>> kelly o'donnell, with late scrambling on capitol hill as this all disintegrated. kelly, thanks. now to egypt where it was almost a year ago now when we arrived to see those huge crowds in tahrir square. the revolution ousted mubarak. the military was running things until elections. tonight we're at it again. there's the scene, more violence, more bloodshed in that same place and new questions about egypt's near future. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is right back there tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. last time they toppled a dictator in this square. now they want his army to go. egyptians in tahrir square took on their army and police with stones and molotov cocktails. police fired burning choking clouds of tear gas. protesters tried to throw them right back. they toppled president hosni mubarak last february. now egyptians want to overthrow the army that took over for him and promised to bring democracy. the same people are in power. nothing has changed. they are worst than the past regime, this man said. but fighting police and

>> kelly o'donnell in our d.c. newsroom tonight. kelly, thanks. >>> cain, we should point out, was already in the news today for comments in another print interview saying a majority of american muslims share extremist views. you can see the raw video from today's story on our website, nbcnightlynews.com. >>> now to the developments in that still unfolding child sexual abuse scandal at penn state university. an awful story. tonight nbc news has uncovered some videotape of former coach jerry sandusky talking about his work with children. more on that in a moment. but first nbc's peter alexander is at penn state tonight with today's developments in this case. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. for the first time tonight we are hearing from penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary. he is the man who told a grand jury that he witnessed former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky sexually abusing a boy in the locker room showers in 2002. in seclusion and on paid administrative leave mike mcqueary has not spoken

>> kelly o'donnell with a look at the story from our washington bureau tonight. lly, thanks. >>> up next this evening, three teenagers sentenced to decades behind bars for a crime they didn't commit. tonight the incredible story of how they were freed. >>> in illinois tonight two men are free after spending almost two decades behind bars for a crime they did not commit. and a third is due to be released soon. their lawyers say dna proved their innocence, but not before they lost family, friends and the dreams of a bright future that other kids are allowed to have. the story tonight from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: first it was robert taylor, walking out of an illinois state prison and greeted by his father. >> i said i was going to be here if i had to drive. >> reporter: it came 19 years after he was arrested for a brutal crime prosecutors now concede he didn't commit. >> with a family like mine, they refused to allow me to give up. they never taught me how. >> that wasn't going to happen. >> them not teaching me how to give up -- >> i'm

kelly o'donnell covering for us tonight. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is a political moment gone viral. clips from governor perry's speech are getting noticed because the governor appeared very loose, animated, in ways we don't often see. so here's a glimpse of that. >> and this is such a cool state. i mean, come on. live free or die? i mean, you know? you got to love that, right? gold is good. if you've got any in the backyard. because, you know. if they print any more money over there in washington, the gold's going to be good. that, 20% flat tax, put it on there, take your deductions off, send it in. >> reporter: i spoke to senior perry aides to get their take and they said the governor was just being relaxed, engaging, having fun with an audience of about 400 conservatives. perry's camp also claims that condensed clips have been "manipulated by left-wing organizations." and brian, this may be one of those instances where the candidate plays to the crowd inside the room. this happened about 9:00 at night. but later when the tape is seen far and

and kelly o'donnell is here with us in our studios tonight with more on this. kelly? >> good evening, brian. so here's what set off the latest round of outrage. $13 million in bonuses for executives for the two mortgage giants that had to be bailed out by taxpayers. these bonuses come after fannie mae and freddie mac actually lost $4 billion last quarter. what stood out during a grilling on capitol hill is how these ceos, michael williams and charles halderman, answered questions about their own income. >> what year did you first have compensation, including a bonus that put you over $1 million? >> congressman, i'm not sure what year that was. >> so money's not that important to you? >> no, money is important to all of us who are here today, sir. >> you did come out of the private sector, hopefully you remember -- what did you make the last year you were at putnam? >> i don't recall. >> did you make more than a million dollars? >> yes, i did. >> i must tell you, mr. halderman and mr. williams, you all come from a different world than the one i come from. if i had made

kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. >>> there is news tonight in the penn state investigation, the local newspaper reporting new trouble for the former assistant coach jerry sandusky. nbc's peter alexander has more from the penn state campus tonight. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. tonight we are learning about two new child sexual abuse allegations against jerry sandusky, where both alleged victims are still under the age of 18. the harrisburg "patriot news" tonight reports that the two cases have been opened by child and youth services right here in pennsylvania within the last 60 days. if they are found to be credible, this could raise new questions about why authorities waited until the end of a three-year grand jury investigation to arrest sandusky. also tonight, there are new indications that the penn state scandal may now include obstruction of justice. according to a source familiar with the investigation, pennsylvania state prosecutors filed a secret motion in july to hold sandusky's charity, called the second mile, in contempt after the organ

>> kelly o'donnell in our d.c. newsroom tonight.elly, thanks. >>> now to the state of play in politics since we are inside 60 days before the iowa caucuses. we are debuting the new nbc news wall street journal poll. what voters are saying a year out from the presidential election about their country, their president including the role of herman cain. our new numbers tonight from our political director and chief white house correspondent, chuck todd. >> reporter: despite weeks of campaign-style events to sell his vision to jumpstart the economy -- >> to put americans back to work and give our economy a boost. >> reporter: -- president obama has been unable to win over any new supporters. his approval rating remained consistently mediocre for the last three months. with 44% approving and a slight majority, 51% disapproving. even more americans, 57%, disapprove of his handling of the economy. as the president gears up for his re-election bid, we asked respondents to score him on a dozen different domestic and foreign policy issues on w

>> kelly o'donnell with a look at the story from our washington bureau tonight. lly, thanks. >>> up next this evening, three teenagers sentenced to decades behind bars for a crime they didn't commit. tonight the incredible story of how they were freed. commit. tonight the incredible story of how they were freed. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. with investment information, risks, fees and expenses if by blessed you mean freaked out about money. well, we suddenly noticed that everything was getting more expensive, so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more

we get the story tonight from nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: two months after the carnage in tucsone assassination attempt last january, gabrielle giffords finally grasped what had happened telling her husband mark kelly she remembered the attack with three words. shot, shocked, scary. giffords and kelly write about her recovery in a book out this month. "gabby, a story of courage and hope." kelly had tried to tell his wife that six people had been killed, but for a long time she had not understood. six months after the shooting she wanted to know more. he began by explaining the two friends, aide gabe zimmerman and judge john roll had died. then he named the other victims including 9-year-old christina taylor greene. so overcome, giffords could not continue therapy. she was left with only 50% of her eyesight. it nearly took her ability to speak. kelly recalls how panic swept over giffords the first time she realized she couldn't talk. when george and barbara bush stopped to see her kelly said she struggled and could only utter "chicken." with speech therapy she can express herself.

we want to begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell on the hill. it puts congress's approval rating at 9%. three governments just fell in government over deficit issues. >> reporter: that was not enough to galvanize them to get behind this. we asked them about the reaction to the public's outrage and that wasn't enough. this felt like a slow death for a plan that was supposed to help the country deal with the long term debt. this super committee was given added power that's why it got the name to try to deal with this problem and instead with failure that means there's more real world consequences. >> are you closer to a deal congressman? >> we're not make being any comment. >> reporter: a scene just like this doesn't happen in the halls of congress. but today it did. consider it the frenzy around what many see as another washington failure. members of the super committee say they tried for an 11th hour break through. the super committee of six democrats and six republicans was borne out of an earlier stalemate when the president and speaker boehner could not reach a debt reduction deal. c

