david schuster has the day off. sarah palin goes global. she resurfaced today in hong kong speaking to a conference of investors. the event was closed to the media. the associate press obtained a portion of her speech recorded by someone actually inside. >> i'm going to call it like i see it and i will share with you candidly a view right from main street, main street usa, and how perhaps my view of main street representing perhaps a lot of other people, how that affects you and your business. >> the former republican vice presidential candidate criticized for her lack of foreign policy experience was making her first visit to asia. during her 90-minute speech she touched on afghanistan, u.s./china relations and health care. she was accompanied by a former

foreign policy adviser to john mccain. >> was palin laying the first brick for a 2012 presidential run? those who attended said she did not mention president obama by name but called his campaign promises nebulous and saying now americans are asking more government, is that the change we want. lois ramono joins us. what is the point of a speech with that tone? >> she had multiple goals. she had to do something. for the last year she was living her own version of "i love lucy." >> in what a way? >> so much drama, a lack of discipli discipline. the mccain campaign trashing her, the boyfriend of the daughter trashing her, she's quitting. one big drama after another. so she had to do something serious to get out there. secondly, she has no foreign

policy credentials at all. this is her first time out of north america giving a speech. she had a text she didn't deviate from. no reporters were let in the room and she took no unscripted questions. >> one individual seemed to be offended by the language the former governor used. she did not refer to the current president by name but talked about the administration in saying things like nebulous and utopian society there. is that a mistake to try to go after this administration or is it better to talk about what she could bring to the conversation? >> i think in this case she did okay with that. >> okay. >> she didn't get too far afield. historically, she has been very critical and screechy about the president and a little bit kind of pushing the australian envel. she took a very conservative and i mean conservative in the

broadest sense, take on it. she took the republican view. she said no big government. no more taxes. she stayed with the party line. she was extremely careful. didn't want to have any mistakes and wanted to punch this ticket. >> lois, it is norah o'donnell here. >> hi, norah. >> do you think this was about her trying to sort of get out there for 2012 or do you think this was about collecting a big, fat paycheck for a speech? >> oh, probably a little bit of both. i think she definitely is eyeing 2012. she had a base that was very supportive of her. even the base is skeptical that she is ready for primetime. this was an opportunity to make some money and speak in a very controlled environment. i think overall, "the wall street journal" moved a story on it and overall the reviews have

been pretty good. a lot of times when she speaks she becomes the laughing stock quickly. the reports are pretty good. >> lois rahmmono. i'm curious when the former governor will take some questions and allow someone to challenge things she has been saying particularly infamous questions about the death panel. >> great question. i don't think she is going to sit down soon. the next big round of interviews is will probably be when her book comes out. the question is whether she will do her homework in the meantime, get together and organization as lois very smartly pointed out. it has been like an "i love lucy" affair. homeland security secretary janet napolitano say all americans need to be vigilant.

>> these officials have arrested three men in connection with an alleged al qaeda bomb plot and they believe there may be some others involved. >> given recent events across the federal government we've been working were closely, sharing information and coordinating resources to ensure that we're doing everything possible to keep americans safe. >> meanwhile, there are new concerns that some nypd detectives bungled the terror investigation by blowing the surveillance of a suspect. they questioned an imam. evan, do you believe police may have botched this to some degree and what are the consequences of that? >> botched is a strong word.

