white house correspondent chuck todd and retired army colonel and recipient of the medal of honor, jack jacobs. jack, let's talk about generals beginning with petraeus. during world war ii, americans could name a handful of generals, with the exception of curtis lemay and your commander in vietnam, westmoreland since then. tell me about the impact on the military, any fault the military may have in the system? >> well, we have a large number of general officers, admirals, flag officers, lots and lots of them. as a result, somebody like petraeus who is skilled shines above all others. but in order to have lots and lots of generals, the law of large numbers says that some of them are not going to be good, and the supervision of their rise and their nomination is not always the best. it's easy to take your eyes off the bubble, and as a result, you have a circumstance like this, it's very troubling, although i have to say that the rank and file of the military is strongly in favor of good people continuing to command no matter what the results of an investigation like this. >> chuck todd over to y

. >> i want to bring in jack jacobs and jonathan alter a columnist for bloomberg. jack, are you surprised? >> oh, yes, i'm shocked. general petraeus has been a symbol of rectitude among military people for nearly 40 years. i knew him when he was a cadet at west point and i was teaching there. his wife hollies a the daughter of the superintendent of the military academy. great loss to the cia, to the country. very sad for the family and for the government and for the country. >> one assumes though, colonel, that given his position as heading what is obviously known as the silent service, that this kind of indiscretion in and of itself is something that many people sadly it happens in their lives but in relation to his position it made it impossible -- >> well, yeah, it would be i impossible, especially now, especially in the circumstance in which the united states is under great threat and there's a wide variety of threats. there are problems between the executive branch and the congress in funding and so forth. you know, somebody once said not that long ago and says

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army colonel, jack jacobs. jack, it is impossible to be a member of the military establishment. it is impossible to be a journalist who has covered these wars going back ten years and not know dave petraeus, as you and i both do, soldier, scholar, princeton, his wife is as much a member of the military families, as much as david. with active duty and yet, this staggering incident. >> yes, this is something held both in a high regard, making a tremendous contribution to the defense of the public. i have known general petraeus since he was a cadet at west point when i was teaching in the department of social sciences. and his wife, holly, was the daughter of the superintendent, general nolton exceptional people, making great contributions, making it all the more painful. >> when you're a cia director and something like this happens in your personal life i guess it makes you vulnerable and perhaps even blackmailable. >> yes, there is another lesson here, too, when there is bad news, the best time to get it out is at the very beginning. bad news doesn't get better with age. i am sur

army colonel, jack jacobs. colonel jack, thanks for sticking around. first of all, let's start with where vic left off. what do you make of the timing of all of this? >> i don't see anything untoward about this. i think the fbi investigated as quickly as they could. i think as soon as they found something out, they talked to him. there was a bit of a delay in notifying the president. but that's something else altogether. you were asking about gen ben ghazi, do you want to talk benghazi? >> yeah. >> you've been on the ground. you know, you know what it's like to be on the ground when your intelligence is no good, i think from a military standpoint, i don't think it made any sense whatsoever to send a quick reaction force, which would neither be quick, nor would it necessarily be able to react to what was on the ground. by that time, anyway, ambassador stevens was dead. >> let's talk about from a personal standpoint. i know that you have known david petraeus and his wife, holly, for about the same length of time that they've known each other. tell me the

joining me is retired colonel jack jacobs, medal of honor recipient. lonel jack, this has been a sad chapter but what have we learned? what kuz it tell us and what is the impact on the rank and file? men and women in combat zones in afghanistan and iraq and other noncombat zones who have to be thinking what is going on here? >> the large majority of people i talk to, in the military, and some retired people, they say the same thing, it's really a tragedy but it's personal business and should not have resulted in his leaving the cia. and that generally speaking those kinds of things are per n personal unless they involved a senior and subordinate for which people get prosecuted. you heard from diane finestein, people on both sides of aisle in congress saying the same thing, not articulating there was nothing wrong with it, but that petraeus, a really talented guy, sorry we lost him. in the end, i think we're going to look very carefully at people before we elevate them. going to have to be much better vetting. we're one of the few countries where vetting

army colonel jack jacobs is an msnbc contributor and recipient of the medal of honor for his servicen vietnam. it's a great honor to have you here. >> thank you. >> despite resigning, the plot keep thinkckening. >> there will continue to be disclowe schurs about what the affair was all about and how it was discovered and what role the fbi played and what role the white house played and the possibility of delaying the announcement. there will be plenty of speculation, but in terms of an effect on the cia, on the mission, i don't think it will have any affect whatsoever. it's a large organization with lots of missions. the man who is currently the acting director and very, very able. eventually he will be replaced and there will be somebody who will be nominated to take his place and petraeus' place, but the cia will carry on doing what it needs to do and being part of the overall intelligence apparatus of the american government. >> sure. well, congress is likely to call petraeus to testify on benghazi, even as they question why they were kept in the dark about an fbi inquiry which le

