population of about 10 million. it's been independent for 200 years. it has enormous potential. we owe them a chance. >> admiral james stavridis, it's always a pleasure to see you. thank you so much for being with us this morning. and today the quarterfinal matches kicking off at the world cup. if you're not watching, i can tell you, game one between brazil and croatia is under way. 0-0. they're in halftime. and at 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific, argentina will take on the netherlands who defeated the u.s. in the first round of the knockout stage last week. you can watch them in a number of places but you should watch them only on telemundo. even if you don't speak spanish, just by listening to how they do it, you'll understand it. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. i'll see you tomorrow night on

nbc "nightly news." thank you for the privilege of your time. lindsey reiser picks up with more news right now. ♪♪ good morning. i'm lindsey reiser at msnbc headquarters. following a lot of breaking news today. first, brittney griner is finally home. she touched down on u.s. soil early this morning in her home state of texas. her wife cherelle is with her once again after they were separated for nearly 300 days while griner was in russian custody. griner is getting medical attention as we see new reaction from her aboard a plane as she is freed. >> happy. >> do you know where you're headed to? >> no. i don't know where. you're flying back home. >> in moments, her road ahead as the white house is responding to criticism for releasing the so-called merchant of death. viktor bout without getting more from russia, like the release of

former marine paul whelan. >> the deal we got yesterday was the only deal we could get at the time. but that doesn't mean that there's not going to be options going forward. the senate shake-up rocking capitol hill. >> registering as an independent and showing up to work with the title of independent is a reflection of who i've always been. >> with arizona senator kyrsten sinema now switching party affiliations to democrat to independent, what does it mean for democrats' control of the senate and their agenda, and what will it mean for sinema's political future. the one, two, three punch of covid, rsv and flu is getting worse. there are medication shortages as flu cases surge, pushes hospitals to the brink again. ahead inside this growing crisis and what you need to know to

stay safe. we start with the latest on brittney griner's release from russian captivity and her return to the u.s. this morning. kerry sanders is in texas where griner is getting medical attention, monica alba is at the white house and with me former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. kari, first to you, what are the next steps for griner now that she's back on u.s. soil and back with her wife. >> reporter: i'm in front of the brook army medical center which is where brittney griner was brought as she touched down here today. let's take a look again at that video of -- as she got off the plane. you can see the energy in her step. she seems to be very strong and in this shot we have of her getting off before she was brought over to the medical center. it's important to note, as there has been relatively robust flow of information coming from the state department, now we're in

that period where things sort of change. as we look at some of the pictures of brittney griner here, i'm going to read to you the statement from the state department that was just given to us that says the u.s. government is focused on ensuring that brittney griner and her family's well-being are prioritized and that all assistance available be offered in an appropriate manner. due to privacy reasons and out of respect to the family, we do not have anything additional to provide. which, of course, makes sense at this point, you know. she's been through quite an ordeal. ten months, a good portion of that in rather restrictive areas. remember, she's 6'9". the last month she's been at this penal colony, we have pictures of it. it's about 300 miles from moscow. in that penal colony which is rather notorious for incredibly harsh conditions. on top of the physical challenges, there is the mental challenge and the folks here

have expertise in dealing with americans who have been held by foreign governments, who have been held hostage, to help them not only with the physical return, but also the mental return. sergeant -- trevor reed, they have the expertise to help her make that adjustment. when you look at that exchange on the tarmac there in abu dhabi and you do the calculation of how long she was just from there getting here to san antonio, we're talking about 21 1/2 hours. so on top of everything else she's been through, anybody, even a top athlete would be exhausted to be on a plane that long doing that sort of travel. may very well be -- even though we don't have exact information. it may be that she's sleeping right now. lindsey? >> as we saw in that video, the