we only have criminal come complaints. i don't think it is any surprise or any revelation. there have been tensions between the fbi counterterrorism unit and nypd intel unit. two units that have essentially the same task and trying to divvy up resources and sometimes priorities conflict. hopefully that is not what happened here. it is fair to say from what i understand not everyone in this nypd unit -- look, their mission is to protect new yorkers. they are doing everything they can possible. i don't think they are taking measures they think are unnecessary. it may be that more coordination was needed. >> what do you think is the next step in this investigation? how many more arrests could we see? >> the search for possible storage units, storage

containers in the past with a l analogous storage facilities to hold bomb making ingredients. certainly from what is going on right now, that is what the fbi is looking for. a possible bomb-making laboratory, somewhere where bomb making ingredients were being stored. if we find that, that would be a major indication there was a real terrorist plot in the works. it will be interesting to see if there is a firm connection to a training camp in pakistan. what catch was it? who was running the camp? is this an al qaeda camp? we have seen americans trained in pakistan in camps not necessarily run by al qaeda but akin with al qaeda, part of al

qaeda's larger mission. is this a plot? is there a plot here for real and if so, was this being directed from abroad or was this the work of individuals here in the u.s.? >> that is really the key question. evan, you are brilliant as always. thank you so much. you know what, tamron. that is going to be one of the key things. is there someone in pakistan who is directing this and if so, that raises a lot of new questions. >> it is interesting what secretary napolitano said, you touched on, in her words, we have to be vigilant and aware. there are people out there who want to harm those of us in this country. this is a reminder. this investigation starts to unfold and the number of people that could be involved certainly grows. coming up, legal troubles for john edwards. this is an incredible story. the more we learn, it is shocking, what he paid to his

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welcome back to "the big picture." president obama on the world stage addressing the united nations general assembly. the audience of world leaders and diplomats applauded the president. in a departure from his predecessor, he asked the

chamber to join him in solving the world's problems saying the u.s. can't do it alone. >> those who used to chastise america for acting alone cannot stand by and wait for america to solve the world's problems alone. we have sought in word and deed a new era of engagement with the world. and now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges. >> the global challenges that president obama spoke about, a nuclear weapons free world, increased security from terrorism, peace in the middle east and climate change. libyan leader moammar qaddafi addressed the chamber. most diplomats left the chamber before his 96-minute speech.

one of the people who left was secretary of state hillary clinton and susan rice, ambassador to the u.n. and family members of those killed on the pan am flight are furious. they were protesting scotland's decision to release the controversial release. >> the problem is some of your citizens will forever believe and a fair number of americans is it was as a result of a deal and that had to do with oil. >> there was no deal. i can give you an absolute assurance there was no deal on oil. there was no deal on anything else. there was no double dealing. there was no conspiracy, there was no prior agreement or anything. this was a decision we did not have control of because it was made under the law of our

country by the scottish administration. there was no deal. >> we're hearing that qaddafi may be headed to donald trump's estate. he will be there sometime soon. as you can imagine, they are not happy about it. congressman -- we just got this information in in the last hour. according to the county executive the secret service told them qaddafi is going to be there and they have asked the county police along with the state police to help protect him. your reaction? >> this is absolutely, positively unacceptable. i mirror the emotions of the families killed under this known act of terrorism brought about and protected and welcomed back to libya by mr. qaddafi.

we have a bill in the house recently introduced 36-11 that prohibits the travel of sponsors of state terrorism. i intend to amend it to include the leadership of libya what, in my opinion, should be on that list unequivocally. >> what do you make the libyan government was able to secure donald trump's estate for colonel qaddafi to use to pitch his tent? >> i spent my whole life in the military. we used to call this a tremendous snafu. what i want to do is make it legally impossible for these tyrants who do harm to americans and american citizens and maneuver into the united nations under our protection and enjoy protections f our country. maybe we ought to have them sleep on their coaches. i understand diplomatic law. the need of the work in the

united nations. i understand they ought to be restricted to their airplanes, united nations and their offices and out of here. we are going to work diligently to bring an amendment to this bill and the bill to the floor to make a point to the world you cannot continue to behave this way. it is an outrage he is in this country. it is an outrage he is abusing hi rights to go to the united nations and it has to stop. >> congressman eric massa. e. brian williams interviews continue on "nbc nightly news." donald trump, it sounds like their organization was duped. they didn't know it was going to be qaddafi. >> the trump associates say the property was leased on a

short-term basis with middle east partners who may or may not have a relationship with qaddafi. maybe we will hear something soon on what their investigation or whatever their part in it is. we have other breaking news i want to tell our audience about. u.s. general david petraeus endorses stanley mccrystal's afghan assessment. which would call for an increase in troops. we know that president obama has met with members of his cabinet. there was a report in the "times" today, norah, he is considering a suggestion made by vice president joe biden not to increase troop levels but focus on areas near the afghan/pakistan border where al qaeda and perhaps osama bin laden is still there. general petraeus endorsing general mccrystal's assessment

