showing beheadings's james foley and steven sotloff. i'm joined by nbc's tracie potts. good morning. what can we expect to hear from the president today? >> reporter: simply put, frances, what is the plan. lawmakers here on capitol hill say they need a clear understanding from the president tonight, what's the goal and how do we get there? >> we need to degrade and ultimately droi ice lly destroy. that's the end game. >> reporter: how do you get there? president obama is expected to outlike this tonight. >> it has to begin in my view by telling the american people what national interest savannis at s here. >> reporter: in other words, could we be looking at another 9/11? australia is worried and may ways its threat level for the first time ever. >> an elevated level and i'm certainly contemplating seriously the notion of lifting it higher. >> reporter: the white house says the president's strategy includes training and advising iraq's military, getting support from other countries, us specially in the middle east and equipping syrian rebels. meeting with lawmakers tuesd

tracy morgan's limo after the crash -- the whole audience went -- too soon? okay. paul walker. too soon? all right. how about -- kept going. too soon? james dean? too soon? never had any problem pulling the trigger. you at least put it out there. you laughed. you know what i sent tracy? get flowers. holding these flowers. waiting for you to come out of the coma. not my fault they are dead. 2 1/2 weeks now. and they said he laughed. >> my time is up. i could do this for another night. i thought it was hilarious. did you think that the walk-off was hilarious? i loved it. >> david letterman -- when he stood up and walked off, i'm so glad. he is such a grand man now. love that he did that. loved that he did that. >> i love that you have done this book. and -- the documentary, as i said, last night and again tonight. and -- just to the gift you shared all these years. >> i love talking to you. >> nothing like laughter. >> i hope your numbers didn't drop from last night. >> the new book from joan rivers, another bestseller, called "diary of a mad diva." again, make sure you read the first page and read the disclaimer very carefully so you know. it is a book of

tracy byrnes. ken mahoney from mahoney asset management. james freeman from the "wall street journal." james, let me start with you. what do you think of what the president had to say? >> is difficult with his rhetoric, goes back and forth. melissa: a lot of back and forth. >> saying it is a manageable problem. i'm thinking, i hope he recognizes the opportunity right now to strike while isis is kind of out in the open and -- melissa: see, feels like exact opposite. feels like he is hiding behind nato as an excuse to not act. what do you think? >> the whole op-ed with james cameron was quite laughable i have thought. cam ran says we're not taking this. neither one had a plan. and the president almost felt obligated to say, no, we're not taking this. hiding behind the big kid in the playground. melissa: right. >> that is how i feel like we're being perceived right now and it is not good. melissa: ken, for a lot of folks, they are worried because the president is not worried. >> this is good opportunity for nato to get together. there is vacuum here. why does the u.s. have to come up with

tracy morgan and two others were critically injured. another comedian was killed in the crash, 62-year old james mcnair -- a longtime friend and mentor to my dad was big on pictures. you can see in that signature smile in almost every picture. >> reporter: news of the crash ripped a hole in the lives of mcnair's kids, jamel and danita. >> just hard to sometimes even, you know, find the words. >> the fact that he's not here anymore, i feel like i lost my best friend. >> reporter: the family was shocked by what they learned about the walmart driver, kevin roper, who has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the crash. it turns out that roper had commuted over 700 miles from his home in georgia to the walmart facility in delaware before he even punched in. police say roper had been awake for a full 24 hours when he slammed into morgan's limo -- an allegedly deadly combination of fatigue and velocity. >> whoever's responsible, to be held accountable for it. >> reporter: the question the mcnairs are now asking -- did walmart, the largest truck operator in the country, keep proper track of roper's hours? >> they have to make sure that thei

attorneys say actor comedian tracy morgan at least partly to blame for the injuries he suffered in an accident. wal-mart truck hit the limousine they were in last june. morgan friend jamesilled in the crash. court ruling wal-mart claims the passenger injuries were caused by the failure to wear seat belt. attorney for him appalling. the georgia truck driver who caused the accident and had not slept for more than 24 hours before the crash. >> let's go back over seas now to japan. dramatic new image of the moment volcano roared about a being to life catching hundreds of people off guard. gloria latest image. >> first sign of trouble. dark plume of ash spiral into the clear blue sky. >> more than 200 hikers on japan reveered mountain just before nann on saturday. when the volcano owe erupted. this hiker who often post his travel on you tube capturing the moment the day turns deadly and dark. here another group taking refuge in the hut. helpless as the sky goes black. rock fell like hail stone this man said. at 12:42 inside another shelter people huddle together. listen as volcano debris rains down. officials warn another blast could sen boulder up to 2 and a half miles from