first time we're seeing brittney griner in that penal colony doing work. that short clip that we saw. the white house, obviously, celebrating this, but also facing some criticism, releasing a so-called merchant of death and not securing the release of american paul whelan. and i want to play some reaction from paul whelan speaking to cnn from a russian prison yesterday. >> i don't understand why i'm still sitting here. i'm greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. >> and whelan's sister elizabeth appeared on msnbc minutes after her phone call with president biden yesterday afternoon. our colleague asked her what they discussed and this is part of what she said. >> our family is delighted to see brittney coming home. if there was a plan available, i think they would have put it into play. but i believe everyone is highly committed and is doubling down on that commitment to get paul home. i don't know what it's going to take. all i know is that we have to

try something perhaps different. >> do we have any idea of what that different could be, monica, as the white house makes it clear they're not giving up on this? >> there's a couple of responsibilities. the major takeaway is that senior administration officials are now saying we are going to continue to commit to seeing if we can bring paul whelan home. but we're not going to be doing this kind of negotiating in the public eye. that was a strategy that they experimented with over the summer when the initial deal was put forward to see if they could bring home both griner and whalen in exchange for viktor bout and we know that the russians never seriously considered that offer, then they didn't put forward their own counter offer. i think you're seeing here a slight shift, perhaps, in how they could approach this going forward. but the other really important context here is that the russians consider paul whelan's case to be in a different category because they believe he was a spy. those were the espionage charges, of course, that he was

convicted with, even though paul whelan has maintained his innocence throughout this process. so because here especially have this choice put forward that was either bring brittney griner home or bring no one home as we learned yesterday when they were explaining the rational for how this all worked out. it's possible that now perhaps could there be another russian spy in u.s. custody that would be a swap for paul whelan? the issue is, there don't seem to be any obvious ones. is there something else here as the war in ukraine continues and the u.s. is very clear in its support for ukraine, is there something that russia wants there as it relates to sanctions, potential lichlt could there be some kind of other foreign policy deal here that president biden could ask for in exchange. it's unclear. are these other avenues that the u.s. is going to pursue? the president implied they're going to do everything they can. the other important thing here is that before making this deal, they did have to conclude a

national security assessment for viktor bout because his release, the fact that he's still a fairly young arms dealer is something they had to consider here before making this deal and here's a little bit more from national security spokesman john kirby on that calculation. >> we did an assessment before we made this trade. a national security assessment which we normally do. that was done in this case. we believe that we're going to be able to continue to protect and defend national security interests whether it's from a man like mr. bout or anybody else that might threaten it. it's going to be a decision for mr. bout to make. but we're going to make sure we stay vigilant. >> that's another big part of this process as they continue. and brittney griner home before the holidays, a huge goal for president biden, but he says he has not forgotten the other americans detained around the world. >> i want to ask you about issues that monica brought up then. first, we heard from vladimir putin this morning. he's saying other swaps are

possible and that this creates a certain atmosphere where context can continue. what do you think we're going to see here with hopefully the future release of paul whelan? >> well, president putin's comments were encouraging. that was surprising to me. that suggests that there are other possible deals to be made as you were just discussing. it's hard to imagine who is -- who would be the right fit for somebody given that viktor bout was the best person we had to trade. by the way, i think the trade was a hard call, but the right call. it's better to have somebody out and in diplomacy. i've negotiated with the russians over similar kinds of issues when i was in the government. you get to a point in a negotiation and then you got to decide, do i take the deal or walk away. they chose to take this deal and i think it was the right one. and i hope it leads to momentum for others. first and foremost, paul whelan, but there's another american that i think should get more attention. mark fogle. i know him personally.

he was a teacher at the high school that my kids went to when i was a u.s. ambassador. he was wrongly -- and i think, arrested for similar charges like brittney griner. i hope that he also will get consideration if indeed there is a way to begin a process of negotiations to get these americans back. >> secretary of state antony blinken did say paul whelan and all other americans who we believe are wrongly detained. there is a list. monica was talking about john kirby saying we're going to stay vigilant of viktor bout. he's known as the merchant of death. how much more dangerous is our world with viktor bout back in it and no longer behind bars? >> he's a real criminal. he's a -- he was arrested when i worked at the white house. it was a fantastic operation that we got him in jail.

