clint van zandt has been watching this with us.lint, earlier on, we saw on this chopper cam view, a space that was both yellow and red or orange. what was that space? >> well, in a situation like this, richard, they set up individually both a triage area, where they can first deal with any injured, wournd nded people well as emergency response needs to set up their own area. in a situation like this, you normally have local, county, state and federal law enforcement authorities. i'm sure there are well over 100 to 200 law enforcement officers somewhere in this vicinity right now. and of course, in a situation like this, you send everything you have, that's the first call. send us everything, every person, every vehicle you have and then at the scene, we'll figure out what we need, if we don't need them, we'll call them off, but we would rather have police, fire, emergency services on scene than have to call them later. >> if that were to be a triage area, in the chopper cam picture on your left, it sits below it farther to the righ

clint, give us your read, your assessment, on this situation? >> well, we know that the shooter is dead. we don't know whether that is by law enforcement action when the first responding officers went in and confronted him or whether, as we saw in the portland, oregon, mall shooting this past week, whether the shooter actually shot himself committing suicide. we know that at least two handguns were found. you know, that takes us back to april 2007 when the shooter at virginia tech, in that case, who killed 32 and wounded 15, also had two handguns. what it does suggest, though, is that this individual went in there with carrying two handguns and perhaps other ammunition. he went in there apparently to confront someone. we're told that confrontation took place in the office of the school and may have spilled out from there. we're still trying to understand the number of victims and the level of injury. >> clint, you know, when we talk about these shootings, first off, they are mentioning that it's happening with a frequency that is absolutely horr

joining me now is clint va van zandt, a former f.b.i. profiler and an nbc news analyst.nt, thanks for being here tonight. >> good to be with you, al. >> what are officials doing right now to try to advance this investigation? what are they looking for? >> al, as you know, they've got multiple crime scenes. they've got to horrific scene at the school where every law enforcement officer, the first responder goes in, i'm sure the tendency breaks down in tears because that could be their children or grandchildren. you've got that crime scene they have to deal with. and then you've got the separate crime scene of the victim's mother's home where we're told that she was shot in the face and killed. we've got that crime scene. and then you've got any location where the subject may have lived with roommates, his vehicle and law enforcement also has a race going on, al. and that race says make sure there's not any other event. we know, for example, that the connecticut state police bomb squad was going to each location to make sure there hadn't been an explosive device, a bomb, s

so take a seat before clint eastwood yells at it. sit back and enjoy the show. without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your master of ceremonies and the host of "politics nation," the reverend al sharpton. >> good evening. and welcome to "the revvie awards." i'm al sharpton and the host of this evening's festivities. it's a big night and we'll be giving out awards for the high and low points of politics in 2012. to do that, we have a star-studded cast of judges. all looking very elegant this evening, i might say. let's get right to it. let's go right to the first cat goir. let's get started with the best performer in the thriller award. ri richard, who made the best political move omt year? >> can i be the simon cowell of this panel? i i i'm tempted to say the woel obama campaign. but i don't want to be, like, time person of the year, it's you. if it had to be one person, chris christie. for having the guts to not just look after new jersey, but, literally, hug a democratic president in the face of everything that he knew his party would reig

. >> rose: clint eastwood. >> clint eastwood, it was very good of him to come out. it was good to get hollywood people to come out. he felt strongly about this and he wanted to do it. he spoke as to why he decided to do what he did. >> rose: he made the decision at the last moment didn't he. he saw a chair. >> he asked for a chair. >> rose: he asked for it. at what time. >> as he was standing to go on stage. >> rose: exactly. he came all with this idea. he didn't call you up two days before and said this w ishat we're going to do. >> no, he said -- >> rose: did he say them. >> not in the same format. >> rose: you're being nice. it was just bear enough. >> he did this improv had never been discussed. it's exactly what he said. >> rose: when you saw it happen you knew that the audience did not see some things that you wanted them to see which would define your candidate including the film. >> well two things on this. let me answer. i think that our voters like clint eastwood more than they didn't like clint eastwood. >> rose: most people like college eastwood more tha

worst politician, clint eastwood, although he is a good actor. >> this is very domestic. i will though it out on a larger scale for you. does that help you any, pat? worst politician 2012 egypt's mohammed morsy. heralded as a states man after his role in mediating the gaza cease fire and plunged his country into chaos by grounding him executive of absolute power which caused an outcry and tried to rush through a constitutional referendum. worst politician. okay. most defining political moment, pat? >> governor chris christie embraces barack obama and hurricane sandy. bye-bye mitt. >> anyway, bye-bye mitt happened earlier than that. the 47% tape that was leaked that had him stating that he didn't have to carry about 47% of the public. also the decision to uphold most of obamacare was another defining political moment. >> when i share eleanor's view, i think that video of obama on that 47% of the american public whom he said were happily dependent on the american government -- >> romney. >> who did i say? >> obama. >> obama. definitely not obama. >> go ahead with it. >> but

