whing star. that star will get me my lives back. the wishing star is in the dark forest. 1, 2, after you. wait, what? dog, still alive? let's go find out. ♪♪ good morning. it's great to see you. i'm yasmin vossoughian here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. we're following very big breaking news this hour. wnba star brittney griner free and on her way home. griner is in the air heading to her home state of texas. the basketball star was freed as part of a prisoner swap for a russian arms dealer known as the merchant of death. president biden signed off on the trade. along with the vice president

and griner's wife, they spoke with the basketball star by phone in the oval office this morning just before he addressed the nation. >> she's relieved to finally be heading home. and the fact remains that she's lost months of her life, experienced the needless drama, she deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained. >> griner's wife spoke about griner's release. >> there's so many other families who are not whole. and so bg is not here to say this but i will speak on her half to say bg and i will remain committed to the work of getting every american home. >> more on the road ahead for griner in moments as well as the mounting urgency to bring home paul whelan. also this morning, everybody, another development in the trump investigations. two more documents with

classified markings discovered at a storage facility not far from the former president's mar-a-lago estate. mark your calendars, december 21st, that's the day, that is when the january 6th committee is set to drop its big report. what we are learning from the chairman of that committee. we begin with that stunning news of brittney griner's release. starting us off peter alexander. peter, i hear that you have some new details as to how this whole thing really came together. talk us through it. >> yeah, we're getting new details from behind the scenes about how this all played out earlier this morning. multiple white house officials telling me this morning that during the phone call in the oval office where president biden was joined by vice president harris, the secretary of state tony blinken, that president biden's first words to griner on the phone is, i'm joe biden, welcome, welcome home.

this was a stunning series of events that played out over the course of the last several days. earlier this week, cherelle griner was invited to the white house. i'm told it was not until she arrived here this morning that she was told by the president that brittney griner was in u.s. custody and the operation was under way. that call taking place just before 8:00 this morning. about a half an hour before you saw the public comments there made by the president earlier this morning. it does conclude at least for griner what has been just an awful series of months. almost ten months that she's been in russian custody after she was detained. most recently, she had been moved to a colony. she was moved from that colony

to moscow to be flown to the united arab emirates where on a tarmac that griner crossed paths, walked in opposite directions on the tarmac, passing by the man for whom she would be traded. that's the convicted russian arms dealer, viktor bout, a man who has been described in the west as the merchant of death for his efforts to sell arms to columbia to kill americans. as it relates to paul whelan, he was the other american that the u.s. had been so focused on trying to get out. he's a u.s. businessman, a former u.s. marine. the white house making very clear the president among them, that it remains their priority to get him out. but officials tell us that for all of the americans' efforts in this back and forth, the russians made very clear that it was griner or no one. you get one or none. and ultimately the president, yasmin, made the decision to go ahead with it. >> what a stunning moment and picture that you painted for us with that exchange as brittney

griner crossed paths with the notorious arms dealer to which russia was vying for. matt, let's talk about paul whelan if we can for a moment. we're hearing now from nbc news that his russian lawyer is telling the folks that his release could come in the next few months. let's take a little bit more of a listen to the president speaking on why paul whelan was not released. >> sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, russian is treating paul whelan's case differently than brittney griner. we're not giving up. we will never give up. >> the president saying they're not giving up. but you heard peter say it, it was one or non. they're treating paul whelan's situation much differently than they did brittney griner being held in captivity for 294 days. but paul was being held on

different charges. talk us through that, if you will. >> well, paul has been in captivity for five years now. they arrested him in central moscow just a stone's throw from the kremlin back in december 2017 and he's been charged with espionage. one explanation for the difference in treatment for the change in the negotiations as far as we understand them is that russia is not backing off of those charges against whelan of espionage. so that is the story they stuck with back in 2017. they prosecuted him. he's now serving on the charge of espionage. and so i think that basically is the main reason that russia has chosen to go down the path it's gone down. but one thing that i think is concerning from the perspective, from whelan's perspective is for most of the time he's been in captivity, there was always the discussion that he was up for trades or that the russians were trying to trade him for viktor