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well, there are a lot of things considered news in this world. >> norah, there are only a few stories that make us say -- no way! >> people in australia woke up to dust that blocked the view of sydney's most famous landmarks. the eerie haze was part of the worst dust storm in 70 years. a 3-year-old boy is free after getting his head caught between two concrete pillars in china. he was playing hide and seek with his friends when he got stuck between the two buildings.

it took crews several hours using a chizle el, plastic belt, lubricating oil and a saw. besides a head ache, he will be okay. >> norah, hello dalai. the dalai lama didn't seem to mind the greeting or the first bump. maybe is is why the dalai lama adjusts with the times. goes with the flow. he didn't -- >> that was right up there with hello dalai. >> if you let it stretch, i'm going to start singing. we better move on. >> we have one more no way story before the break. germany's most famous polar bear

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cnbc market wrap. the dow dropping 81 points, s&p 500 down 10 and the nasdaq lost 14. the u.s. economy is on the mend, the federal reserve deciding to leave rates unchanged. the fed decided to slow purchases of mortgage-related debt. general mills beat analyst expectations with first-quarter profits. up more than 50%. a lot less produced. yahoo! is gearing up to pump $15 million in an ad campaign to target yahoo! 600 million users worldwide. i will spare you the yahoo! yodel. that's it for cnbc first in business worldwide. now back to msnbc. >> welcome back. i'm tamron hall, live in new

york. >> i'm norah o'donnell live in washington. "the big picture." former senator and presidential candidate john edwards is facing potential legal trouble. a federal grand jury in north carolina is investigating whether tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds paid to hunter was hush money, whether edwards knew about the money and whether it was a crime. after a "new york times" report that edwards may be ready to admit he is the father of hunter's 19 mold daughter. the latest from lisa meyers. >> reporter: what was once merely a sordid tale of a politician's infidelity is playing outinside this north carolina courthouse with potentially serious consequences. real hunter brought her

19-month-old daughter when she testified before the grand jury last month. how much legal trouble might edwards be in? stephen saltsburg is a former federal prosecutor. >> i think he is in substantial trouble because the hush money looks bad and smells bad. >> reporter: at issue, the $114,000 edwards paid to hunter for legitimate work or to keep her quiet. issue is money from donors used to move hunter, pay her rent and pay her costs, actually hush money. prosecutors are considering a novel legal theory, money to keep the affair quiet amounted to campaign contributions which edwards should have reported. one former prosecutor thinks it is a stretch. >> as far as a criminal case goes, i consider it farfetched.

>> reporter: edwards has denied any knowledge of the payments. >> i know absolutely nothing about that. >> reporter: he first denied the affair. >> the story is false. completely untrue, ridiculous. >> reporter: then admitted the affair but denied he fathered the child. now those close to him say he is considering declaring he is the child's father. his wife elizabeth who is battling breast cancer was asked about the possibility that edwards was the father. >> i wish for it to never be an issue. if it becomes an issue, that is another thing to deal with. it is not a further betrayal i need to deal with. >> reporter: neither edwards nor his spokesperson returned calls. edwards says all campaign funds were used properly, lisa myers,

