nbc's matt bradley is in irbil, iraq, close to the syrian border. nbc's courtney kube covers national security and the pentagon. matt bradley, to you first, what are you hearing from the syrian kurds this hour and from your sources there in turkey? >> reporter: the latest that we're hearing from the syrian kurds is that the first casualties, two people killed, two injured. this according to the syrian democratic forces which is made up mostly of kurdish fighters from that region in northeastern syria that turkey is now launching an incursion into. the other thing we're hearing is the beginning of what everybody here feared which is the rumblings of a humanitarian crisis and a refugee spillover. so we're starting to see people fleeing from that region that turkey is now pushing into. and as you know, andrea, refugees, internally displaced people, that's been the story of syria for the past several years. so to see that happening once again with a fresh humanitarian catastrophe, that's not good for syrians, it's not good for kurds, but it's not good f

joining me, matt bradley in iraq.he fact isis has been out of the scenario awhile, the new offensive by turkey into syria into kurdish controlled syria resulted in civilian fatalities and military fatalities. >> reporter: yes, ali, we're only seeing the beginning here. you have to remember that the actual incursion started more than 24 hours ago. but we're actually the ground incursion with soldiers going in on the ground, that's kind of new, only hours old. we've already seen 23 civilians who have been killed, according to an information center, providing pretty reliable information so far. they say there are 23 injuries. and they're not shy about tweeting the photos. also said that the refugee situation, that could really grow. we're starting to hear talk of whole cities along the border with turkey that are all but abandoned, and major hospitals and major cities on the border have been basically abandoned, no longer operational. if anyone is wounded, they'll have a hard time finding relief. we're hearing from the i

our own matt bradley reports that yesterday's agreement between the u.s. viewed as a second time america has double crossed them. there was violence this morning. nbc news journalists on the ground heard mortar, grenades and small arms fire in a syrian border time. joining me from northern syria, rich arard engel. and from iraq, matt bradley. richard, what are you hearing from the kurds? >> reporter: the kurds are terrified frankly. they think that they have just been sold out by president trump, that their homeland has been given to turkey. and that they will soon face a massive campaign of organized ethnic cleansing, a campaign that they got a taste of other than the last ten days when roughly a quarter million people were driven from their homes. now we're in a bit of a pause and they think that after this pause, it is going to get a lot worse. there are roughly 2 million kurds who live in this area, they have been backed by u.s. forces. they have been protected by u.s. forces. now those u.s. forces are leaving. the u.s. forces worry that what they are

. >> joining us now is matt bradley from irbil, part of iraq that is controlled by the kurds. there is word they hit a civilian convoy. this is worrisome because they are targeted curdish groups they feel are allied with groups that operate in turkey that are antigovernment but regular people live in those areas. >> that is right, the democratic forces have been sharing a lot of really graphic pictures including showing children, and that account you just said, here is another disturbing thing. they're leaving the front line. they are internally displaced people, and they're still being targeted and in that one specific instance that you mentioned, i think you said they said that was a mother, a fauf and a child. we're seeing lots of images of children and among those dead, children. they were kafful to note all of these people are wearing civilian clothes. they're clearly not combatants. but the way they're launching these attacks, the coordinated airstrikes, they're turkish backed, they were coming from elsewhere in syria but they enjoy the support for several years, and the

joining us now, our msnbc correspondent matt bradley and our richard engel in istanbul. matt, what's the latest on the ground of where you are? >> the latest we are hearing stephanie, the last couple of hours are the first casualties that comes out and expected to be a bruising battle between the u.s. allies. syrian forces are populated by kurdish fighters. they came out and said there has been two dead and two wounded. the other big news we are seeing ises the beg is the beginning of what looks like civilians fleeing. erdogan is trying to establish on the fringes of syria just south of turkey. that could snowball into another thing that a lot of people here are worried about which is massive displacement of kurds. they go further into syria and the south of that country or they could go right here where i am. kurdish region of northern iraq. this refugee and displaced people. it has been a massive burden throughout the country in the region and up ended politics in u.s. and the west. we could expect to see more of that as this what is expected to be a humanitarian catast

joining us is matt bradley what more can you tell us about the withdrawal >> phillip, they're call it a withdrawal it kind of looks like a retreat because the turks have managed to take over the m4 highway, that's complicated the withdrawal u.s. forces are going to have to find a way to get out of there without stepping on the toes of the turks who they have allowed to essentially make that incursion, which is causing this very, very -- i would have said slow motion humanitarian catastrophe, but it's actually really picked up in the last couple of days we're now talking about well more than 100,000 internally displaced people who are now leaving their homes, trying to avoid that bloody turkish incursion that's now been taking dozens of civilian lives you also mention that isis issue there was something like 500 to a thousand -- we're still getting different numbers -- women and children who managed to form some kind of escape attempt in from where they were held in northern syria now there are some 11,000 hardened jihadi men who are held elsewhere in northern syria. so it's quite poss