bout. it's been this name for years now and now bout has been traded for griner. it leaves us in a much less clear situation about who might possibly be traded to get whelan back, what the state of those negotiations actually look like. it's worth remembering now, this is the second prisoner swap that whelan has been left out of. there was trevor reed earlier this year who was detained well after whelan was detained. so it's not entirely clear what's going on with him. i would say the best explanation is that the russians are really sticking to this story that he's a spy, that he committed an act of espionage, of course, we never really saw the nature of those charges. he was tried and sentenced in kind of a behind closed doors, in a secret closed hearing in russia. we don't know specifically what's going on there, what the negotiations with the u.s. look like, but now bout has been traded for griner and we just continue to hear the same kind of thing we've heard for five

years now. >> matt, quickly here, you don't really have any idea -- it sounds to me as to why whelan's lawyers in moscow and russia are confident he would be released within the next two months, where that's coming from. >> yeah, unfortunately, we have no idea. we've been hearing them say this for a long time now, unfortunately. >> got it. peter alexander, thank you, matt, thank you as well. i want to bring in dawn staley. she coached brittney griner on team usa during the tokyo olympics back in 2021. she's been an advocate for griner's release as well. how are you feeling? >> i feel great. i feel great. i feel full. like emotionally full with the news of brittany being released and she's on her way home. >> it's interesting, dawn, as peter was talking to us about that moment, right, that the president spoke to brittany on the plane as she was returning home and he said to her, welcome

back, from what you know of brittany, that sent chills down my spine. i can only imagine what she was feeling. what do you expect brittney was feeling in that moment? >> hearing that, it made me emotional. i'm sure she cried. i'm sure she cried. with the heavy heart that she's had for the past nine, ten months, not knowing what's happening in the free world, not being able to talk to her, her family and her wife on a daily basis, full, full. just -- emotionally full. and i'm sure when you're that full, it brings you to tears. >> i know you've been wearing, dawn, that we are bg pin. you've been advocating for

brittney release for some time. what do you think that advocacy did for her release? >> i'll say this, like, you know, there was a time in which they told us not to say anything just to be silent. there came a time where we we had to say ef it and keep brittney griner's name every day. now in this -- we're at a place where, you know, our whole entire women's basketball community, we stood strong. we stood strong to make sure that our sister got a chance to come home. and i really would like to thank the -- president biden and vice president harris and secretary blinken and all the organizations that have helped bring this -- this happy day, oh

happy day. and i got to think that the greatest of all time, that's god. god for making this happen. it is real that there's a god and if you serve him, you will experience what we experienced today which is to me, a modern day miracle. >> what do you want to say to brittany and cherelle right now? >> i love them. i love their strength. i love what they're going to do as well. they're going to fight for other wrongly detained prisoners abroad and much strength and prayer to paul whelan's family and him. and, you know, for other prisoners who are locked up in their own country on, like, minimum drug offenses, brittney is coming. we hope their ordeal turns out,

you know, as happily as brittney's. >> appreciate it. congratulations to you and everybody that has been supporting her for so long during her captivity. i want to bring in reverend al sharpton and richard haas. i know you've been in touch with brittney's family. talk to me about the release that you're feeling right now. we heard from dawn, obviously. someone who has been an ardent supporter of brittney for quite some time in learning of her release. >> well, i am very, very happy to hear this from day one. when i talked to cherelle, brittney's wife. we stayed in touch.

we had members of the wnba all-star, big press conferences. and president biden, he stayed on this, secretary blinken, stayed on it, and i remember several times we would have meetings with president biden on other issues and he would say to me, al, i've not forgotten about brittney griner. we are on it. i congratulate him. i also join him and the nation in saying paul whelan must be released too. we're not going to stop at brittney. i'm glad she's coming home. we offered a group of clergy men to go to russia. hopefully we can have it with her at home now in the states and thank god for her release. >> an incredible development amidst all of it. paul whelan, you have to have that conversation in lockstep with the release of brittney griner. he's been passed over twice now.

