courtney hazlett, thanks. >> anytime. >> is this the kind of movie you would go see?u think you would get some answers or just get more antagonistic americans? >> i always love michael moore's movies and courtney was hitting it right in terms of the issue. he does have an incredible way of being able to explain a complicated issue in a way a lot of people can understand. i find them amusing and comedic at the same time. i give it a thumbs up without even having seen it. >> always great entertainment. >> speaking of great entertainment but also serious, coming up explosive allegations about the bush white house trying to hype the terror threat in order to win the 2004 election. did it make much of a difference? we'll talk to a former top adviser to the john kerry campaign. >>> plus, president obama's double jeopardy. is he losing the message war on both health care and afghanistan and what can he do about it? >>> and how sarah palin became the new queen of facebook. those stories and a whole lot more just ahead on "the big picture." my doctor told me something i never

msnbc.com correspondent courtney hazlett joins us. with another good morning to you, court, this photo, do we know this photo is legit? what do you know about it? >> we do not know this photo is legit. sources very close to the family i spoke to that reached out said, hey, we can't confirm that is michael's bedroom. they said we can't confirm that anybody even set foot in there after law enforcement did their surveying of the scene. truth be told, alex, i can't for the life of me figure out what this adds to the story, why the british press would want to publish something like this. for the fophoto, for anyone who can't see the detail, it doesn't really reveal all that much. what it would reveal is not anything meaningful to jackson's greater story or whether there was medical negligence that took place. it's just confounding to me and really mack kaub. i don't understand the editorial decision there. >> two issues set to be discussed tomorrow, custody of michael's three children. secondly, whether or not katherine jackson is going to

courtney hazlett, thanks as always. check with you again soon. >>> it is part of the next chapter in the life of ex-conmichael vick. a hometown celebration. >>> octomom having second thoughts but do they include regret for having so many children? >>> before that the threat of homegrown terror, a greater threat of americans turning on americans? everyone's talking abo them. and now we can actually do something about them. at wal-mart, their prices are unbeatable. over 300 prescriptions are just four dollars. four dollars. imagine that. ♪ ♪ i'm cool like that, i'm cool like that ♪ ♪ i'm cool like that [ female announcer ] there's a smarter, cooler way to get your clothes brilliantly clean. and it's a turn for the better. ♪ i'm cool like that, i'm cool like that ♪ [ female announcer ] tide coldwater. it's specially formulated to clean in cold better than the other brand does in warm. ♪ cool like that and by washing in cold, you can save up to $10 on your energy bill with every 100 oz bottle. and that's cool. tide coldwate

msnbc courtney hazlett joins us live to talk about that. courtney, i'm hearing that different stories, that, infects michael jackson may not have had 4 million or 500 million but his fortune may have been significantly less. is that one of the issues talked about today? >> well, you touched on a really great point, carlos. his estate is worth $5 hundred million but the value right now is only about a hundred million and financial restructuring it looks like you could bump it up to 200 million and goes back to wa we've been talking about all along he had a lot of things that were worth money but in terms of how liquid he is a totally different story. another interesting point we just learned from inside the courtroom, proceedings haven't begun yet but hearing a lot from the public information officer. aeg, the folks who were behind the concert series, they filed court documents this morning. haven't found out exactly what they contain, but we do know they have to do with aeg being looped into some of the financial decisions as well. so just a

msnbc.com entertainment correspondent courtney hazlett is joining me once again live from los angeles with the very latest. and with a final good morning to you, what can you tell us about this particular doctor, courtney, who is speaking out? >> this particular doctor is dr. allen metzger and he's the fourth doctor we can confirm that has been subpoenaed in relation to michael jackson's death. they're taking whatever medical records they can get their hands on. the ones that pertain to michael jackson, trying to put all these pieces of the puzzle together. you hear from his attorney that this doctor is one of the ones who michael jackson asked for propofol. he said that jackson was looking for propofol, and dr. metzger turned him down. he advised him how dangerous it was. apparently jackson was shopping around fortunate the drug or looking for someone to administer it to him. that's the attorney's statement about dr. allen metzger. fits in with everything we know up to this point, which is jackson definitely for some time was asking for propofol. i spoke to his nurse cherilyn lee las

msnbc.com entertainment cored courtney hazlett joins me live from los angeles. good morning, court. this picture, how legitimate is it? has it been confirmed? what do we know about it? >> it's not been confirmed by anybody who would directly have knowledge of what his bedroom looked like after the paramedics and such arrived. this is a picture that, truth be told, doesn't add anything to the story. it doesn't advance the story. but much like every other development in this very, very long and complicated story of michael jackson's life, it might answer one question, but then raises five more. that's what you got there. >> okay. now every day we are learning more and more about michael jackson's personal doctor, dr. conrad murray. the more we learn, the picture gets a bit more convoluted, a bit bleaker. what is the latest on him? >> the latest is this -- we know that he owes a lot of money. we were wondering why would somebody decide to go against all medical advice and practice and that sort of thing and give michael jackson propofol. dr. murray has a $780,000 settlement against his