and he did really horrible things all over the world. that said, the idea that he's going to go back now and do those things again, i think we need to wait and see. tragically, there's a lot of really other really, really bad people in russia right now. they're fighting in places like ukraine and all over the world. so we have our hands full in containing all of them. i'm not that worried that viktor bout somehow is going to strengthen the team of bad guys out of russia. it's already a pretty formidable team right now. >> okay. kerry sanders, monica alba and michael mcfaul, thank you. up next, days after democrats got to 51 votes in the u.s. senate, arizona senator kyrsten sinema says she's leaving the party. >> nothing is going to change for me. i don't think anything is going to change for arizona. >> what it means for the delicate balance of power in the senate and sinema's political future. plus, will a judge hold the

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this morning we're following a seismic shake-up in the senate. arizona's kyrsten sinema has announced she's changing her party affiliation from democrat to independent. this comes just three days after democrats secured that 51-49 senate majority with a crucial win in georgia. sinema explained her decision in a new video she tweeted out this morning. >> registering as an independent and showing up to work with the title of independent is a reflection of who i've always been. and it's a reflection of who

arizona is. i'm going to be the same person i've always been. that's who i am. >> ryan nobles is here with the latest and i'm also joined by former california democratic senator barbara boxer. ryan, what has reaction been like from democrats and what does this mean both for democrats' control of the senate and for her own re-election bid in 2024? >> reporter: right now, lindsey, democrats here on capitol hill seem pretty confident that sinema's decision to register as an independent isn't going to change the makeup of how they do business all that much. there's precedent for this. there are two independent senators who are already registered independents but caucus with the democrats, support chuck schumer as majority leader and organize with democrats. and sinema has indicated that she's going to follow that path. in fact, she's said in interviews already that she doesn't envision the makeup of the senate being all that different.

and functionally she really has operated as an independent. she's broke from her party on a number of big issues that were hotly debated over these past two years and really frustrated a lot of democrats because she stood in the way of some key aspects of the biden agenda and that really gets us to the second part of your question, lindsey, how does it impact her back in her home state? it seemed pretty clear that she was likely going to face a stiff democratic primary challenge and this may be an opportunity for her to rid that problem and just run as an independent because there are actually more independent voters in the state of arizona than there are registered democrats. from an organizational standpoint, fund-raising, all those things, that does make it a little bit more difficult for her. but sinema hasn't officially said she's running in 2024, but this decision seems a lot more driven at her re-election hopes than necessarily how she behaves here in washington. >> senator, how could this potentially disrupt the

democrats' hard-fought majority. >> i agree with everything that's been said. it's not going to change a thing. i served with bernie sanders and with angus king registered independents. as long as they caucus with the democrats, they're just there -- they're colleagues that are respected and they stick with the democrats most times. i looked at senator sinema's record. it is more than 90% voting with joe biden. there have been some defections which really hurt the hearts of lots of democrats, including me, when she would not lift the filibuster for important things like voting rights. so that -- that hurts. but it's not going to change what happens. remember, she was a green -- she was in the green party when she started out. then she became a democrat. maybe this will resolve it for her. but i think it's all about her re-election. now she won't be in a primary.

i looked up the rules in arizona, you know, she could just put her name out there and it's basically a third, a third, a third. a third republican, a third democrat, a third independent. it will be a mess. but in terms of running the show for chuck schumer, nothing has changed really. >> senator, you know the upper chamber better than most. can you give us a ground-level explanation, what exactly senator sinema is giving up by leaving the party. what could change for her? >> in terms of what happens in the senate, nothing changes at all. she just continues to meet with the democrats. what does that mean. every tuesday there's a lunch for both parties. she'll go with the democratic caucus. if she had said i'm not going to be part of the democratic caucus, that would have been a thunder bolt. she didn't say that. she said she's going to continue to caucus with the democrats and she's going to do her thing