so take a seat before clint eastwood yells at it. sit back and enjoy the show. now, without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your master of ceremonies and the host of "politics nation" u the reverend, al sharpton. >> good evening. i'm al sharpton, host of "politics nation." it's a big night. and we're going to be giving out awards for the high and low points of politics in 2012. to do that, we have a star studded cast of judges. jonathan kapart. victoria difrancesco soto. crystal ball and richard wolf. all looking very elegant this evening, i might say. let's get right to it. let's go right to the first category. let's get started with the best performer in the thriller award. richard, who made the best political move of the year. >> can i be the simon cowell of this panel? okay, here we go. best political move. i am tempts to say the whole obama campaign ground came. the whole people who turned out all of these people to vote. but i don't want to be like "time" person of the year. if it's got to be one person, chris christie for having the gu

how he could put clint eastwood up there and not know what clint eastwood was going to say has to be the biggest single political blunder of the year. >> why did mike murphy not get involved? >> mitt romney went after mike murphy, according to all reports. he had been responsible, key in his election as governor, but just on the women thing, one point -- mitt romney carried white women's vote 54%-42%. that is a decisive, a decisive victory. >> he carried married women. >> they underestimated this election. they had no idea of the turnout. they were basing it on a turnout -- ty were embedded with george of the bush with whites, with women, but 74% that bush won in 2004 down to 71%. republicans are in serious trouble. >> to reinforce that, they ran higher with whites in 2010. they concluded the wrong thing, but barack obama was not on the ballot in 2010. >> unexplored story of the year -- wte men dropping out -- dropping out of the work force, dropping out of elections, just plain dropping out, getting social security, not doing anything, going hunting, fishing, just not in the game. >

we'll talk to criminologist james fox and clint van zandt to discuss what could be in the mind of that killer. this holiday, share everything. share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan. shareable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a droid incredible 4g lte by htc for $49.99. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! >> it's heartbreaking. i'm speechless to hear something had happened like this around here. it's always going stay in this town. small town. everybody will keep it in their head, back of their head. even the little young ones, they'll be afraid to step in school now because of what happened. and just, you know, my prayers and everything goes out to the families that lost their loved ones. >> welcome back. in the wake of the newtown elementary s

we'll be back with clint van zandt as well. both going to be staying with us throughout the hour as we check back and forth from what we're trying to figure out in terms of profile and gathering every minute of the next hour all the news coverage about this horrific shooting at sandy hook elementary school. >> the teacher told us to all go where our library is and get behind something so nobody -- since there's a window in the door, nobody would see -- the guy wouldn't see us, and i heard that the guy was wanted to kill everybody. plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone...but her likes 50% more cash. but i'm upping my game. do you want a candy cane? yes! do you want the puppy? yes! do you want a tricycle? yes! do you want 50 percent more cash? no! ♪ festive. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on every purchase plus a 50% annual bonus on the cash you earn. it's the card for people who like more cash. what's in your wallet? [ male announcer ] can a car be built around a state of mind? ♪ anno

it was clint eastwood and new famous empty chair. suddenly somehow a hollywood actor who was brought in because he had done the ad during the superbowl that seemed to be pro obama, but here he is endorsing mitt romney that was bigger than anything that mitt romney did. that is the most memorable event from a convention that i believe not only did mitt romney stand up but also paul ryan and several hispanics did an excellent job to present a conservative reason to oust president obama. >> nobody remembers the flap over god was going to be on the platform. clint eastwood got all the attention. >> there is a certain rule here. republicans to have learn it. if the whole essence is a tightly choreographed event, then you do that. you put things to help you better, rubio was terrific and videos of the families, those were moving and nobody saw them because they were in the wrong hour, in the middle of it. don't say to clint eastwood, don't go out and wing it. there has been considerable cottage industry of finger pointing. most of loyal ca

