of 34. this is the first time that has ever happened in the country. now you win the pub quiz. you're welcome. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. >> plus, concern about the president-elect asking for top secret security clearances for his children. and in just a matter of hours, president obama is said to give his final speech abroad, playing the role of atmosphere to world leaders about president-elect trump.

good morning, it's wednesday, november 16th, i'm betty nguyen alongside ali velshi and louis burgdorf. president-elect donald trump is facing backlash for violating a longstanding tradition after slipping out of his home without bringing the press along. mr. trump left trump tower in new york city last night to have dinner without notifying the pool of reporters covering him that he was leaving or where he was going. early in the night his spokeswoman said the president-elect's day had ended, signaling he'd remain in his home for the night, but later an unannounced motorcade departed from trump tower. the press was alerted trump had left the building after a bloomberg reporter tweeted a photo of him at the steakhouse. he was joined by melania and sons donald jr. and eric, this video captured of trump inside that restaurant. trump's spokeswoman confirmed trump had dinner with his family and claimed she did not know of

the plans. it's the latest incident in what's been a series of frustrations for the press covering the president-elect, not getting access to his schedule, and raises concerns about trump's accessibility to the press and the public. he's refused to travel with the press corps during the election, nor have their briefings been about the transition, which were customary for past administrations. donald trump got his first presidential daily briefing yesterday, but a simple question remains as he makes his transition from candidate to president, how are things really going? check out the front page of "the new york times." firings and discord put trump transition team in state of disarr disarray. firing back on twitter, very organized process taking place. i am the only one who knows who the finalists are with an exclamation point. "the wall street journal" reports mike pence is ordering

all lobbyists off the transition team. mike rogers, who's a former fbi agent and house intel committee chairman was thought to be near the top of the list for security position like cia director, but he announced he was handing off his duties. sources tell nbc news rogers' departure was part of a stalinesque purge aimed at ousting christie and his allies. emerging fiefdoms have complicated things, then concerns about rudy giuliani. politico reports he was paid to do consulting work for foreign governments, including iranian exiles and groups from qatar and venezuela. >> i think it is worrisome some of the ties to foreign governments, because that was a big complaint about many of us with hillary clinton and her ties and the money she received from foreign governments, so whether or not you have divided loyalty, obviously, is very

important. the thing donald trump said over and over again was he was opposed to the iraq war and he learned that lesson that regime change in the middle east was not a good idea, yet i don't see giuliani coming out with statements like that. you want to have a diplomat in charge of diplomacy. you don't want a bomb thrower. no, john bolton's totally unfit to be secretary of state. i'd say it's a stiff uphill climb for me with giuliani, because he'd have to convince me he understands now the iraq war was a mistake and i haven't heard anything like that coming from him. >> senator rand paul joins "morning joe" later this morning. louis? >> there are plenty of others seen coming and going from trump tower, marla maples seen in the lobby, senator ted cruz, who upstaged the republican convention seen there, as well. others wanted to be known they are interested, like the mayor of tulsa, who interrupted his state of the city address to let

everyone know he's interested in being the transportation secretary, but frequent trump surrogate ben carson cleared speculation he might serve as secretary of health and human services. his business manager told the hill he'd serve only as an unofficial adviser adding, "dr. carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. the last thing he'd want to do would be take a position that would cripple the presidency." worth noting he ran for president. we were talking about people loyal to chris christie may be forced out of the transition team. andrea mitchell reports it's related to ivanka trump's husband, jared kushner, and a case involving christie years ago. >> reporter: throughout a tough campaignjared kushner, ivanka trump's husband, was never far from donald trump's side. >> jared is a very successful real estate person, but i actually think he likes politics

more than he likes real estate. >> reporter: so what kind of influence will the 35-year-old publisher and real estate developer wield once his father-in-law is in the oval office? one clue, while trump was meeting with the president, kushner was referring with his chief of staff. nbc news learned kushner was asked to sit in on daily briefings. harvard educated kushner comes from a devout orthodox judaism family. >> he's the person i lean on the most. >> reporter: jared took over his family's real estate business when his father, charles kushner, went to prison in 2005, pleading guilty on tax and conspiracy charges. the prosecutor, then-u.s. attorney chris christie. >> mr. kushner engaged in a conspiracy with co-conspirators. >> reporter: now kushner is at the center of the purge removing christie from the transition