which is obviously step out from time to time away from what schumer asked her to do and the voters in arizona are going to decide if they like it or they would rather have someone who actually runs as a democrat or a republican. >> how does it impact her fund-raising? she'll no longer have access to the campaign arm of the dcc, right? >> yes. i think it does make a difference there. and i don't know who makes up her fund-raising base. but, you know, again, frankly, when i ran, gosh, it was so expensive. it was $40 million back in 2010 which was my last race. and i can tell you, you still have to do it on your own. honestly, i don't think this changes that much of anything because a lot of the big money democrats were upset with her and, you know, we'll see what happens. if a democrat does run and she

runs and a republican runs, it's up for grabs. >> all right. ryan nobles, barbara boxer, to be continued, i'm sure. thank you so much. up next, quote, we're just desperate. that's what a herschel walker campaign staffer told walker's own son in the middle of the race. we got new details about exactly what happened behind the scenes of his troubled senate campaign. could former president trump's team face even more legal problems? why the justice department wants to hold his office in contempt and the latest on the investigations next. investigations next. new subs for the all-new subway series menu the new monster has juicy steak and crispy bacon. but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick? ugh, this rental car is so boring to drive. let's be honest. the rent-a-car industry is the definition of boring. and the reason can be found in the name itself. rent - a - car?

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familiar with the documents. nbc news ken dilanian is here and i'm joined by former federal and state prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. ken, do we know if there's any link between this new development from the doj related to contempt and then the discovery of those additional classified documents in florida? >> it's part of the mosaic, lindsey. and the doj is, in fact, asking this judge to hold the office of the former president in contempt for failing to comply with the grand jury subpoena issued in may. they've already gotten a search warrant after the failure to come play with the grand jury subpoena. they convinced the judge that there was probable cause that a crime had been committed. this additional step of asking that the office be held in contempt and this is all happening in secret in d.c. because it involves grand jury

proceedings, is a little bit hard to fathom. but it shows that the justice department is still negotiating with the trump team and trying to make sure that they have all the classified documents. as you said, we confirmed that the trump team actually conducted volunteerary searches of trump properties and they found in a storage facility two documents marked classified and turned them over to the fbi. and the implication is that the other searches didn't turn you were any classified documents. but i don't think we can say that definitively. it's a bit of a mystery. but it does show that this mar-a-lago investigation is very much active and the two sides are in active negotiations and disputes. >> can you pull on that thread for me that ken started out with? do you agree that this contempt could be hard to fathom? >> well, as i understand it, what it means to me is that they're worried about documents being in places outside of

mar-a-lago. the search warrant that they got, that the department of justice got was just from mar-a-lago and this, i believe, tells us that they're continuing to talk about other places where documents might be. i also think that this news about wanting to hold the office in contempt tells us that trump's lawyers are coming against some of their own limits as officers of the court because it seems that the department of justice has been asking them to designate a custodian of records and certify that there is nothing else. that everything that the department wants has been turned in. and they are unwilling to do that and that's at the heart of this contempt motion. there are lines that lawyers cannot cross, even when their clients ask them to do that, and i think this is a theme because the other thing that happened

this week is that trump's lawyers did not ask for a stay of the 11th circuit ruling shutting down the special master because i think that was another limit for them not to make a completely baseless application for a stay that would have, i think, enraged the court. >> ken, what does that lack of appeal mean now for this investigation moving forward? >> it means that the doj gets access to all the documents that the fbi seized at mar-a-lago. they had already gotten access to the classified documents based on the court's earlier imp position of the stay and now they get everything including personal correspondents, tax records, whatever it was that trump had in his office that the doj took. and they said in court papers that getting access to that material would help accelerate this investigation, would help them do their work. and so that's where they are now and it seems pretty obvious the trump team didn't take this any

