. >>> all of this brings us to our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, in the studio. at one point the secretary just kind of waved her hand today to indicate the whole region of the middle east as something we should have our eyes on. as you know, all too well, it's a tinder box. what do you have your eyes on right now? >> in regards to this testimony, i think she was highlighting the problems in north africa. and it really goes down to weapons. when gadhafi was falling, i was there at the time, i had never seen so many weapons in my entire life. and they were just being taken from depots, they were being handed over to militant groups. and then they went all over the region. they went from country to country and they fell into the hands of militant groups. and this is no longer theoretical. seven americans have been killed, including an ambassador in the last four months. >> it was election night last night in israel. benjamin netanyahu re-elected but by a thin margin with less power. as you have been pointing out over and over, there they sit in the middle of a lot

richard engel, our chief foreign correspondent, here with us in the studio tonight. what's the significance of israel reaching in and popping a target like that. >> it's quite significant. and this is the first time israel has attacked anything in syria for five years. what we've been able to confirm, an israeli air strike took place and attacked a convoy, probably stationary, just north of damascus. it was packed with fairly sophisticated russian anti aircraft missiles. and that those missiles were on their way to lebanon. they were going to be handed over to hezbollah. hezbollah is very powerful in lebanon, israel's sworn enemy. israel did not want hezbollah to have these weapons. what does it mean? hezbollah and israel could be heading up for another round. it also means israel is willing to reach inside syria and stop weapons from leaking out, maybe even chemical weapons. >> an escalation in a dangerous neighborhood. richard engel, thank you, as always. >>> still ahead for us tonight, a dramatic turn of events for a man who was once a heartbeat from a presidency.

joining us is foreign chief correspondent richard engel.e. >> bullpucky? >> bullpucky. >> twice. i can see your teleprompter and you actually wrote bullpucky. i wasn't sure that was a real word. on a much more serious note. >> what do you make of this report from josh? it's very scary, and also for me reminds me of a lot of stuff i've heard before. >> i had heard this report from syrian rebels while i was inside syria, because at the time i was asking them did they think that the regime would use chemical weapons. they said of course the regime already has used chemical weapons, and they referred to an incident specifically in homs in december around christmas time, december 23rd. and i was listening to activists tell me about it. and it seemed not convincing, frankly. they said there had been some gas released in homs, potentially fired from tanks, maybe dropped from the air, and that it made people sick. i asked if anyone was killed. they said no. i said, well, maybe this is tear gas. maybe there was something else that got people sick. w

richard engel will join me live to talk to us about how all of that is coming back to haunt us. first, the rea action to tom harkin's announcement that heel not be running for his sixth term in between 14. it's just time to step aside. senate majority leader harry reid praising his -- he's been a champion for improving americans' access to affordable health care. tom is a passionate progressive whose deeply-held principles prieded a guiding light to democrats for decade. >>> since a federal axe peels court has invalidated president obama's appointments to that board, some legal experts say the board's previous rulings may all be in trouble. and mitt romney is in washington, d.c., this week. the marriott corporation honored him and his wife ann on friday and he had the board of directors after the election and tonight he will attend the bipartisan alfalfa club dinner in d.c.. >> and as he often does when announcing sweeping new policy measures, president obama will hit the road to unveil his plan for com prehundredsive immigration reform and he'll do that tuesday in nevada where

richard engel, chief foreign correspondent, as we look at the u.s.o back to "the economist" magazine which had an observation about how to sum up the first four years of the president's term, almost a coming home rather than active engagement in the rest of the world. the tone of cool detachment has been his foreign policy hallm k hallmark. they are a catalyst present but not deeply involved. just to start you out on the huge threat of an iranian nuclear weapon, how does that factor into the second term? >> i think it's possible that this year there may be an action by israel against iran. it looked likely last year. i thought it was going to happen. and then it looked less likely. and people i'm speaking to think it is once again a possibility. that changes the entire dynamic. and this administration talks about wanting to shift to asia. sure, that sounds greatest. but i think it will be very difficult to do. especially in that happens. if the israelis decide after their elections that they are moving a little bit more to the right, if the iranian e

and our chief foreign correspondent richard engel. plus, chuck todd will be here as well to take us inside the numbers as president obama looks ahead to his second term. that's all coming up after this short break. [ ryon ] eating shrimp at red lobster is a fantastic experience. 30 shrimp for $11.99. i can't imagine anything better. you're getting a ton of shrimp, and it tastes really good! [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's 30 shrimp for just $11.99! choose any two of five savory shrimp selections, like mango jalapeÑo shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. two delicious shrimp selections on one plate! all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just $11.99 for a limited time. wow, that's a lot of shrimp. i'm ryon stewart, i'm the ultimate shrimp lover, and i sea food differently. is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release. looks like you're in a pickle. yeah. can you get me ou