team. >> obviously, his son-in-law is going to be involved in decision making. >> reporter: anti-nepotism laws hold back kushner from holding an official job. >> for someone to have those powers is itself a contradiction. >> reporter: no doubt donald trump's son-in-law will play a big role in the new white house. >> andrea mitchell reporting there. house republicans anonymously nominated paul ryan for another term as house speaker. he'll face an election in the full house in january. he pledged to work closely with the president-elect, though they have often butted heads. >> welcome to the dawn of a new unified republican government. we're on the same page with our president-elect. i talk with donald trump virtually every single day. i spoke with mike pence this morning. we're on the same page, working hand in glove and going to make sure this is a successful administration, but more importantly, we're going to make

sure the voices we heard from the american people are acted upon. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi has greed to move leadership elections until after thanksgiving. pelosi, who's held her position for 14 years, could face a potential challenge from congressman tim ryan. the democrat will be a guest on "morning joe" coming up later this morning. senators sanders and warren are voicing concern about donald trump's transition team. both argue that the president-elect is breaking his campaign promise to drain the swamp. >> washington has been dominated by lobbyists, powerful special corporate interests for decades, and it is time that we rid washington of their influence. unfortunately, what we are now beginning to see is what i feared, and that is a lot of what mr. trump was saying to get votes turns out to be not what he intends to do as the president of the united states. >> what is the trump transition/administration do that it's not doing now? >> it doesn't start by hiring a

bunch of lobbyists to run a transition. it doesn't start by floating names of people who have run giant hedge funds to be -- or been part of that, to run the treasury, or people that come from industry to be able to run the regulatory agencies. you know, the american people understand about the revolving door, and i think they are really sick of it. >> senator warren penned a letter to president-elect trump. "if you truly stand by your commitment to making government work for all americans, you must remove the lobbyists and financial big wigs from your transition team." senator tim kaine was back on capitol hill yesterday, he reflected at being back at his day job. >> the role of the democratic senate minority is going to be very, very important, so it's nice to get back to work after a little bit over the weekend.

it's good to get back. later this morning, president obama will give his final speech abroad in a little more than an hour from now. yesterday he held a joint news conference with alexis tip sipp police. >> it's going to be a busy morning for president obama, who will be giving his final speech on foreign soil. a big picture look at the world, but a very different view than he might have given had donald trump not been elected. now all the questions that are being asked by foreign leaders, including the groeks. president obama has tried to help them deal with a crushing debt. unsalvageable is the way donald trump has looked at it, and so these kinds of questions, these kinds of concerns, he's going to be addressing today in a speech that i'm told has kept at least one senior aide up for most of the last three days. now, yesterday he gave a press conference with the greek prime minister and i asked him about

whether or not he feels any responsibility for the outcome of the election. here's what he told me. >> i was surprised by the election results, and i said so. i still don't feel responsible for what the president-elect says or does. but i do feel a responsibility as president of the united states to make sure i've facilitated good transition and i present to him, as well as the american people, my best thinking, my best ideas, about how you move the country forward. >> the president did get a break from the pressures of the trip. last night there was a state dinner at the presidential palace in athens and later this morning he'll get to see what he really wanted to see, which is to go up and take a walk around the part non. then he gets on a plane and goes to germany and meet with angela

merkel, someone criticized he y heavily by donald trump. other european leaders will be there, as well. then the final stop on this trip, which will be peru, ending the week there, where he had hoped to, frankly, be giving them good news about tpp, a signature trade agreement that he hoped to get passed in a lame duck session of congress. that is now dead. so a very different kind of trip than president obama would have planned just a little more than a week ago before donald trump was elected president. back to you. >> all right, chris jansing, thank you. still ahead, details about denver's new first in the nation law legalizing social marijuana use. plus, tony romo giving a heartfelt speech. those stories and a check on weather when we come right back.

