those are some of the things we're expecting to hear the president talk about this evening. >> kristen welker. thank you, kristen. >>> we have a military analyst. good afternoon, sir. >> hi, martin. >> now that the combat has ended in iraq and we are headed toward the end in afghanistan, what is your assessment of the impact of these conflicts, first of all, in terms of america's foreign poi policy and then in terms of the impacts on the nation psychologically? >> that's a tough question. >> you're the man to answer it. >> in the near term, president obama is in an extremely good position going into this election. this is political theatre at its most appropriate and legitimate form. we're going to have to vote next november. one of the issues ought to be the conduct of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, foreign policy. i don't think there's much argument. the minor issue was killing osama bin laden. it was the right thing to do, so i think that's a minor point. that's an unmitigated good to the administration. the bigger question is going to be the president says we're coming out by 2014, com

here's nbc's kristen welker. >> mitt romney marking memorial day with president obama's former rival and one of the nation's most well known veterans, senator john mccain. the political symbolism lost on no one. >> senator mccain, a national treasure, thank you for being here and honoring all of our veterans. >> romney didn't miss the chance to take a swipe at president obama's foreign policy. >> i wish i could tell you that the world is a safe place today. it's not. >> today, the president hailed what he sees as his achievements, drawing down the wars in iraq and afghanistan. and at the vietnam veteran's war memorial, acknowledged the war failed the veterans of that divisive war. >> you came home and sometimes were denigrated when you should have been celebrated. it was a national shame. a disgrace that should have never happened. that's why here today we resolve that it will not happen again. >> in recent weeks, the president has crisscrossed the country, pressing congress for pass tax breaks for companies that hire veterans, whose unemployment rate is slightly higher than the nati

it's where we begin with our white house correspondent kristen welker in seattle. good evening. >> good evening to you, brian. in fact, this is a state that has passed a law to legalize same-sex marriage. tonight, an enthusiastic roughly 2,000 supporters turned out to hear the president speak. a day after his endorsement of same-sex marriage, president obama arrived in seattle for three big ticket fund-raisers in friendly political territory as his campaign tried to capitalize on the issue with this political ad targeting mitt romney. >> i indicated my view, which is i do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and i don't favor civil unions. >> the democratic national committee says calls have been pouring in from donors today, and the president who is already expected to break a record at a fund-raiser hosted by george clooney, may now bring in an even larger haul. erica pane is a former deputy national finance director for the dnc. >> it will make the presidential's financial supporters double down their support of him. but for the electorate at as

kristen welker is at the white house with a preview. good morning. >> good morning to you, chris.y will pay tribute to the 58,000 american who's did not return from that war. as you say, they will be marking the 50th anniversary of the start that have war. the president issuing a proclamation also saying that the federal government, state and local governments will pay tribute to those who be the in vietnam for the next 13 years through 2025 to mark the end of the vietnam war. in the meantime, on the other coast, mitt romney will be attending a memorial day event senator john mccain. both men really putting to ticks on the back burner today as they mark this national holiday and those who have be the our country and made the ultimate sacrifice. >> kristen welker at the white house for us, thank you very much. i want to thank you for joining us this memorial day for special extended coverage of the ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns. as you just heard from kristin, we have the president at the vietnam memorial live for you and i will be back in one hour for continuing live covera

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. as asked a question about the president, and someone said something about the president being responsible for treason. take a listen to this. >> i want to know -- i want to know -- i want -- yeah, i do agree he should be tried for treason. >> now, kristen, we should note that later romney said he does not believe what the woman said. but it seems the obama campaign has actually issued a response. is that right? >> absolutely, the obama campaign is basically painting this as a leadership issue, and saying that this is a missed chance for mitt romney to correct this woman, and essentially to say how he feels in that moment. in other words, not waiting until he's asked about it after the event, but in that moment saying that i don't believe that president obama should be tried for treason. so what you have are a number of people talking about this, angry about this on the twitterosphere. the obama administration really painting this as a leadership issue and the failure to really address