. >>> we are going to be talking with msnbc military analyst colonel jack jacobs, who personally knows general petraeus and his family. we're going to get his take on the general's resignation a bit later on this hour. here's the question for all of you, cia director petraeus, should he have resigned for having an affair? talk to me on twitter, my handle is @alexwitt. i will read some of your tweets throughout the day. >>> the other big story out of washington this morning, president obama says he's committed to working with congress to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. but at the same time, the president appears to be standing his ground on tax hikes for the wealthy, as part of his plan. >> i'm not going to ask students and seniors and middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me, making over $250,000, aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes. i'm not going to do that. >> house speaker john boehner is also standing his ground, speaking ahead of the president friday. the speaker says he remains unwilling to raise taxes on upper income earners. >> everyone w

to do that i'm joined by colonel jack jacobs, msnbc military analyst. and colonel, with reports of israeli troops amassing along the border there, they can move within an hour's notice, is there a danger this is going to turn into a ground assault? >> oh, sure. we only have to remember when israel invaded lebanon, southern lebanon not long ago and that turned out to be a big mess, because it was a poor-planned, even more poorly executed. this is much more difficult. people's vision of gaza is that it's this desert and so on. no. as ayman said it's 1.5 million people, all packed into an urban area. extremely difficult ter plain which to maneuver. very, very hard to fight in. and if israel goes in there it's liable to be quite a mess. so i think although it's always possible this could turn into a wider conflict on the ground, israel is probably going to think about restraining. >> okay. we have positioned the warship "iwo jima" somewhere nearby. what extent would the united states get involved? >> well, we have frequently been involved by providing comma

colonel jack jacobs, thank you very much for joining us with this breaking news.ot of developments. the president coming out and addressing the public for the first time since his re-election, discussing an invitation made to congressional leaders to meet at the white house to start in some kind of compromise to deal with the fiscal

colonel jack jacobs, good to get your perspective. as always, sir, thank you. >> with more here's matt. >>> new york congressman peter king is the chairman of the house commit on homeland security. chairman king, it's good to see you. good morning. >> good morning, matt. >> sounds like a movie, doesn't it? sounds like the script of a movie. i don't know whether it's a comedy or drama. what's your initial reaction to what you're hearing this morning? >> it's really a greek tragedy. general betrarks opetraeus, one most drishd generals and general allen, outstanding job in afghanistan, going to go to nato. you're right. this is tragic, the elements of a hollywood movie or trashy novel. bottom line, you're talking about families and outstanding military leaders and the impact it has on the country and also overall questions about the fbi. >> also what about our credibility, not only here in the united states but abroad? >> obviously it's hurt, and that's -- again, bring it back to the fbi. all the more reason why once this investigation l

and msnbc contributor jack jacobs. >> and jake's here on an important day.is reporting that jake has told all his viewers not to watch abc. that is, quote, filth, and it's against his religion. >> oh, wait a second. that's the "two and a half men" -- >> i tweeted lewis' number to everybody. >> congratulations on the book. from everything we've heard, it's remarkable. but first, let's go to the fiscal cliff. >> this morning's "washington post" says talks between top republicans is accelerating. they must contend with members of the president's own party who are pushing back to proposals to significantly reshape entitlement programs like medicare and social security. white house press secretary jay carney yesterday said that the president is open to compromise should republicans make a realistic proposal on taxes. >> math tells us that you can't get the kind of balanced approach that you need without having rates be part of the equation. it simply -- we haven't seen a proposal that achieves that, a realistic proposal that achieves that. the reality is closing