we're getting a statement from whelan's brother he put out today saying the biden administration made the right decision to bring ms. griner home and to make the deal that was possible rather than waiting for one that was not going to happen. he added this, though, this time, u.s. government officials let us know in advance that paul would be left behind unlike last april when they left him. we heard from the president himself, right, they're going to continue to try and get paul whelan home. we also know, though, what paul whelan is being accused of in moscow, in russia by russian president vladimir putin. how much pressure at this point does the president, does the biden administration have on bringing whelan home and what do you think the rate of success is? >> they have almost no leverage. this is vladimir putin's call. he made this deal. as happy as we are and we should be happy to have ms. griner home, vladimir putin is also celebrating today. he showed that he could bring

about the release of someone who the united states had captured and incarcerated. someone who is important to putin, someone who is important to his base. the lesson putin derives from this is leverage works. he's going to try to do the same thing with any other americans he's holding in captivity and he'll use it to get people out or use it for other political purposes. he's got larger interests here. he doesn't care about individuals' lives and all this takes place against the backdrop of american sanctions and the war in ukraine and so forth. for putin, capturing americans is simply one tool that he can use to advance his interest as he -- as he sees them. so we should expect at some point, he'll signal what might be the price to get other americans freed and good forbid he'll take additional americans captive. that's part of his tool kit. >> follow-up for you, richard,

if i can, do you think this deal should have been made and what price could that be going forward? are we looking at a possible negotiation when it comes to ukraine, to areas in which moscow wants to declare part of russia now? >> i think this deal should have been made. it's uneven in certain ways but this is who we are. we look after our own people. we believe in the value of human life. this is someone who never should have been taken in the first place. the fact that it's uneven, you make uneven trades because we want to show that we value the lives of our citizens. my sense is that at some point there will be other things for spies or what have you. but we're not going to sacrifice or compromise on matters of

principle involving ukraine or anything else to get americans back. >> that's completely different, other level of negotiations happening. i want to end with you, the president vowing to bring brittney griner home by christmas. he's succeeded at that. >> i think it's a huge plus for the president. i think he made a commitment. i think he's done it in as -- just -- it was uneven but certainly fair and equal to protect an american citizen who had only gone to russia to play basketball and with a russian team. she was helping russians. part of her teammates in russia testified at her trial. so this was putin using her as a political pawn and let's face it, the only reason, yasmin,

that she even went to russia is because they do not pay women basketball players the same they pay ben basketball players here. so brittney griner was victimized twice. and i'm glad to see that it's open today and i give all credit to president biden for staying on it. >> it's another conversation we need to have. thank you. we should mention, a new documentary on rev sharpton hits theaters tomorrow. tell me if this sounds familiar, classified documents found in former president trump's custody. where the latest ones were found and what it means for the investigation. later on in just a few minutes, speaker pelosi and senator schumer are going hold a

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welcome back, everybody. we are continuing to following the breaking news of brittney griner's release. at the other end of the prisoner swap is viktor bout. this guy is a russian arms dealer earning him the nickname the merchant of death. bout has completed less than half of his 25-year sentence. joining us now is tom winter and a former cia officer as well. this is a bad dude. >> he sure is. he was convicted of basically talking with two dea confidential sources trying to arrange an arms deal. he was arrested in thailand. these are the notes from that meeting. this is what viktor bout had written down, a copy of it, obviously, not the real notes. but he was convicted of at that

