lynn. >> brian mooar in washington. brian, thank you. >>> back here at home millions of east coast residents are bracing for irene, the first atlantic hurricane of the season. now a category two storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles an hour. now, current forecasts have irene on track to hit the southern bahamas today and make u.s. landfall in eastern florida and the carolinas by the end of the week. possibly as a major hurricane. chris clackum reports. >> reporter: as it blew through puerto rico early monday, irene was just barely a category one, still the first hurricane of the atlantic season knocked over several structures and knocked out power to at least 800,000 customers half the island. then had officials in the dominican republic scrambling as it picked up power and speed. it's the path irene takes after that that has u.s. forecasters very concerned. many in florida are already preparing. >> why wait? i mean, i'm not panicking. i just want to be ready. >> reporter: most model advisory irene skirting the

nbc's brian mooar is joining us from washington with more on all of this. brian, good morning. >> reporter: hi, lynn. yesterday while the president was wrapping up the bus tour, we got details about the economic recovery plan he's unveiling in september. the president wants to create jobs through building up infrastructure and he wants to offer long-term help for the unemployed. he also wants to extend tax cuts, but the boldest move of all, he wants to cut $4 trillion in spending. that's far more than than the $1.5 trillion the congressional committee is shooting for. the president also wants taxes for the rich. meanwhile, gop presidential candidate rick perry is out on the campaign trail today. he's toned down his rhetoric, but he's also raised some eyebrows in saying that he doesn't believe in manmade global warming. >> i do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. i think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they would have dollars rolling in to their projects. >> as the president heads out t

brian mooar has the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. gadhafi may have lost his seat of pow every, but he certainly hasn't lost his fight. in this audio message released in the last couple of hours, he sounds subdued but clearly defiant as he calls on libyans to pour into the capital and eliminate what he calls the traitors and the rats. gadhafi said he made an undercover foray into the capital and downplayed the chaos. libyans have overrun his compound literally striking at the heart of the regime. they've killed loyalist troops, looted the armorers, even beheaded a statue of gadhafi, but they walked away without the ultimate prize, the man himself. >> brian mooar for us in washington. thank you. >>> here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in connecticut, high speed driving came to a crashing end for one driver. witnesses say that the driver was speeding before losing control and slamming into a home. no one inside the home was hurt, but unfortunately, the person behind the wheel wasn't so lucky. the driver wa

as brian mooar reports, the taliban is claiming responsibility for the attack. >> america's single deadliest day in the afghanistan war has claimed the lives of some of our nation's most elite warriors, members of s.e.a.l. team 6. around 20 s.e.a.l.s were in the helicopter when it was shot down over eastern afghanistan. some were believed to be part of the same unit that killed osama bin ladin back in may. none reportedly served in that mission. seven afghans were also killed and the taliban claimed credit. president obama issued a statement saying, their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families. a forrer s.e.a.l. commander says this is a loss for the nation and for a tight knit military family. >> recognize that these men were doing something that they loved to do. they were doing it with people that they love. >> s.e.a.l. team 6 was thrust into the world spotlight in may when a small group of its commandos successfully killed bin ladin. that successful raid displayed how dangerous their work can be. one of the choppe

brian mooar for us in washington. brian, thank you. >>> well, last night as news broke of the rebels advance into tripoli, msnbc's chris jansing asked nbc news military analyst colonel jack jacobs if he's concerned about the stockpiles of gadhafis munitions that have been raided, including anti-aircraft missiles. >> i think it's going to be almost impossible to keep absolutely everything that was in the arsenals of gadhafi under control. you get a country like pakistan, for example which has a hard time accounting for all of its materiel, a place like libya is not going to be under control of conventional but deadly arms like sa-7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles. i think it's going to be very difficult to control all that stuff. if you perceive that there is a number of arsenals out in and they get raided by the rebels, the law of large levels says most can be controlled by the rebels but some will get through controled by other people and some of those people are going to be bad guys. i'm very wor

brian mooar has the latest. >> before heading off on his vacation. president obama taped a message blaming washington politics for blocking legislation that could put america on the road to recovery. >> the only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in congress to put country ahead of party. that's the problem we have right now. >> reporter: as the president continued his ten-day retreat on martha's vineyard, the republicans who want his job were hard at work on the campaign trail. >> ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the united states of america. >> rick perry started his second week as a candidate in the key primary state of south carolina. he's created headlines with his attacks on the fed and global warming. on saturday, perry focused on the obama administration. >> they inherited a bad economy and made it worse. they inherited an unemployment rate. >> perry is polling well, but mitt romney and michele bachmann have a sizable head start in organization and fund-raising. the life's broad of politics. brian m