. >> nbc's kristen welker is live in the white house. se was all abuzz having mr. beckham land there, i guess. >> certainly a lot of buzz here surrounding that visit. sometimes i think the president gets the most excited -- >> kristen, you can concede that you were excited, too. >> i was excited, too, okay, i admit it. i was excited. i pointed david beckham right out as soon as i saw him. a very exciting moment, to be fair. but you heard the president have some fun with them, teased david beckham for his underwear line, admitted the fact that the president said, look, i know these cameras aren't all for me. probably a little bit of truth in that. but one of the best parts about this visit, martin, is these soccer players after that photo op and after getting all those accolades really gave back and they participated with the first lady in a soccer game for kids in the south lawn. so they gave back to some of their young fans today. >> aside from the soccer players, we learned the president is going to meet wednesday with congressional lea

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president.president brings up the beautiful backdrop that's chicago to host the city, we cannot overlook the nato protesters who organized a march that are coming your way from grant park marching two miles there to have their voices heard. >> reporter: you're absolutely right, thomas. thousands of protesters, in fact, descended upon downtown chicago. this is the largest single organized protest so far. by the way, the protest started earlier in the week. we expect anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 people to turn out. the messages of the protesters varied. in general they are opposed to wall street, the war, reverend jesse jackson speaking a short time ago. police urged protesters to come out and voice their concerns in an orderly and peaceful fashion. so far the protests have been peaceful and orderly. but there were five arrests -- five men arrested in separate incident for allegedly planning to make molotov cocktails to use throughout the weekend at the nato summit. that's the one sort of glitch

kristen welker at the white house for us this morning and we will have live coverage of the president here on msnbc at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> this week, congress will debate the defense budget. how hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars should be spent. not to mention gay marriage and missile defense, but when lawmakers take to the floor, they're speaking like high school sophomores. a new study fipds discourse in the house and senate has dropped a full grade level to an all time low. let me bring in democratic strategist crystal ball and republican strategist david winston. happy memorial day to you. this study looked at floor speeches, specifically the number of speeches and words used on the floor. so, here's the debate in congress, question. is it, crystal, getting dumber or just more, i don't know, populous? more plain spoken? >> i think actually, you have to think about who their audience is. because it used to be that members of congress in the senate, they were debating each other, so their audience were other members of congress. now, they're thinking mo

kristen welker at the white house for us this morning and we will have live coverage of the president here on msnbc at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> this week, congress will debate the defense budget. how hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars should be spent. not to mention gay marriage and missile defense, but when lawmakers take to the floor, they're speaking like high school sophomores. a new study fipds discourse in the house and senate has dropped a full grade level to an all time low. let me bring in democratic strategist crystal ball and republican strategist david winston. happy memorial day to you. this study looked at floor speeches, specifically the number of speeches and words used on the floor. so, here's the debate in congress, question. is it, crystal, getting dumber or just more, i don't know, populous? more plain spoken? >> i think actually, you have to think about who their audience is. because it used to be that members of congress in the senate, they were debating each other, so their audience were other members of congress. now, they're thinking mo

. >> nbc's kristen welker joins us live from the white house. give us a rundown of what we can expect, the issues that are going to take precedence at this meeting and is really breaking bread going to solve some things today? >> reporter: hey there, thomas, president obama would like to focus on his to-do list, that's that five-point plan that includes things like tax breaks for small businesses, tax breaks for companies that bring jobs back to america's shores, also help for homeowners who are struggling. it's important to note that similar initiatives have already been put to the test in congress and have failed. house speaker john boehner has called the president's to-do list gimmicky. it's against that backdrop that this meeting begins. and house speaker john boehner is bringing back the debt ceiling debate, drawing a line in the sand already saying he's not going to approve any increase in the debt limit that is not offset by spending cuts and also saying he will refuse any tax increases and the republicans are saying they're going to figh