time trying to arrange a sale for 20,000 ak-47s, five tons of c-4 explosives, surface-to-air missiles, 700 to 800 of them, millions of rounds of ammunition and what the -- who he was going to sell them too was columbia who was intending to use these to kill americans and also shooting down u.s. air force planes. that's the end goal. but all along, these individuals were negotiating on behalf of the dea. they were paid by them to meet with bout to try to arrange this arms deal. the u.s. had had bout in his -- in their sights since 2004 when they put him on a treasury list specifically designated national. they were after him then. they allege that he was dealing arms back in the 1990s. obviously, they don't have a yearbook at the kgb or federal security service, better known

to us as the fsb. but he's somebody who u.s. intelligence officials for years believes he was part of the kgb training academies. somebody who has a significant background in foreign languages and might have had family connections to the old kgb. one thing i will mention, while his phonebook is obsolete at this point, he is somebody who knows where russian weapons are abroad and at a time when russia needs as many weapons as possible. could that potentially be a concern? time will tell. >> mark, two things i want to talk through with you. talk to me about the calculations here. putin has been after bout for quite some time. why? and was this a numbers decisions on behalf, you think, of the biden administration, ie, he was arrested in thailand 15 years ago. he would have gotten out likely on good behavior as well sooner than later.

>> so, yasmin, putin is simply doing what any leader or -- would do of an intelligence services -- he's getting one of his own back. viktor bout, there's lots of ties to russian intelligence. but he was serving as an agent of the kremlin as he was selling weapons all around the world arguably to those countries and entities that actually -- or allowed for u.s. soldiers and citizens to be killed. a really bad guy. this was someone that putin wanted back because he's one of his tribe. and i think that we can do two things here. we can celebrate with the griner family the release of an innocent american, but at the same time, question this one for one swap. it was an american hostage for a notorious intelligence/arms dealer who did a lot of harm to a lot of people around the world. president biden owns this. he knows that. but the notion that this is

going to be criticized, particularly by those in the intelligence community and the department of justice, i think that is warranted. >> tell us -- take us inside, if you can, it's a hard ask, this is enabling him, he's been on his heels for the last nine months during the war in ukraine. a lot of people overestimated the power of the russian military. he's been losing that war in ukraine, reports of his sanity, the people who surround him, his intention, so on and so forth. what does this do right now to putin's position? >> this certainly is a boon for putin. again, this is one of their own coming home. but ultimately what he used was kind of classic russian dirty tricks. griner was a u.s. athlete playing basketball in moscow, probably did a couple things she shouldn't have. russians caught her and at the time of their choosing, they arrested her. he used this to kind of -- the

old russian intelligence playbook, to in essence, save it for a day where he would have to extract something from the united states and that was viktor bout, someone who he wanted to come back. i think that one of the lessons in this, i hope most americans can understand this is, don't go to a country like russia. there's a lot of places around the world that are not safe, certainly right now with what's going on with russia, ukraine and the u.s. involvement, russia is not a safe place for americans. >> thank you. coming up, everybody, four months after the fbi searched mar-a-lago, two more classified documents have been recovered from former president trump. so what does that mean for the investigation? plus a massive victory for lgbtq rights on capitol hill with the final passage of the bill protecting the right to same-sex marriage, how soon it could become law. o same-sex marriage, how soon it could become law

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trump's legal team and the doj wading through this morning. the two additional documents with classified markings were found at a florida storage facility not far from his home at mar-a-lago and a search carried out at the direction of trump's attorneys. the documents have been turned over to the fbi. according to two people who spoke with nbc news confirming a report from "the washington post." this is all coming almost four months after the fbi searched mar-a-lago and found over a hundred documents with classified markings, including some marked top secret service. garrett haake is on capitol hill for us, also with me, josh dawsey, part of the team who broke the latest classified documents story, and lisa rubin, a legal analyst. talk us through what we know about these documents, the latest ones that were found, and the storage unit. >> what appears to have happened here, is that the trump team in reaction to the news that a special counsel would now be overseeing this investigation as well into these documents, attempted to do their own due