further, they got slammed in the court opinion by the 11th circuit that found no merit in any of the documents that the trump team made in favor of the special master or in judge aileen cannon's order. >> there's a pretty big unanswered question here when it comes to the house january 6th committee investigation and that is who could be targeted with criminal referrals when they release their final report on december 21st. do you think there's an increased likelihood that trump is among those referred? >> well, there is some reporting that they are considering him and some of the people around him who cluster around the issue of election interference. the idea of denying the election and trying to interfere with its certification. and i think what's important is these referrals are going to come with receipts. so often when congress makes criminal referrals, it's kind of in the form of a request, like, could you please look into the following and investigate it. here, the referrals will come

with all of the incredible work that the committee has done. some of which we have seen and some of which we have not seen to date. and i think it will give these referrals a force that they usually don't have. >> leave it there. thank you. this morning we're learning explosive new details about republican herschel walker's unsuccessful campaign to unseat georgia democratic senator raphael warnock. staff tell nbc news that the football star was difficult to manage and not prepared for such a brutal campaign. there was also a bruising disagreement on whether to focus on attacking his opponent or fund-raising. that particular blowout culminated with an adviser shouting, if you think we're going to win a campaign with no money, you're smoking drugs. marc caputo joins me now.

walk us through here all of the issues with the walker campaign that you're hearing from these insiders for the first time. >> the ultimate issue is herschel walker. he had a terrible past which they knew would come back to haunt him. before he decided to officially announce in august of 2021, he hired a team of run a background check of him. and they said we found 500 pages of dirt on you in two weeks and god only knows what else is out there. he decided to run and soon the staff, according to what i've been told, had problems managing the candidate, had problems keeping him on message. early in the morning on repeated nights in december, you know, late at night, 4:00 a.m., i don't know if you want to call that morning or night, he would post videos on twitter. so staff reached out to his son christian walker in the winter and they said, hey, can you help

us out and get your dad to stop posting this stuff. christian walker did and that happened. months later in june of this year, there were increased problems. it looked like he had secret love children out there, rumors about him paying for an abortion or trying to get women with whom he had associated to get abortions and he was running as an antiabortion candidate. staff had trouble finding out about his past. they reached out to christian walker and said can you help us with your dad, with messaging. and he said, what do you mean? he said, tell him not to be a moron on tv. you have it on screen there. and she then closed the message saying, look, we're desperate. it was a good example of how the campaign just had trouble getting through to the candidate, keeping him on message, getting him to listen to advice and getting him to be honest with them about his past so that they could prepare for the success of waves that kept washing over the transom of the

campaign. ultimately those waves did wash across the boat and ultimately on tuesday the ss herschel walker finally sank. >> christian walker, isn't the same son that lambasted his dad on social media? i want to also ask you before we let you go about your reporting about how walker's campaign was unconventionally structured? >> yes, christian walker became disturbed by a pattern of lies by his dad. once the abortion story broke, he said, that's it. as for the way the campaign was structured, no one was empowered to make decisions and it meant that decisions large and small were, according to what we were told, micromanaged by the candidate and his wife. as a result, decisions that should have been normally made by professional staff quickly, ground to a halt with the candidate who is concerning

himself with these matters and that the staff, therefore, couldn't do. things like even a vendor contract for merchandise that the campaign store would sell, that got bogged down from the candidate examining the contract needlessly and that was kind of one example of how things were slowed. he decided to hire two media consultants, a campaign doesn't need two media consultants. he was not listening to staff, it turns out there was a graveyard full of skeletons and it came back haunted. >> thank you for your reporting. coming up, if you're getting ready for a holiday road trip, it won't take quite a big of a toll on your wallet as last year. what's led to the drop in gas prices and how long it could last. growing frustrations in