nbc news, washington. >> there is some real disagreement about whether john edwards could face charges because of this novel legal theory. this is a sordid tale because elizabeth edwards is sick with cancer and john edwards may be about ready to reverse his story one more time. >> a couple of months ago there was a story that talked about could he get back in politics. this was before this criminal investigation had gotten this far. at this point i don't know how he would be able to. the credit. >> no doubt. >> so many things at play. >> i have another interesting story for you just happened in the last couple of hours. new york's first lady is defending her husband, governor david paterson. >> michelle paterson says the governor is a fighter. his wife says he will run for re-election. she says it is wrong for

president obama to get involved in state politics. >> i think by the white house getting involved in state politics i never heard of a president asking a sitting governor not to run for re-election. i thought it was very unusual and very unfair. >> mrs. paterson said the governor's sight disability may be contributing to his low poll numbers. governor paterson will be an exclusive guest with david gregory on "meet the press." she is weighing in on this. telling of their strategy. it is a team effort with that couple to fight. recommendations for him to step down, norah. >> i'm struck by that because they have had issues in their own marriage. public admissions david paterson made and now she is pushing back at the white house. i'm looking forward to seeing

"meet the press." >> john travolta described to a court today how he desperately tried to save his son's life in january. the actor and his wife appeared in court for the extortion trial surrounding their son jett. travolta told the jury how he performed cpr on jett. travolta testified against two people who tried to extort information and blackmail him. joining us via skype. juliet ezon of "life and style." this is the first time john tra volt hayes spoken publicly about the death of his son? >> it is. that was the most explosive revelation that came out of the trial. he went on record to say jett did not have autism. to admit jett had autism as well as another seizure disorder was

huge. >> what was his tone like? i have seen pictures that he has been depressed and withdrawn from his career and one report said his family, just having -- anyone would understand the difficulty in dealing with a loss of a child. >> he is. he was visibly shaken when he left the courtroom. understandably he lost his son not even a year ago. all of the travoltas have been going through a rough patch. i think he knew he needed to testify in order to clear his name. he said what he needed to say. >> so sad. another story that is sad, disturbing, bizarre. mackenzie phillips is revealing she had a consentual sexual relationship with your father.

>> she is going on "oprah" to say she had a ten-year relationship with her father and toward the end it became consensual. he exposed her to cocaine. the scenario sounds crazy. she is going on "oprah" to tell her story to help people like her. >> this is a family secret. she talks about her father getting her high, giving her drugs. how does she hope to help others with these revelations? >> she knows there are others like her who have had consensual or nonconsensual relationships with their fathers. she is hoping to bring light to the issue and build a support system so it doesn't have to be a secret. >> julia, tomorrow on the "today" show, a live interview with mackenzie phillips.

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the president is getting -- soliciting and getting points of view from a range of people he trusted who counsel him. everyone agrees it is a complex problem and doesn't have an easy solution. there are going to be a series of meetings in the next few weeks in which these issues are going to be sorted out. >> that is white house senior adviser david axelrod on "morning joe." that is the subject of today's "faceoff." >> just this hour general david petraeus is speaking here in washington and publicly endorsed general mcchrystal's assessment that the war in afghanistan is likely to be a failure without more troops. the president is mulling his options and waiting for mcchrystal's request for 40,000

troops, which could be on the president's desk in a few days. john kerry and steny hoyer calling for mcchrystal to testify. >> we will permit no safe haven for al qaeda to launch attacks from afghanistan or any other nations. we will stand on the front lines in pledging support for the pakistani people tomorrow and we will pursue positive engagements among faiths and new partnerships for opportunities. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll say public support for the war is fading. 51% oppose sending more troops, 38% want an immediate and orderly withdrawal from afghanistan. should general mcchrystal come

to washington to make his case for more troops. jennifer palmieri and republican strategist kevin madden. kevin, we have very publicly the mcchrystal report that has been leaked suggesting failure without more troops. general petraeus in a speech in washington saying failure without more troops, yet on the front page of the "new york times" a story that says biden and others advising the president for a change in strategy and the president might not send more troops. does this put the president in a politically difficult situation if he ignores or does not take the advice of his own generals. >> no matter what happens here and jennifer will agree with me, the president is in a difficult political decision. many believe the leak strategy memo shows that the president -- that there are a lot of very tough options here. if anything, the president can

