private image and words spilled into public view. >> president trump is spending the holiday at his mar-a-lago estate. >> michigan democrat john conyers denies allegations made by two women of sexual harassment. now a third, a former committee staffer melanie sloan is making a different accusation. harsh treatment. >> he became increasingly verbally abusive and would berate me loudly. i'd been called to come up and he was walking around in his underwear and i was just so shocked. >> it hurts that i lost annabelle. but i also know that he has a plan that i need to continue to carry out. >> pastor frank pomeroy was away from his first baptist church of sutherland springs on that tragic sunday. returning home to help authorities identify the 26 dead.

his 14-year-old daughter annabelle. >> it's not the church that it was to me before. however, it's still god's house. >> to give god thanks for the blessings of freedom and for the heroes who really have this tremendous courage that you do to defend us and to defend freedom. >> cooking thanksgiving dinner for almost 3,000 soldiers here in kandahar is its own military exercise. the officers serve the enlisted with all the trimmings. >> happy thanksgiving! >> happy thanksgiving is right. we begin, unfortunately, with the growing number of complaints and allegations about sexual impropriety and inappropriate behavior by members of congress. i want to start with veteran democratic congressman john conyers of michigan. he's trying to fend off calls for his resignation after it's been revealed he's been accused of sexual harassment. a third he was verbally abusive.

that woman described her experience to nbc news. >> he became increasingly verbally abusive and would berate me loudly and over ridiculous things. there was also the incident in which i walked into his office after i'd been called up there and he was walking around in his underwear. mr. conyers' behavior was often problematic. there were lots of stories about him on the hill then and more recently. and so it's not as if anybody didn't believe these things were happening. the problems i dealt with with conyers were very upsetting and certainly cause me a great amount of e motional angst. but i know other womens have suffered much more with members of congress. >> walking around in his underpants. i want to bring in blake mccoy who is in chicago. blake, what else are we hearing from the congressman? >> well, stephanie, good morning. there's been a slow drip, drip,

drip of allegations against congressman conyers since buzzfeed made their first report on monday that report of a $27,000 settlement against a woman who claims she was fired for refusing the congressman's advances. now we have a new statement from congressman conyers' office. this is from his attorney who says these allegations have prompted some members of congress to suggest that the congressman should resign. that is not going to happen. if people were required to resign over allegations, a lot of people would be out of work in this country including many members of the house, senate, and even the president. the house ethics committee has opened an investigation into these allegations against the congressman, but again he says he will not resign and, in fact, he plans to speak publicly about these allegations after the thanksgiving holiday. stephanie? >> all right. thank you. nbc's blake mccoy joining us from chicago. now we have to talk about another one. a long-time congressman.

this one a republican. he's also wrestling with whether to step down after it was revealed that a very graphic nude photo of him had been circulating online. in this case that's why it's different. texas congressman joe barton says he's the victim. barton says capitol hill police are now investigating whether a woman he had slept with in the past had broken the law by publicly sharing private photos. but that's not all. the woman involved told "the washington post" that she recorded barton threatening to do exactly what he's doing. call the police. back in 2015 because she could, quote, negatively affect his career. i want to bring in legal analyst danny cevallos. i'm giggling but i shouldn't be. this is a different situation. so congressman barton doesn't appear to have violated a law. i mean, yes, like, maybe he's a bit more freaky than we thought. i mean, he was taking a nude selfie. so i'm going to say it was an assault on my eyeballs when i

had to see that picture. but what exactly would capitol hill police be investigating? >> capitol police have limited jurisdiction. their geographic area is the district of columbia. but they also investigate threats against congress persons. and they will coordinate with local police, state police in doing so. so they're probably investigating the degree to which this was a threat against the congressman. and there may also be state laws in violation of revenge porn. this is a relatively new law in our universe with the advent of text messaging and snapchat and technology. but for the most part, states are trying to criminalize situations like the one alleged here where somebody takes an image of someone in an intimate moment and publishes it online. >> i want to share the actual definition. and i'm sorry that i'm giggling through this, but i cannot

believe that a sitting, you know, congressman is even dealing with this. i can't believe he took that picture. but again, that's what he does on his own time. revenge porn is categorized as any type of photo or video that is taken of a person in a sexual situation when those photos or videos are posted online without the subject's consent. in this case, it's a selfie. he took the picture himself. he then sent it out. so can it be considered revenge porn? it's not like it was taken in secret when it was a compromising position. he put himself in that position and took the photo. >> there are a lot of defense attorneys who argue it's possible that revenge porn laws violate the first amendment to the constitution because they are discriminating against the content and as you said it infringes on someone's right to publish an image that was consensually made and consensually given.