worst is my friend clint eastwood.n the empty chair. >> now wait a minute. >> brought it out -- >> a lot of people liked that. >> it was okay -- i mean it was interesting. >> not good -- >> it blotted out all the film of the great things mitt had done. >> eleanor? >> that's right. okay worst political theater i'm more serious. the senate republicans voting down the u. n. treaty on people with disabilities after senator bob dole made an appearance pleading for passage in his wheelchair. and they just ignore -- they set a low and they ignored him. >> susan? >> i'm going to say again the fiscal cliff because fun the watch but frightening for taxpayers and damaging -- >> ence. if you can cover this up. >> i can guarantee -- >> i agree with -- i agree with you. the fiscal cliff is the worst -- i mean they know what they got to do. they just don't want to do it because it's unpleasant. they know raising taxes and cutting spending but i -- >> i'm going to give you the worst political theater, new york governor andrew cuomo an

clint, there were indications that he was wearing all black. we've confirmed, in fact, that the shooter was wearing all black. he had at least two guns with him. what else can you tell us based on what you're telling us about the shooter? clint van zandt, are you there? >> yes, i am. we have two pistols. earlier reported .9 millimeter semiautomatic pistols, a glock and an sig sauer. they're the most popular weapons. law enforcement, local police, fbi, people who like to be around guns, they're easily available and most of the weapons have at least a 15-round magazine and one in the chamber so realize that the individual with two handguns had at at least a 30-round capability and we have heard reports of 50, 60 rounds or more that were fired that would suggest this man may well and likely would have had to have reloaded perhaps multiple times as he continued to shoot the innocent life that ran before him and then it's overwhelming to think that someone could have that capability. number one, to shoot anybody. but number two, to harm a child, thi

. >> as brinkley plans his next move, another officer, clint hertz arrives on the scene. >> clint coulddy form in there. so then it was a matter of how we were going to get them out. >> the man is unconscious in the driver's seat of the car. hertz opens the passenger door while brinkley sprints to the driver's side. >> flames were already to the driver's door handle. i can't go in here and do it safely. we've got to get them out of the passenger side of the car. >> officer hertz unlatches the man's seat belt and pulls him across the passenger seat. the man is arrive but suffers from severe smoke inhalation. >> i've seen dead people that look better. he was gray. his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. i thought he was dead. >> brinkley stays with the victim while hertz races back into the raging inferno. >> we've got one out. we don't know if there's anybody else in there or not. >> the two officers still think there may be more people in the vehicle. >> after clint went back out it really burned fast then and it was nearly totally engulfed at that point. >> facing blistering heat and

and the invisible man sitting next to clint eastwood wins time's person of the year. >> what do you mean shut up? >> tonight presidential historian douglas brinkley on barack obama, abraham lincoln, and spider-man. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the president gave all americans a lot to work with today and a lot to think about in the coming weeks. president obama recognizes the mood of the country. there is a real sense of urgency to pass common sense safety laws in the wake of the newtown shooting massacre. the president knows this is going to be a heavy lift. >> that's why i've asked the vice president to lead an effort that includes members of my cabinet and outside organizations to come up with a set of concrete proposals no later than january, proposals that i then intend to push without delay. this is not some washington commission. this is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. >> one of the reasons the president is asking for action without delay is be

clint van zandt is a former fbi profiler and joins me right now. clint you have some new details about what we learned through this press conference? >> well, i think a number of things, thomas. as you just shared, we know the number of dead and wounded now, unfortunately. we also know in any type of large traumatic situations like this, the phone lines, cell phone lines go down very quickly. and i think one of the things you learn from a situation like that is that if you're involved, if you're near that and you can't get a phone call out, immediately try to text anyone you want to contact. you can normally get through if you use your phone for texting purposes, even though it won't function as a cell phone. now, we know the likelihood that police had to respond to an active shooter. as one of your previous guests indicated, this is something we learned after columbine high school that shooting there. there was a time when law enforcement would show up at the scene of an active shooter. they would wait the 15, 30, 45 minutes until s.w.a.t. might g

if it was something you asked, and something that your guest said, that clint said.t he just kill himself? well, the difference between someone who commits suicide and someone who commits mass murder and then suicide, is the latter externalizes blame. they see the world as the issue. they see other people as being responsible for their misery. not themselves. so before they take their own lives, and typically they are planning that, they want to make sure that they get some revenge, get even. now, why the school? now, we may find a connection. but even if we don't, we know that mass murderers are very deliberate and selective in where they target. in terms of a school, they know they can hurt society where it will hurt the most, by killing our most cherished memories. so it may just be a way to attack society in the most severe way. >> clint van zandt, former fbi profiler, james fox, criminologist. sthou thanks so much for your insight, gentleman. we appreciate you. it's hard to believe, but this shooting could have been even worse, would probably have been a lot wor