joining me now is nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel, jack jacobs, an msnbc policy analyst and carl bernstein, the legendary analyst now a contributor to the daily beast. thank you all for joining me tonight. >> good to be here. >> let me start with you, be richard. this is a real shock. i mean, late this afternoon, the news came out. what can you tell us? >> what we know so far and what we've been able to confirm from multiple sources is clearly that the cia director resigned. he made that announcement and cited an extramarital affair. denot, he did not, however, say who may have been involved. what we also know from law enforcement officials is that the fbi is currently investigating paula who has written a become on general petraeus, a favorable account of general petraeus. she talks about having extensive access to the general. they've gone running together, according to her accounts, she's appeared many times on television programs, including on msnbc. the fbi investigation is focusing on whether she had improper access to general petraeus' e-mails and may potentially

joining me now jack jacobs. welcome to you, colonel. i know you have known this man for an awfully long time. he was a cadet while you were teaching him at west point. talk about him in general as a man and general. >> very smart kid. spoke very well, always did very well. full of energy. very smart in thought as generals, potential generals should. far, far ahead of what's happening right now. always thought of consequences, which is something of an irony in the circumstances. and not surprisingly rose very, very quickly up through the ranks. >> which by that description you find shocking this if he's a man who looks at consequences of actions. this is something that took him down not as a result of him trying to cover up an affair but fbi being alert today look into some level of impropriety. >> yeah. my understanding is that the fbi's investigation into what took place on computers there was not necessarily focused on him. they came by the information by accident. >> hang on. i accident? what do you mean by accident? tip off, mining

next move with jeremy siegel from the martin school and the oil trade will be spoken about by come jack jacobslet's go energy for a little bit. josh brown, what's going on with oil? oil is down today probably on data more than anything. you have this flare-up in the middle east we were trans fixed by. >> i'm surprised it's not up. you're probably seeing spillover from weakness in materials and people not wanting to own what are essentially short dollar trades. people are flocking to the dollar and all of these things are priced in dollars. maybe it's as simple as that. if the israeli thing escalates, they'll say oil will get running again. it will be tough to stop it once it does. >> high frequency trading and your money. it's a story that we here on "halftime" have been all over. now it's made its way to late night. >> in high frequency trading computers can move millions of shares around in minutes earning a tenth of a penny off each share. that adds up to serious money when they finally take it down to the wall street coin star. >> coming up, a sneak peek inside one of the secretive fast tr

let's bring in msnbc military analyst colonel jack jacobs and also michael o'hanlon of the brookings might grin with you, colonel jack, i want to play something that then candidate obama said in 2008. take a listen. >> if the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask why was i grabbed and say maybe you've got the wrong person. the reason you have that safeguard is because we don't always have the right person. >> now, candidate obama there was talking about the government grabbing you in this case, and you may not know who it is. but in the case of drones, how do we know what's going on if there isn't any kind of disclosure anyway? >> the disclosure, of course, is internal. all these things are discussed. there are gradations of intelligence. they have to have a high degree of confidence they have a high value target. the decisions are made at the highest possible level, so the buck doesn't go anywhere. it's right there and it's very important to remember that as we discuss what happens next, how the guidelines will be established and who makes the decision. >> ju

who are these men and what impact will this all have on the military, the rank and file, colonel jack jacobs are republicans changing their minds? senator bob corker talks about the fiscal cliff and gillian tett from the "financial times" all that next. ♪ [ male announcer ] why do more emergency workers everywhere trust duracell...?? duralock power preserve. locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. now...guaranteed. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. ♪ ♪ i want candy ♪ ♪ i want candy that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. me... thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me... discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn't need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery... my way. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you

. >> reporter: colonel jack jacobs, awarded the congressional medal of honor, has known david petraeus young officers always gravitated to him. he was their ideal, if not their idol. >> reporter: the shocking fall of a genuine hero has been followed by a stream of stranger-by-the minute revelations. they center on two women in the general's life. his mistress, and the woman to whom she had been sending what are described as anonymous and menacing e-mails. a dark-haired tampa socialite named jill kelley. >> jill kelley and her sister natalie seemed very motivated to get in with the military elite. >> reporter: jessica is a reporter for the "tampa bay times" she covers a society where black tie mixes easily with dress formal from u.s. central command. and no one seemed to everyone joy that mix more than jill kelley and her twin sister. >> they invited people to parties, invited petraeus over. they wanted to be seen, and they worked hard at it. >> reporter: it was jill kelley who inadvertently exposed the affair between petraeus and broadwell when she asked the fbi to investigate those an