but you're right. just because somebody makes this photograph, state laws increasingly are saying if you entrust it to somebody else and they disclose it or publish it online, that can be criminalized. >> okay. then let's talk about those who are saying he should step down. i can understand in argument if i was a very christian conservative family values type of voter, i might not like that kind of behavior and i might say i don't want to vote for that person. because they are not living truthfully what they preach. but in terms of stepping down, what did he do that's unethical? it's just his sex life. >> there's nothing criminal although i believe in his statement he said that this was during a period of separation with his wife. that might be an ethical issue. but at least -- look. we live in a modern era of people taking selfies for whatever reason while nude and sending it to other people. beats me why. i don't get it.

but that itself as long as everything else is consensual and it's not recorded is a violation of present law. >> and don't we need to get modern though? because that is the world we're living in. in truth, if any of our sex lives were photographed and put out publicly, we would be mortified and humiliated. don't we have to take a long look and say, my goodness. we've got to think about the world we're living in today. >> yes. but you have to look at the converse too. you create laws that punish what we call revenge porn and you may catch up people who it may be harder to prove this was intentionally disseminated or this person didn't intentionally intend for the image to get out there. so it's a balancing test, but with technology, we cannot legislate before the act. we have to wait, see ou it interacts with society. only then could we figure out how to apply and create laws. >> i don't know. i make the argument. my eyeballs have already been punished. and i'm sure the congressman

feels punished over this. >> mine too. i looked it up. mine too. >> all right. danny cevallos, thank you. turning the page. alabama voters have 19 days left to decide who they are going to send to the u.s. senate. but roy moore is choosing to stay out of the public eye. he has not held a public event in a week and does not have another one scheduled until monday. to top it off, moore's communications director has quit the campaign saying he simply wasn't ready for the national spotlight. vaughn hilliard in birmingham. you and i talked earlier. i've been thinking about it for the last hour. yes, roy moore has a very small staff. yes, his communications director has stepped down. and yes, doug jones has money pouring in and he's all over the tv networks. that doesn't mean that roy moore can't move forward. because if you think about roy moore's base, similar to president trump's base, that base revolts against money and

power. they revolt against, oh, we need someone big and fancy to fill these seats. that's one of the reasons president trump won. could that reality for roy moore help him? >> reporter: it very well could, stephanie. when you talk to a lot of these people on the ground, i want to remind you before the runoff when he was facing luther strange, roy moore had $30 million spent against him. he had donald trump even on the side of luther strange on the trail. he had pretty much every apparatus within the republican party from money to names come out on his behalf. and luther strange lost to roy moore by 10%. this situation the same. democrats on the national level have tried to keep their distance. there has been money that has been coming in to doug jones, the democrat's campaign. the only big name to come out so far for him is joe biden. when you talk to the voters here on the ground, roy moore is concocting this. if these allegations are,

indeed, true, is concocting this into a conspiracy of sorts. they talk about they. republicans. mcconnell. the democrats. and it's working for a lot of voters here who tell me, they say why would these women come out 30, 40 years from now? what led them to this point? and roy moore on his part, you ask, where does his campaign go from here? hasn't been in the public spotlight. we don't expect to see him until next monday. he's back out in his hometown here this weekend. so he hasn't had to answer these questions. he's allowed these to essentially just boil up and allowed this idea, this concept of us against the world to be in the forefront of voters' minds. >> all right, vaughn. thank you so much. i hope you get to go home for thanksgiving. you have been in montgomery, alabama, for quite some time now. >> reporter: alabama is now home through december 12th. all right? >> there you go. he has a new home in alabama. i should have said this earlier. ali velshi will be joining us at 12:00 p.m. you're not having your regularly