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welcome back, everyone. a tragic story in chicago to tell you about. police there have arrested a man in connection with the death of a toddler, whose body was found dismembered in a lagoon a year and a half ago. the authorities claim the man killed the lactose intolerant toddler after he was fed milk and cried all afternoon. we promised we'd never give up on him, and we haven't. andrew cuomo is responding to a recent uptick in anti-semitic graffiti and racially-based bullying in schools, announcing a hot line for anyone who wants to report instances of bias or discrimination. the governor added, we will continue to work with our local partners to investigate all incidents of reporte bias and ensure that new yorkers feel safe and protected. any acts of discrimination or intimidation will be met with a full force of the law. denver is set to become the first u.s. city allowing people

to use marijuana in bars and restaurants. opposition 300 was declared victorious yesterday after campaigns both for and against the measure agreed that it had passed. under the plan, businesses will be able to get permits to let patrons use pot indoors, as long as it isn't smoked. so vaporizers, et cetera, and smoke marijuana outdoors. colorado approved recreational marijuana in 2012. now, last week california, massachusetts, and nevada became the latest states to approve pot for recreational use. betty? bill karins is going to have to follow up recreational pot use this morning with some kind of weather for us, good luck. >> by getting outside and doing recreation. whole southern half of the country is going to be very warm and sunny, people getting away with shorts in the middle of the nation today. let's talk about snow. snowstorm is going to come, starting in the rockies today and tomorrow and into the plains on friday. the blue shows you where the

snow is. green is the rain. we're starting to get snow in the northern rockies and cascades. we have our first blizzard watch of the winter season that's been issued here, portions of south dakota, little sliver there of southern north dakota and also a good section of central minnesota. this is the area most likely thursday into friday that have to deal with blizzard conditions. happens to be the first storm of the season, too. how's that for a slap in the face? warmest november ever to blizzard conditions in three days. we could see six to 12 inches with blowing and drifting snow. the mountains here, great for the skiers, ski in wyoming, about a good four to eight inches of snow with drifts. let's take you through the timing of this. this is throughout today, this afternoon, the storm moves over the rockies. salt lake city just rain for you, but provo could get snow, too. the mountains of wyoming tonight, into tomorrow. as we go into thursday night, the blue is the snow. it breaks out, even denver is going to get snow out of this. many areas of nebraska, south dakota, and into minnesota.

as we go through thursday and friday, the storm gets a lot stronger, the back band is where we'll see the heaviest snow. even minneapolis it looks mostly rain, on the tail end you could get snow, but the higher totals are definitely in the northern half of the state. first snowfall forecast of the winter season, mountains of wyoming, six to 12 inches of snow, white one to three. that's a good coverage of snow from colorado through the central plains. this is the blizzard conditions here from north of sioux falls to northern minnesota, possibility of up to a foot of snow there. that's a significant first event. as i mentioned, the rest of the country, guys, it is a roll the windows down type day. 70 in st. louis, 85 dallas. there's gorgeous stuff out there. >> crazy to see 80s and then blizzards. >> it is 60 in minneapolis, then it could be dealing with snow and wintery conditions in two days. >> all right, thank you, bill. still ahead, several nba teams are distancing themselves

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mshe said i should think of my rteeth like an apple. it could be great on the outside not so great on the inside. her advice? use a toothpaste and mouthwash that strengthens both. go pro with crest pro-health advanced. it's uniquely formulated with activestrength technology to strengthen teeth inside and is better at strengthening the outside than colgate total. crest toothpaste and mouthwash makes my whole mouth feel amazing. advance to healthier gums and stronger teeth from day one. my check-up was great. he's earned the right to be our quarterback. as hard as that is for me to say, he's earned that right. he's guided our team to an 8-1 record, and that's hard to do. if you think for a second that i don't want to be out there, then you probably never felt the pure

ecstasy of competing and winning. that hasn't left me. in fact, it may burn more now than ever. i'm not going to allow this situation to negatively affect dak or this football team by becoming a constant distraction. i think dak knows that i have his back, and i think i know that he has mine. ultimately, it's about the team. >> welcome back. thatas an emotional tony romo delivering a prepared statement yesterday, which he acknowledged he is no longer the dallas cowboys starting quarterback. romo, who's missed the first nine games of the year after suffering a back injury in the preseason, has accepted his new role as dak prescott's backup, as he prepares to make his return on sunday when the cowboys host the ravens. in romo's absence, prescott has led dallas to a league best 8-1 record atop the nfc east. turning now to international soccer and trouble for the usa days after dropping the opening game of the final round of the world cup qualifying to mexico