let's go to colonel jack jacobs. this is shocking news. we don't expect this from a man like general petraeus, with the reputation he's had. what light can you shed on what's going on? >> very little, actually. it's such a shock to everybody. i've known him for 40 years, and i've known his wife for the same amount of time. her father was a superintendent of the united states military academy at the time i was teaching on the faculty there in 1973 to 1976. a fabulous soldier, extremely well respected and so on. it's very, very sad for the cia, for his family, for the united states of america. it's very sad to see. >> colonel, you just mentioned there it's very sad loss for the cia. andrea had mentioned he's likely to be sux seeded by the deputy cia trektor. what does it mean it nerms of transition of power? >> we've had transitions at the cia at the top levels on and off since the inception, and by and large it's not a significant impact on the operations in the organization. it doesn't mean that who the director is is not important. it cer

bush, "usa today's" jackie kucinich and medal of honor recipient colonel jack jacobs.t to start with you. i know you've been asked this this question a couple of times and it is nagging at me because the military is held up. a scandal like this involving two four-star generals and, yes, the jury is still out on general allen and i think his denial needs to be taken more at face value. you can't help but wonder is there a culture here we're missing? >> well, you know, all of the mistakes are made by individuals at the end of the day. there's a fairly robust culture to make sure that people who have high standards both professional and moral rise to the top ranks. it's mott flawless and from time to time people make mistakes. i think -- i'm old enough to remember dwight eisenhower who carried on a long-term affair with his driver and it was fairly well known yet nothing was done about it. i think trying to extrapolate saying as a result of this scandal that we should not necessarily hold the system in repute as a bad one. it is a good system that works hard to elevate pe

. >> aiden, jackson, ethan, liam, mason, noah, lucas, jacob, jayden and jack.ting names this year. i wonder why sophia, mia, what do you think? >> we have an isabella sophia at our house. all of their friends that come over, isabella, sophia, mia. >> we have a big show. he's one of hollywood's most talented writers and directors and actors and adorable. >> we love our ed burns. >> and we'll reveal our ambush makeovers. >> how cute he looks. >> he's so cute. >> first these messages. at cepacol we've heard people are going to extremes to relieve their sore throats. oh, okay, you don't need to do that. but i don't want any more of the usual lozenges and i want new cooling relief! ugh. how do you feel? now i'm cold. hmm. this is a better choice. new cepacol sensations cools instantly, and has an active ingredient that stays with you long after the lozenge is gone. ahhh. not just a sensation, sensational relief. that's why i take new trubiotics. it's a daily probiotic that helps in two ways. one helps support digestive health, the other immune health. stay true to y

outcome of these cases well to answer that joining me now is the senior editor of reason jacob sullum hey there jack of first things first give us a rundown of these notable cases that were up for debate in court this week. well wednesday the court heard two cases involving drug sniffing dogs which raised two questions one is how reliable does a dog have to be for his alerts to justify a search in the mechanism of vehicle search and the other case had to do with a dog sniffing at home is that you know so constitute a certain sort of thing you need a warrant for or is that just an examination of odors in the air that was not part of warrants and then the other case that was interesting brought some of the british perspective best to do with the foreign intelligence surveillance act which as of g. doesn't authorize warrantless surveillance of international communications involving people in the united states and the question this report is considering right now is not is that constitutional it's can anybody. sue over there. is anyone have standing to challenge this law or is just the sort of thing we

. >> aiden, jackson, ethan, liam, mason, noah, lucas, jacob, jayden and jack.ost talented writers and directors and actors and adorable. >> we love our ed burns. >> and we'll reveal our ambush makeovers. >> two lucky ladies, but first these messages. did you know the core of our health is truly on the inside. that's why i take new trubiotics. it's a daily probiotic that helps in two ways. one helps support digestive health, the other immune health. stay true to your health. new trubiotics. from the makers of one-a-day. of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant for the latest smartphone. you wanna see if walmart has the same phone, for less? let's see! samsung galaxy s3 --- you could save over $50. no way! and -- you get a $100 gift card. are you serious?! yes! see for yourself how much you can save on the smartphones you want for christmas. walmart. see for yourself how much you can save on the smartphones hershey's drops. a lot of hershey's happiness in little drops of milk chocolate. and