scheduled "velshi & ruhle" and it's not because i couldn't handle doing that last segment on joe barton without ali velshi next to me. it's because we're splitting up. i'm in washington spending thanksgiving with my family and ali velshi is holding down the fort in new york. he'll be joining you at 12:00. but stick around, everyone. president trump spending thanksgiving at his mar-a-lago resort while taking time out to speak with u.s. troops abroad and at home. but in that speech, he's also talking, boasting actually, about the economy. we'll go live to florida next. but first a live look at the 91st -- my favorite -- annual macy's thanksgiving day parade. a thanksgiving tradition as american as apple pie. millions watching on the streets of new york with extra security keeping spectators safe. some of the floats this year include my daughter's favorite olaf from "frozen" and chase from "paw patrol." i want to say a special thanks to new york city police department and macy's for making that magic happen for the 91st

time. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" right here on msnbc. we create machines that make every experience more real. because the best feature of a pc gaming machine is the power to make you forget it's there. shop our lowest prices ever at dell.com. ( ♪ )

welcome back on this thanksgiving morning. president trump spending time this morning in a lengthy video conference with u.s. troops around the world. here is how president trump started his call. >> we're going on live right now and surrounding me is a lot of press. better me than you, believe me, fellas. better me than you. it's an honor to speak with you all and to give god thanks for the blessings and freedom and for the heroes who have this tremendous courage you do to defend us and to defend freedom. so we want to thank you all very much. very, very special people like it doesn't get more special. >> the president speaking there from his mar-a-lago private club in west palm beach, florida, where he's spending the holiday with his family. kelly o'donnell joins us live

from nearby west palm. also joining us former navy intelligence and counterterrorism officer malcolm nance who's now an nbc news terrorism analyst. kelly, tell us about that call and who specifically was on it. >> reporter: well, good to be with you again, steph, and happy thanksgiving to you and our viewers. the president did a teleconference with different branches. so there were multiple screens on the screen that he was looking at. this is an opportunity for the commander in chief to speak directly to members of the u.s. military. and he had a lengthy message that talked about a lot of things. some directly involved in u.s. military issues talking about his view that the administration under his 10-month-old watch is doing more to support men and women in uniform in harm's way. that's his contention. he also talked more broadly about the economy. suggesting that a strong america through those sorts of things is something they are fighting for. this is in some ways a very

traditional thanksgiving kind of activity for a president to do something that is acknowledging those who are serving the country. he did it by video conference and then made an in-person visit with the first lady here in florida to a coast guard station. and was part of a early lunch for some coast guardsmen. echoed some of the same things but had face time with those in uniform. steph? >> all right. malcolm, i want to play what the president had to say about progress in afghanistan. >> everybody's talking about the progress you've made in the last few months since i opened it up. we opened it up. i said go ahead, we're fighting to win. we're not fighting just to walk around. we're fighting to win. and you people are really -- you've turned it around over the last three to four months like nobody's seen. and they are talking about it. so thank you very much. >> all right. malcolm, the president saying you guys are now fighting to win

instead of fighting to just walk around. and you've turned it around in three to four months. what's he talking about? >> i have no idea what he's talking about and i wish he would sit down and get a realistic briefing which he pays attention to with his senior battle force commanders. loosening the rules in afghanistan recently has done nothing more than cause increase in civilian casualties. but it does give some confidence to the boots on the bround they can call in air support and fire support when they need it. we are not in an active full scale combat role in afghanistan anymore except for special forces. we are in a train and assist mission trying to help the afghan army. they've taken staggering losses in this last year. >> he talked about isis. here's a bit of what he said. >> and major, to you and all the marines doing this great work in delivering defeat after defeat to isis, what you're doing with

isis is, again, being talked about. we're being talked about again as an armed forces. we're really winning. we know how to win. but we have to let you win. they weren't letting you win before. they were letting you play even. we're letting you win. >> malcolm, we've made considerable progress when it comes to isis, sit a fair assessment to say we're winning? >> well, we're winning in the battle space of iraq and syria. and that's not just our effort. as a matter of fact, if you were to put it in perspective, the effort really comes from the boots on the ground, the iraq armed forces which have shown considerable and tremendous ability over the last threw years. in 2014 they were a collapsed force. by 2017 they had turned into the most lethal battle force in the middle east. the iraqis can hold their own. they are the ones who kicked

down the doors in mosul taking thousands of casualties. they were the ones dealing with the suicide bombs. we were providing them training equipping and support with special operations forces. same thing that goes in syria. yes, it's great that we're providing that. but the president needs to remember that that those operations went on for two years and we killed over -- he came in for the end game which was really the lethal blow was delivered by the iraqi army and the syrian democratic forces. >> i'd like to point out he also greeted the troops this morning by saying fellas. i'd like to remind the president it is men and women overseas there protecting our democracy. kelly, the president also addressed one of my favorite subjects, the economy. i want to play that. >> for each of you i know it's hard to be away from home at this time of the year. we're doing well at home.