with a 2-1 loss. the u.s. men's national team traveled to costa rica where they were humiliated 4-0 last night. it's the worst defeat in 59 years. team usa now finds itself in a deep hole, falling to 0-2 for the first time since losing to mexico 6-0 in 1957. their next attempt to right the ship comes in march, when they face honduras. now to the nba where espn reports at least three teams will boycott trump brand hotels. the mavericks, grizzlies, and bucks reportedly made the decision in an effort to distance themselves from the president-elect. the report also indicates another unnamed eastern conference team contracted to stay at the trump soho in new york this season will make a politically motivated switch when its current contract expires. it's worth noting trump does not currently hold an equity stake in the trump's soho hotel. a shakeup in the third edition of the college football playoff rankings after a week

where the number two, three, and four ranked teams all lost for the first time since 1985. alabama remains at number one after their 51-3 blowout win over mississippi state. ohio state moves up to the number two spot, with michigan remaining number three. clemson drops to four and washington is bounced down to number six. turning now to college basketball, kansas and top ranked duke tied at 75 in the final seconds last night at madison square garden. >> five seconds to go. mason the pull-up jumper, yes! 1.8. >> the jayhawks puts kansas ahead after sinking a short jumper with just under two seconds to play. duke's last second heave falls short and the jayhawks win it 77-75. and there was a shocker in the nation's capital, maryland erases georgetown's lead, outscoring the hoyas in the final two and a half minutes of the game to come away with a

one-point win. trimble led the terps to the 76-75 victory. if that's not a nail biter, i don't know what is. >> that's a close game. still ahead, oklahoma's busiest airport is back open after a shooting. what we're learning this morning about the victim and the gunman. plus, besieged areas of syria. the latest on the renewed offensive. we'll be right back. surprise!!!!! we heard you got a job as a developer! its official, i work for ge!! what? wow... yeah! okay... guys, i'll be writing a new language for machines so planes, trains, even hospitals can work better. oh! sorry, i was trying to put it away... got it on the cake. so you're going to work on a train? not on a train...on "trains"! you're not gonna develop stuff anymore? no i am... do you know what ge is? an expression of disgust caused by inadequate litter tidy cats is the cure. with new guaranteed

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welcome back, everyone, i'm

betty nguyen alongside ali velshi and louis burgdorf. it's the bottom of the hour, so let's start with the morning's top stories. we are following reports that donald trump's presidential transition is in disarray this morning. it comes after the abrupt resignation of former congressman mike rogers, who'd been coordinating national security efforts. sources tell nbc news it was part of a purge of those close to governor chris christie. trump denies the report saying the process has been, "very organized." betty, scary moments at a utah high school locker room as a 16-year-old student stabbed five boys before stabbing himself. the high school was put on lockdown. all five students were rushed to the hospital, although none of their injuries are considered life threatening. school staff members reportedly boxed him in, confining him to a small area before a school police officer arrived. he was later taken into custody. the oklahoma city airport is open this morning, following a

shooting yesterday that left two people, a victim and the gunman, dead inside a parking garage. southwest airlines has identified the victim as one of its employees, michael winchester, who is also the father of kansas city chiefs long snapper james winchester. officials found the gunman dead inside a truck from a wound that may have been self inflicted. police describe the shooting as premeditated. later this morning, president obama will give his final speech as president on foreign soil. he's set to deliver a speech in athens a little more than an hour from now. yesterday he held a news conference with alexis tsipras. >> i was surprised by the election results, and i've said so. i still don't feel responsible

for what the president-elect says or does. but i do feel i need to facilitate a good transition. last i checked, pretty healthy majority of the american people agree with my world view on a whole bunch of things, and i know that begs the question, well, how is it somebody who appears to have a very different world view just got elected? as i said, sometimes people just feel as if we want to try something to see if we can shake things up, and that i suspect was a significant phenomenon. did i recognize that there was anger or frustration in the american population? of course i did. i was also aware that because of

the fact that you have seen some of the rhetoric among republican elected officials and activists and media, some of it pretty troubling and not necessarily connected to facts, but being used effectively to mobilize people. and, obviously, president-elect trump tapped into that particular strain within the republican party and then was able to broaden that enough and get enough votes to win the election. controversy continues to swirl around steve bannon, the newly appointed senior counselor to president-elect trump. a transcript of remarks made in private to a conference in 2014 appears to shed new light on his