we just got to start playing smafrter. >> a better candidate than sharon engel.. joe, let me say something else. i worked for reagan, okay. reagan was a big tent guy. he was inclusive. in his administration we had moderate republicans, we had conservative republicans, we had supply siders like myself, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. can we go back to reagan's model, can we open up the party a little bit. you know what i'm thinking about particularly. this whole issue about immigration, latino, african-americans, young people, joe the whole party is missing a whole demonstrato graphic in this country? >> no doubt about it. one of my biggest criticisms about mitt romney over the past couple of years i never really thought he understood freeman or thatcher or reagan because if you do get it, if you understand what you understand at your gut level, what i understand and many other conservatives, free market conservatives get, that is that what we believe in conservatism applies equally to an 18-year-old latino voter in los angeles as it does to a 65-year-old hedge f

-- from "the impossible," oscar nominee naomi watts, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel,

thank you, rich engel. we'll get back to you at some time and talk about your captivity.worry beads out. >> thank you. >> as we should have. >>> up next, yesterday was the president's big day, but didn't you get the idea that the vice president -- there he is -- you can't not laugh sometimes at joe biden -- was thinking about inauguration four years from now? he worked that inaugural crowd like it was a ward in iowa and this was a caucus meeting. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortn

thank you, rich engel. we'll get back to you at some time and talk about your captivity. >> thank you. >> as we should have. >>> up next, yesterday was the president's big day, but didn't you get the idea that the vice president -- there he is -- you can't not laugh sometimes at joe biden -- was thinking about inauguration four years from now? he worked that inaugural crowd like it was a ward in iowa and this was a caucus meeting. this is "hardball," the place for politics. sometimes what we suffer from is bigger than we think ... like the flu. with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so don't wait. call your doctor right away. tamiflu is prescription medicine for treating the flu in adults and children one year and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing. have serious health conditions, or take other

-- from "the impossible," oscar nominee naomi watts, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel

-- from "the impossible," oscar nominee naomi watts, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel, the music of train, and "woulda, coulda, shoulda." and now, jay leno! [ cheers and applause ] captions paid for by nbc-universal television captions by vitac www.vitac.com ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jay: hi, guys! thank you very much! welcome to "the tonight show." nice to have you all here! ladies and gentlemen. thank you very much! did you know this is national fresh squeezed juice week? did you that? >> rickey: no. [ laughter ] >> jay: and in honor this week, oprah winfrey tonight airs her interview with the world's most famous juicer, lance armstrong. [ laughter ] there you go. [ applause ] it is a busy week for lance armstrong. earlier tonight, he admitted to doping on oprah winfrey, and then he goes to dr. phil to

jim engel explains from washington. >>> one proposal has drawn fire from democrats as well as republicans a new tax on the sale of most devices. >> this is a sales tax. >> a 2.3 percent tax on virtually every device you may think of those as pacemakers but it's everything contact lenses eye glasses and hearing aids. >> these are companies that make stethoscopes to syringes to x-rays to mri machines to prosecute thetices. >> it canned take revenue from innovative companies still struggling to get a foot hold and hurt job creation leading some democrats who supported the healthcare law to publicly object to the tax. >> this is an industry concentrated in heavily democratic states. those senators heard about the jobs at risk. >> some have started laying off workers already. one company up in michigan laid off sales and workers because of the medical device success. >> they want the increase to be halted. many of them signed later to senate majority leader harry read to find other ways to get the president's healthcare law saying quote the medical technology industry directly employs over 400

on monday, the ranking democrat at the house foreign affairs committee, eliot engel of new york, said he believes chuck hagel has a tictac endemic hostility toward israel." brennan was a rumored pick for the job when obama was first elected in 2008, but was forced to withdraw from consideration amidst protests over his role at the cia under the bush administration. brennan has publicly supported the cia's policies of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition, and was a key proponent of drone strikes in obama's first term. as his nomination was announced, the activist group codepink gathered outside the white house in protest. in a nod to the potential opposition he faces with hagel's nomination, president obama urged lawmakers to give his choices a speedy confirmation. >> i hope that the senate will act on his confirmation as promptly. and when it comes to national security, we don't like to leave a lot of gaps. between the time one set of leaders transitions out and another transitions in. we need to get moving quickly on this. >> the financial giant big