>> it's clint eastwood. you argue with him. >> well, that's not really useful putting together a platform for the president. the night he's accepting the nomination in tampa was not a great convention because of a couple things. one of them being the distraction of eastwood's performance. i liked it as show business. it was out of place obviously, but what do you think of the work they did in terms of prepping that thing? did they do it wrong? or was it all eastwood's number? >> that clearly should not have been in prime time. >> right before the presidential candidate. >> had that happened an hour earlier, it would have been funny. the room would have liked it. but when the broadcast viewers came in and saw that that was their introduction to mitt romney and the look on ann romney's face who looked horrified to me. i remember sitting not that far from her in the convention hall, you could see she was troubled by this and certainly startled by it. it's stunning for all the planning, for all the millions of d

joining me now is former fbi analyst and nbc analyst clint van zandt. thank you for your time. about this online. i can't stop a person from having a thought on this. first off, you see this argument escalate to the point that this individual pushing this man into the line of fire in front of this train. is it likely these were two strangers arguing here? >> i think that's exactly what we have. you know, the new york city subway system, 5 million people a day, 1.5 billion people a year travel on this. i think we had these two comets that crossed in space, and unfortunately at this point collided resulting in the death of this one man. >> and clint, i'm just being told actually as we speak that the new york police department announced they have made an arrest in this case. the suspect is in custody right now. someone in connection with this has been picked up here. so, again, police have confirmed that someone is in custody in connection with this subway shoving incident. not confirmed where the person was picked up. a lot of this was caught on videotape. there was even a profes

. >>> you also list -- that moment that we can't forget, though, has clint eastwood at the rnc, there we're going to look back on the conventions, and all we're going to remember is clint oozewood in the chair. this was during a very strong period for the president. the speech he gave himself at the president was not the longest ever, but a very good week, president clinton gave a great speech that rallied the crowd, as did first lady michelle obama for romney, that was a tough week, with clint eastwood and the chair, and that dominated the headlines. so it looked like the president had -- that was because, of course, before he ran into some turbulence. >> talk about that debate. those on the left were very surprised, those on the right also. >> absolutely. this was a key moment in the campaign where it lookedly maybe romney would be able to come back. obama's campaign team always thought this moment was exaggerated. the president's team always thought that was overblown, but certainly this was a big moment in the campaign. the president felt very down afterwards as glen and jonathan

let's bring in now clint van zandt, a former fbi profiler. the questions we had for the fbi earlier is when will we know why? of course, that's always the most complicated parts of this. what are the outstanding questions that you think will help them begin to understand? >> well, the why is really the challenge, chris. we look at every one of these. you and i think back to -- remember the amish school shooting in nickel mine, p.a. that took place in 2006. five little girls murdered. five little girls wounded. and even though the killer left notes, the notes didn't jive with history. it was like he made up his own reasons why he did the shooting then. and, chris, we've seen -- this is the fifth school shooting that's taken place in the united states although some will say this was a shooting in a school, not a school shooting. one way or the other, it happened. we've had 13 mass shootings in the united states. you know, the victims were shot anywhere from 3 to 11 times. chris, you know what? i am mad. i am angry as an american, as a father, a

clint, good to have you. what happened, clint? of all, afp hired me to sell hot dogs and that's what i do. i've been doing it 16 years. >> americans for pro prosperity. >> yes. >> and i set up about 10:00 tuesday morning and by 10:30 i was ready to serve. i served my first hot dog about 10:30. shortly after that, people were coming in, everything was going just great. about 11:30, quarter to 12:00 two guys came in, one had like a devil's mask on and the other guy had a face mask on. so they came in and he took his mask off. i thought it was a joke or something. like they was clowning around. i gave them a hot dog, both ate their hot dogs and three minutes later they were turning over the coffee urn next to my stand i had set up. by that time the protesters were cutting the tent and the groundskeeper, matt white, he said we got to get out of here. they've got knives, box cutters and they're cutting the tent down. and we got to get out of here. i tried to save my stuff on the ground but matt said you ain't got time. by that time i t

it was just crazy irvetion -- crazy. >> greta: clint, thank you very much. sorry huto go through that. >> thank you. >> greta: today, members of americans for prosperity filing a police complaint. last night, they went record roar, telling us about the terrifying tent attack. >> it was very scary. two men came in in ski masks. they had box cutirs or knives. they started to cut the canvas strapped that tethered the tent to the ground. they started to flip over the tables that had hot cougho it. it was -- coffee on it. it was scary and a lot of people felt achery, they felt like their personal space had been invaded and their right to have their voice heard was being trampled on. >> greta: for you, david, what was it like? >> good evening, greta. it was pretty intense -- we had to post people out by the straps to keep them from undoing them to make the tent cave in. when the coffee urns were thrown over and the tables, we knew they were inside. we came back around and went into the tent. it was almost collapsed by then. >> greta: what are the police doing abou