diligence to make sure that they were not in fact additional classified documents at any other properties owned or managed or visited by the former president and lo and behold, there were. in their review, they turned up these two additional documents at a storage unit that essentially related to a government facility. this is something where the gsa that helps former presidents move back to civilian life might have shipped something directly to this storage facility near mar-a-lago in west palm beach. these two additional documents join the 100 plus other documents seized in mar-a-lago. it's not clear what this does to if overall investigation, but the trump team is saying this is evidence that they are cooperating with these investigations, they say, look, we're doing the work to make sure justice has everything they need here. >> josh, expand on garrett's reporting, if you will, you were part of the team who broke this

by saying the search was one of at least three searches conducted by an outside team in recent weeks after trump's legal team was pressed by a federal to attest that it had fully complied with the may grand jury subpoena. nothing turned up at trump tower and bedminster. but there were documents held outside of mar-a-lago. that is now the obvious truth. what does this mean also for the ongoing doj investigation? >> so the backdrop here is there's been a very sharp fight ongoing, under seal in a d.c. federal courthouse between trump's attorneys and the department of justice. the department of justice remains quite peeve that had the former president's team responded to a subpoena they received earlier they did. they didn't give over a lot of documents and that led to the raid in mar-a-lago in august when they found more documents. and doj has continued to raise questions saying, we still don't

think you've given us everything. in response to that, the former president's team commissioned an outside firm to go look at these properties. bedminster, trump tower and the storage shed in florida. according to our sources, it's filled with boxes, gifts, suits, mementos. it's been there since he left office. and what has really frustrated doj here, they feel like the subpoena went out, six, seven months ago, and there's not been in their view full compliance. trump's team says this effort shows we're taking this seriously and they -- you know, are trying to convince doj or assuage doj's concerns. but there's not trust between the two parties right now. what you're seeing is some of this simmering fight that's going on about the documents has come to the fore with the search. >> is there any evidence, josh, to indicate that this was kind of a coordinated effort as to

what documents were being held at mar-a-lago versus the documents that were found at this storage unit. there was any purpose there? >> we have no -- to be clear, we're still endeavoring to figure out what the two classified documents at the storage shed were. but we don't know what they were at this point. we don't know why they were there and why everything else was at mar-a-lago. what was described to us and we've reported this in detail is the packing process at the end. people were throwing things in boxes. he had been a pack rat throughout his presidency and he had all sorts of boxes filled with documents. and things got ship today florida. once they were there, there was no effort by trump's team to catalog and determine exactly what went there. we've talked to multiple people about this.

there was no, you know, list, spreadsheet, this is here, this is here, this is here. these boxes and different gifts and everything were unloaded. some of them mar-a-lago, some of them at the shed and the search shows there was more at the storage facility than trump's team had previously acknowledged. >> lisa rubin, the former president did not fully comply repeatedly with this grand jury subpoena and now the discovery of additional classified documents at this storage unit, what type of legal trouble could he be in now? how could this elevate things for him? >> additional evidence of unlawful retention of documents that could impact the national security. and, yasmin, as you know, what matters for the law isn't whether it's classified or not, but how it impacts the national defense. >> secretary blinken is speaking now on the release of brittney griner and potential release of paul whelan. let's listen. >> this was not a choice of

which american to bring home, the choice was one or none. i wholeheartedly wish we could have brought paul home today on the same plane as britteny, just as at the time we could have brought britteny and paul home when we secured the release of trevor reed back in april. but we will stay at it. we continue to work with the whelan family who have been extraordinarily gracious and them in our thoughts and prayers always, but especially today. and we will never relent until paul and for that matter every other u.s. national held hostage or wrongly detained abroad is free and coming home and joining their families where they belong. now, turning to our meetings today, it's a particular pressure to have my friends

here. foreign minister -- >> secretary blinken there addressing the release of brittney griner this morning. the stunning release of brittney griner this morning. the president also addressing the nation earlier on today. speaking on the phone with brittney griner alongside her wife in the oval office and saying welcome home to britteny. of course, the secretary of state addressing the fact that paul whelan was not released saying this was a one or none negotiation. but the united states will not relent until paul whelan also comes home. lisa rubin, thank you, thanks for sticking with us through all after that. we're moving on here, democrats, they're celebrating on capitol hill after the final passage of the bill protecting the right to same-sex marriage. what we're hearing from them this morning. biden's new remarks on gun violence ten years after the sandy hook massacre. what he says about the possibility of a new assault weapons ban. we'll be back. assault weapons ban. we'll be back. until i finally found new downy rinse and refresh!