then at least condition the political environment, can inform many of those who are opposed to him and some allies that there are no easy decisions here. when he does make one it will have at least shown on both sides that the president took all these arguments under advisement. the biggest risk were he to go back on his campaign argument. during the campaign he said we had taken our eye off iraq and had to put it on afghanistan. were he to renege on that policy promise it would create a very big problem for him. >> jennifer, look, it is important for a president to have competing advice, advisers who give him the pros and cons of different policies and the president ultimately makes the decision as commander in chief. are you concerned at all, however, that all of this advice appears to be playing out in public, the dissenting opinions

playing out in public? >> right. i think this is a white house that doesn't like their decision-making process to be done in public. but as my friend kevin pointed out, the impact of that or how that manifests itself the public understands it is a complicated decision-making process and whatever decision he does make the public will have a better sense of the context. it is problematic for what to have leaked to be focused on the military's point of view. the mcchrystal's assessment in making the case for more troops is that there is a functioning afghani government to work with. that is a pretty big premise he is operating from, which is what he is supposed to be operating from. the situation on the ground, do you really have a functioning partner and the military strategy work based on the politics on the ground. >> i want to play for both of

you element number two, so i can let the director know. the hillary clinton sound. the secretary of state from the newshour on pbs talking about the recommendations from general mcchrystal. listen very carefully to what she said. >> he is the commander on the ground but i can only tell you there are other assessments from, you know, very expert military analysts who have worked in counterinsurgencies that are the exact opposite. so what our goal is to take all this incoming data and sort it out. >> kevin, it sounds like to me, what she just said, they are sorting through a lot of this and some of the best experts have said the count insurgency strategy can only work with a credible and legitimate afghan

partner. the last election suggests there isn't. is that worth risking more american lives? >> i think when you're trying to achieve success, diplomatic success or military success or political success all three i think which are at play here, you are looking to have as many options as possible. what you hear there from secretary of state clinton was trying -- was the secretary trying to provide as many options for as many policy options this administration hopes to pursue. the risk here, the big problem is those of us political and policy opponents of this administration would worry what they are trying to do is essentially condition the public for a retreat. again having put forth a more timid diplomatic situation in afghanistan. we won't know until the one person cast with making the decision makes it and that is the president. >> we are out of time. a quick yes or no from each of

you, jennifer, do you think the president ultimately approves more troops, yes or no? >> i think i'm leaning to him not doing that. >> i'm very hopeful that it is going to be a yes. >> pretty interesting. great to have both of you on, as always. tamron, this is a dilemma for the president. some suggesting he may be having buyer's remorse. joe biden says we should be spending more time in pakistan where al qaeda is training. if the president has go to against his generals he will have to give a primetime speech. >> one way or another he will give a primetime speech to let americans know about his plan and strategy. the biden recommendation, the article in the "new york times" said joe biden brought this up before.

according to that article it was not accepted by the president and also by secretary of state clinton. so it is interesting they are looking at that, at least according to that report again. >> that is a smart point, tamron, thank you. up next, some things we thought you should know. >> joe wilson has an action figure. >> barack obama and bill clinton, the new bff? coming up on "hardball," chris matthews talks to former congressman jim traficant about life in the u.s. house and life in the big house. that is going to be a great interview. announcer: you could buy 750 bottles of water or just one brita faucet filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. you should know, bayer aspirin is one of most studied, most trusted, anti-fever, anti-inflammatory, and anti-pain medications in the world.