. >> bob: i happen to like clint eastwood.olent -- >> eric: i'm asking you what is the point? >> greg: this is a good point. there was violence in clint eastwood movies but no denying good or eel. he was killing criminals or seeking justice. >> dana: the recent one with him, the older guy, car. >> "gran tarino." with help i can get there. >> bob: what is the tribe that lives next door to him? >> dana: tribe? >> greg: i'm not going to answer that. >> dana: that feels like a trap. >> kimberly: don't answer it. step back from the trap. >> dana: all right. bob is going to tell us in the break. when we come right back, some parents in montana think christmas carols are a new form of bullying. greg is going to explain that one next. ♪ ♪ "special report" starts at 6:00 eastern. now back to new york and "the five." ♪ ♪ >> greg: they know i hate these songs. they are hoping i leave. some parents in montana want to ban christmas songs saying it's bullying. it spells danger to children's self-esteem. they are threatening the sue. they wr

clint van zandt standing by, former fbi profiler, nbc news contributor. clint, you heard the information there, you heard the news conference, you were taking it all in, like all of us. based on what you heard there, what, if anything, what more have we been able to clean about this shooter? >> well, quite a bit. we continue to clear up this confusion, almost the equivalent of the fog of war that has existed for the past day and a half. we're now told that there is no formal report of any altercation that took place between the shooter and the three or four staff members or teachers that some reports said took place on thursday. we now know, officially, that there's no known connection between the mother in the school, although we labored under the impression all day yesterday that she was a kindergarten teacher. somehow, erroneous information passed on to us. we know from the medical examiner, who personally conduct ed seven of the autopsies, realizing there's many more victims, seven of the autopsies, all which he indicated were first graders, and that

start in the early mornings, commuting between court appointments homes of low increase and disabled clints, hospitals and schools and his work leads into the late evenings he can be found in the late trip ac's where he tutors nearly 50 america youth to help them understand the important of education their futures in the world and academic excellence his mint doesn't stop at mentoring he helps many student pursue scholarships to per view their dreams for higher education he understand the value and importance of community service and empowering our people to be strong and proud and conscious and capable members of the community who never forgot their heritage. so abraham, on behalf of the city and county of the san francisco x we will like to presented you with the 2012 distinguished service award. (applause). >>> thank you all and i appreciate this very much from the government of san francisco and i thanks our community at large and everyone who is here and for them, i thank them also and we will try our best and the commitment to work with our arabs will never be interrupted or anything

clint van zandt, thank you very much. that does it r

. >> the one that actor clint eastwood spoke to during his mumbling, stumbling convention speech. >>ahead. >> make my day. >> worst empty podium supposedly occupied by the president, the one he actually stood at during the first debate. >> everybody gave clint eastwood such a hard time about the empty chair. that empty chair was exactly who showed up at the first debate. >> the audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent. >> i think that barack obama definitely in the first debate got smoked. >> trillion dollar plan. >> president for four years. you said you would cut the deficit in half. it's still four years later, we still have a trillion dollar deficit. >> a roller coaster where for a long time it was thought to be a foregone conclusion the president would win. >> let's not. let's let him respond. >> while mitt romney came on strong, the president's lackluster performance, looking down, scowling, growling, left many democrats stunned. >> they all assumed the fetal position and sobbed in unison. that was terrible. it was hard to watch, but some of the analysis afterwar

roofs off homes like we saw at clint's home.commercial buildings even had roofs torn off as well. and also 7:00 in the morning, baker, louisiana, let's take you to baker and show you the damage, the destruction there. trees, power lines down as well. even a car wash destroyed. that's baker, an ef-1, winds there, 105 miles an hour. there was the path. the only threat today is in florida, the tail end of that front may be firing off an isolated tornado. so there we are so far thus far two confirmed, potentially more, national weather service heading out to survey the damage. the birmingham one, mile-wide long path, 250 yards wide, four-mile long path in baker, louisiana. let's talk about how quiet the season has been thus far. seven tornadoes have touched down between november and december 8th. the ten-year average is 70. so it has been incredibly quiet. we do have a severe weather season in this cool season and it happens in dixie alley where we saw it. as john was mentioning the threat today, only in south and central florida. t