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because just one dose can help protect me from pneumococcal pneumonia. ask your doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated with prevnar 20® today. the so-called triple-demic of respiratory illnesses is getting worse as the holidays approach. now hospitals already facing the triple threat of flu, rsv and covid cases are being pushed to their limit. in fact, the cdc says flu hospitalizations have reached 75,000 so far this season. the highest in more than a decade. many medications to fight these illnesses are hard to come by right now. gabe gutierrez is in boston with a look at how hospitals are coping. >> reporter: hospitals across the country are now having to get creative to keep up with this triple-demic. first, it was finding extra beds for patients. now some are having to mix their own medications to deal with

shortages. at boston's mass general for children, health care workers are compounding their own albuterol, medication that helps children with rsv breathe easier. >> it's concerning. it's a totally different change in workflow for pharmacy and nursing. >> reporter: it takes 4 1/2 hours to mix the ingredient to make just 15 syringes. >> if a patient can't breathe, and we can't give them this drug, it's a life-or-death scenario. >> reporter: many other medications are also running low. >> this is the worst flu season for my family ever. i've had trouble getting liquid tamiflu as well as capsules. >> reporter: if your flu medicine is sold out, getting a medication that targets a specific symptom you're feeling instead. >> our shelves in certain -- at

certain times have been completely empty of one product and then it comes back on and then it's empty of another product. >> reporter: while rsv may be leveling off in some places, the flu is soaring. the cdc saying flu hospitalizations this season are up to 78,000. over the past month, the system has seen flu cases jump by more than 1100%. >> how busy have the last few weeks been here? >> we've seen an increase in patients coming into the er. >> reporter: only a quarter of adults and 40% of the children in the u.s. have received a flu shot this season. >> he did not. he's been here for two days. >> reporter: this 5-year-old boy has been sick with covid, rsv and the flu all within the past month. >> it's all at once. it's -- there's no break in between. so his lungs honestly don't stand a chance.

>> reporter: thankfully jack is recovering right now. one other piece of positive news is that the fda has just cleared the way for doses of the updated covid vaccines for children under 5. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez. thank you so much. joining me right now to discuss this is a senior scholar at the johns hopkins center for health security. doctor, i want to talk to you about this medication. that's really scary. drugs like tamiflu, amoxicillin hard to come by right now. even over the counter medicines. why is this and what should people do if they or a loved one gets sick? >> it's likely because the manufacturers don't forecast this increase in demand. so it doesn't seem that it's a national shortage, it seems to be geographically restricted, and that's a good thing. it's not been a supply chain disruption, it's poor

forecasting of demand. many of these drugs are interchangeable and you need to have some information about what you can substitute drug "x" for drug "y." i think it's important to talk to your doctor, provider about what are the different alternatives if you can't find that original thing you may want, nyquil, dayquil. >> that's good advice. some health officials are recommending that people mask up. for a lot of folks they're saying, i'm done with the mask. what are your thoughts and, you know, if, for example, in an office setting we're not wearing a mask but in a public transit setting we are, are we still doing some good? >> it's clear that masks do stop the transmission of respiratory viruses. but what i think is -- it's not one size fits all. it all depends upon how much you're trying to avoid these

common viruses. when you're in crowded places, a mask might be something you can use to protect yourself from getting infected. i don't think we're at the point where mask mandates are going to be something that we need or should use. i think recommendations especially for the high risk are the best way to go about this and that's something that probably will carry forward even after this respiratory virus season, people who are high risk, will be more comfortable wearing masks in those high-risk situations. >> last year, we had omicron. this year, it seems like people are feeling comfortable to gather. what should we know? >> there's some risk that these respiratory viruss are going to transmit. it will be important to make sure that nobody is sick that's attending these events. try to get people to stay home. we have home covid tests. we have a lot of knowledge about what leads to transmission. if you can open windows, have things outdoors, that can make your holidays less virus-ridden.