the economy is doing really great. when you come back, you're going to see with the jobs and companies coming back into our country and the stock market just hit a record high. unemployment is the lowest it's been in 17 years. so you're fighting for something real. you're fighting for something good. a lot of things have happened with our country over the last very short period of time. and they're really good. they're really good. i especially like saying companies are starting to come back. now we're working on tax cuts, big fat beautiful tax cuts. and hopefully we'll get that and then you're going to really see things happen. >> kelly, are these prepared remarks on behalf of the president? i'm not sure why the strong stock market performance would be a message you would send to our troops overseas. and, you know, saying you're going to be coming home to something real good. what exactly is he referring to that would impact soldiers? >> well, i think there were some

notes if not prepared remarks for the president to reference as he was doing the video conference. i was not a member of the pool today so i couldn't see that personally. but it did appear that he was working off of some prepared text or at least some guidance. whenever the president does a public event especially on a holiday, that message is not only about those on the other end of the video conference. there were some tailored messages to the military. but this is a president who wants to tell the story that he thinks needs to be told about his administration at any moment at any time. if he was in a political venue off on a campaign trail on behalf of another candidate or a white house event or something from the white house, it really is the same themes he's been hammering. he wants credit for the economy in terms of the stock market. he is trying to project his agenda of tax cuts that of course is still working its way

through what has been a very treacherous field on capitol hill for him. and so he in a couple of places seemed to acknowledge perhaps some of these things weren't immediately relevant to the service members. but with donald trump it was more of a broader audience. when he was in front of the coast guard, he switched from his former life in business where he talked about the coast guard having, perhaps, the greatest increase in brand value of any entity. not just the u.s. military when it came to their work during the sears of hurricanes where he acknowledged the 16,000 rescues where he was trying to applaud them, support them, but he did it in terms of the value of the brand. so the president very much in his typical form today on a holiday trying to sell his message while he's also trying to do the more traditional thing of talking to the troops. steph? >> well, we sincerely appreciate the president making that call to our troops overseas this morning and making that visit to the coast guard. and it doesn't come as a

surprise. i mean, listen. getting this tax reform through is a major priority for the president and the gop. he wants it done before christmas. it's no surprise he's beating that drum. thank you both for joining me. happy thanksgiving to you both. and stick around, everyone. the pressure is on with members of congress. huge to do list waiting for them when they get back from the thanksgiving break. and i can't believe it. i got to get on their schedule. can they get it done all in 15 days? we're going to take a look next. but before we go, another look. i love it. i can look at it all morning. you need two screens at home at the annual macy's thanksgiving day parade. it is going on right now in new york city. look at that. hello olaf coming down the street. this is the first year olaf from "frozen" has been part of the parade. god, i love him. we are waiting, though, for the big guy santa. santa every year closes out the parade and remember, santa at macy's, that's a must see in new york. stay with us. you are watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc.

it's thanksgiving.

-- on regulation and all the waste and all the abuse. and the stock market on friday hit the all-time high. the highest it's ever been ever. your whole long life, the stock market is higher than it's ever been. >> welcome back. president trump there this morning touting the state of the economy. also saying it will only get

better once congress approves the republican tax cut plan which brings us to congress's critical to do list before the end of the year. right at the top, the gop tax cut plan. the senate version also revisits health care. it would repeal obama's individual mandate. another critical item on the agenda, funding the federal government. the deadline? december 8th. the president also left it up to congress to decide by mid-december whether to keep or kill the 2015 iran nuclear deal. they got a lot to do before christmas. joining us now john harwood. normally you're far from me, but today ali is in your seat. we've got a lot to cover. dave, welcome. john, i'm starting with you on this. front and center is the republican tax cut plan. the president again hailing it this morning. he desperately wants a victory. does repealing the individual mandate hurt those chances? >> i don't think so.