. >> and they wouldn't have the crazies, the mcconnells, and sharon engels. >> john: michigan mcconnellgainst the tea party. yes, i did help out the fiscal cliff and i saved the economy. and it would win moderates but he's not going to do it. >> but isn't there a lot of money to pull the right further to the right, but there is not a lot of money to pull the left further to the left. there is no one there are no ads calling him to the left, but there is money on the right. >> john: that is a very good example. we're talking about purity test. if you're not pro-choice you can't get that far in the democratic party with a few notable exceptions. but the republicans still have this automatic purity test that kicks in. is there any way to break free of it. >> if they want to win an election ever again which i hope they don't they shut should go down the path. when they said, the fiscal tragedy should not come out of a physical tragedy. they stand on principle, the tea party, you know what the principle is? meanness. that's what we have call them on. it's just mean. >> john: speaking by a pe

charged with five counts of murder stemming from the killing of three women and two men at a home on engel side. he is entering a plea of not guilty. >>> some tenants say, they are not going anywhere. and some people say they need more time since their beaten jins are not actually working. it has been sold to somebody who plans to build and the state land's commission is considering whether part of the harbor should remain public. >>> the big fire near the carquinez bridge, i know you are watching that and everything else, sal. >>> yes, because of that traffic is light near the carquinez bridge and we will keep watching that. let's look at 880 westbound as you head up towards the mcarthur maze. traffic continues to look good and the approach is light with the traffic moving well across the span once you get onto the bridge. looking at the livermore valley, traffic looks good from livermore to dublin and caster valley and dumbarton bridge looks good and in the south bay there are no accidents or stalls. 5:06 let's go to steve. >>> well i just tweeted this out, anchorage alaska is 31, burban

we talked to richard engel last night and we discussed areas where the al-qaeda-linked areas are tryingtake over. they are trying to topple the government there. the french went in this weekend, then the french said on monday they were sending in even more troops. the u.s. had reportedly thought the french were going it alone. but on tuesday, a whole bunch of african countries said they, too, would send help. it was togo, ghana, and senegal, all sending troops. at the same time algeria said they would let them use air space. today, it is now an attack, a major hostage situation involving civilians from a bunch of other countries, civilians including americans. it happened in algeria, three americans and others were taken at a natural gas facility partly owned by bp. they were from ireland, canada, and france. the natural gas facility was here in a remote area of northeastern algeria, the group claiming responsibility says it was retaliation for them using air space in mali. he has reportedly struck out on his own now. according to the algerian government, the hostage-takers were traveli

new york democratic congressman eliot engel. thanks so much.ur time. >> thank you. >> up next, tax and consequences. the head of the tea party express says that she's disgusted with the deal that was made on capitol hill, and you know what, congressman, i'm going to ask her about the sandy relief bill as well. we'll talk to her next. >> and later when asked about their religion, how many members of the new congress checked the box none. the answer may surprise you. stay tuned. this is msnbc, the place for politics. >>> the single biggest issue we have right now is the massive, massive debt hanging over the heads of our children and grandchildren. we need to address it, and the american people elected divided government. they expect us to deal with the problems, even though they are hard to deal with when you have different points of view. >> republican leader mitch mcconnell there trying to put the fiscal cliff in his rear view mirror but some on the right may not let him. mcconnell is now one of several republicans being targeted by tea party

engel: mr. speaker -- mr. nadler: the distinguished the gentleman from maryland said what had to be said. but i want to add, i have been in this house for 20 years. we have seen droughts. we have seen storms, we have seen earthquakes, wildfires out west, this congress has never, never failed to vote emergency appropriations for the aid of the states, never. hurricane sandy struck on october 29. eight, nine weeks ago. it's unprecedented that it should take so long and yet we are going to adjourn sinedine. it is unprecedented and disgusting. i can understand -- i would not sympathesize, but i could understand with members who said that the amount requested is too much, we should change it, quibble with it and debate it, but to ignore it, ignore the plight of millions of american citizens, unprecedented, disgusting, unworthy of the leadership of this house, she should hang their heads in shame. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek reco

i want to thank my guests, naomi watts, richard engel, and of course train.is tucker will be here. but jimmy fallon is happening right now. jimmy! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center, the national broadcasting company presents -- tonight's guests are -- and featuring the legendary roots crew. and here he is -- jimmy fallon! [ cheers and applause ] captions paid for by nbc-universal television -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: wow. [ cheers and applause ] that's what i'm talking about. some love. that's a great new york city crowd right there. thank you so much for being here tonight. you know -- you can feel it. welcome. welcome, everybody. thank you for being here. welcome to "late night with jimmy fallon." [ cheers and applause ] everybody -- everybody's talking about this story. manti te'o. [ cheers ] this is the craziest story. have you heard about this? notre dame linebacker manti te'o is being accused of making up an online girlfriend and then -- and then lying about her deat