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. brian, good morning to you. >> hi, lynn. the white house says creating jobs is still the president's number one priority even though as he takes a controversial break from his own. >> reporter: mounting concerns the nation is slipping back into recession triggered another triple digit loss on wall street. >> the market is treading on fear. we a fear of something we don't control. >> reporter: the dow dropped another 400 points. president obama's approval rating is dipping too. a mere 26% of americans agree with his handling of the economy, according to the latest gallup poll. >> we need jobs bad. >> reporter: in atlanta, a small army of the unemployed come here for jobs. >> i want to get a job to support my family. >> reporter: the event sponsored by the congressional black caucus. >> they're all looking for work. they want a job. >> reporter: for the white house it is an uncomfortable contrast. americans working to find jobs as president obama kicks off his vacation on exclusive marth

nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: it was another wild ride on wall street with the dow recovering more than 420 points and climbing back over the 11,000 mark. >> is this a bottom in the market? >> i'd like to believe so, but i think it's way too early to tell. >> reporter: the market picked up on news that germany and france are meeting next week and italy is promising strict reforms in return for eu help. a better-than-expected report on u.s. jobless claims helped. but investors are still running scared. >> americans are looking at washington and europe and saying do these people know what they're doing? that's leading to the volatility. >> reporter: president obama was in michigan talking about the jobs america needs and the job washington is doing. >> there is nothing wrong with our country. there is something wrong with our politics. >> on capitol hill last seats were filled on the super committee. one tea party member is declaring tax increases are off the table. >> i think the most important thing is to make credible reductions in the size of the deficit. i think that's got

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with more on all this. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: we're learning the president wants to create jobs by building up infrastructure. he wants help for the long term unemployed, he wants to extend the unemployment tax, but perhaps poboldest of all, he's shooting for $4 trillion in budget cut, far more than the $1.5 trillion that the congressional super committee is shooting for before thanksgiving. but the president also want to the restorm entitform entitleme raise taxes on the rich. rick perry, the republican running to to try to take president obama's job, is on the campaign trail. yesterday in new hampshire. he toned down his message, but he did raise some eyebrows when he said that he does not believe in man made global warming. >> i do believe that the issue has been lit sized. i think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data. so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. >> and as the president heads off to martha's vineyard, there's a sign they'r

nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: it was another wild ride on wall street with the dow recovering more than 420 points and climbing back over the 11,000 mark. >> i would like to believe so, but i think it's way too early to tell. >> reporter: the market picked up on news that germany and france are meeting next week, and italy is promising strict reforms in return for eu help. a better-than-expected report on u.s. jobless claims helped but investors are still rung scared. >> i think americans are looking at washington and looking at europe and saying does anyone really know what's going on? do these people know what they're doing? that's leading to the volatility. >> reporter: president obama was in michigan talking about the jobs america needs and the jobs washington isn't doing. >> there is nothing wrong with our country. there is something wrong with our politics. >> reporter: on capitol hill the last seats were filled on the so-called supercommittee charged with slashing spending over the next decade. one tea party member is declaring tax increases are off the table. >> i thin

nbc's brian mooar as the latest. >> reporter: president obama didn't show the heat as he returned from a weekend at camp david despite the u.s. credit downgrade by standard & poor's. but now his administration has to convince the world that s&p got it wrong. s&p stripped our aaa rating dropping us into a league with new zealand and belgium. >> it's about the difficulty in all sides finding a kong census around policy choices now and in the future. >> if the fiscal position of the united states deteriorates further or political gridlock becomes more entrenched it could le lead to a downgrade. >> it is a tea party downgrade. it brought us to the brink of a default. >> if we listen to the tea party we'd have $4 trillion reductions in debt over time and not been downgraded. >> reporter: the financial fallout starts as the world markets open for monday business. >> the mutual reaction in my judgment is going to being negative. >> reporter: they expect an increase in rates and the whole world is watching to see what happens next. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. >> treasury secretary timot

nbc's brian mooar has the latest. >> reporter: president obama didn't show the heat as he returned from a weekend at camp david, despite the u.s. credit downgrade by standard & poor's. but now his administration has downgrade by standard & poor's. but now his administration has to convince the world that s&p got it wrong, and the united states is still a sound investment. states is still a sound investment. s&p stripped our n rating, dropping us into an investment league with new rating, dropping us into an investment league with new zealand and belgium. >> it's about the difficulty of all sides in finding, you know, a consensus around fiscal policy choices now and in the future. a consensus around fiscal policy choices now and in the future. >> and if the fiscal positio the united states deteriorates further or if the political gridlock becomes more entrenched, then that could lead to a downgrade. >> reporter: still, there's no sign of a partisan truce. >> this is essentialal tea party downgrade. >> this is essentialal tea party downgrade. the tea party brought us to the brink of a def