i think it gives them money that they can play with and expand some of the middle class tax cuts which are pretty meager in the bill even as it is. and it's something that holds conservatives. and we saw from lisa murkowski yesterday that she says it's okay. she was one of the votes to stop the repeal of obamacare. but in this case this only gets rid of the coercion but not the guts of the program. i think it is a step forward for the republicans. but i don't know they can pass the bill. and on the core point from the beginning, how much is this going to boost the economy? most analysts say not that much. >> i'm with you it doesn't boost the economy, but i still think it's going to get passed. we know johnson is already a no. but he's a no because of how it treats small businesses. to me it's more about pass throughs, who's in, who's out. they can adjust this so a guy like ron john -- excuse me. ron johnson is okay with it.

do you think this thing goes through? >> ron johnson was also briefly against the health care plan, right? and he came around on that. so there's a bit of a track record there. there are now, i think, six republican who is are raising issues with this for different reasons. susan collins might be one that's worried about the mandate repeal. couple are worried about the deficit. still i think there's so much pressure to get something done this year that that is kind of driving this. >> okay. but this is what befuddles me. i know the people working on this plan are desperate to get a win. and they feel like if they get this through, they're going to pat themselves on the back and look at this as a glorious win. first time we've gotten real tax reform done in 30 years. but what about when it's implemented? what about when it's implemented and there isn't a huge boost to the economy and we don't see corporations going on a hiring spree and don't see wages go up, up, and up? then what? without more thought put into this plan, how is it going to be a bigger win for republicans? think about all the programs

that are going to get cut. that's not good for voting americans. >> i think it's vulnerable to attack on multiple fronts. one is the redistribution of lower and middle to high. all the analyses show that the bulk of the benefit gos to the top. on the other hand, some of the benefits in the short-term do go to middle class people. one of the challenges is, you know, voters don't always connect up their vote with the consequences of what happened before. so if, for example, the economy turns down. if you have a recession, that makes the plan vulnerable to attack simply for taking place before the recession. on the other hand, if the economy keeps going, donald trump will continue to make the claims he's making and a significant number of his voters are going to believe him. >> the economy is growing. and president trump does continue to tout this america first mantra. but just this morning, ian bremmer of the urasia group put

out their list of expectations around the globe. and the united states was number eight with only 2% growth. if you actually look at the global economy and interest rates around the world which have been down, it's not like we should be patting ourselves on the backs saying we're the brightest and the best by their calculations we're way down on the list. >> i think that's part of mnuchin and cohn are saying in pushing for this tax plan. they say the economy is on the way up but it could be growing much faster. >> significantly, stephanie. >> look at europe. you want to say we need to catch up. europe has lower rates than we do and they've been stagnated all these years. >> right. but en the most optimistic thing for this plan, on the house plan they don't show the economic

growth hitting any year in the next years. >> but trump thinks we're getting to six. >> that is not going to happen. in the senate bill they say it gets to 3% exactly one year, the first year. all the other years, it's still in that 2% range. so there will be a long-term reckoning. the challenge is how voters hook it up in the short-term. >> once you vote this in, you ain't going to reverse it. these are permanent tax cuts for corporations. >> i don't agree with that, actually. i think if you had a democratic congress elected in 2018, i think there's a significant chance that they make a run at raising the corporate rate or closing more corporate loopholes. probably not going to happen if donald trump is still president, but if they elect a democratic president, they'll go after it. >> that is noteworthy. we need to remind our viewers the argument in lowering the corporate tax rate was to lower the corporate tax rate in conjunction with closing all sorts of loopholes except those loopholes haven't been closed.

you sat down with lamar alexander. he is all for this bill. he says yes, yes, yes, we'll get it through. but you also talked to him about the russia investigation. you talked to him about russian interference in the election. i want you to tell us about what he told you. >> i also talked to him about his colleague bob corker's criticism. he's one of the people dave mentioned who's reluctant to vote for the tax bill. but he's high profile. he's not running for re-election. saying donald trump is unstable and may not be fit to be commander in chief. i asked him about that. take a listen. >> the president does things and says things that i don't do and i don't approve of. >> is he dangerous? >> i'm not going to sit here and say he's a dangerous man. he's a man that the american people entrusted with the president and i'm going to try to help him succeed. >> when bob mueller comes back with something serious, that's when you'll see everything change. is that right? >> i'm not going to be one more person spending most of my time