our report on that from nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> out of the dysfunction of the super committee that did nothing about the country's long term debt. two issues that could directly affect your wallet. unemployment benefits are about to run unite foreabout 2 million out of work. and this year's payroll tax cut is about to expire. >> we can't let that happen. not right now. it would be bad for the economy. it would be bad for employment. >> teed the president pushed hard to extend that tax cut into next year. >> if congress refuses to act, middle class families are going to get hit with a tax increase at the worst possible time. >> conservative and tea party groups agreed. >> i don't think there ever is a time. >> 121 million families got that break. for those earning $50,000. a 2% cut in payroll taxes saves about $1,000. we stand ready to have an honest and fruitful discussion with him, regarding the payroll tax extension. what's the hitch? it will cost the government an estimated $170 billion. that sets up a fight coming after thanksgiving, when congress will either have to add more d

i want to go live to washington, d.c., and nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. ther attempt, craig, to have an installment of the president's jobs bill come before congress. this might change a bit, because it will be next week a very narrow, almost clerical piece that deals with some withholding tax for contractors who work for the government. there's bipartisan view that it's a way that they could make a change to the tax code that would benefit those people who do business with the government. we might see some movement there in a more positive way because it is so narrow. when you talk about the infrastructure, boy, that's a popular topic, but even those who voted against it including two democrats, joe lieberman who's an independent, working with democrats, and ben nelson of nebraska say they like those projects but feel the congress really needs to deal with cutting the deficit first. that, of course, is the domain of the supercommittee. that has been crickets of late, not knowing what they're doing to do. i was on a conference call a short time ago with se

i'm joined by nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly what can we expect to hear today? >> reporter: well, craig, what makes this interesting is the supercommittee has done a lot of its work in private, with small meetings, meeting with their leadership. this puts them front and center and on camera. and part of what they'll be hearing is sort of an admonition from two people who have been through this process themselves, erskine bowles and allan simpson, bipartisan work they had done to try to come one some answers on what to do to save the country from a crushing debt. they'll get a bit of an earful today because those two, republican and democrat, big voices on this issue, are going to encourage the committee to be mindful that if this committee fails, that it could result in another downgrade of the u.s. credit rating. that could spiral into other problems. also cautioning them to say they've got to do something with revenues, that buzz word of the day, tax increases, or an expansion of the tax base which would bring in more mon

kelly o'donnell joining us live now. at this point, any sign of a possible breakthrough? >> reporter: in a big picture sense, we're not getting much optimism about the kind of deal the people had hoped for when the super committee idea began. and having real agreement between the two parties. now what we get a sense of is, is there a plan b? is there a way to do something smaller? is there a way to deal with sequestration? it's one of the big awful washington words that has to do with the automatic spending cuts? is there something to do later? to give you an idea of why that's such a concern, if cuts are automatically triggered, half of that would come from the defense budget. there are many republicans who are concerned about that. many democrats who actually wouldn't mind seeing some of that happen. but leon panetta has expressed concerns. one of the key players is senator pat toou mee. he's been talking about where things stand. >> the $1.2 trillion in cuts are necessary. but the composition is something we could improve upon. the amount that's currently planned for d

>> kelly o'donnell, miracles never cease.y much. >> you bet. >> the day's top lines are coming up. stay with us. >> i'm glad i hadmy boots on. i sure stepped in this out there. ♪ [ female announcer ] give a little cheer to a family of a soldier. just cut out the cheer from your specially marked box of cheerios, write your message, and we'll see that they get it. ♪ from your specially marked box of cheerios, ma aouer keixt r hold c plde d a ♪ pld t hlden teoune. ♪ you know, when i got him on e-trade he was all like "oh no, i cannot do investing." that's actually a perfect enzo. but after a couple educational videos, and a little hand holding from customer support... next thing you know he's got a stunning portfolio. now he's planning to retire in tuscany. we're both pretty emotional about it. shhhh, don't say a word. you're welcome. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. >>> from the tongue tide rick perry to herman cain, taking a swipe at the former speaker. here are today's top lines. >> we are focusing on characte

kelly o'donnell, great to see you today.ow to decision 2012 and top political headlines for you. herman cain is raking in big bucks. the cain camp says it raised more than $9 million since october 1st. >>> occupy wall street protesters interrupted a speech by michele bachmann. she left the stage but then returned to finish her address. >>> white house officials are confidence that president obama regained the upper hand on the economy. it's great to have you both on with me this morning. this new report on the had hill says president obama will put together this intense focus on the payroll tax cut and one element of the president's jobs bills that administration official vote will not hold up. if that happens, payroll tax credit is not extended. that means everyone that works for a paycheck to make a living will see taxes increase, correct? >> i'm not going to sit here and debate the democrat talking points on the tax cut bill. what i will say is i think it's fascinating that the president and white house are saying the new

. >> joining us now nbc capitol hill reporter kelly o'donnell. why would anyone not like congress after seeing a clip like that? what was that about? >> there is a vote today on one piece of the president's jobs plan, the infrastructure which many thought would be popular because we know roads and bridges are in terrible disrepair. it includes a sliver the millionaire's tax that would help to fund this. that was the basis for that sort of tart conversation that went on for while a while between reid aechb mcconnell. the fact they went back and forth and kept referring to each other as my friend, which is sort of a standard cover line when you're irked at someone. >> the more often you say my friend, the angrier they are. >> they do have a relationship and work together but that was unusual to see them go back and forth fighting over who's campaigning more. >> and it shows you the level as we're 20 days out from the super committee. i want to get a quick super committee update. where are we? >> there's an expectations game, which is kind of dour a

kelly o'donnell joins us live now. the question might be here, kelly, who is gloria cain? >> well, she has been married to her husband for 43 years. unlike so many other spouses of candidates, we haven't had a chance to get to know her. in the modern political age, usually families campaign together so the country gets to know them. but the candidates made a decision long before the allegations surfaced that they weren't going to do it that way. that from time to time gloria cain and maybe the children, their grown children, would be visible. but after the allegations of sexual harassment became known, cain at first canceled his scheduled interview but now she has spoken to great a on fox news that will air later tonight. we've been able to get an advanced clip of this interview. and she talks about the allegations of sexual harassment and says, it is not possible that the husband she knows could have done what those women allege. >> to hear such graphic allegations and know that that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her as a woman, and i know th

kelly o'donnell is live for us. what's the latest problem?porter: it seems very bleak because you've got some of the entrenched positions we've seen from erepublicans and democrats back and forth over time. what has been going on is they have been offering each other proposals, and there has been some sniping back and forth about that. now, republicans say they are willing to make some changes in tax revenue, and that would mean cutting deductions without raising more money to bring up the tax rate. but they also want to keep in place the bush-era tax rate levels set to expire. democrats have been giving on things like entitlements that they consider very dear and costly. but they aren't on the same page yet. the white house has been quite hands off on this for both political and practical reasons. and chris, as we get closer to that deadline, you know, the president will be out of the country, so he will be even more literally and mehtaphorically ot of the picture. so can they get something done? they continue to talk, but there's been sharp

with us today from "the chicago tribune," clarence paige, katty kay, kelly o'donnell and "the daily beast"'s andrew sullivan. the supercommittee was the last hope for a bipartisanship this year but the men and women on both sides seem to be playing escape from washington. they gave up and surrendered to our poison politics. you see it at every level all the way to the white house. doing a cover for a magazine, would you maybe come up up with this cover? is politics in america dead? kelly, tough question to you, but is it our leadership class, our political class, they can't seem to do what they're supposed to do, which is strike a deal. >> part of that is because they always give themselves a parachute. unlike the debt ceiling crisis or the possibility of a sutdown, here they've given themselves an out. they knew all along that there would be another way to handle this later. they could suffer the embarrassment, that's ok. your clip is great because i talked to staffers who said that their bosses had two or three flights booked getting out of town, a big tell there was not going to be a d

. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent and she's joining me in studio, a rare treat, taking a break from the hill. all right, the clock is ticking, polling suggests people do not have any optimism that the supercommittee can get this done. what does your reporting tell us? what does what we saw yesterday with the 100 members coming and saying $4 trillion? >> there are moving parts. the wind is blowing like it is in france up on the hill. the 100 members who came forward, this is worth talking about, because 40 of them are republicans. >> but bipartisan. >> big bipartisan. >> which never happens in congress. >> and we tend to, you know, kind of rap members of congress over the head for not working together, this is an instance where they at least tried to come together which is to go big as you put it, to have a bigger set of cuts to include revenue. they don't say how, they don't give a prescription for that, but members that signed no new tax pledges also say revenue in some form or another should be on the table, so that's significant. the larger mood is that the s

nbc's kelly o'donnell is on capitol hill with late details for us. hello, kelly. >> reporter: hello, lester. it seems super committee turned out to be an ironic nickname for this group that had been given added power to try to do something about the nation's long-term debt. but tonight it seems failure is almost certain. no deal and almost no time left. and it seems the same old partisan struggles got in the way. under deadline, but plenty of time to turn up all over tv this morning. >> today i'll be at the table, all night long we have a few hours left. >> reporter: truth is, the super committee isn't really talking anymore. >> nobody wants to give up hope. reality is to some extent starting to overtake hope. >> reporter: in order to make the final deadline wednesday, a deal would have to be in writing and its costs calculated by monday. >> tomorrow morning is it, folks. we have today. and if we can't get it done today, it is going to become a fight before the congress. it is going to continue. >> reporter: with the nation's deficit clock ticking abo

nbc's kelly o'donnell has that story. >> good luck, mr. cain! >> reporter: tonight herman cain's campaign has a new challenge. not the allegations of sexual harassment he fiercely denied but the way cain handled a basic question on libya during a meeting with editors at the milwaukee journal sentinel. >> so you agreed with president obama on libya or not? >> okay. libya. president obama supported the uprising, correct? >> reporter: cain had just taken part on a debate on foreign policy saturday night but today gave a halting, uneasy response. >> i do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason. no, that's a different one. >> reporter: the newspaper says it was cain who offered to drop by for 30 minutes this morning between fundraisers. the editorial board released a five-minute clip. >> got to go back. see. got all this stuff twirling around in my head. >> reporter: later, cain appeared to regain his footing and explained he would have handled the crisis in libya different than president obama. >> i would have done a better job

kelly o'donnell is nbc's capitol hill correspondent. kelly, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. what an embarrassing stumble for congress. the super committee with lawmakers with expertise punted on one of the nation's most series crises but their failure doesn't mean it's over. big cuts are coming anyway. >> -- meaning lless at this poi. >> reporter: a rough, very partisan end for the super committee. no compromise on taxes and spending cuts, no deal to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over a decade. >> i'm sorry for our country, because this was a moment of important leadership. it was a real test. >> there were fundamentally different positions, people tried to find a way to bridge the differences and come up with common ground. we just weren't able to get there. >> reporter: this failure comes with a price, triggering sweeping spending cuts, both domestic programs and defense in 2013. president obama had taken heat for not being more publicly involved, but when the super committee folded, the president spoke out

kelly o'donnell has the very latest now. good morning, kelly. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. no deal and no sign they're even talking anymore and the super committee would have had to have had any agreement in writing today and that's why failure seems so eminent. now what they were unable to do is come to terms on taxes. democrats wanted higher taxes in order to make deeper cuts, republicans wanted to get rid of some tax deductions but lower rates in order to find $1.2 trillion in savings off the deficit over ten years so what happens now? well, failure means that automatic sweeping budget cuts would go into effect in 2013, half of those aimed at the defense department, and that means there are many republicans and even secretary panetta say that this needs to change. they need to alter that between now and 2013 so the burden isn't so hard on defense. congress has really fallen short here. they also have to deal with other things like an extension of the payroll tax cut or an extension of unemployment benefits before the end of the year. natalie? >> kelly o'donnell, a lot to