world view. a reported transcript of comments bannon made in a question and answer session during a conference on poverty held inside the vatican hosted by the human dignity institute, bann speaks and apparently labeled russian president vladimir putin as very, vy intelligent and says the united states needs to be on guard about how putin attempts to appeal to social conservatives in the united states and called state sponsored capitalism like russia and china's disturbing. bannon also reportedly addressed the issue of racism in the far right saying, "i'm not an expert in this, but seems right wing parties have had some aspects that may be anti-semitic or racial. my point is, that over time it all gets kind of washed out, right?" the transcript and audio have not been authenticated by nbc news. also touched on the birth of the tea party movement saying, "the way the people who ran the banks and hedge funds have never been

held accountable by what they did." >> senate democrats are going all in against bannon's appointment. they are calling on trump to rescind the offer. senator sherrod brown of ohio accused trump of allowing bigotry, while elizabeth warren. here's harry reid on the floor yesterday. >> responsibility that say it is not normal for the kkk, ku klux klan, to celebrate the election of a president. if trump is serious about seeking unity, the first thing he should do is rescind his appointment of steve bannon. it will be impossible to take trump's efforts for the nation seriously. >> i find myself sitting here listening to the latest tirade by the democratic leader against the president-elect and his

team. surely he's entitled to his opinion, but he does nothing to contribute to the healing of our country after a very polarizing hotly contested election. to come here after the election after the american people have spoken and made that choice and continue to disparage their choice for the next president, as well as the leadership in the house and the senate, really just smacks of, well, we used to call people like that sore losers. >> three buildings here in new york city bearing president-elect donald trump's name will be getting a facelift and dropping his name. tenants in three apartment buildings on manhattan's far upper west side were informed yesterday the gold letters spelling out "trump" on the exterior will be removed next week. hundreds of residents at 140, 160, and 180 riverside boulevard signed a petition calling for

trump's name to be taken down last month. the buildings are now owned by equity residential, which bought them from the trump organization in 2005. at the time the two sides signed an agreement to keep trump's name on the building for a set period of time. that deal has now expired. in a statement to cnbc, equity residential said in part, "we are assuming a more neutral building identity that will appeal to all current and future residents." >> ali, the director of the nsa is speaking out about the recent wikileaks releases leading up to the election. in an interview, he says the hacks of the dnc and clinton presidential campaign were done by an unnamed nation with a goal in mind. >> there shouldn't be any doubt in anybody's mind, this was not something that was done casually. this was not something done by chance. this was not a target that was selected purely arbitrarily. this was a conscious effort to

achieve a specific affect. russia's involvement in syria and the kremlin resumed air strikes in aleppo after a nearly month-long pause. nbc's ayman mohyeldin joins us. one syrian soldier told nbc news after this pause it would be an all out war. is that what we're see something. >> you're seeing operations once again, very severe operations according to eyewitnesss and rebels on the ground that are describing it as war like. you were talking about there being a lull in the attacks over the past couple of weeks. the russian government, as well as the syrian government, were giving civilians an opportunity to flee to eastern parts of aleppo that have been under siege, that now seems to be over because the russian government is going full steam ahead with operations, aircrafts, as well as ground troops by the syrian forces there operating and seems the shelling has continued, hospitals hit, a lot of residents saying the situation is very dire. >> in the meantime, though, the

syrian president is speaking out about president-elect donald trump. what's he saying? >> yeah, if there's anything that shows you times are changing, this signal by the syrian president, according to state tv, is very dramatic, saying the syrian president is willing to work with president-elect trump if he is intent on fighting extremists and terrorist elements within the syrian government. that is a big departure from the relationship between president assad and obama. obviously, those two have no working relationship. in fact, president obama's administration position is president assad must go. it gives you a signal the assad regime sees an opening here. president-elect trump says he wants to work with russia, he wants to make his priority fighting isis. that's something the syrian regime says they would fight isis first and negotiate other aspects of the syrian conflict. he's seeing an opening there, willing to work with president-elect trump, but it's a dramatic shift and a troubling one for arab allies in the

region if president-elect trump begins to negotiate with the syrian government of president assad. >> all right, ayman, thank you so much for that. ali? let's turn to business, where twitter is rolling out new antiharassment features to combat cyber bullying. nancy joins us live from london. nancy, twitter has been trying to sell itself to someone else, but word is the company is having a hard time because the bullying and harassment has run rampant on the site and giving it a bad name. >> well, that's right, ali. that is one big reason why ceo jack dorsey has made tackling harassment on twitter a top priority, but it's not just upsetting to the users, it is harmful to takeover prospects, so what we're hearing from twitter is they are taking action and that includes steps to improve the mute feature, which helps mute harmful words, racial slurs, and allows you to block entire conversations. they are also making improvements to the reporting feature, which will allow