worrying about an investigation they are undertaking. let them do their job. doyle my job. >> so i'm going to say he dodged. >> he did. i think it's convinced when you have a senior republican senator asked about a president of his party if he's dangerous and he doesn't say no. and in terms of the mueller investigation, he is not absolving the president. he's circumspect. he's trying to get the president to agree to his bipartisan obamacare fix bill. so he's keeping a low profile. but it's telling the way he answered that question. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. har wootd there saying corker is not running for re-election. he's not running for re-election but one might guess he could be running for something. we're going to take a break. you're watching msnbc. when we come back, a reckoning in hollywood. so many reports and they keep coming of sexual assault coming

in that the lapd had to reorganize its detective staff. you are watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. unfortunately for you, it's only ruhle. but stick around. you're going to get velshi in just a few minutes. [ keyboard clacking ] [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future.

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welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. you are watching "velshi & ruhle" and we are turning to hollywood, the beverly hills police department reportedly investigating -- are you ready for this number?

at least 12 sexual assault allegations against members of the entertainment industry. for the latest nbc's steve patterson joins me now from l.a. give us an update. >> it's not only in beverly hills. it's also the lapd with open investigations. also the district attorney's office restructuring to include a task force so they can deal with the volume. it's also london police. it's also new york police. all focused on this specific scandal here in hollywood that has sparked this sexual abuse culture across the country that we're now all sort of facing here. with this beverly hills investigation, we've known for weeks that this is included tolback and weinstein is part of what we are looking president this includes at least 12 different cases. running the gamut from sexual misconduct to allegations of sexual assault. police are not getting specific.

they are releasing very few details about this. in fact, we have a statement from the chief of police here in beverly hills. she says the beverly hills police department is working in conjunction with the district attorney's task force on these cases. we place a high priority on crimes against persons cases. again, on top of this, the lapd is looking at nearly 30 cases of sexual misconduct in some way. they've had to restructure their entire detectives department because of this. now, you have teams of five, two-man teams that are diving back. i mean, in some cases dozens of years in order to find out what's happening in these cases. aeg allegations go back so far and because some of them are so old, nearly 95% of the cases have no evidence. they have to pull cold case detectives to deal with this. this is an unprecedented level

of cases for one police division. but there are multiple police division that are now investigating this one instance in hollywood which has ravaged this town. >> it sounds like it's not going away any time soon. a revolution. steve patterson joining us from los angeles. thank you. stick around, everyone. just a few short weeks ago, texas pastor frank pomeroy lost his own daughter and 25 members of his tiny church in the mass shooting down in texas. but now the pastor says he is thankful today. if this man can be thankful, then look around all of us. we need to be too. the nbc exclusive is next. stay with us. you'll want to see this. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. i think it's terrific.

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welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. you're watching "velshi & ruhle." attorney general jeff sessions has just ordered e the fbi and atf to conduct a review of how well the national gun background check system is working. it is a direct response to this month's devastating shooting massacre at a tiny church in sutherland springs, texas. 26 people were killed at a first baptist church. the bpastor who lost his own daughter in the attack spoke exclusively with nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: the message came in six terrible words. shooting at church. a lot dead.

>> i texted back, is that a joke and a few minutes later i got no. >> reporter: pastor frank pomeroy was away from his first baptist church of sutherland springs on that tragic sunday. returning home to help authorities identify the 26 dead. church members, friends, his 14-year-old daughter annabelle. >> it hurts that i've lost annabelle. but i also know that he has a plan that i need to continue to carry out. and that's what i do. >> reporter: in a town of just 600, everyone feels the loss. >> we knew those people. >> reporter: pomeroy leans on pastor paul buford for support. >> families that are in our church had family members over there. >> reporter: the sanctuary is now a memorial. chairs for each of the victims where they fell. >> it's surreal in the aspect

that it's not the church it was to me before. however, it's still god's house. >> reporter: in his faith, pomeroy has also found forgiveness for the gunman and a reason to celebrate thanksgiving. >> it is hard to cope right now. but -- sorry, but i know annabelle would want the holidays to proceed. >> reporter: an overwhelming grief, a community grateful for their faith. miguel almaguer, nbc news, sutherland springs, texas. >> that is some extraordinary strength frank pomeroy has. standby, everyone, this thanksgiving day roughly 20,000 american troops are serving in war zone. most of them are in afghanistan. and we are live in that war weary country next. but first, you know what we do here on "velshi & ruhle, time for my favorite part of the show, people who may deserve a statue of their very own.