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there's a lot going on today. here are three things we thought you should know. >> that's right. three years after leaving capitol hill, mark foley is putting himself back in the spotlight and talking about his career-ending scandal. he is hosting his own radio show on wsvu in florida. during the debut of "inside the mind" mark foley said he hid his homosexuality because he worried about voter reaction. he left congress in 2006 after word got out he sent salacious e-mails to male congressional pages. >> i hope they'll give me a chance. some are very miffed. there will be people that are mad. there are people who are disappointed. i'm a human being. i'm sorry i made mistakes. i have apologized. >> the people at herobuilder.com think joe wilson is something special. he is the inspiration behind

their latest action figure. for $39.95 you can get this. remember the time in congress when he yelled out president obama was a liar. he said, you lie. the doll is programmed to shout you lie, which i think would be smart to put that in the doll. they are working on an action figure of another controversial congress member. michele bachmann. >> i'm trying to think of who at msnbc would like those dolls. we could pitch in and buy them together. moving on. president obama and bill clinton have been seen together a lot. they were together last night for the clinton global initiative. obama said it was hard to turn the former president down when he was asked to show up.

>> i think everyone knows what it is like when bill clinton asks you to make a commitment. he looks you in the eye, he feels your pain, he makes you feel like you're the only person in the room. what could i say? i was vulnerable just as all of you have been vulnerable. to his charms. >> wow. >> and those are some of the things we thought you should know. >> how could president obama turn down president clinton. >> apparently he couldn't. at least that offer. i'm sure there are other offers he would turn down quickly. >> other news. speeches with world leaders in new york, president obama heads to another world summit. this one is just 350 miles west in pittsburgh.

so let's get to our next read on politics with the stories we will watch. mark murray, deputy political director for nbc news. mark, what do you have? >> hey, tamron and norah. tomorrow president obama leaves new york for pittsburgh where he will attend the g-20 economic summit of world leaders there. also tomorrow could very bell the day when massachusetts governor duvall patrick makes his pick for a temporary selection and appoint dwromt replace ted kennedy in the senate. the front-runner is paul kirk, a former chairman of the democratic party and a long time kennedy adviser. finally on capitol hill, the senator arms services committee is holding a hearing on president obama's plan to modify the missile defense in europe. >> mark, it is interesting. we had the breaking news that general david petraeus agrees with general mcchrystal about sending more troops to

afghanistan. what are we expecting to hear on that tomorrow? >> well, you really can see the generals in the military are starting to rally around the fact that more troops need to be sent. you get this sense that obama -- and you were just discussing this -- is being put in a political box where the military infrastructure and republicans are saying president obama needs to stay in afghanistan. on the other hand, there are liberals and democrats who are wary of that. the decision that president obama makes will be a very interesting one. however, you are probably not going to get a decision until after health care is done and that probably won't be until november or so. >> as norah predicted, we will see a primetime address. >> make sure to check out first read every morning. check back often. log on to firstread.msnbc.com.

i'm tamron hall. >> i'm norah o'donnell in for david schuster. up next, "hardball with chris matthews" starts right now. james traf kantd. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in boston. leading off tonight. he is back. james traficant, the former congressman found guilty of bribery and racketeering is fresh off his seven-year prison sentence, known for being one of the more colorful characters on capitol hill is coming to "hardball." president obama is considering scaling back american forces in afghanistan which would satisfy democrats but infuriate republicans. the political perils of afghanistan. republicans are hawkish on afghanistan but the party is

going to war with its own members. south carolina republicans are on the hunt for what they call rinos, republicans in name only, their current target bob ingles. also, the democrats are getting 60 senators. massachusetts had acted to let the governor pick an interim senate pick to fill ted kennedy's seat. looks like it is going to be long time kennedy ally paul kirk. that is coming up in "the politics fix." moammar qaddafi called president obama a kenyan who he would like to see president for life. qaddafi's words on obama in "the sideshow." let's start with the former u.s. congressman who made these words his trademark. >> beam me up. >> jim traficant, thank you very much for joining uh us. you are a