kelly o'donnell has that story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt.t's been two weeks since herman cain's presidential campaign has been rocked by those allegations of sexual harassment, going back to the 1990s and for two weeks, cain has been fighting back on his own, insisting he's done nothing wrong and now for the first time, cain's wife, gloria, is fighting back by his side. >> this is my family. >> gloria cain has been nearly invisible during her husband's run for the white house. >> because this thing is going to move so fast, you may not see her much so you better look quick. >> reporter: mentioned on the trail. >> i can tell you one thing about my wife of 43 years, she is 200% behind me. >> reporter: but unlike other candidates' wives -- >> she's going to serve, i'm going to shake wives. >> reporter: gloria cain has not been stumping for her husband. >> my wife and i, we have a family life, and she is maintaining the calmness and the tranquility of that family life, so when i do get a day off of the campaign trail, i can go home and enjoy my

>> all right, kelly o'donnell in washington this morning. kelly, thank you very much. >>> now let's get a check of the weather, and al is standing by for that. hey, al. >> hey, ann, good morning. let's show you what's happening. we've got a risk of strong storms now down through the gulf, through alabama. we're also looking at showers moving into the northeast, lighter, but still some showers. a few wet weather spritzes coming through central great lakes, some rain moving into the pacific northwest. plenty of sunshine through the southwest but cool. today only 59 degrees and sunny in los angeles. >> good morning.ing the chance for rain will be increasing as we move through the day. we will see that off and on rain showers. >>> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> al, thanks so much. >>> coming up, the casey anthony murder trial that riveted the nation. what really happened behind the scenes? this morning, the man who prosecuted her speaks out. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> still ahead, the marine who took justin timberlake to the

nbc's kelly o'donnell is live from washington. speaker boehner today expressed optimism that an agreement would be reached. senate leader harry reid spoke to reports and said republicans on the committee are responding to threats from grover norquist. is there any hope for progress before the deadline? >> it's hard to read the motivations and intentions, but as you set it up, speaker boehner and the withins in the senate believe they are willing to make changes to the tax code and that would be progress. they believe they have got to get a deal before the deadline. harry reid really put a firm point on this. as you know, grover norquist who is the anti-tax cheerleader who gets so many members to sign a pledge not to raise taxes and harry reid said the republicans should impeach him to reduce influence. the leader eric kantor was asked and he said it's not about him, but the pledge that republican members have made to their own constituents. with all of that stew, what it comes down to is can they get it done? many predictions they

nbc news's kelly o'donnell joins us with more and those two lines are enough to take your breath awayd this is one of the things no matter what side of the aisle you are on, you are rooting for her and you are getting insight into her life. >> so much good will towards her and that was evidenced when we had a chance to see her. she made a surprise visit to cast her vote for the debt ceiling fight. what we learned through the book, she is wearing glasses. we learned that due it her injuries, she has suffered a severe loss of her eyesight in both eyes. we also had known from close friend who is have seen her and spent time with her, her ability to speak had been impaired greatly. you get a window into that as well through the book because her husband with i coauthor tells about about how she struggled with that, not being able to retrieve words and the one chapter written in her voice is a short chapter with simple words. that has been a struggle with her and she has been coming back and learning to speak again. also it talks about how mark kelly, her husband, was unable to tell her at

kelly o'donnell joins us. let's start with the optimism from both sides. what's fueling it?because there nine days left and that's a window to keep talking. i am told from both parties that there small conversations going on and trying to reach a way to break open what has been not an impasse, but several a very different set of opinions on how to reduce the deficit. they are talking about wanting to lower tax rates to bring in more revenue and democrats say it's good, but not enough. they have been taking more pain by looking at entitlements. part of the optimism is that some members are saying it's their duty to get something done, putting larger pressure on themselves and that's the public stage. behind the scenes they keep going and there is a great deal of pessimism to get something done. harry reid said they plan to work up until thanksgiving to get as much done as possible. that is the deadline. >> we see it on the calendar and we will all mark it. thank you. reaction from capitol hill on a report detailing how members of congress may have benefited from what is simil