covering the developments, kristin welker is traveling with the president. good morning. >> andrea, good morning to you. international anger mounts over the death of james foley. the obama administration is considering expanding military operations from iraq to neighboring syria. while the u.s. continues the campaign of air strikes in iraq aimed at slowing isis militants, the white house says the execution of james foley was a direct hit against america. >> it's a terrorist attack against our country. >> reporter: isis has grown stronger in recent months. u.s. officials are saying they may expand the military campaign in syria where isis is thriving. >> we are not going to be restricted by borders. we have shown time and again if there's a counterterrorism threat, we'll take action as necessary. >> reporter: the military options as the pressure mounts on the president. lawmakers, including some democrats are calling for air strikes in syria. >> can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organization? the answer is no. >> reporter: mr. obama w

. >> kristin welker is at the white house. the president had a lot to say on the wide-ranging issue. what happens next there? >> well, first to what happened late last night, house republicans did pass a piece of legislation, alex. but it has absolutely no chance of passing through the senate. it's just not going to get enough support. the white house called it a show vote, said it wasn't serious. it was just pure politics. on friday, president obama signaled he is prepared to act alone. he had asked for $3.7 billion to deal with the crisis at the border. the senate was considering a piece of legislation that would have given him about half of that, legislation that the house passed was only for $659 million, alex. so not nearly what the president was asking for. he signaled he is ready to act alone in that regard. not clear how much he will divert without congressional help. based on my conversations at the white house, he is preparing to announce some type of executive action to deal with the issue. advocates urging him to g

kristin welker from martha's vineyard, i have to get to you. is the white house upset about the right -- i guess the ideological right's criticism of the president in the golf cart the other day? chuckling with alonzo mourning and the other fellow? >> well, of course they're pushing back against that pretty hard, chris. as you know, they always make this argument that the office of the presidency travels wi s wis obama wherever he goes. they also point out that this trip has been incredibly jam packed from a work perspective. we've seen the president address the nation three separate times while traveling here on martha's vineyard. having said that, the optics certainly open the president up to criticism because he made that very somber statement about james foley's execution and then went directly to the golf course so the white house not surprised by the criticism certainly. but they're pushing back against it pretty hard. >> usually in new york, ladies, you can read the politics of a situation by comparing the tabs. the daily news tends to b

>> nbc's kristin welker. thank you, as always. updates on two big breaking news stories. we're going to take a quick break. much more, including you're not forgetting about ferguson either, folks. stay with us. (son) oh no... can you fix it, dad? yeah, i can fix that. (dad) i wanted a car that could handle anything. i fixed it! (dad) that's why i got a subaru legacy. (vo) symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 36 mpg. i gotta break more toys. (vo) introducing the all-new subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain. and it's not a narcotic you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may inc

. >> joining me from martha's vineyard and traveling with the president is nbc's kristin welker. kristin, good to have you back on the program. give us the latest on this kirby presser. >> ronin, thank you for having me back. when asked whether the administration was seriously considering air strikes in syria, rear admiral kirby said this. "we continue to assess and monitor isil activities, that's why we put assessment team there is to get a good situational awareness." that's the official line from the administration right now, ronna ronan. but i can tell you, based on my conversations president obama is weighing a range of options. he's not putting anything off of the table with the exception of putting boots on the ground, although my sources also tell me that it is not imminent. there's no immediate plans to go into syria. but it's certainly among the options that this administration is considering. and, of course, in the wake of the james foley execution there is mounting pressure on the president to do something. i ice has a very sophisticated pr machine. they have been rele

. >> kristin welker thank you. >>> coming an international crisis on ebola. news from the world health organization. we'll bring that to you next. when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. just you...with the when gray creeps in do you lose it all? not you. new touch of gray mustache and beard reduces gray without getting rid of it all in just 5 minutes. for the perfect gray look you want. new touch of gray mustache and beard. it can help your business save money. false. the truth is when you compare our fastest internet to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your mon