twitter to better control those who are abusing the system and the restrictions on harassment. so look out for anymore news on that one. elsewhere in the tech world, we are hearing snapchat is getting ready for an ipo. the parent company of snapchat is reportedly planning an ipo that can value the company in the neighborhood of $20 to $25 million. sources confirmed that to cnbc, so look out for developments in that one because the ipo filing has been made in secret due to a loophole that allows that for companies with this level of revenue. ali, back to you. >> i filed my first snap story one week ago. i'm brand new to snapchat. >> you're better than me. >> i'm getting criticism my snaps are a little serious, so i have to lighten them up a little bit. looking at oil prices surging this morning. i saw earlier you had an interview with one of the world's leading oil experts about the situation in the world.

what's he expecting in terms of oil prices going to start to creep higher or stuck where they are for a while? >> well, the message from who you were talking about, yes, we spoke to him about prices and they do expect volatility to continue and when it comes to the demand side of oil, he says, in fact, that's not expected to peak until 2040, so a lot of discussion over whether or not the push into renewables will dent the fundamentals there. they are saying not so. he also tried to shrug off concerns over whether or not president-elect donald trump will impact the renewables push so far. back to you for now. >> nancy, good to talk to you live from london. americans might be carrying cell phones installed with software that is monitoring their personal data. the new york times reports american security contractors have discovered preinstalled software on some android phones that's secretly sending user data, including call logs and text messages to china every 72 hours.

the company that developed the software installed on an unknown number of android-based devices told "the times" the feature was not intended for u.s. phones and they've since updated the software to remove the feature. american authorities say it's unclear if the information gathering is for advertising purposes or an effort by the chinese government to collect intelligence. you don't have an android phone on you. >> i don't, luckily after that story. john boehner is speaking out for the first time since the election, saying trump should press ahead with an update to infrastructure and offered an interesting idea how to pay for it. >> we need a longer term infrastructure plan than what we have in place. i think there's broad bipartisan support on the hill for this type of piece of legislation. i think it's going to be so popular that if i were president trump, i'd attach an increase in the debt limit to it, as well, which is going to come up in march. >> i was going to say, are you

not in favor then of a big stimulus package that includes a large infrastructure initiative? >> i don't know that we need a stimulus package. we need infrastructure spending in a big way, and it will help the economy somewhat, but tax reform in a broader sense would do more for our economy, do more to create economic growth and better jobs in america than just an infrastructure bill on its own. >> boehner says he expects a repatriation of $2.5 billion of business capital parked overseas to fund that idea. he also says he's not sure what we'll see from a trump presidency, but he expects to see, quote, somewhat different donald trump. reports donald trump may split his time in office between the white house and trump tower has new york law enforcement scrambling to come up with a security plan. more on what's called an unprecedented challenge coming up. [burke] hot dog. seen it. covered it.

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good morning. here's a live picture of washington, d.c., as it's still nighttime there in the nation's capital. and the 40s this morning, but there are blizzards to tell you about, believe it or not. nbc meteorologist bill karins is here with all of that. good morning. >> we don't want to talk about that. >> we don't, but unfortunately we have to. >> the other story out there, bet betty, beside the storm heading for the rockies and the plains, the drought that continues in the south, the fires the last five days in the south. here's the latest map showing where the fires are located. some of these spread to the mountains of kentucky and virginia and especially here into areas around asheville towards greenville, south carolina, and the air quality has been the problem, because the fires are burning. this is the direction the wind is flowing. air quality alerts, almost all the state of south carolina, augusta, georgia, charlotte, too, and it's been smokey and hazy for days. here's the latest drought conditions. this extreme is in the red and the exceptional is in the bright