sharon engel comes to mind in colorado. so it's not necessarily the past year.re are also -- but you had ted cruise as well. hee won. so there's both sides of this. >> it's also quite clear that after the 2010 loss, the president set out to change the political narrative. the one that had been so successful for the republicans and the tea party in the midterm elections. and he largely succeeded in doing that while pushing progressive values and attacking mitt romney. and also attacking the essence of the tea party ideology. whether it was what they wanted to do with medicare or taxes. and he's kind of won the argument overall. now, it's not a 70/30 split. he won the election by, you know, by four or five points, whatever it was. so it's still a country that's narrowly divided somewhat on these big issues. he has the impetus. the tea party has caused an operational split if not an ideological split. john boehner to date has not shown himself to be crafty enough to deal with that very difficult situation. >> and i think also, jackie, on some things that are really

november, but this a low turnout in west virginia, maybe somebody runs to her right and we get a sharon engelristine o'donnell situation. >> and we've seen still, democratic party still has some strength left in a place like kentucky and west virginia and it's usually based in this, the divide over business, isn't it? >> and the biggest thing that we see is this sort of democratic party being to the local region trickling down ballot. now, it's not just presidential candidates, but it's this senate seat or local races in the kentucky state house and senate. >> and a democratic governor of -- and kentucky. >> and a democrat in west virginia and kentucky, a successful one, does not look anything like a democrat. he literally shot a bullet through the heart of the cap and trade legislation that the democratic house of representatives passed. >> not surprising seeing this trend and yet at the same time, when you dig deeper, idea logically, do coal voters fit? >>> up next, president obama holding his last press conference of his first term. he's going to start by talking about the debt limit. but

engel from new york. >> thank you very much mr. chairman.te department have rightfully taken responsibility for what happened convening the arb and their recommendations as i said in my opening statement we need to be clear-eyed there's blame to share right here in congress. over the past two years alone, the request, for diplomatic funding has been slashed in congress and current appropriations bill for fiscal 2013 continues the negative trend slashing funding for worldwide protection, embassy security, construction and maintenance by more than 260 million dollars so i'd like to ask you, madam secretary, do you think that congress has provided adequate resources for diplomatic security in recent years? can you talk about security priorities? you've not been able to complete due to inadequate budget? and what advice would you give the committee as it considers funding to protect our diplomates? and i want to also add what would happen even worse to the security of our diplomates and our diplomatic facilities if there is a sequester or worse,

nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us now. you've seen it up close.ou've seen men and women, women embedded with the troops. what difference do you think this will make? it makes a big difference in terms of career advancement? what about unit cohesion and all the other obstacles that critics are suggest sng. >> >> in some cases this is already happening. i remember a time in kandahar i was with a small unit of military police. there was a female lieutenant leading the group, and she was in the city of kandahar, which is a dangerous place. if are you walking around in kevlar carrying a rifle, walking through the streets of a dangerous city, are you in dom bat, especially in the kind of combat you have today when there aren't frontlines, and there are urban environments. she lived with other american soldiers. she lived in this same very dirty room that smelled of feet almost all the time. they got along very well. i can imagine if you multiply that throughout what they call theater of battle and you have women in these tiny frontline outposts across t

we spoke with congressman engel yesterday, and he also weighed in on that as well.e you mentioned the republicans, are they willing to let the government default over the cuts to social security and medicare, do you think, as we move ahead to this next debate over the sequester and the spending cuts? >> well, i mean, i think the first up is the debt ceiling, and that's where you're now beginning to hear talk of, well, maybe we'll partially shut down the government. the president said i'm not -- i am not going to have a debate over whether we should borrow money to pay for what we've already spent. only he says to pay for what congress has already spent, and the republicans are saying, well, we're not going to raise that debt ceiling and allow the u.s. to borrow unless we get one for one. a dollar in the raised debt ceiling and a dollar in spending cuts, so i'm not sure where this is going. some republicans say, hey, we're going -- this is where we're going to get our spending cuts because they don't think they got any in the fiscal cliff plan that was just passed an

right of the center of the gop, they may win the primary, but as we've seen in the past with sharon engelstina mcdonnell, once you get in the general, they don't win. they don't get enough of the center. >> right. that's definitely a concern among iowa republicans right now. can a republican who wins the nomination win statewide? that's obviously going to be key. the two republicans they're looking at quite closely right now, representative steve king, an outspoken conservative and favorite of national con serbtives, and representative tom latham who just won re-election in the southwest corner of iowa in a very competitive district. tom latham over the course of his almost two decade long career has represented 55 of iowa's 99 counties. by all accounts he's a strong candidate. can he win the primary, though, against steve king? >> we've been saying it for about two years. going to go forward for another two to four years. changing of the guard if you will. there's another liberal line as i was mentioning that is gone. earlier we had the loss of ted kennedy. now you have harkin also leavi

thank you so much, congressman engel. >> thank you. >> an unnerving number of americans have gotten a flu shot but first, is he or isn't he? a mystery surrounding george p. bush. we've got that for you. you're watching msnbc. ene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. thor gets great rewards for his small business! your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns