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kill and why would it be legal for him to have a gun in his luggage. >> i don't know why a gun needs to be in your own luggage even. >> good morning, everyone. i'm dara brown. it's 8:00 in the east, 5:00 out west. we begin with the latest on that airport shooting in ft. lauderdale. my colleague ayman mohyeldin is there to handle our coverage. what is the scene there like right now? >> reporter: good morning, dara. it's a very different scene than what it was just a couple hours ago when you look at where we were when the shooting began. you can see some activity. we've seen planes take off. i can see off to my left police cars making the rounds around airport security. that's been beefed up. so a very different scene than some of those scenes we were seeing on those images of people running the airport. this morning the local newspaper here, the "sun-sentinel," really

sums up everything you need to know about what happened here. deadly gunfire, then chaos. that was the scene for many of the eyewitnesses we've been speaking to. we'll talk to some of them later on in this hour. but this morning we're getting new details about the suspect believed to have carried out yesterday's deadly rampage. he's been identified as esteban santiago. the 26-year-old was born in new jersey, grew up in puerto rico. santiago is an army national guard veteran who served one tour at least in iraq. early indications are also pointing to a man with serious mental health problems. federal officials and family members say santiago recently received psychological treatment in alaska. he had an encounter with the fbi about two months ago, and that's where he claimed that the cia is controlling his mind and forced him to watch isis videos. take a listen. >> when the individual did walk into our anchorage office in november, he came in and spoke

with fbi agents at that time. he clearly stated that he did not intend to harm anyone. however, his erratic behavior concerned fbi agents that were interviewing him and they contacted local police and turned him over to the local police. he was taken into custody by the local police and transported to a medical facility for a mental health evaluation. >> reporter: now, given that santiago traveled from alaska ultimately making his way here to florida, well, more likely than not he's going to be charged federally with the murder of all those individuals, possibly even terrorism if that is ever proven. he's expected to appear in court on monday. we should get more information from florida officials in about two hours when they hold today's first news conference to update us on where this investigation is going. now, witnesses described a state of panic, confusion, and chaos. joining me now, nbc's kerry

sanders, who's been following it from the moment it broke. he's here in ft. lauderdale with us. kerry, walk us through how close, you know, were you to the scene of this as it unfolded and more importantly how close is the airport to reopening full operations today? >> the airport has reopened and for those passengers who went through this yesterday, this panic, it will be a very nervous day of returning to the airport to fly out after they went through sheer hell. just before 1:00 p.m. friday -- >> all around us. >> a chaotic and horrific scene when deputies say 26-year-old esteban santiago opened fire at baggage claim in terminal two. >> there was no rhyme or reason to it. he was not yelling or screaming anything. very nonchalant, just basically point, shoot, point, shoot anyone who was in his path. >> reporter: inside, sheer terror. >> people are trying to break through doors, running over

children. >> reporter: crowds evacuated to the tarmac. s.w.a.t. teams, deputy, the fbi responding within minutes. >> it looks like we've got at least five or six victims so far. >> reporter: santiago, who threw from anchorage to minneapolis and on to ft. lauderdale, is believed investigators say to have retrieved a gun from his checked luggage in baggage claim, loaded it in a nearby bathroom, exited and began shooting. >> basically ran out of ammunition, walked out, dropped the gun, laid face down, spread-eagle until the deputy came. >> we have the shooter in custody. he's unharmed. no law enforcement fired any shots. >> reporter: when it was over, five dead, eight others shotted. dozens injured in the chaos. then around 2:30, passengers in a different terminal fearing a second gunman. and reports of a suspicious person in a parking garage

nearby. both false alarms. >> there has been no shooting at anyplace else. >> reporter: this morning santiago is in federal custody. the question of why still unanswered. >> i hate to say it but i think we all live with that fear that something like this could happen to any of us at any time. >> reporter: it's estimated more than 10,000 passengers were stranded here at the airport. buses eventually came, took them to a staging area where they could make arrangements or arrangements were made for them to go to hotels but also uber and lift provided free transportation and air b&b did a disaster response where they opened umphrey of charge so some people chose to do that i believe stead of going to hotels. the airport itself while in the middle of this crisis still had several planes that had landed and were out on the taxiway and on the runway. those planes remained there more more than eight hours, passengers trapped inside the planes, looking out their windows, wondering what was

going on. >> nbc's kerry sanders here in ft. lauderdale, florida, for us. the motive of the shooting obviously still unknown. that's a central question in the investigation. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has more on that angle. pete? what are some of the things that law enforcement are looking at to help determine that motive? >> reporter: well, everything in his past and they say they don't know whether to call this an act of terrorism or not because they say santiago showed an interest in isis and downloaded some of the terror group's videos but they say he claimed it was voices in his head that made him watch them. as you heard earlier, in november he walked into the fbi's office in anchorage. they say he was talking incoherently but complained that the kcia was forcing him to wath is videos and join the group. local police were called. he went voluntarily to a mental health facility for treatment. his aunt and uncle in union city, new jersey, near where officials say he was born, told us they believe he developed

mental problems after a military deployment overseas. government records show se signed up for the national guard in 2007 while he was living in puerto rico. that's where the family's from. those records show that he was on duty as a combat engineer for ten months in iraq and returned five years ago. he received a general discharge last august apparently after failing frequently to report for duty. family members say he went to alaska looking for work where he had a son and was receiving psychological counseling. some of those who were with him on the flight from minneapolis to ft. lauderdale say he got into some kind of altercation on board, but whatever it was, it wasn't serious enough for the airline to call the police. this morning they say it's still a mystery why he did this, why he went to ft. lauderdale. he does have three brothers who live in naples, florida, 110 miles away, but why did he go there with a gun they still have no idea.

>> the revelations about his health, walk us through the impact of the investigation in terms of whether or not it pushes it towards a mental health issue or a terrorism iss issue. what could be some of the deciding factors of this investigation in the early stages? >> well, that will be a hard one to figure out. i think the best way to think about this is the fbi will investigate it as a potential act of terrorism. that's the starting point. it gives them more investigative authority. they've already been interviewing people in alaska. they'll interview the brothers in florida, the family members in puerto rico. they'll look through santiago's own communications, a thorough scrub of his social media, his computers, who he was e-mailing with. but trying to draw that line, how much of this is some mentally disturbed individual who sort of latched onto isis or how much was isis and the mental thing is an element of that.

that will be hard to tease out, but that's what they'll have to try to figure out. >> it's going to be a long investigation, obviously, a lot of questions this morning. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams, thanks for that update. gabe gutierrez is outside the hospital in ft. lauderdale where dozens are being treated. gabe, give us an update on their condition. expected any releases today from some of those that remain in the hospital? >> reporter: good morning, ayman. a certain amount of people inside the hospital were discharged late yesterday. those with minor injuries. right now five people are dead, eight people were shot, and in these 30 people were injured in the ensuing chaos as the panic started to ripple throughout the airport. now, there were five trauma patients here at broward health medical center. two of them went into surgery. we're told by doctors that those are in stable condition. this morning at last check we

had not heard any details of condition of those that were most seriously injured. doctors yesterday described a horrific scene. >> a video of it, it looked like chaos but controlled. this whole system worked very well today. i was very proud of everybody who was there. we trained for this add infinitum, and i think that as a level one trauma center broward general shined very well today. >> reporter: the fbi has been here at the scene interviewing some of the witnesses as this investigation moves forward. authorities have not publicly identified those who were shot and killed, but there are local reports starting to surface that they were really from across the country, at least one report of a person in the norfolk, virginia, area, and then another one perhaps in metro atlanta. we're still trying to piece together the details of some of the victims. we expect more of their stoes to emerge today, ayman. >> and they will probay have

some of the most detailed accounts of what exactly happened in that baggage claim area. gabe gutierrez, thank you very much for that update. we now know the alleged gunman apparently retrieved a firearm from his checked baggage before opening fire. it's bringing in a lot of new questions and a set of concerns about airport security. joining me now kenneth hoenig. he was the commanding officer at jfk and laguardias in new york. great to have you with us. >> good morning. >> i hate to say it takes tragedies like this to kind of expose some of the vulnerabilities that we have at our airports, but airport security obviously coming a long way in the last couple decades. where do you see the holes and what are your concerns after seeing what we witnessed yesterday? >> as the security at the airports has functioned or targeted the attack on aircraft, and put a hard perimeter around the aircraft and protecting

people on the aircraft, we've pushed that perimeter out. now the soft areas are the ticket areas and baggage claim areas and train stations, bus stations have become relatively softer targets. what we need to do is keep security levels up and unpredictable. there's no way we're ever going to make it a hard target that we can't ever have an attack. unfortunately, that's the world we live in. and the reality is there's been a lot of talk over the last day about the fact that this gentleman's gun was in his checked luggage. the reality is he could have gotten out of a taxicab or a car and walked into the bag anl claim area just like we've seen in attacks in europe over the last couple months. what you need to have is a large amount of law enforcement both in uniform as a deterrent and in plain clothes so they maintained the level of surprise and unpredictability and just keep the areas hardened.

as passengers -- >> sorry. i was going to say today -- >> passengers can also work to keep themselves safe. they can keep an eye out for people who are acting in a suspicious manner and they should always be aware of where they are closest to, two or three exits. >> you brought up this point about checked weapons. we're not the only ones watching this. i suspect there are terrorists out there who are going to see this as also a possible vulnerability. how can public areas of the airport be made more secure? how far back should some of these zones that you are talking about be set up? should we have checkpoints for cars coming into the airport, check for weapons for people coming in? as you mentioned even if it's a driver, somebody else coming to pick someone up, who can go to the ticket counter or baggage claim. >> we have to keep a balance between what is realistically possible in our society and what we do to keep people safe.

the israelis set up check points about a mile outside the airport. here blocking off the airport is major metropolitan areas with homes and stores and parkways. so p push the perimeter out that far would be relatively impossible. but we need to do things to keep the security posture unpredictable. >> and to that effect, i know we've talked about in the last couple years with the threat of, you know, the shoe bomber that was on his way into the united states, explosives, the tsa, homeland security, others have kind of restricted liquids and gels and fluids we can carry on because of that threat. now that we've seen this attack yesterday, is that going to maybe raise questions as to whether or not we need to prevent checked weapons from being allowed in on aircraft precisely for this reason or given the fact it is a fundamental right here in the u.s. that's not even up for

discussion? >> as i said earlier, stopping someone from having a weapon in their checked luggage would haven't prevented this kind of attack because this person could have had the weapon and come in on a taxicab and just walked in. you've got to have something that's going to prevent a large basis of attack, not just react to one specific. >> kenneth honig, thank you for your insights. >> have a good day. >> that'll do it for me here now. i'll be back at the bottom of the hour with a lot more. i want to let you know we're expecting a news conference from florida, governor rick scott. we'll bring it to you as soon as that happens. let's send it back to my colleague dara brown at msnbc headquarters in new york. happening now, flooding out west, freezing weather down south, and the danger millions face this weekend from coast to coast. as i was researching

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looking live at the airport in ft. lauderdale,orida, where normal operations are expected to resume today. the gunman accused of killing five people there yesterday is in custody and authorities are not saying if they've determined a motive. we're waiting for a news conference to begin with the florida governor. once he starts speaking we'll bring it to you. millions of americans are in the path of a winter storm and it's bringing heavy snow today to areas from the carolinas to massachusetts. governors have already declared states of emergency in alabama, georgia, virginia, and the carolinas. the storm brings with it's, freezing rain, and wind gusts, leaving officials in georgia and other areas in the southeast to urge drooimps to stay home.

joining me now, meteorologist bonnie schneider. >> good morning, dara. as we start heading into the northeast, this storm is impacting so many. 36 million in the east and the southeast are under winter advisories of some kind, including a blizzard warning that goes straight through the evening all the way from southeast virginia, lower maryland, to southeastern massachusetts. let's take a look where the snow the falling right now into charlotte and raleigh and richmond. we have snow falling. more of a wintry mix to the south. not too much more snow expected across north carolina. maybe some ice mixing in. notice new york city 2 to 4 inches so that might be more than you were originally expecting. some of the heaviest snow is working its way from montauk to nantucket. we've got conditions there 18 inches. so we could see potentially a foot of snow into eastern sections of long island all the way to the cape and the islands out towards massachusetts. and expect that wintry weather with blowing and drifting snow

to be really problematic going into the afternoon and evening. notice the temperatures. they're really cold in the south, into alabama, atlanta, georgia, and charlotte, north carolina, in the 20s. so even though we haven't seen a tremendous amount of snow in this region on the ground, it's enough to cause major problems with icing and bitterly cold temperatures. so it's a good idea to stay indoors. it's still snowing in the western piedmont and the mountains of north carolina. in the eastern part of the state we're looking at sleet and freezing rain, that mixture of ice making it treacherous from greenville to newburg all the way down to the coastline. across the country, huge storm across much of the west. heavy rain, flooding, saturated ground. burn scar areas could see a lot of rain. we're expecting this rain to go even as far south as los angeles into tomorrow. so something to keep close watch on. the flooding suaon as well as mountain snow. this is going toe a blockbuster storm for the weekend in the west. we've got both coasts there to keep a close watch on. >> bonnie schneider, thanks so

much. >> sure. now to politics and the president-elect this morning is standing by one of his take-aways from a report by top intelligence agencies about november's election. he tweeted this morning, "intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. vote mag sheens not touched!" also this morning the trump transition team officially announcing the president-elect's intention to nominate former united states senator dan coats to serve as the director of national intelligence. nbc's ron allen is at trump tower this morning. good morning. what more is the president-elect saying about the findings of these intel agencies? >> reporter: we're getting a barrage of tweets from the president-elect from trump tower and the message seems to be the same that, in fact, the outcome of the election -- >> ron, i'm sorry. we have to go to florida. we're having a press conference with the florida governor. ayman mohyeldin in florida.

>> yeah, dara. we want to take you to this live press conference. you can see governor rick scott. let's listen in. >> good morning. i'm here with the commissioner of the florida department of law enforcement. yesterday we experienced an absolutely hateful, evil attack on our state. people try to live their lives and enjoy the weekend were se e senselsly murdered. it was an absolutely horrific day. the person responsible for this act will be brought to justice to the fullest extent of the law. when you hurt one of u you hurt all of us. i arrived in ft. lauderdale yesterday afternoon a little less than two hours after the shooting happened. i spent the rest of the day getting briefed by law enforcement from the state, local, and federal levels. they're all working together to get answers. i saw the same thing after the pulse attack where state, federal, and local worked very

well together, law enforcement worked very well together. i know we all want answers. i know law enforcement is working hard to understand exactly what happened. we do know these individuals have been killed and some are fighting for their lives right here at hospitals in broward county. last time i went to broward health medical center to visit some of the victims and their families. some of the victims were still in surgery fighting for their life. you know, it's just such senseless acts and one couple i talked to came town here to go on a cruise and the wife was shot, and they're not going to go on the cruise. they're going to take their time and go ohm. another one, her husband was shot and just bleeding pfusely in the arm and she was so worried about him. he was in surgery at the time. i've remained in constant

contact, communication with martin gayle at the ft. lauderdale airport and broward sheriff israel. we'll offer whatever services that are needed. i'm a dad and i'm a granddad. i just can't imagine this happening to my family or any family. but the state stands ready to assist anyone that needs anything. last night i stayed in contact with the airlines and the rental car companies to ensure they were able to help displaced travelers if theyed that any unmet needs. there are many people throughout the night they were sent over to the port terminal. i think they're down just to a few people over there now. but we're going to do everything we can to help passengers, you know, get as comfortable as they can. has to be really hard on them. a lot of cruise ships are coming in today and the airlines are working to make sure as the

passengers come in they work with them to the extent the flights aren't coming out of ft. lauderdale, they redirect them to another airport. visit florida has partnered with expedia to constantly update their website to tell people where there's available rooms. air hub has activated urgent accommodati accommodations. so we have a lot of tourists coming through our airports every day. we'll have over 110 million tourists this year in our state. we're going to do everything we can to accommodate them. we love our tourists. we want them to continue to come here. and the state's ready to help them. our national guard continues to be prepared to respond to support of local law enforcement and provide support at the airports. our state of emergency operations center was open all last night and it's going to remain open to ensure we respond to any unmet needs whether it's the county, the airport, anybody that has an unmet need. last night i directed the florida department of health to dispatch their grief counselors

to the family assistance center to provide support. it's right here by the airport. broward county has also activated a call center to help any travelers that have been displaced. we also have at the state level, you can go to florida disaster dot-org slash info for any information to help displaced travelers. we're a safe state. we're at a 45-year low in our crime rate. we'll use every resource to keep every visitor and citizen safe. the number-one priority in our state is safety. we love the fact that people feel safe living in our state and visiting our state. we're a strong and resilient state. we're not going to let attacks like this tear us apart. we're going the pray for the victims. we're going to mourn for all their families. we're going to hope and pray that everybody that's still injured is fully recovers. and we don't have an answer and

i don't know if we will to an evil attack like this. my case, i always rely on my faith. and i'll pray for answers. so we're going to continue to provide updates as this goes along, but i can tell you at the state level we're going to continue to do everything we can to provide information and help anybody can. >> governor, this is not a failure of imagination. we knew a l about this guy. so many red flags. why was this guy not [ inaudible ]? >> we're right in the middle of trying to understand what happened. there will be more information that comes out. they will be able to figure out what to do. you know, i have a brother that suffers with mental illness. it's very hard to deal with some of these issues, and i know every family that has a family member that deals with mental illness struggles with this.

as a society, after we understand what happened, we'll have the opportunity to have a conversation. >> -- trying to deal with this situation. [ inaudible question ] >> we'll get more information. i know what we've done at the state level is -- what we are trying to do, the dollars that we spend with regard to mental illness, we're trying to allocate those dollars and move those dollars around. we have a pilot project going on in broward county. we have a few counties. so we're trying to figure these things out. we'll learn more and i can tell you from dealing with a brother that deals with mental illness, it's a very difficult issue to deal with. >> a what can you tell us about the connection to ft. lauderdale? >> the law enforcement will put that information out. the position of the victims that were in the hospital >> i talked to some of the

victims last night. the one lady that was shot in the arm, she thinks she'll be dar discharged today. the others i talked to, they don't know yet. i know some are severely injured and so i'm going to pray for them. but, you know, we're blessed. we have very good health care here. i can tell you everybody that i talked to last night, they're very appreciative of the nurse and the doctors and everybody that was taking care of them. [ inaudible question ] my understanding is the upstairs has just reopened, but the downstairs is not. remember, they're going through an active investigation. my understanding is the top level has been opened. [ inaudible question ]

the airport director and law enforcement have to answer that, but i can tell you one thing -- the first thing you do is keep everybody safe. the most important priority -- think about it. think about your own family. the first thing you do is you want everybody to be safe, take precaug precautions. my heart goes out to everybody displaced yesterday. so many were coming down to enjoy a vacation, go on a cruise, enjoy our weather, and it's tragic that they were displaced. but the goal is always to keep everybody safe. that's the primary goal. >> are you more or less likely to support expanded homeland security laws that might allow [ inaudible ]? >> we're going to find out exactly what happened here. law enforcement will give us answers as we go tough this.