red. this is the area that's been the worst. northern alabama and northern georgia and this has really developed over the last three to four months, extremely dry end to the summer and our fall season, this is the southeast drought, this is how much rainfall has fallen since the beginning of september first, only about .68, 3.59, this is about 7% of normal. some areas have gone 50-some days without rainfall in the region and zero rain expected over the next seven days. this is how much rain they need to get out of the drought. the pink is a foot of rain, you need like a hurricane to come to end this drought. now that we're getting out of hurricane season, that's not going to happen. we're going to watch this drought continue likely into next summer. today's forecast, very warm, dry throughout the southern half of the country. we're on pace easily for the warmest november ever across the nation and that follows up our second warmest october on record. we continue to knock these off with incredible warmth across

our country. >> all right. thank you so much, bill. we'll get to those blizzards later this week, i guess. louis? betty, before we go to break, a check on the stories we're not covering today. you like oreos, you like candy bars? well, this is what you've been waiting for. the maker of oreos released the oreo candy bar. we're not going to cover that one. here's one you may have missed or maybe not, apple is going back to the old peach emoji. it was described as too suggestive. >> you think? >> but it's back, so we're not covering that one. >> close your eyes. >> instead we'll have more on the challenge to secure what's being referred to as white house north after this. s. o is for ordinarily i wouldn't. l is for layers of luxury. a is for alll the way back. r is for read my mind.

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donald trump doesn't want to live in the white house full time. yeah. and he's thinking about commuting from new york city. it's all part of trump's plan to make america great again and to make traffic in new york city worse than ever. it's like a nightmare. trump apparently wants to commute to washington, d.c., by helicopter. trump asked the pilot if he's got those radio headphones to talk to each other in the air and the pilot is like, nope. a major effort to protect the place that also serves as transition headquarters and current home of the president-elect, trump tower. it's located on fifth avenue in the heart of new york city and bill bratton, the former nypd commissioner said keeping the

landmark safe would be an unprecedented challenge. nbc's cynthia mcfadden reports. >> reporter: can a 58-story glass tower in the middle of new york city be a safe place for the president and his family? that's a question on the minds of many in the secret service and the new york police department. william bratton was the police commissioner in new york city until a few months ago. >> they will at all times and at all costs keep the president safe, but the level of difficulty cannot be underestimated. >> reporter: already with the transition team holed up here in trump tower, trump has not left the building since thursday, security challenges are mounting. what if this becomes penthouse one? >> this building is going to have to be secured four years, eight years, for as long as the president-elect lives. it's not one-shot affair. that changes the complexion totally how you plan security. >> does it make it harder?

>> definitely makes it harder. >> reporter: the president-elect's penthouse is on the top three floors of trump tower. the trump website says there are 263 apartments in the building, each worth millions. below that, 26 floors of offices, and on the first few floors, a variety of stores and restaurants, including starbucks, an ice cream shop, and nike and gucci. still open to the public, but today more police than shoppers. move outside and the problems multiply from street level, discussions are under way whether fifth avenue will be shut down when mr. trump is in residence. the side street next to trump tower is already closed. and questions from vulnerability from above as skyscrapers surround it. >> it's not just the president, but also the president's seed we're moving. we see it all the time with president obama whenever he comes up here. it's seven to ten helicopters, it's closing down air space. >> reporter: a senior new york police department official says

that a long-term plan is still being developed, and the secret service confirms they are working with the nypd. calculating the cost to protect mr. trump and his family can't be done yet, but an nypd source says it will be a very significant expenditure of taxpayer dollars. >> thanks to nbc's cynthia mcfadden for that report. we're back with a look at the top stories making news in the day when we come right back. [burke] hot dog. seen it. covered it.

we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a check on the stories of the day ahead. >> hillary clinton will make her first public appearance since her election loss to president-elect donald trump last week. secretary clinton will be honored by the children's defense fund in washington, d.c. clinton once worked for the organization as an attorney. joe biden will continue his outreach to h successor vice president elect last week. they were welcomed to the vice president's official residence at the naval observatory for lunch. pence's wife karen is also expected to attend. and that's going to do it for us on this wednesday. i'm betty nguyen alongside ali velshi and louis burgdorf. "morning joe" starts right now.

good morning. it's it's wednesday, november 16th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. hello, mike. you look very nice today. >> thank you very much. >> usually it's the rumpled jacket. >> and managing editor of bloomberg politics and host of "with all due respect" mark halperin and in washington, columnist and associate editor of "the washington post" the very elegant -- willie, joe and me are here. joe is back to the fleece. >> i think steve schmidt said yesterday that america gets nervous when they see me in a coat and tie. >> we get nervous. >> that's