerned about the safety and security of the american people, particularly around the holidays. you heard the president talk about this, secretary johnson talked about this quite a bit. we are not aware of any specific credible threats here in the homeland over the holiday coming up. but i can tell you that law enforcement and our national security apparatuses are very much on alert, very vigilant. and we would say the same for

the american people. they should absolutely feel free to ring in the new year and to have fun, but also say vigilant. keep your head on a swivel, if you see something, say something. >> is secretary kerry having conversations with his counterparts as you track and make sure that you're on heightened alert over this holiday? >> he has had many conversations in just the last few days with many counterparts. on lots of different foreign policy issues. certainly one of the things always on his mind is the threat of terrorism and our counter terrorism efforts around the world. he's had a number of conversations about this. but again, no specific credible threat to the united states. >> and i want to shift to a little bit of politics. i would typically never bring you into a decision cushiiscuss politics, but donald trump just reacteded to your blog post about syria. listen to what he said and i'll get your reaction on the other side. >> sure. >> they said bringing peace to syria, did you see that? so instead of saying they made a mistake, call it a typo, they made a mistake, they're trying

to justify it. well, we're working on it. can you believe it? bringing peace to syria, the world is blowing up, the migration in syria -- they say one of their achievements for the year is bringing peace to syria. and the whole world's talking about it. it's the level of stupidity that's incredible. >> he's referencing a blog post that you wrote. i'm just going to let you respond. >> look, what i said was, in the headline, we're bringing peace and stability to syria. and if you look at the whole blog post you can see that i made very clear in the first line that we know it's still a very violent, very dangerous, very troubled place. i didn't say we brought peace to syria. i said we are working to bring peace to syria. and if you just look at the last three months, three months ago the international community was not aligned in terms of a future for syria on a political track. now they are. three months ago the opposition groups had not been unified around a set of common negotiating principles to take forward to the assad regime. now they are. in fact, they are going to start having meetings as early as the

end of january. three months ago there wasn't a u.n. security council resolution. there wasn't even u.n. security council consensus on a political future for syria. now there is. there's a security council resolution that puts under u.n. hospices a chance to implement and then monitor a ceasefire in syria. so we believe it's a truthful claim. we are working hard to bring peace to syria. >> i want to follow-up on that point, the key part of this is the fight against isis. you announced significant gains this week, particularly in ramadi and in terms of also killing a number of isis fighters. however, as you know, there are critics who say it's still not working. isis still has the upper hand. how do you respond to that? and do there need to be changes to this strategy? >> certainly there's a lot in that question. certainly we recognize that isil remains a determined, lethal enemy. we are very focused on that as are 64 other nations in a coalition aligned to get at isil and destroy and degrate their

capabilities. but they still remain lethal. that said, i've been tracking this enemy for more than a year, this is not the same group that they were. they are not moving about as freely as they were. >> you think they are more contained. >> they are much more contained in iraq and syria. 25% to 30% of their territory they once had now has been taken away from them. they are/they have now pretty much lost ramadi. there's still pockets in ramadi that need to be cleared out, but they have pretty much lost that after taking it in july. the iraqi security forces are more competent, more capable now than they have been certainly in the last year and a half. so this is not the same group. much of their leadership has been destroyed. you have seen the pentagon talk about getting rid of ten of their leaders just this month. so being a leader of that particular group, that's a career choice we wouldn't recommend. because it's not very long-lived. and they are much more under pressure financially. we are going after oil revenues and other ways they get financing. so this is not the same group at all. >> and i want to talk about afghanistan a little bit. there's a report today that one

of the top commanders is suggesting, urging that more troops stay in afghanistan because the situation there is so unstable. is that a real possibility? is that something that's been discussed right now? >> i think some of general campbell's comments may have been taken a little out of context. he said, and he said this before, that he's appreciative of the president's decision to allow him to keep the 9800 troops for a little longer into the year. and that he expects that he'll keep them for as long as he possibly can. every commander on the ground expects to want to do that. but he also knows there's a goal at the end of the year to get them down to about half of that. this is an ongoing discussion that our commanders have with the commander in chief and will continue to have. >> so it's a possibility. >> well, i don't want to get ahead of decisions that haven't been made yet. we all understand the importance of the mission. >> is it something being discussed, though? >> there is a constant discussion about the mission in afghanistan, how we're resourcing it and how we're implementing it. and i want to stress this is an important mission. the afghan national security

forces are better now than they have been in the last few years. they are working very, very hard. they have been successful in helping thwart attacks and respond to attacks. that doesn't mean afghanistan still isn't a dangerous place. that the taliban still isn't capable of terrorist attacks. we have seen that recently. there's a lot to do in afghanistan which is why the mission is so important. which is why the discussion continues about how we're going to resource it going forward. >> the state department spokesperson, john kirby, we have covered a lot of ground. thank you. appreciate it. >> we did. thank you. coming up, money talks with a month to go until the first 2016 primary contest. why donald trump is getting ready to spend big. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. not afraid to fail. some of these experiments may not work. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel... ...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today.