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welcome back, everybody. right now capitol hill, speaker pelosi is holding a bill enrollment ceremony for the respect for marriage act which protects same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. it now just needs president biden's signature to become law. ali vitali is on capitol hill for us with much, much more. an incredible day certainly for everybody across the country and certainly for the lgbtq community overall. talk to us. >> yeah, yasmin, i can hear those cheers reverberating down the hall from where i'm standing right now. a lot of work went into this day. starting over the summer after the dobbs decision from the supreme court that really spurred a lot of concerns about what other rights that were established and enshrined by the court could be taken on and potentially overturned. that's where you saw lawmakers spring into action, trying to put in place this safety net for

same-sex and interracial couples. so if the supreme court would revisit those protections, those couples would have protection for their marriages. it passed the senate in bipartisan fashion. we expected it to be smooth sailing as soon as it passed the senate version in large part because a less targeted version on religious liberties and freedoms passed the house over the summer. now it came back to the house earning two more republican votes than it had in july. passing this bill at a critical moment for speaker pelosi is one of the last things she'll do as speaker of the house. she said she's proud this is one of the last acts she's going to have as speaker. >> incredible moment for the lgbtq community. ali vitali for us, thank you. next week, everybody, marks exactly a decade since 20

children and six teachers were killed inside sandy hook elementary school. they're calling on congress to pass gun reform. president biden is the first sitting president to attend this vigil. >> to all of you here today, you are the light, you are literally the light and your loved ones and your friends, they're the light and they'll always be with you. >> let's talk about the politics behind all of this. joining me now is carol lee and shannon watts. carol, let me start with you on this one. this is a president who has repeatedly said outloud assault weapons must in fact be banned multiple times. why was it so important being the first president to attend

this vigil and make the statement that he made last night? >> yasmin, from the white house's perspective, it was important because tackling gun violence is an issue that the president has tried to make headway on since taking office. it's also something that has been part of his career in public office including when he was vice president, particularly after that sandy hook shooting. and what we heard from the president last night was talking about the pain that families feel when losing a loved one to such tragedy and he -- addressed the families of victims noted that they had turned that pain into action. and he, again, used this platform to call for that congress to pass that assault weapons ban. take a listen. >> to know we did it before. we did the and, guess what, it worked. a number of violent and mass murders reduced significant.

a lot of people's lives were saved. you know -- we can do it again. [ applause ] >> the president also highlighted that bipartisan gun safety legislation that he signed into law over the summer. when it comes to an assault weapons ban, we've heard from the president that he's going to count the vote in the lame duck session to see if there's the votes there. there's no evidence that that's happen and chances seem dim that congress will pass something, particularly with republicans taking control of the house. now the white house says this is something that the president is going to continue to talk about, that he thinks is a very important conversation for the country to be having. >> shannon, you started a facebook page directly after the sandy hook shooting to end gun violence ten years ago. ten years out. how are you feeling? >> so much has happened in the

last decade on this issue. a seismic shift in american politics. moms demand action happened and we're the largest grassroots movement in this country now with over 10 million supporters, we're twice as large as the nra. what i learned early on is that congress isn't where this work begins, it's where it ends. that's why we've passed hundreds of bills through state legislatures and policies through city councils and school boards. we've stopped nra's agenda 90% of the time every year for the last seven years. and we elected 140 of our own survivors to office this legislative congress. in fact, we just got 15 republicans to sign onto the first federal legislation passed in a generation. so so much has happened and, look, there's more to be done, but we really do have to look at the progress we've made so far.