courtney hazlett, thanks. >>> now, to the weather. at least five northeast states a big cleanup's under way. strong storms knocked down trees and limbs in beverly, massachusetts. the rough weather knocked out power from 30,000 residents. heavy rain flooded several neighborhoods in upstate new york, trapping residents. nbc meteorologist bill karins has more on what to expect today. bill? >> yes, severe weather was really bad in many areas of the country yesterday, even a couple tornadoes out there. today will be calmer, the front that brought heavy rain to the east pushed off the eastern seaboard and is that means a beautiful saturday. a beach saturday, maybe heading to the lakes from new england southward to southeast. travel trouble spot early today heading through arkansas, owe za ozarks, oklahoma. scattered showers and storms. that will continue throughout the afternoon. a lot of the heavy rain will shift into areas from mississippi to alabama. notice the ohio valley starting your august off pretty nice. as far as west coast goes,

an msnbc.com's courtney hazlett. we've been waiting for this report for weeks now. i have been around the world lately in africa and places like that. this is going to be a bombshell. >> it's definitely a bombshell. weaver been waiting for it, talking about it, saying the word manslaughter over and over again and how it would likely be applied to this case and finally here it is today. surprising in its timing, of course. also surprising, it comes on the heels of this search warrant affidavit becoming unsealed. it was filed in texas. it's unsealed, and it has to do with that texas investigation. what we learn here is the time line of events that took place the night that michael jackson died. i thought it was very interesting. conrad murray allegedly in this affidavit said that he gave michael jackson a number of drugs beginning at 1:30 in the morning valium, ativan, versed, then ativan again and versed again and finally at 10:40 on the morning he died profoe follow diluted with lidocaine. he left the room for two minutes and when he came back michael jackson was no

msnbc.com entertainment correspondent courtney hazlett is joining me live from los angeles with the very latest. so with a good morning to you again, courtney. >> good morning. >> what can you tell us about this doctor? >> well, this doctor, dr. allen met garr, he now becomes the fourth doctor that we know of who has been subpoenaed in some connection with michael jackson's death. i'm told the total number could be somewhere near five or six doctors altogether. this is the fourth now that we definitely know of. his attorney said this, jackson was looking for propofol, and dr. metzger turned him down and advised him how dangerous it was. apparently jackson was shopping around for the drug and looking for someone to administer it to him. definitely dovetailed with everything we've been hearing all along, which was jackson was asking people for the drug. he had been told repeatedly that it was dangerous. and he shouldn't have it. and -- but he finally did find someone who was administer to it -- administer that drug to him, and that's dr. conrad murray. >> okay. so what more details are we

. >> joining us now is msnbc.com's courtney hazlett. courtney, this is a surprise. video and i guess i didn't know that there was such an outcry from supporters of dr. murray. >> 20 to 30 supporters a day according to representatives in dr. murray's attorney's office which doesn't sound like a lot on paper but when you think about what we've been talking about with dr. murray, his possible connection to michael jackson's death. that does sound like a lot of supporters. this does seem it is ripped out of a page from chris brown's playbook in some sense. this video, posting it on the internet. this sort of not apology per se in dr. murray ace ca's case, bu addressing of his alleged fans does seem to go along with what celebrities, the famous or infamous, tend to do when they want to make it look like they're giving an interview but they don't want to have to answer any difficult questions so. what dr. murray here is doing, it's like, listen, i cooperated. all we can do is hope for the best. he's right on that point. you do have to give him credit for this, he's been c

courtney hazlett is in burbank following these details.bout the estate, the money involved here? >> reporter: lots of money involved, about $60 million. aeg sold the footage to columbia pictures. the jackson estate will get 90% of the profit. that's an important number. like anything here, there are tons of expenses to be paid out. a lot of the people behind the scenes here have yet to be paid. those are the folks who did the choreography, the costuming. all the real nuts and bolts of this organization. at the end of the day, it sounds like a lot of money, but we have to wait and see what the actual profit numbers are. >> so the talent and crew that would accompanied jackson to these concerts, they're not going to get to do it, so a lot of money at stake for them. columbia pictures paying aeg $60 million for the future length film, using the film of the footage of the rehearsals and all that. will that get passed on to the people who would have benefitted from going on tour? >> i've been speaking to these folks literally since the day afte