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he's got a problem with the carbon footprint. you can't use hairspray because hairspray is going to affect the ozone. i'm trying to figure out, let's

see, i'm in my room in new york city and want to put a little spray so that i can -- right? right? [ applause ] but i hear they don't want me to use hairspray. use the pump because the other -- which i really like better than going bing, bing, beginning, but it comes out in big blobs and it's stuck in your hair and you say, oh, my god, i have to take a shower again, my hair is all screwed up again, right? >> oh, boy. well, it's beginning to look a lot like 2016 in states where voting is just over a month away. donald trump is still going at a rally right now in south carolina. joining me now for "the daily fix" is halle jackson live at the trump event. chris solisa is with us and nbc political correspondent kasie hunt. halle, i want to get right to you fresh out of the donald trump event. in addition to the hairspray soundbyte we just heard, what

are the takeaways? >> reporter: i had three things for you and one was the hairspray moment. 2500 people packed this ballroom at capacity. you can see the buses behind me shuttling folks away. but here's a couple of the headlines out of trump's rally. energy and attitude. what we saw at this rally was a trump that looked refreshed. he didn't seem tired. he seemed full of energy and was really feeding off the crowd, more so than we have seen at other points this year on the three-state campaign through iowa, new hampshire and now south carolina. the other point i'll make is just the attitude that he gave to his rivals here. we heard him more strongly hit hillary clinton than he has on certain points this week, talking about what he called the tremendous abuse of women by her husband, bill clinton, and speculating as to why clinton did not mention him, as you know, at her rally, her last campaign event of the year yesterday in new hampshire. >> yeah, great point, hallie. chris, i want to shift over to you.

hallie talks about trump's energy and attitude. in addition to that, he's ramped up attacks against hillary clinton. jeb bush has been counter-punching. just last night on his plane donald trump said jeb bush has been wasting the $40 million he spent on ad campaigns. who's winning in that fight? i mean, is jeb bush gaining any traction? >> well, look, what is fascinating to me is that jeb bush is rhetorically talking about donald trump, but look at where the organizations align with jeb bush are spending actual money. his super pac is attacking marco rubio in iowa and chris christie in new jersey. personally, they should be spending all their money to attack donald trump. he's got 35% and the people with him have combined 15% of the vote. i watched the speed that hallie is at. trump was very energetic. he has a fascinating rip on jeb

bush, which he says i shouldn't even be talking about this guy because he's at 2% in the polls and spends ten minutes running him down to talk about how low energy he is. >> that is a very good point. we have seen him do that with a couple different candidates. kasie, i want to give you the final question, which draws upon the point that chris is making. we're starting to see this in-fighting within the gop, with marco rubio, with jeb bush, with chris christie over, you know, they are attacking marco rubio per not having voted enough in the senate. attacking jeb bush for not showing up in new jersey. is anyone winning that fight? and they are really fighting for the establishment slot, is that right? >> kristen, that's exactly it. and to chris' point on where these dollars are actually being spent, yes, jeb bush is doing instagram videos of donald trump, but his super-pac is spending millions of dollars attacking marco rubio, not in new hampshire but in iowa. which tells you that fight for what at this point looks like third place in iowa,

historically there have been three tickets out of iowa, if cruz seems to be on a path to win and trump is in some ways trying to figure out where he falls, that leaves room for an establishment candidate. you remember mitt romney on caucus night was declared the winner in iowa. there are a chunk of what -- i would not say moderate voters, but people looking for a centrist consensus republican candidate. it's not as though every republican voter in iowa is an evangelical. so that's kind of where the initial fight is taking place right now. and that's partly because if rubio does get that third ticket out of iowa, you see ted cruz, donald trump also in the mix, going into new hampshire, that puts him in a strong position to challenge people like jeb bush, chris christie, john kasich. and that's the establishment lane fight we're also seeing play out on the airwaves there, bush on the ad with an ad contrasting his record with christie and kasich. that's kind of where the contours of that are going at this point, kristen. >> important point.

hallie, chris and kasie, fantastic conversation. thanks, as always. >> thank you. coming up next, breaking news. bill cosby now charged for the first time with criminal sexual assault. we'll have the very latest next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" responsible on msnbc. oh no... (under his breath) hey man! hey peter. (unenthusiastic) oh... ha ha ha! joanne? is that you? it's me... you don't look a day over 70. am i right? jingle jingle. if you're peter pan, you stay young forever. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. ♪ you make me feel so young... it's what you do. ♪ you make me feel ♪ so spring has sprung. ugh! heartburn!

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back to the big story of the day. comedy legend bill cosby has been charged with aggravated indecent assault, a first-degree felony. this stems from a 2004 encounter. cosby will be arraigned in the montgomery county courthouse later this afternoon. joining me is kara desoto. and on the phone, angela rose, an executive director of p.m. p.a.v. ece.

kara, i want to start with you. what are we going to be seeing today? >> gloria allred will hold a press conference today. this is the first time you'll see him arraigned, which we call the walk of shame, unfortunately. there's a lot of facts in this case. there's going to be a lot of motions. obviously, the case was reopened due to civil depositions reopened. whether or not that's going to make it into the trial is one issue. and then a whole host of others. so you're really going to be seeing the paperwork, as far as motions going back and forth, leading up to this trial. >> and i want to turn to you, angela, you are obviously with the victims rights advocacy group. you're not representing any of the victims, i want to make that clear, but your reaction to the developments today. >> well, i think that it's a huge win for far too long, so many of the survivors have tried to come forward and were met with disbelief and with a lot of disrespect, frankly. and i think for so many of the survivors, a lot of the statute of limitations has run out.

so they could not see their time in court. so i think that this can represent a huge win for survivors across the country. >> and we want to be clear, mr. cosby has not been convicted of anything yet. but, angela, does this inspire potentially other women to speak out? >> absolutely. you know, sexual assault by far is the most underreported crime in the country. and i think that this can send a message to other survivors that there is no shame in being a survivor. and to speak out and to report. we know nine out of ten women in college who are raped don't report the climb. and i think the issue was this cosby case, the symptom of a much larger societal issue and a much larger conversation about consent that is freely given. it is on our website to talk about what consent means in our communities because this really is a catalyst moment in our nation's history. >> i think to bring in craig melvin now just joining us. you have been tracking this from

the very beginning. you have been in contact with all sides of this, including mr. cosby's. they have insisted from the beginning that these allegations are just not true. what are you hearing today? >> well, we have reached out today. we have reached out to his spokesperson, bill cosby's spokesperson, and we reached out to his attorney of record and we have not heard back anything with regards to this afternoon and whether he will plead not guilty as he is expected to plead. i can tell you that, you know, i remember when the first accusation surfaced and the tone and tenor with which they were denying the accusations, vehemently denying the accusations, that tone and tenor continued despite the number of allegations. and you would ask, you would ask them about the similarities, the specifics of some of these accusations. and they were very dismissive. these women, they were just after mr. cosby's money.

but i did at one point speak to one of his spokespeople, this would have been made four or five months ago, and i posed this question and said, you know, what happens if there are criminal charges? that won't happen. it's not going to happen. what happens if it does? he'll plead not guilty because he's not guilty. it will be interesting to see, kristen welker, this afternoon, first of all, if we hear from any of his people at all. if we do, whether the tone and tenor has changed at all, whether they are still vehemently denying all of the accusations at this point. again, at last check, somewhere between 40 and 50 women. >> craig, you are tracking that closely. thank you for your reporting. and angela and kara, we appreciate your reporting. >> thank you. why the affluenza teen who was just captured in mexico is not returning home to texas

today as planned. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." we are right back after a quick break. >> i'm alex trebek. if you're age 50 to 85, i have an important message about security. write down the number on your screen, so you can call when i finish. the lock i want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. this is a lock for your life insurance, a rate lock, that guarantees your rate can never go up at any time, for any reason. but be careful. many policies you see

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later this afternoon bill cosby will be arraigned in a montgomery county courthouse. joining me now is msnbc's kate snow to discuss this ongoing breaking news story. kate, thank you for being here. you have been covering this from the begin. you did a "dateline" special on the allegations against mr. cosby and have been in constant contact with a number of the women who have alleged this sexual misconduct. what are you hearing today? >> it's a lot of emotion, kristen. i just got a text message from one of the women we interviewed for the "dateline" special and sat with 27 women who accused bill cosby. patricia story just texted, i can't stop crying tears of joy, relief and validation. those are her words. and i think that's the sentiment i have heard from some other women, that this is a day that