>> there's a tweet that makes its rounds every time a shooting happens. i remember after uvalde we saw this a lot as well. and it is in retrospect, in retrospect, sandy hook marked the end of the u.s. gun control debate. it sends chills down your spine. the uphill battle we're facing in this country. how confident are you that the biden administration, the president can achieve an assault weapons ban? >> so, first of all, i dislike that tweet so much because it's cynical. and cynicism is an excuse for inaction. we need to stay hopeful and joyful and look at the progress we've made and know that we have the power to make so much more progress on this issue. of course, we need an assault weapons ban in this country. we need background checks and a red flag law and to unlock

dollars for community violence and intervention programs and we are doing that at a state level. but we're all only as safe as the closest state with the weakest gun laws. we need action from our government. look, if kevin mccarthy thinks the way he's going to make communities safer during his time in power is to block progress, then his majority will be short lived. if we learn nothing else in this last election, it's that gun violence prevention resonates with the voters and we will hold lawmakers accountable for their inaction. >> thank you for your positivity. we appreciate it. carol lee, thank you as well. all right, coming up, everybody, the last thing you want to do when your child is sick is to go from store to store looking for medicine. what has led to this national shortage of cold medicine and what you should do if you can't find any. we'll be right back. be right ba. this... is the planning effect. this is how it feels to know you have a wealth plan

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for drugs. that's due in part to the flu season. now the worst it has been in over a decade. according to one pharmacy group, over 260 medications used to treat the virus are in short supply. want to bring in sam brock who is in florida with more on this. this is a really big issue right now, especially as we are facing the fear and the reporting on this tripledemic, right, sam? what medications are really hard to come by at this moment? >> reporter: amoxicillin and tamiflu are the two we hear the most. so many parents are trying to struggle with this. the flu season is six weeks ahead of schedule. you mentioned we have rsv. there's overlap in terms of treatments. when you go to pharmacies, there are shortages right now. everything from antibiotics to anti-virals, even to kids over-the-counter medication. we see tylenol and advil. look at the empty spaces over here. there are a couple of advil for

kids. everything else is empty. the reality is so many parents are trying to figure out what products are in stock. the sharp onset of this year's flu season is creating a problem that's nothing to sneeze at. medicines in short supply from california -- >> it's hard to find medicine. >> reporter: to south florida. this mother of two is trying to track down treatments, unsuccessfully. >> there's hardly anything to choose from. it's very bare. >> reporter: the national surge in flu cases creating a shrinking pool of treatments. pharmacists like this one are shuffling around a sudden shortfall. >> my technician was trying to order amoxicillin. we are almost out of it. there's nothing available to order. >> reporter: it's not just the antibiotics. show me the amamoxicillin. >> this is all i have left. >> reporter: there's tamiflu

that now costs three times the price to restock. empty patches of shelves where drugs for kids used to be. >> there's nothing available. tylenol, motrin, eye boo -- ibuprofen, mucinex, all out. >> reporter: after isolation, flu exposure has come roaring back. according to data from good rx, fills for tamiflu are at their highest levels in nine years. it's one of more than 260 drugs in short supply according to the american society of health system pharmacists. the fda flagging a shortage of amoxicillin. why such a crunch? >> we want to give them something that works but isn't going to cause a lot of side effects. it's being used in abundance.

>> reporter: for a smoother path to treatment, doctors suggest having your pediatrician office calling the pharmacy before writing a prescription and asking about alternative treatments. we did speak with one of the makers of tamiflu. they say they are available. they have the supply to meet the demand. the reality is for so many parents who come in looking for the drugs, they are not finding it and many others as well. >> good advice. it's a troubling development, especially in the winter. sam brock, thank you. that does it for me. up next, andrea mitchell will talk to paul whelan's brother and john kirby. whelan's brothe and john kirby

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