let's get to courtney hazlett who is outside the courthouse? los angeles. ue pretty much get taken of very quickly. last week, they came to an i agreement. today is much more important for the estate overall however. one of the elements katherine jackson's attorneys are exploring if she can argue about the guardianship. i'm sorry, the administrators without contesting the will. she doesn't want to trigger a no contest clause because she could lose everything she was given in michael jackson's will and who is going to shepherd his estate through a financial restructuring as well. he's worth $5 mun hundred million but only a hundred million is liquid. >>> in fairfax, virginia, you're seeing senator warner. president obama is expected to make remarks at the top of the hour on that post 9/11 g.i. bill that provides our men and women in uniform with comprehensive educational benefits. the department of veterans affairs begins distributing tuition payments to schools participating in the program this month and when we see the president at the top of the hour on ms

courtn courtney hazlett writes the scoop. what's being discussed today?want to discuss miley cyrus, too, but another time. in court, this aeg tour they wanted to -- or aeg wanted to have this tour and the issue was how would it impact the estate? the movie coming out in october has footage from the rehearsal. the estate claims if split isn't fair. it's 50/50 as it stands and they would like to see more going to the estate. >> we also heard jackson's children's god father on the "today" show claiming that he could be paris' dad. he wants contact with the kids. what do you make of that? >> it feels a little strange to have all these people coming forward and saying they could be the father of these children. mark lester, he makes a point of saying this morning that he's not looking for anything at this point in time. it was really a gift. >> when i gave it, i made a decision. that was it. i had given something as a gift and didn't want anything to return for it. that was it. end of story. >> you were married at the time that this happened. did you discuss t

courtney hazlett is at the courthouse. what's the deal with arnie klein, courtney?rter: is anything about this unweird, contessa? right before everything was about to begin, arnie klein's attorney, mark vincent kaplan, who represented kevin federline in his custody case with britney spears, he says his client has unique interest in this custody case and wanted him factored in as well. the judge basically shot him down. i'm told that arnie klein and his attorney are still meeting right now going over what happened this morning. so it makes me believe that there might be more to come from these two at least. >> all right. let's talk a little bit about how many attorneys are there, because this afternoon comes -- maybe the custody of the kids is, while not simple by any stretch of the imagination, simpler than his estate, i know there's a lot of people with a visited interest in what happens to michael jackson's estate. what are you learning? >> according to one of the reporters we have inside the courtroom right now, they counted 17 attorneys, contessa. that amounts t

msnbc.com's courtney hazlett joins us live from los angeles. what do they suspect might have happened here? >> reporter: i think the salient point here is it's really hard to keep track of anything michael jackson has, whether it's property, assets, actual dollars, things like that. that's the larger issue. so in terms of has it disappeared disappeared? you can probably find it. but as with everything in this case, there's only one person who really knows everything, and that's michael jackson. also i want to fast forward quickly, right before i came on, the judge did admit into probate his will. that has a lot of people buzzing about at the courthouse right now david and tamron. what does it mean? in some sense it's a formality. you have to admit the will into probate before dealing with issues like dividing up the assets and making sure all the other business entities get taken care of appropriately. however, it does mean this is the enforceable will, this is where the law will fall back to, this will that's been admitted into probate. if oth

courtney hazlett, thank you for being here. let's get to the photo. legitimacy of this photo. is it verified? did a family insider give this photo to a tabloid? >> we have no idea. nobody who would have direct knowledge of whether this was michael jackson's bedroom or whether this was really taken after a resuscitation event. none of these people have come forward and say on the record this is a legitimate photo. as far as how they obtained this photo, is somebody in the jackson family or very close to the jackson family -- call it what it is -- selling these photos to certain tabloids? we certainly hope that's not the case but there are a lot of rumors swirling around that there are jackson siblings who don't have money and they need money and they will go to great lengths to get money. there's that. i also spoke to some people with direct experience with resuscitation and looking at this photo, it's one of two things took place. either the world's tidiest paramedics came and asemted to resuscitate jackson or there was no substantial effort made if that is his bedroom. becaus

msnbc.com's courtney hazlett joins us live from l.a.hink that's such a big part of this estate battle because how people remember him and continue to buy his music and if they set up some kind of memorial for him like a graceland and go see him, this increases that estate and makes it for valuable for whomever gets to control do. >> i think that poll is fascinating for another reason, too. when we first started to report that there would be these concerts in london, i remember we were on air saying would people pay thatch to go abroad to see these shows and the outpouring of response i got was from abroad saying we don't remember him for his legal problems, but we remember him for his music. that speaks to the fact that at the end of the day we remember him as a musician that was really influential. >> what is the latest here, this court i understand is in recess for lunch right now. is this pretty much being seen as a victory for katherine jackson, especially when david just outlined what she'll be able to get to care for these kids? >