. >> kristen welker in chicago this evening. thank you. as the protesters continue there, the president and seven other world leaders are finishing up their work in camp david where they've been tackling the economic crisis in greece, tensions with iran and the price of oil. mike viqueira has our report. >> jobs growth and jobs must be our top priority. >> reporter: a reminder that economic downturns can change the political landscape. three new leaders from italy, japan and france's francois hollande, in office for just a week, were greeted by the president. while the german leader, angela merkel, the leader of europe's biggest and strongest economy was somber. among them, the greek bailout deal, made in exchange for deep domestic spending cuts, now in doubt as greece voters ousted their leaders. today leaders insist that greece will not exit the euro zone. president obama has a new ally in hollande, but so far no concrete agreement. >> president obama has a huge stake in this. if europe blows up, it l a knock-on effect of the u.s. and el

. >> nbc's kristen welker is live for us at the white house this morning. kristen, also the president taking time to mention the newest generation of vets, iraq and afghanistan, those that are coming home, and what they're coming home to, that country, that is. he made sure to mention them in his radio address, correct? >> reporter: absolutely. and of course he and the vice president have talked a lot about this new generation of veterans in recent weeks. president obama has a pretty full day. he's going to start it off by hosting, along with the first lady, a breakfast for gold star families. those are, of course, families who have lost loved ones to war. then he heads, as you mentioned, to the traditional ceremony, where he will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown in arlington national cemetery. and then something a bit different this memorial day. president obama will head to the vietnam veterans' memorial wall to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam war. he will also deliver remarks at that event. and he issued this presidential proc

. >> nbc's kristen welker is live for us at the white house this morning. kristen, also the president taking time to mention the newest generation of vets, iraq and afghanistan, those that are coming home, and what they're coming home to, that country, that is. he made sure to mention them in his radio address, correct? >> reporter: absolutely. and of course he and the vice president have talked a lot about this new generation of veterans in recent weeks. president obama has a pretty full day. he's going to start it off by hosting, along with the first lady, a breakfast for gold star families. those are, of course, families who have lost loved ones to war. then he heads, as you mentioned, to the traditional ceremony, where he will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown in arlington national cemetery. and then something a bit different this memorial day. president obama will head to the vietnam veterans' memorial wall to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam war. he will also deliver remarks at that event. and he issued this presidential proc

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. tell us a little bit about the plan today. >> well, certainly going to be an emotional event today. president obama will be joined by the first lady, secretary of defense leon panetta will speak. of course, president obama will speak. there will be a flyover once the ceremony concludes. there they will be honoring the 58,000 american who's did not come home from the vietnam war. in listening tora, president obama made about this day, he said the nation did not honor its veterans from the vietnam war in the way it should have and that's going to change hans been changing under his leadership. you talked about the fact that this is certainly a day to honor veter veterans, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. as you also mentioned, political significance, not far away from these events the president pointing out his outreach to veterans and also some of his foreign policy skews. we heard him talk about that during his comments at arlington national cemetery when you talked about d

kristen welker traveling with the president joins us now from colorado springs.ybody. why is there this notable anti-obama sentiment among democrats in these selected states? >> reporter: hi, there, thomas. these are the types of headlines that republicans are going to cheer, they're going to talk about. the reality is these states are just not friendly to president obama, these southern appalachian states. so the obama campaign, not necessarily expecting to get more than 60% of the vote. and the folks at first read point out, thomas, that a lot of the folks who vote in the democratic primaries in those states actually go on to vote republican in the general election. so that gives you a little bit of context. but these states just don't like president obama. some analysts say race still plays a factor. others say it's his policies, they don't like his tough regulations, for example, with the epa. so those are the sorts of things that may play a role. but one thengs thing that's interesting, the map has really changed since 2008. virginia, north carolina, states

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. tell us a little bit about the plan today. >> well, certainly going to be an emotional event today. president obama will be joined by the first lady, secretary of defense leon panetta will speak. of course, president obama will speak. there will be a flyover once the ceremony concludes. there they will be honoring the 58,000 american who's did not come home from the vietnam war. in listening tora, president obama made about this day, he said the nation did not honor its veterans from the vietnam war in the way it should have and that's going to change hans been changing under his leadership. you talked about the fact that this is certainly a day to honor veter veterans, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. as you also mentioned, political significance, not far away from these events the president pointing out his outreach to veterans and also some of his foreign policy skews. we heard him talk about that during his comments at arlington national cemetery when you talked about d