we're going to have time to have an opportunity to have a conversation about how do we improve our society. look, all of us want to live in a safe society. i have kids. i've got grandkids and i want them to live in a safe society. we all do. as we go through this process, we learn what happened, and we can always have a conversation about is there something we should change. [ inaudible question ] >> we're going to have a -- look, one thing that's great about our society is when something happens the right thing to do is let's find out really what happened and then let's see how can we make it better. i think that's what always happens with these things. [ inaudible question ] i can tell you we're blessed -- you know, look, i don't want ever anything to happen. after pulse i was -- i was down in orlando for quite a while. i talked to the families.

i cried with them because they lost their loved one. i heard their stories about their loved ones. you just can't imagine -- you don't want this to happen to your family. the other side of it is i know our law enforcement is working hard. we're at a 45-year low in our crime rate. 367,000 people moved to our state last year. we'll have over 110 million tourists. people are coming to our state because they know they're safe. when something like this happens, your law enforcement community will do a good job. stoo >> we'll take one more. [ inaudible question ] i think the right thing to do is find out exactly what happened here. there will be a time -- our legislative session starts in

florida in march. there will be time to have a conversation about if there's things we can do to improve our society. think about -- when we ask questions like that, think about it, how do we make sure? we think about what about my family, your family? i want my family to be safe. in my cases i want every family in this state safe, every tourist safe. i want to continue to have a state where people want to live here. we're at a 46-year, 47-year, 48-year low in our crime rate. thanks for being here. >> you were listening to florida governor rick scott briefing the media at ft. lauderdale international airport on the latest in the investigation. some of those still in the hospital. he said this state, this community is strong and resill yept. he also addressed some of the questions about the ongoing investigation, about airport security, reassuring folks that florida is still a very safe state despite what we saw here.

he expressed his condolences for the victims, for the families saying they are the priority for his office to try and make sure they are taken care of. he went to the hospital last night, spoke to some of the victims and said they are going to make sure every resource this state has will be used to not only take care of those victims and their families but as well ensuring the safety of all the passengers at the airport. there were questions about the ongoing investigation, about security. he said there would be a time for that conversation. this was not the time or the place. there would at some point going forward a discussion about all the issues this incident has raised about overall safety. we want to switch gears and look closer at the suspect. the suspect in the shooting was

living in anchorage, alaska. he also served in the alaska army national guard until his discharge last summer. fbi agents descended on esteban santiago's home yesterday. in fact, he reportedly lived with his girlfriend and child. the suspect's flight originated from anchorage with a stop in minneapolis before it landed here in ft. lauderdale. gotti, what can you tell us about this suspect? >> reporter: we're starting to piece it together right now. we know fbi investigators were here at their small home in anchorage, alaska, yesterday. they were working well into the night, removing boxes of evidence. in front of this home there is the name of that suspected shooter, esteban santiago, and the name of a woman who we

believe to be his girlfriend. there's also a name who we believe to possibly be their young son. this is also the scene of a reported domestic violence incident last year where the girlfriend allegedly called police saying esteban santiago was trying to strangle her. when police got here, they were unable to find him. those charges were later dismissed. esteban worked as a security guard in anchorage. he spent some time with the national guard in anchorage. he served in the puerto rico national guard. when he came back from that, his family said he was affected. his brother told us yesterday here in anchoragee seemed to get in a lot of fights. he wouldn't specify with who but he told us he got in fights here in alaska and at some point last