. >> kristin welker, the question was, are you going to issue work permits. and say, who gets to stay here and work. and who doesn't. and his answer was, you know, i have to put a lot of people down border to deal with the young accompanied children. that doesn't leave a lot of opportunity for me ton do something. i will set the priorities in this country. answer to me was yes. i'm going to issue some kind of system whereby people get relief from deportation or whatever it is, the government of the united states is going to in effect give work permits to people in this country illegally. what did you hear? >> that is what i heard. the president is leaning toward that. we know he has a number of options. he hasn't made a definitive decision yet. but allowing those to stay without criminal record, pertaining to those student who are here, who came here illegally, possibly expanding that to their parent. impact millions of people who are here illegally to pick up on what the second point of what the president was saying. you talk about reallocating resources. th

kristin welker, good start morning to you. what are you learning about how much deeper the u.s. could get here? >> reporter: in terms of the timeline, they are reluctant to put a timeline on this operation. it could go at least for some weeks. now, yesterday during the daily briefing, white house press secretary josh earnest answered a number of questions about whether these limited air strikes could be expanded. he didn't rule it out. he said president obama would have to address the situation as it unfolds. if the initial limited air strikes didn't work there could be discussions about what to do next. they are insistent the president is not going to put boots on the ground and wants these air strikes to remain limited in scope. we are learning more how the president's decision-making process came together. i am told by a senior administration official this the past wednesday after the africa summit, general martin dempsey, told president obama after that summit that the situation in iraq, the crisis had reached a critical juncture. they were making significant gains on irbil,

i'm kristin welker in for tamron hall. this is "newsnation."he reaction to the loss of a hollywood icon. robin williams, so many described as one a kind. tribute continues to grow on the hollywood walk of fame and near his home in san francisco where he was found dead of an apparent suicide yesterday. so many continue to share their condolences. robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and the laughter was a thunder that sustained him, he's a pal and i can't believe his gone writes stephen spielberg. meryl streep shared their reaction to the news this morning on the "today" show. >> his giftd was the most the most mistour use of all. it was genius. we don't understand it. geniuss can do things we have to learn how to do. >> it's hard to imagine unstoppable energy stopped. and it's -- he was such a generous soul. >> and overnight his only daughter, zelda williams wrote, quote, i love you, i miss you, i'll try to keep looking up. in what would be his final message he posted a photograph of him holding her as a baby. you can see it there. halle

. >> that was kristin welker reporting. who is to blame on capitol hill? gregory will have that discussion later this morning on "meet the press," beginning at 10:30 right after "news4 today." >>> 7:39. usually we tell you about roads that are shut down. coming up, a big relief for drivers if a busy street reopens up tomorrow. closed, however. >>> for the most part, we are looking at dry conditions across the area right now. there could be some scattered showers later today. but what about your work week? i'll have the full forecast coming up. you used to sleep like a champ. then boom... what happened? stress, fun, bad habits, kids, now what? let's build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiq™ technology. it tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. the difference? try adjusting up or down you'll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. only at a sleep number store, mattresses with sleepiq™ start at just $999.98. know better

nbc white house correspondent kristin welker with the latest on the president's return in martha's vineyard. hello to you. why is he going back to d.c.? >> reporter: well, the white house is being pretty secretive about why, they haven't given us a whole lot of details. here is what we know. we know he's headed back for two days of meetings with top officials. he'll be meeting with his chief of staff, also with vice president biden. he'll continue to get regular updates about ferguson, about iraq, but we don't know what the nature of those meetings are. senior administration official saying there's a lot going on right now. he was taking a two-week vacation so he wanted to go home for a couple days just to get caught up, just to get caught up with his top officials. to give you some context, t.j., about how unusual this is, the only time the president has really cut a vacation short was back in 2012, he was in hawaii. it was over the christmas break and that was in the middle of the fiscal cliff negotiations. he went back to d.c. for a few days and then returned to hawaii. of course, that w