they were hoping for, just in terms of some validation to their claims. and they were hoping that justice would be done and in their minds this is what needed to happen. they wanted criminal charges because, of course, that's the big significant thing about today, kristen, is that there have been civil suits but there has never to date been a criminal charge against bill cosby until today. >> and, kate, obviously these women all have very different allegations, different stories, different backgrounds. but remind us a little bit about who they are. a lot of them were very young. they say when these alleged instances of misconduct occurred. >> yeah, and i think what came across if you saw the "dateline" hour and were in the room that i was, what came across were the patterns they were described. and to be clear, none of these women knew each other prior to any of this. most of the women that we invited for the "dateline" hour had never met before. they described being young and wanting a mentor. and i know andrea constand, the

subject of the case we are now talking about in montgomery county, pennsylvania, she described the same thing. saying bill cosby would mentor her, teach her, be a professor to her. we heard that from numerous women, not all, but numerous, many of them said they thought they had that kind of friendly relationship with him. and then most of the women that we talked to, kristen, a majority, described some kind of drugging experience, whether they took it of their own valision or were given a drug without their knowledge. most of them describe being out of it and not able to control themselves and not understanding what happened. some of them blacked out completely, they said, and woke up hours and hours later knowing that they, in their view, were the victim of abuse. >> and we know that is a key part of the allegations that are being leveled by andrea constand. talk a little bit about what these women have told you, about how difficult it was to speak out all of these years later.

>> yeah, you know, if you think back, one of the women we talked to, we said it was a different era back then. and a lot of these cases, to be fair, go back decades and decades, kristen. and she described the 1960s and '70s as a time when women didn't speak out about sexual crimes and sexual violence. they didn't report things. they didn't go -- there was no such thing as a rape kit. i asked the room, how many of you had a rape kit done. no hands. how many of you went to police? no hands there either. that's been a criticism from the cosby side of things. cosby's attorneys have long said if something happened, why didn't they say something so long ago? but the women would say to you, they felt they weren't empowered to. they felt no one would believe them. and in some cases, they said bill cosby told them that no one would believe you and i will make your life miserable. and in a couple of cases, they described him threatening them if they were to come forward. >> we are expecting to see mr. cosby at 4:00 p.m. today when he

appears for his arraignment in montgomery county. what will you be watching for as someone tracking this story for so long? >> that's a good question. we haven't seen him much in months, really, there have been a couple isolated photos. there was one a month ago of he and his wife camille, but we have not seen bill cosby. to see what his demeanor today is will be interesting, to see if he says anything at all. of course, to remind our viewers, he really has not spoken about these charges. and legally speaking, lawyers will say he couldn't because there was ongoing litigation against him. he couldn't speak out. there's also a gag order in effect on the andrea constand case. so you will not hear anything presumably from bill cosby or front and from andrea constand from the civil case based from ten years ago that says they cannot do interviews. >> kate, your reporting on this has been incredible from the beginning. thank you so much for your insights this afternoon. we really appreciate it. >> thank you, kristen. and much more ahead.

after a break right here on "andrea mitchell reports."

and we have yet another breaking news story to tell you about on the so-called affluenza teen. ethan couch and his mother arrested in mexico after 11 days on the run. there's now a delay in their return to the united states. joining me is kerry sanders in mexico. what's the latest and when are they expected to be extradited? >> reporter: well, the u.s. marshalls thought they were going to be leaving with both of them from the state of mexico today, but it turns out an attorney filed with the mexican government what is called an ambado, creating a legal hurdle for the extradition. so now it's possible according to experts it could take anywhere from two weeks to two months before ethan couch and

his mother make their way back to the united states, back to texas where he will be brought into a courtroom and discuss his possible parole violation and clearly leaving the country was part of that parole violation. now, it's likely because of his age, legal experts say, it could be more difficult for his return on the extradition as opposed to his mother's. so he may see his mother's return in a couple days and ethan couch takes a little longer to come back to face down his responsibilities. kristen? >> all right. kerry sanders, thank you for that update from mexico. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thank you for joining us. follow the show on facebook and twitter @mitchellreports. our coverage continues with "msnbc live" next. stay with us.

good to be with you. i'm francis rivera in for thomas roberts. we begin with major breaking news.

bill cosby charged with aggravated indecent assault. the first criminal charge for him after 50-plus allegations. the iconic comedian expected in court this afternoon. prosecutors say the charges stem from a 2004 incident with the alleged victim a former temple university employee. >> mr. cosby urged her to take pills that he provided to her and to drink wine. the effect of which rendered her unable to move, to spawn to her advances and he committed aggravated indecent assault upon her. >> attorneys for the alleged victim said, quote, in that this matter is now being pursued in the criminal justice system, we will not comment further. cosby repeats all allegations