year, esteban santiago walked into the fbi headquarters in anchorage, alaska, and told investigators there he was being he believed controlled by the cia, mind controlled by the cia and they were forcing him to watch isis videos. they called the police. the police had him voluntarily committed and he started to receive treatment from what we're told for mental health issues but at some point on thursday he went to the airport in anchorage, took a gun with him, got on that flight to ft. lauderdale and now investigators from all across the country are trying to figure out why he wept to ft. lauderdale. >> do we know if officials have had a chance to debrief or question his girlfriend about esteban in the last couple of days? >> we don't. in fact, we were just given

access to this alleyway. but yesterday this alleyway was basically blocked off in both directions. we couldn't even get close to the home. we don't know if investigators have spoke within her. we don't know if she is talking to investigators or she may be with family here in anchorage. we're trying to get answers today. >> all right. gotti schwartz live for us in anchorage, alaska, this morning. i want to bring in former fbi agent clint van zandt, also an msnbc contributor. walk us through the profile. we don't know if he's talking to officials but as we were hearing from my colleague in alaska, they want to talk to if they haven't already his girlfriend, his relatives in new jersey. what's the profile they're trying to composite here? what are they looking for? >> one of the things they'll be looking for is the likely mental

health issue. in the last few years, church, movie theaters, shopping malls, airport have been the subject of attack. november 2013 an armed individual went in in an unsecure area of l.a.x. and killed a tsa officer. we're told that the hikely shooter in this particular case was talking about voices and isis. when you hear about voices, that usually suggests schizophrenia. somewhere between 2. and 7% of people looked at the last few years america hear voices, although only 1% have schizophrenia. the challenge with that mental health condition is if you get command voices, somebody telling you what to do, it's hard to ignore those voices. you take a mental health condition the fbi obviously saw when the guy walked in their anchorage office this last year, you take issues with his

girlfriend, his job, his military general darnl, you lump all that together, it starts to suggest someone with a significant ongoing mental health condition. say that's the condition. then we have to find out did he do this all himself? was this all in his own head or was someone actually suggesting, was he guided, was he motivated by anybody else? did anybody else know his plans or is this simply the actions of a mentally challenged individual who acted out in this terrible way. >> what el vance might that military background and experience be relevant for the investigation? what light might it shed for this investigation? >> one, he had a handgun, reloaded at least three times so he may well within his years of service have firearms experience

in the military. he was an overseas iraq veteran. there might be a case of ptsd. i'm not trying to build a defense for this guy, but, look, he got a general discharge, which is one of five categories of discharge in the military that suggests he didn't meet certain stdard. one could be a mental health standard. he went awol a couple times in the military. looks like there is a history of ongoing mental health issues which what was just reported was perhaps a domestic situation with his girlfriend, you start to add this up. a few pounds here, a few pound here. you get a heavyweight mental health condition. our question is always why yesterday? why yesterday did he pick automatic gun, jump on a plane, fly to florida, and act out there? was there a command voice, was

it a culmination of all the other mental health and personal issues? that's what the fbi and the other investigations or investigators are trying to put together. they'll look at his life the last ten years, the last ten days and try to put together why he did what he did. >> clint van zandt with some of the questions i'm sure investigators are asking this hour. always great to talk with you. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> that wraps up or coverage from here for the moment. we'll be back late we are an update on the survivors who has the florida governor said, are still fighting for their lives and undergoing surgery, in fact, as we speak following this terrible attack. back to dara brown at msnbc headquarters in joshg. too much of a good thing for california? the dangerous problems heavy rain and snowfall are creating for the golden state this weekend. in the next hour, inside the ft. lauderdale airport when yesterday's shooting began.