. >> nbc's kristen welker joins me now from the white house with more. do we know how long it will take for this application to come to the u.s. to be processed, and does that defuse any of the republican criticisms? >> reporter: well, thomas, on your first point, a bit of a question mark right now. chinese officials are saying that mr. chen can go through the normal channels to have his travel documents processed. but state department officials are urging china to expedite that process, they, of course, would like to have this whole episode over with as quickly as possible. as you point out there has been some political fallout. the obama administration has gotten some criticism from mitt romney as well as some other republican lawmakers and, remember, this is a week when the obama administration had hoped that at least its foreign policy discussion would be focused on the anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden, so this is really sidetracking that discussion and opening the administration up to some criticism. so, they want to see this get resolv

kristen welker joins us, what else is planned? 11:00 a.m. at arlington?l day here. the president and first lady will attend a ceremony at arlington national cemetery, where of course the president will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown. he'll also deliver remarks there. then a little bit later on today, he'll attend a ceremony at the vietnam veterans' memorial wall. the vice president will also be there. they will be marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam war. now, it's also a busy day for mitt romney. he will be attending a memorial day ceremony in san diego with senator john mccain. you know, it bears noting, thomas, on this memorial day, that the veterans' vote will be important in this election. veterans make up about 13% of voters. president obama lost the veterans' vote to john mccain back in 2008 by about ten points. recent polling has been a little bit mixed. one poll showed president obama fairing pretty well with veterans, but a poll just out today, a gallup poll, shows that he is trailing mitt romney by about 24 points w

which is focusing on afghanistan and nbc's kristen welker is live for us in chicago. kristen, we have these key talks to focus on between president obama and afghan president hamid karzai. bring us up to speed on the later from there. >> good afternoon to you, thomas, president obama and afghan president, hamid karzai about to sit down for a discussion momentarily. this is of course a relationship that has been fraught with tensions over the past several years. but it's a critical moment in this relationship. president obama, hamid karzai are going to have to work together to chart a course for the troop withdrawal out of afghanistan. united states troops and its nato allies. that's going to be at the center of these talks here. at the nato summit. as the united states and its nato allies figure out exactly how this troop withdrawal is going to take place. and more importantly, thomas, how they're going to pay for it senior administration officials estimate it will cost about $4 billion every year over the next ten years to fund afghan security forces. united states is

kristen welker is in chicago for us. kristen, another hello to you. how are things going there?where you are, that's been pretty securely cordoned off, right? >> reporter: that's right. mccormick place, very secure. a number of roads around where we are have been blocked off. this is where the majority of the nato meetings will be taking place. police on heightened security especially ahead of tomorrow's protest. that's expected to be the largest protest expected to draw about 5,000 people. reverend jesse jackson expected to spooem speak there. authorities are hoping that it remains peaceful. their big concern is that violent protesters will take advantage of that large number of gathering of people and turn it into a violent protest. so authorities hoping that that doesn't happen. but the protests have already begun. one today particularly outside of the house of chicago mayor rahm emanuel. i believe we have a live look outside of his house right now where you can see some of the protesters gathered. one reporter who was at the scene earlier said that they had seen as many as 1

nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker has the latest. kristen, good morning. >> good morning to you, savannah. even on this memorial day, politics is never far from the surface. the president and mitt romney took the weekend off, but their surrogates were out in force. >> totally committed to romney's election. >> reporter: mitt romney's former rival newt gingrich, speaking on "meet the press," positioned himself as one of romney's most outspoken supporters. >> he's much tougher than i would have thought. he's prepared to do what it takes to win. >> reporter: gingrich was on message. but republican rudy giuliani went off course sunday, when asked to clarify his criticism during the 2008 republican primary of romney's record as massachusetts governor. >> they had a growth in jobs in about 40,000. we had a growth in jobs of about 500,000. so i was comparing what i thought was my far superior record to his otherwise decent record. >> reporter: in a statement, the obama campaign jumped on giuliani's remarks. saying, rudy was right. mitt romne

nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is in los angeles with that story this morning. kristen, good morning. >> good morning to you, savannah. well, that clooney event raised nearly $15 million. that's a new record. now it's important to point out, it was scheduled well before the president's announcement about same-sex marriage, but that announcement certainly added to the buzz. in the wake of the same-sex marriage endorsement, president obama arrived in los angeles to cash in on the financial might of hollywood. >> mr. george clooney. >> reporter: george clooney, who has been a familiar face at the white house lately, hosted a record-breaking fund-raiser, at his posh los angeles mansion. tinseltown's a-list turned out. including barbra streisand, robert downey jr., billy crystal, and selma hayek. in addressing the crowd of 150 wealthy donors, the president said, 2008 in some ways was lightning in a bottle. that's not going to be replicated, and that means we're going to have to work harder. he also acknowledged that he had made some news by announcing his support for

and that's where nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president. n, kristen. what are we expecting from the president at this press conference today? >> reporter: well, good afternoon to you, market. as you say afghanistan has been at the top of the general at this nato summit. so president obama will undoubtedly field a number of questions about the transition of combat forces out of afghanistan. we're just learning that president obama health an unscheduled meeting with afghan president hamid karzai and pakistan's president. so we're going to want to know specifically what was said in that meeting. what was discussed. how long did it last? they likely discussed the transition. they likely discussed the fact that pakistan has not yet decided to reopen its trade routes. the obama administration had hoped that would be secured going into this sum. they still haven't gotten that deal secured. so that is certainly something that will come up during the press conference. also, martin, another big issue during this summit. the funding of this transition.

. >> kristen welker at the white house this morning. kristen, thank you. >>> and while a debt ceiling do over looms in washington f presumptive gop nominee also is focusing on debt on the campaign trail. romney was on the stump this morning taking this dig at the president. >> if this president were able to stay in office another four years, that number is going to get larger and larger and larger. it's high time that we have a president that will stop that this spending and before rowing inferno and i will get it done. >> jackit's great to see the th of you this morning. jackie, i want to start with you, because in nbc's first read, it's calling this "kill bill volume 2" do republicans really want a quentin tarantino like -- and is there a way when we look at this from the other perspective, when they do that does it ultimately help mitt romney? >> i don't know if they're going to be able to start the fight, i don't know if they're going to be able to finish it this year, because there isn't a lot of congress left. getting these issues

nbc's kristen welker is on royal watch for us this morning. kristen, good morning. >> -- prince harry arrived here on monday evening. but inside, he was surrounded by some of the world's most distinguished dignitaries, including u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon and former secretary of state colin powell. he was also focused on sending a message about the importance of helping wounded warriors in this country, and in his. once called the party prince, harry showed his serious side at a black tie event in the nation's capital monday, accepting a humanitarian award on behalf of himself, and his brother, for their work with injured soldiers. >> so many of our service men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice. the very least we owe them is to make sure that they, and their brave families, have everything they need through the darkest days. >> reporter: a veteran himself, prince harry spent more than an hour earlier in the day with wounded veterans. thanking them for their service, and sacrifice. royal watchers say the trip is yet another sign

. >> nbc's kristen welker in chicago for us. kristen, thanks so much. colonel jacobs, i want to turn to you. the big question now turns to and has always been about the transition and realistically how ready afghan forces are to assume that responsibility. >> well, depends on where you are. in some places, afghan troops are in very good shape indeed. we've been working on training them for a long time. but in a lot of places, particularly in remote areas, areas close to the border with pakistan, they're not very good at all. as a matter of fact, the police are a particular problem. as you know, there have been attacks by police on nato troops in the past and there will continue to be. they're not particularly well-trained and as a matter of fact, there's a great deal of corruption among the police. so it's very spotty, the question about whether or not we can actually leave and expect things to be okay. the fact of the matter is we cannot unless we intend to be there for a long time. and we do not. >> colonel, as you bring up about the remote areas, tha