today it's austrian born actress, mathematician and inventor hedy lamarr. in 1937 she fled from her very wealthy husband and moved to paris where she met mgm head louis mayer who offered her a hollywood contract. from 1940 to 1949 she made a total of 18 films. she was also an avid inventor though had no formal training. advised one of her former boyfriends howard hughes, how to make air wings more frequent. aided secret communications and it also made bluetooth, gps and wi-fi possible. lamarr became a u.s. citizen in 1953. she died in florida. an extraordinary woman, in 2000 at the age of 85.

how about that? a life well lived. if you have a monumental american, tweet us at #velshiruhle. today from a viewer, he wrote in to us via twitter, he pitched us today's monumental american and david knows i especially like great women. thank you, dave. thank you for watching. this is "velshi & ruhle" live on mbz. and now reduces cardiovascular risk. victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill. (avo) and for people with type 2 diabetes treating cardiovascular disease, victoza® is now approved to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. and while it isn't for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. (avo) victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes

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welcome back. you are watching "velshi & ruhle." u.s. troops celebrating thanksgiving while serving in south korea. the soldiers at camp humphreys were treated to a traditional meal earlier today including turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffed -- are you ready for this? some 28,000 u.s. troops are based in south korea defending the country against north korea. so they certainly deserve that meal. and on this thanksgiving day i want to personally say have a thankful, thankful -- how thankful i am, excuse me, to the brave men and women who are serving in our armed forces. get your head around this. we are talking about nearly 1.4 million people in the army, more than 475,000 men and women are serving. next to the navy, 324,000 on active duty and also in the air

force. 317,000, more than 130,000 serve in marine corps and over 40,000 in coast guard. this morning the president gave thanks via teleconference. >> right now surrounding me is a lot of press, better me than you, believe me, fellas. we give thanks for this holiday. i know i speak on behalf of all americans when i say that we totally support you. in fact, we love you. we really do, believe me, i know so much about military families, they respect and appreciate what you're doing for this country. and they respect and appreciate what you're doing for them as a family. >> i'm going to say i respect and appreciate what they do. nbc's hans nichols is in

kandahar. >> reporter: this is the hottest part during the war about two, three years ago. over 20,000 u.s. troops here. now we're down to about 3,000. stephanie, i think what's striking about the mission here is how infrequently u.s. troops go outside the wire, this is mostly a train, advise and assist mission, that holds true for nato troops as well. there's a big international contingent. but also i think what we've learned here is the extent to which there is an air war going on. almost on a daily basis, now biweekly out of the missions in syria and iraq, we get updates on the number of strikes. we don't get that here in afghanistan. what i've learned is there are strikes taking place almost every night. right now i believe i hear a drone off in the distance. we're down here in kandahar. they'll come in and finish it off with apache helicopters. they had a football game today,

i won't call it a scrimmage because it was pretty intense, officers versus enlisted. enlisted they won that game in part because the officers by self-admission they were a little bit older and a little bit slower. another tradition you'll have here is that the officers, the commanding general serves dinner to the troops. general nicholson flew in for that. now, i caught with him. i asked him just how the war here is going in its 16th year. when you look at the polling from the american public, it seems like more americans think we're losing in afghanistan than winning. why should americans care about afghanistan after 16 years of war? our soldiers here, our service members, are defending the homeland. so we are taking the fight to the terrorist groups in the region, 21 of them. and thereby protecting our homeland so that our fellow citizens can enjoy thanksgiving free from fear of terrorist attack. >> reporter: stephanie, everyone got a hot meal, everyone those soldiers forward deployed. we took a helicopter out with a

lot of hot turkey to a forward operating base, came back. they're going to get another meal tomorrow. they got served on wednesday and friday. and i'm glad you mention the role of the reservists in this conflict. the entire public affairs shop here in kandahar, throughout the resolute mission at least on the -- side done by the navy working hard as well. >> hans, you're working hard as well over there. our own hans nichols. i want to bring in my very favorite aly velshi, but i know you must have heard a minute ago when i was talking to hans, before we talked about the amount of men and women who are serving. when we're back here at home living our lives every day, unfortunately it is very easy and all too common to forget. >> that's right. >> how many people are overseas and the huge commitment they make to this country. >> and it doesn't matter whether you agree with why they're there