courtney hazlett says williams' reps tell her that the report is just not true. >> i'm happy for her.> david, come on. that's just mean. >>> when it comes to celebrity actresses, jessica biel could be the most dangerous of all when it comes to your computer. the security company mcafee says there's a one in five chance of ending up with some kind of computer virus if you search for the actress on the web. the company says cyber criminals are star watchers and they track popular celebrities to spread destructive viruss in disguise. i think a little bit of addition to it, i don't think it's just searching for pictures. i think it's when guys say jessica biel nude, jessica biel legs. it's usually something added naughty and then you get had trouble. >> exactly. >>> beauty pageant contestants blowing up condoms and not for their designed purpose. miss australia took the top prize at the condom olympics on friday. she raced against other miss universe contestants to see who could blow up a condom until it burst. she blows up pretty well. it was done to raise awareness about hiv. good for t

we are joining by msnbc.com's courtney hazlett , and also jonathan capehart and karen finny.stead of capitalism. >> that's for another show. >> yeah, and what michael moore does and what he does best, he is asking how did this happen? he asked the democrat from indiana, and he said i just landed in indiana, and found out about it. let's take a look. >> how did the collapse happen? >> i got home to friday, and everything was fine. and then all of a sudden we have the crisis on our hands. >> there has to be a rebellen between the people that have nothing and the people that have it all. >> everything is being handled by the treasury secretary from golden sacks. this was like an intelligence operation almost. >> intelligence operation? you think? >> yeah. yeah. it's so hard for you right now because you want to go on the corruption thing. >> that's what is called corruption and not capitalism. another show. >> and what michael moore does well, he can't let things go. and the next question he asked, okay, show me the money. we have a clip from that situation as well. >> did he fi

let's go to or entertainment reporter courtney hazlett who is in l.a. what do you have? sony. we are figuring out today the nuts and bolts of the agreement here, how merchandising is going to be sold. all that rehearsal footage we heard about, how it's going to be used and why is it going to be interesting, you ask? katherine jackson is going to be allowed to enter objections into court today. the reason she would want to do that isn't so the estate would get less money. if it's if she wants to be an inner down the road she has to prove she is financially responsible and interested and that she has been following this but there is a fine line she has to walk. she doesn't want to appear difficult. any time you have the jackson family, things take a difficult time. interesting to hear what her objections are today with this contract. >> george lewis is reporting the judge is reviewing the 60 million dollar deal with columbia picture to bring in the rehearsal footage from the "this is it" concert tour and it never happened because of jackson's death. how much would that eas

courtney hazlett has something for this. >> yeah, he posted a one-minute video on youtube.t address the manslaughter case surrounding him. we have heard tons about this. he said he gave him the drug hours before his death. he maintains he told the truth all along, and thanks his patients and friends for their support. >> please, don't worry. as long as i keep god in my heart, and you in my life, i will be fine. i have done all that i could do. i told the truth, and i have faith the truth will prevail. god bless you and thank you. >> there is a lot striking about the video, but among that is the concept of the videotaped statement is nothing new, the perfect out let for the famous and infamous with the benefit of not having to answer a single question. it's ironic that michael jackson himself set the stage for this trend in 1993, when he broke his silence about child molestation charges in a statement. and more recently, of course, we saw chris brown apologize for the attack against his now, ex-girlfriend, rihanna. once you start to look at this, it's interesting, a michael

courtney hazlett is in burbank. when we heard him say he's not the father of the two older children this guardianship calls that into question. >> remember, contessa, his actual words were "i'm not the father, to the best of my knowledge," or something really vega long those lines. this definitely does raise that question again, though, why does he have this vested interest? he says that he told michael jackson he made these promises to him he would always look after his children to some extent and that was sort of the message being put out there yesterday. however, september 1st expecting more documents filed on behalf of dr. klein to further this point, bolster his argument. the judge basically dismissed it and said this isn't happening today but september 1st we'll get more information why dr. klein feels like he has some sort of parental rights to these kids. >> all right, so on the "today" show, matt lauer was asking about his relationship with them, whether there might be a deal with dr. klein in the future. l

msnbc's courtney hazlett poring through new documents detailing what happened in those final hours. >dr., conrad murray, tells los angeles police he used the powerful anesthetic we have been hearing about propofol every night for six weeks. six weeks, to treat jackson's i am insomnia. murray was concerned jackson was becoming addicted and the timeline of the night of jackson's death, according to the affidavit, shows dr. murray tried multiple other drugs before giving in to jackson's demands for propofol the night before he died. at 1:30 in the morning, dr. murray gave jackson valium. a half hour later, anti-anxiety drug lorazepam. when jackson was still awake an hour after that, dr. murray opted for the sedative. more of those drugs. fast forward. just after 10:30 the next morning, murray finally gave an in to jackson's request and gave him propofol with lydocaine. turns out that was a lethal dose. according to the affidavit, dr. marry found jackson unresponsive a few moments later but had is essential here, this sounds like such a smoking gun. dr. murray's attorney releases this sta