nbc's brian mooar is in washington with details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: the president is counting on a new economic recovery plan to help create jobs and to help save his own. the white house insists president obama's three-day bus tour through the midwest isn't a campaign swing. but it sure looked that way as he rolled into iowa and sent a message to congress. >> if they don't start paying attention, then they're not going to be in office. and we'll have a new congress in there that will start paying attention to what is going on all across america. >> reporter: he promised a new economic plan in september and promised congress will have to answer to voters if it's not passed. >> the choice will be very stark and will be very clear. >> reporter: texas governor, rick perry, still riding high on his sixth-place finish in saturday's iowa straw poll is playing catch-up with the other gop presidential candidates. >> i know we're late getting in this process. but we're in and we're all in and we're going to campaign like our li

brian mooar joins us from washington with those details. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. the president has been getting regular briefings on the situation. last night he released a statement in which he said that libya has reached a tipping point. and the president is calling on the libyan people to replace a city of conflict with a season of peace. outside the white house last night, there was an impromptu celebration of libyan americans, people dancing in the streets saying god is great and singing songs. one woman said she was there to savor the taste of freedom. one young boy, too young to remember a libya before there was a moammar gadhafi, said, he lie, he kills our people. it is time for him to step down. >> brian mooar for us in washington. thank you. >>> as gadhafi's regime crumbles, syrian president bashar assad said that his government will not meet a similar fate. they continue to resist mounting international pressure to step down and warn against any military intervention in that country. this as proteste

>> brian mooar for us from washington. thank you so much. >>> now here's your "first look" at other news going on in america today. newly released video shows that a dramatic car explosion did little to stop one of lo los angeles' bravest from getting the job done. despite the firefighter's close proximity to the fiery blast, he emerged unscathed and apparently unrattled. his composure was intact. he stepped up to the plate. he stepped into the rear of the burning vehicle, and he continued to hose it down until the fire was out. >>> there was some major disorder inside a cleveland misdemeanor court hearing. a defendant hurled his backpack at a judge after she told him she would give him more time to get a lawyer. with the help of a public defender, court officers rushed in to put down the defendant. he is under arrest and expected to face assault charges. >>> and, finally, lightning strikes lit up the early morning sky over fort wayne. thursday's severe thunderstorms produced a parade of lightning as well as high winds and

nbc's brian mooar has the latest from washington. brian, good morning. >> reporter: hi, lynn. a spokesman for the rebels says the fight will not be over until they get gadhafi. libyan rebels have overrun gadhafi's seat of power, some with no more than axes, spear guns, and sheer determination. this morning the country and world are looking ahead to a new libya. on vacation in martha's vineyard, president obama saluted the libyan people. >> your vefrlgz your own, and -- revolution is your own, and your sacrifices have been extraordinary. now the libya that you deserve is within your reach. >> reporter: six months after the revolution started, gadhafi's regime is all but crushed. >> it was messy, but it worked in the sense now we have the rebels in tripoli and the regime of moammar gadhafi is over. >> reporter: still some loyalist refuse to give up. gadhafi's son and heir apparent appeared overnight to mock the rebels who believed he was in custody. the fighting continue in the capital. >> there are many snipers from gadhafi military. >> reporter: street by street, a deadly end

brian mooar has a look at the reaction from washington, including a prediction from the former head of the federal reserve. >> reporter: president obama didn't show the heat as he returned from a weekend at camp daift, despite the u.s. credit downgrade by standard and poor's. but now his administration has to convince the world and s&p the united andcc1: states is still a sound investment. aaa tripped our nation'scc1: rating, dropping us into an newcc1: t league with zealand and belgium. >> it's about the difficulty of all sides in finding, you know, a consensus around fiscal polic: choices now and in the future. >> and if the fiscal position of the united states deteriorates further or if the political gridlock becomes more entrenched, then that could lead to a downgrade. >> reporter: still, there's no sign of a partisan truce. >> this is essentially a tea party downgrade. the tea party brought us to the brink of a default. >> well, if we listened to the tea party we'll have $4 trillion reductions in debt over time and not been downgraded. >> reporter: the financial fallout starts as

as nbc bay area's brian mooar reports, the senate is expected to vote tomorrow, and then pass it on to the house. >> reporter: president obama and congressional leaders have agreed on a plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling, with barely enough time left to meet tuesday's midnight deadline. >> i want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default. >> reporter: the fight isn't over. the house and senate still have to vote. but getting a plan is a victory in itself. >> today i'm relieved to say that leaders from both parties come together for the sake of our economy to reach a historic bipartisan compromise that ends this dangerous standoff. >> we can assure the american people tonight that the united states of america will not for the first time in our history default on its obligations. >> reporter: more than $2 trillion in cuts over ten years. house speaker john boehner is selling the deal to republicans as plan to hold president obama accountable, and the president has to win over members of his