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as the investigation continues into yesterday's shooting at the airport in ft. lauderdale, normal operations are resuming. planes are taking off and landing. msnbc's ayman mohyeldin is on the scene and will bring us the latest on the search for the gunman's motive in just a few moments. turning back to politics, the headline this morning, russia's involvement in the 2016 election was aimed at helping donald trump. a newly declassified u.s. intelligence report says russian president vladimir putin was directly behind a, quote, influence campaign to undermine american faith in the u.s. democratic process and hurt the candidacy of hillary clinton. that report says, "we further asays putin and the russian government developed a clear preference for president-elect trump." the incoming president is not

sold on the findings despite receiving the full briefing. with me author of "defeating isis: who they are, how they fight, and what they believe," malcolm nantz. great to have you here this morning. >> good to meet you. great to be here. >> is this what trump said after the briefing quote that russia, china, and other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses, and organization essentially there was no change in his stance before the briefing so why is he so reluctant to believe this? >> we're not quite sure at all why donald trump is acting so reluctantly to accept and embrace the fact that the u.s. intelligence community has come to a consensus finding that russian intelligence did attack the united states with a cyber warfare operation. at this point it's becoming

suspicious. he defendins it to the death an in so doing rejects it. >> he also says he's going to appoint a team within 90 days taking office to combat cyber attacks. how does that jive with what he said a couple weeks ago that it's time to move on? >> it's very interesting because there already is a team in place. there is u.s. cyber command. and each one of the component, the central intelligence agency all have a cyber warfare and cyber defense organization. it's massive and it's a multi, multibillion-dollar organization. the dnc and political parties are not part of that defense. if there's anything he can do, he can create a robust joint public/private partnership but he'll still have to confront the fact the russians did this for his benefit. >> we'll see if that happens.

malcolm nantz, appreciate your time here. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. still ahead, what we're learning about president-elect trump and the infancy of his administration as they deal with questions and concerns over russia's hacking in november's election.

ayman mohyeldin at ft. lauderdale international airport. we'll have lot more in the coming hours. for now let's send it back to dara brown at msnbc headquarters in new york. >> thank you, ayman. now to the other big story and that's the fallout over the release of the declassified intelligence report which concluded that vladimir putin ordered a campaign to influence the u.s. presidential election. joining me is kate martell, national politics reporter for

the hill. great to have you here. start with your take-away on the findings of the report. what stuck out? >> what was most interesting in the report is that the conclusion that the u.s. intelligence had was that even though that russia did meddle with the election that it didn't change the outcome. and what's most interesting about that for me is that donald trump has been very adamant that, yes, this didn't change the outcome of the election. he has to say that is because what he's worried about is actions speak louder than words, yes, the intelligence department sid said it didn't have anything to do with the outcome of the election but if it's showing step by step each action of russia having trolls to help donald trump with the dnc and hacking with podesta's e-mails, these things will go into his presidency looking like he's delegitimatized. his main goal is to try to shut it down as much as poible. but there's a dangerous

disconnect between the u.s. intelligence and the president of the united states. they should be working as a team and shouldn't be airing the dirty laundry that you should be seeing publicly. these are conversations to have in private, not over twitter. >> if he is sticking by this, and he is, taking these take-aways because he was tweeting last night and this morning that intelligence stated strongly there was no evidence that hacking affected the elections, the voting machines weren't touched so, where are you surprised he'll still refuse to acknowledge the role russia played? once he's in office, he'll still have to deal with this. and what about the briefings? does he understand the gravity of this hacking is important? he doesn't seem to be taking this into consideration. >> exactly. i'm seeing more campaign mode than administration mode. i hope once a he takes office that changes. gravity of these issue, it's not just about delegitimizing his presidency. these are national issues,

international issues that have foreign policy and cyber security implication. to set a precedent russia needs to back off is what's necessary for national security. to throw it off and say it's dishonest media and political implication, it gives the air it doesn't have the seriousness it deserves. >> kate, thank for your input. >> thanks so much. coming up at the top of the hour, president obama's reaction to the deadly shooting at ft. lauderdale and the message he shared with florida's governor. just like the people who own them, every business is different. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be with customer contracts, agreements to lease a space or protecting your work. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you, every step of the way. so you can focus on what you do and we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. legalzoom.

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