nbc's kristin welker is there.en, the headline this morning in the new york times suggests the white house was afraid of another benghazi. what are you hearing from your sources today at the white house? ? jonathan, i don't have confirmation of that specific report, but i can tell you that senior administration officials here have consistently made reference to intervene in libya, and of course, what happened in benghazi happened in the washing of that, the destabilization in libya, so it would stand to reason that that was certainly at the backdrop of the president's decision making process as were a number of other foreign approximatepolicyh as the situation in rwanda. that happened under bill clinton. we're learning about the president's decision making process. i am told that on wednesday after he wrapped up his news conference with reporters at the africa summit, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey told president obama that the situation in iraq had reached a critical moment, that

kristin welker joins us live to tell us why, good morning, kristin. >> reporter: hey, good morning, steve from the white house is that the president's going to return home on sunday evening. he's going to have some meetings on monday and tuesday with his top advisor, chief of staff, dennis mcdunna. he'll meet with vice president joe biden. the white house won't tell us what the nature of the meetings is going to be, and it's important that they were scheduled prior to this busy week. so there's a lot of questions sort of surrounding what specifically does that mean. we know that the president is going to make some type of announcement on immigration. announcing an executive action on immigration at the end of the summer. so it is possible that the discussions will include that. white house officials saying that there won't be any major news unveiled though while the president is home for those short two days. he's going to be back here on martha's vineyard tuesday evening, steve, back to you. >> appreciate that. and much more ahead this morning including the calls to demilitary rise the p

nbc's kristin welker is joining me with the details on that. can you explain these charges? good afternoon. the grand jury indicted governor perry who ran for president in 2012 on two felony counts of abuse of power. prosecutors allege he tried to coerce an official who oversees an agency that investigates public corruption to resign after she was arrested on a drunken driving charge. saying last year perry carried out a threat to veto millions dollars from her public integrity unit. he's widely criticized for overstepping his authority. that's when a special prosecutor spent months call, witnesses and indicted perry for abusing his official capacity and coercion of a public servant. here's what the special prosecutor had to say late last night. take a listen. >> the grand jury's spoken that at least there's probable cause to believe he committed two crimes, two felony crimes. >> perry supporters called the lawsuit political and his lawyer released a statement that reads in part, quote, the veto in question was made with accordance with the veto authority under every governo

. >> let's go to the white house and nbc's kristin welker.hearing comments from senator dianne feinstein. what's she saying? >> what's interesting, alex she's echoing what a lot of her republican colleagues are saying. what you heard peter king saying, which is she wants to see strong decisive action when it comes to the threat of dealing with isis in syria. she went so far as to say she agrees with the op-ed written by her colleagues senators graham called "stop dithering:confront isis" calling for a strong military response. here's what senator dianne feinstein had to say. take a listen. >> i've learned one thing about this president and that is he's very cautious. maybe in this instance, too cautious. i do know the military i know the state department i know others have been putting plans together. so hopefully those plans will coalesce into a strategy. >> somewhat critical comments from feinstein come after president obama earlier this week said he doesn't yet have a strategy for confronting isis in syria. some of the options would includ

once again, here is kristin welker. >>> former governor bob mcdonnell and his wife maureen entering the courthouse. on friday, defense used this video of maureen on a business trip with businessman jonnie williams. he's the prosecutions multimillionaire key witness who struck a deal for immunity. >> this is beyond embarrassing. it's humiliating. >> reporter: the defensive strategy is unusual arguing they couldn't have conspired for money and gifts because their relationship was broken. 1200 texts and e-mails were exchanged between them in less than two years. a racy e-mail maureen sent to williams in august of 2011 when an earthquake hit virginia. it reads, the earth just moved and i'm not even having sex. on the witness stand, williams struggled to answer many of the defense's questions, repeatedly saying, i don't recall. >> i think it hurts his credibility with the jury. in the end, the jury has to balance the act. nobody they are going to see is going to have a lot of credibility. >> reporter: prosecutors say they accepted $165,000 in gifts, including luxury vacations, shopping spree