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with more. good morning, brian. >> reporter: hi, vinita. just a couple of hours ago michele bachmann and rick perry appeared at the same event. they didn't even acknowledge each other. they aimed their attacks on washington and president obama. both perry and bachmann did quite well in saturday's straw polls. it helped propel them into that top tier along with mitt romney as the three candidates to beat, tim pawlenty, his hopes crushed, he has dropped out. the man they want to take the job away from, president obama, will be heading out on his own midwestern messaging bus tour. three-state, three-day tour that will start on michele bachmann's home turf of minnesota and end on the president's home turf in illinois. >>> here's a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. in ohio a 94-year-old woman was surprised when police knocked on her door sunday morning telling her a runaway blimp had landedd in her backyard. strong winds broke the blimp free of its moorings saturday and authorities were unable to track it. cr

brian mooar has the latest on that from washington. good morning. >> reporter: here in the nation's capital there's a lot of worry about what will happen and disappointment about what will not. let's start out with the barriers that are being put up around the national cathedral that was damaged by that earthquake just a couple days ago. a lot of concern there was damage to the top of this iconic building and the 60-mile-an-hour winds and six inches of rain we're expecting cannot make things easier. they've canceled services at that church. but the big cancellation, the martin luther king jr. memorial. a quarter million people expected including president obama and ageing members of the civil rights movement. they've decided, organizers have, that it's not safe to continue. but martin luther king jr. says the date on the calendar isn't what matters here. >> brian there for us in washington. thank you. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. newly released video shows that a dramatic car explosion did

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with details. >> reporter: the white house says fixing the economy and creating jobs is still the president's number one priority, even as he takes a controversial break from his own. mounting concerns the nation is slipping back into recession triggered another triple-digit loss on wall street. >> the market is trading on fear. we have fear of something we don't control. >> reporter: the dow dropped another 400 points and president obama's approval ratings are dipping, too. a mere 26% of americans agree with his handling of the economy, according to the latest gallup poll. in atlanta, a small army of the unemployed showed up for a job fair aimed at african-americans who have been especially hard-hit. >> i just want to get a job where i can support my family. >> reporter: the event sponsored by the congressional black caucus. >> they all are looking for work. they want a job. >> reporter: for the white house, it is an uncomfortable contrast. americans working to find jobs, as president obama kicked off his vacation on exclusive martha's viney

brian mooar has the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. gath has lost his seat of power, but clearly not his fight. this audio message said to be subdued, but nevertheless, defiant. he called on all libyans to converge on the capitol and eliminate what he called the traitors and the rats. qadhafi said he had made an undercover foray into the capitol, and he was downplaying the chaos, but it is clear that his compound has been overrun by libyan rebels. hundreds of them. they really struck at the heart of the qadhafi regime. they looted the armories. they knocked the head off a statue of qadhafi, but they walked away without the ultimate prize, the man himself. lynn. >> brian, thanks. and last might on the rachel maddow show, she asked p.j. crowley how significant he thinks the capture of gadhafi's tripoli compound is. and what it would look like for libya in the weeks ahead. >> it's a huge psychological boost for the transitional tran transitional national down. so a very significant move in the short term now they have a challenge of secur

brian mooar is in washington with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. gadhafi's whereabouts still unknown this morning as libyan rebels continue to crush the last pockets of government resistance in the capital of tripoli. there's a $2 million bounty now on gadhafi's head, but gadhafi, through that audio message, is urging supporters to march on to victory or martyr dom. safe passage now looking very unlikely. meanwhile, the united states has vowed to there's a report that while foreign journalists have been held, four more italian journalists have been captured. >> unfortunate development. brian, thanks. >>> we have learned former vice president dick cheney kept a secret letter of resignation hidden away in his safe from the earliest days of the bush administration. cheney has a new book coming out and he spoke exclusively to nbc about that letter. >> reporter: why did you do it? >> i did it because i was concerned for a couple of reasons. one was my own health situation. the possibility that i might have a heart attack or a stroke that would be incapa