>> doctor, thank you so much. appreciate it. coming up, a huge relief for drivers across the country. the price of gas is cheaper than it was a year ago. what you need before your holiday road trip. holiday road . hey! that's mine. i'll buy you a pony. advanced hydration isn't just for kids. pedialyte helps you hydrate during recovery. moderate-to-severe eczema. it doesn't care if you have a date, a day off, or a double shift. make your move and get out in front of eczema with steroid-free cibinqo. not an injection, cibinqo is a once-daily pill for adults who didn't respond to previous treatments. and it's proven to help provide clearer skin and relieve itch fast. cibinqo continuously treats eczema whether you're flaring or not. cibinqo can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. before and during treatment,

your doctor should check for infections and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. do not take with medicines that prevent blood clots. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, lung, skin and other cancers, serious heart-related events, and blood clots can happen. people 50 and older with heart disease risk factors have an increased risk of serious heart-related events or death with jak inhibitors. it's time to get out in front of eczema. ask your doctor about once-daily cibinqo.

the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you're not at risk for shingles? it's time to wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention. the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. for more on the new boss, here's patrick mahomes. incredible - meatballs, fresh mozzarella and pepperon- oh, the meatball's out! i thought he never fumbles. the new subway series. what's your pick? moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection.

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north carolina law enforcement is intensifying the investigation into the shootings that disabled two north carolina power stations. two law enforcement officials are investigating whether any online conspiracy theories were motivation. no single theory is a focus. no suspect or suspects are being zeroed in on. tens of thousands lost power for days. it raises security concerns for the entire u.s. electric grid. according to nbc news analysis of public energy department reports, outside of weather, suspected and confirmed physical attacks on electric grid infrastructure were the largest cause of electrical disturbance events since 2014. even with prices sky high for many necessities, there's some good news. prices at the pump are

declining. according to aaa, the national average for a gallon is $3.29. that's more than ten cents less than last week. some say there's room for that number to drop by christmas. with us is the host of "full disclosure." what's causing this. >> there are three reasons. this is a seasonal drop. this is brought on by two other things. one, we have refineries making more gas. number two is china. china is the world's third largest consumer of gas. with their zero covid policy, people can't drive. so the cars are staying parked. people are not buying gas. back in june, we were seeing prices $5 a gallon. right now, we are just about at $3.30. if you fill up today, it will cost you $41.

back in june, look at this number, $63. you probably fill up three, four times a month. that $20 does add up. there are price drops in the west and the great lakes with the largest price drops happening in wisconsin, indiana, michigan. just about 85 cents around all of them. >> gas prices are at the lowest level in a year. 25 states with gas prices below where they were a year ago. after an abysmal year with record high prices in virtually every state, we are finally seeing relief in every state. >> this is a trend that will continue in the weeks ahead. he said around christmas, expect to see that number below $3 a gallon. >> wow. a lot has been made of opec

announcing going forward with plans to reduce oil production. so far, we aren't feeling it. should we brace for things to change? >> it's a cat and mouse game. we have had demand. there was opec not thrilled with biden's release. it boils down to china and demand and people we know from the summer peak vacation driving season curtailed plans. you are seeing that now. a lot of traders were worried about a harsh winter in europe and the united states pulling up demand for natural gas, heating oil, the btu in general. that has not come to pass yet. it is on the margin good news. to the extent it reflects concerns about recession, there's bad news on the horizon. you recall in 2008, oil hit $140 a barrel plus. gas was hitting $4.50 a barrel.

we fell into this economic collapse. >> what about the g7 imposing a price cap on russia oil? what affect could that have on prices? >> there was concern that russia would retaliate and cut back in capacity. but russia needs all the revenue it can get. again, it's a game of chicken and cat and mouse. they need to sell that stuff to fund this longer than expected war in ukraine that we did not come into this year thinking that vladimir putin was doing anything more than bluffing. now that it's ground out into this long grind, the market is trying to price it in. china has not broken out. in the united states, the tripledemic. what extent does that bite us in january and february when demand for heating oil is supposed to be high? more questions than answers. having said that, exxonmobile is

announcing this $50 billion plan to return money to shareholders. some are feeling flush. >> thank you. that does it for me this busy hour. "andrea mitchell reports" starts next. " starts next ugh, this rental car is so boring to drive. let's be honest. the rent-a-car industry is the definition of boring. and the reason can be found in the name itself. rent - a - car? you don't want a friend. you want the friend. you don't want a job. you want the job.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," brittney griner arriving at an air base in texas. now at a military hospital after a harrowing 300 daysn