last night the price to join the party, a cool $40,000 a plate nbc's kristen welker is joining me. tell me what you learned about last night's dinner. >> reporter: didn't get to go in but we learned a little bit, chuck. first, i want to point out that this fund-raiser was planned before the same-sex marriage endorsement was let out. we have a graphic of the big, big names that turned out and barbara streisand and jack black, salma hayek , and robert downey jr to start off. he thanked them to allow him to use the basketball court which is where the party was held and then he talked about and of course we heard him make similar comments. he made a subtle reference to the same-sex marriage issue by saying we did make some news this week but essentially his decision was the extension and logical extension of his vision of the country and where he sees the country going. there wasn't a whole lot made of sex-sex marriage. there were people who line the streets as the president drove through the studio sitting area here in the los angeles area. some of them holding up signs saying thank y

. >> nbc's kristen welker joins us live from the white house.sues that are going to take precedence at this meeting and is really breaking bread going to solve some things today? >> reporter: hey there, thomas, president obama would like to focus on his to-do list, that's that five

kristen welker is already in chicago with us. good morning to you, kristen, what's the latest from there? >> reporter: good morning to you, alex. police have been out in force preparing for the protester that is you mentioned. actually, security on public transportation. we are at mccormick place, a number of road closures around mccormick place, where the large majority of the nato summit will occur. some of the protests have already begun. the biggest one so far on friday. about 2,000 protesters turned out. it was really a mix of people, some nurses, occupy wall street protesters as well as war veterans with their message varying, be new general, they were protesting wall street and thor with a. the protest was peaceful with one person arrested, but several people were arrested earlier this week. three of them still held on terrorism conspiracy charges. authorities alleging they were making moll to have cocktails, however their lawyer maintains they were simply brewing beer. the large protest is expected to take place on sunday,

>> kristen welker at the white house.r another high profile politician takes center stage in the uk hacking scandal. why former british prime minister tony blair is in the hot seat this morning. >>> and one racer can't catch a break, repeating history at the indy 500. >>> plus, the politics of afghanistan. defense secretary leon panetta responds to mitt romney and republicans critical of the exit strategy there. >>> welcome back, everybody. right now in great britain, former british prime minister tony blair is being grilled in court. these are live pictures of that questioning taking place right now. and he is testifying about his links to rupert murdoch and the phone hacking scandal that has embroiled murdoch's media empire. blair was under scrutiny about his media ties, including an active courting of the embattled media tycoon. >> with certain parts of the media, the press becomes not merely politically partisan in their comment or editorial line, but in their news coverage. then it becomes all the more important, and

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us live from chicago and nbc news military analystient, retired colonel jack jacobs joins us live from alonzo. great to see both of you. those protests are laying the backdrop for what's taking place with these very real talks. where

and we're going to hear kristen welker, thanks very much. and hear a lot of pledging and promises and stuff, but we're not going to know for years whether those checks actually clear. go to nbc's john yang outside a chicago police station. dozens of protesters being held. how bad do they think things will get today, john? >> reporter: well, today's the big test close to where you are, chuck. the boeing headquarters. right here headquarters of the chicago police, there were at least 45 people arrested yesterday during protests, and they're slowly being released this morning in twos and threes, getting a heroes welcome from the protesters who have maintainened and overnight vigil here. many of these people marched here from the, nine miles from mccormick place to spend the night to the support their colleagues inside. as they come out, the people that have been arrested are giving the chicago police and understandably mixed review. >> aside from the officer who arrested me, who treated me with absolute disregard and did not treat me with any s

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us live from chicago and nbc news military analystient, retired colonel jack jacobs joins us live from alonzo. great to see both of you. those protests are laying the backdrop for what's taking place with these very real talks. where where are we on day two, the talks seem about about the progress and the transition out of afghanistan. >> reporter: hi, thoma the big news today is we're expecting an announcement from the leaders, that they're going to be handing over combat command to afghan security forces in 2013 with the ultimate goal of withdrawing all foreign troops by 2014. so essentially making that transition happen and really setting the time line into motion here. now, the obama administration has really been focusing on the fact that they are bringing this very unpopular war to an end. but military commanders stress, this is still a very dangerous mission. it is still going to require combat through 2013 and through 2014, even.