meanwhile, fears of an isis resurgence grows as supporters escape from a detention camp joining us is matt bradley whatan you tell us about the u.s. withdrawal? >> reporter: you know, it is surprising how unsurprising all of this is it is very rare that the worst predictions come true in such fast form. that's exactly what we're seeing first of all, the troop withdrawal, they're calling it a withdrawal, the u.s. government. it looks a little more like a retreat. one of the things that precipitated all of this was the near attack by turkish forces, artillery firing near a u.s. base, which almost actually struck the u.s. base that, obviously, would have created a massive international incident because, of course, turkey is a nato ally. turkey has also taken control of the highway, the main artery from east syria to west syria. that's actually really constricting the movement for the u.s. troops, which is one of the reasons why they're feeding a hasty withdrawal out of northern syria this is the main corridor by which the u.s. supplies its troops in northern syria we're also seeing the humanitarian c

kris. >> matt bradley in northern iraq. thank you so much for that.ired four star general wesley clarke who previously served as nato supreme allied commander. fosters research in discussion related to international affairs. it's always great to see you, general. >> thank you. >> so you got congressional leadership right now meeting with the president. members have expressed grave concerns that trump has made a dangerous strategic error. one that's going to reinvigorate isis, empower russia. i wonder what your thought is when you hear this young woman on the bus that matt just spoke to saying america has betrayed us. >> it's very, very painful. you know, we went into the middle east almost 20 years ago after 9/11. i thought the invasion of iraq was a mistake. but it's what general colin powell said as secretary of state. it's the pottery barn rule. you break it, you own it. we broke it. we've been trying to fix it. we had a very good campaign to get rid of isis and we -- we had the region stabilized. there was no reason for the pullback and that's obv

it's also where we find our own correspondent matt bradley, foreign correspondent for both msnbc and nbc news with us tonight on the ground from iraq. matt, is there, as they say, a palpable sense of foreboding there as these last hours tick by? >> reporter: yeah, brian. you know, not necessarily here in iraq. i'm next door to what's going on in syria. but those refugees are still flowing in. you know, there's something like 150,000 to 300,000 of them coming in by the day. and that's despite this so-called ceasefire that's set to expire. this has been going on now for four days. i talked with these refugees in a camp near to where i am, and they said that there is no cease-fire. there is no peace. there's still a lot of fighting, and that's why for a lot of them, the ceasefire means nothing. and, you know, even, brian, just being an american reporter, talking to these people, there was a lot of hostility, mostly just despair. they were just saying how america betrayed them, how donald trump himself was so duplicitous, how he turned their back on the kurds, how the u.s. and the kurds u

let's head over to matt bradley who is there in erbil in the region. and matt, what more do we know about the evacuations that are taking place right now for the u.s. forces? >> well, not a whole lot, kendis. we know that if they're going to be headed somewhere, they're probably headed here because this is the corridor here from northern iraq. the kurdish iraq, whereby the u.s. supplies its troops in northern syria. but right now, this is just a couple hours old, this order. we have no real idea where, it looks as though they're beating a hasty retreat from the border between syria and turkey. and so far, it looks as though while we heard rumors last night there was some sort of attack that might have nearly targeted u.s. troops, it seems as though now u.s. troops are going to be very quickly, very hastily moving away from harm's way. kendis. >> matt, about a year ago, the president was saying in december of last year, he was saying that he wanted withdrawal of u.s. forces. and he was told by many of his generals it would have to take place slowly. so t

nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley is on the ground in iraq where the u.n. says thousand us of refugees, matt, arrived since the start of this conflict. >> reporter: that's right. you know, this cease-fire you talked about. sounds like it's really quite tenuous. we were looking earlier at how, this has been going on now several days. the reaction from the syrian democratic forces, the mostly kurdish fighting force that used to be allied with the u.s., until this massive double cross in the last ten days by the white house. you know, they were saying that they were pointing out the general, musloume routinely violated and essentially imposed upon. the reaction, not to withdraw from the cease-fire. the general said the kurds are still abiding by the cease-fire and still hoping they'll be able to maintain this, because essentially this, again, was something negotiated by foreign powers and imposed on them. they don't have any other options. all they can do is abide siby t cease-fire. seven people have died today in the bombing around this area at the hands of tu

joining us live in northern iraq, nbc news correspondent matt bradley. good to have you with us with the latest situation on the ground. give us a walk through on what is happening on the military front and what can you tell us about this new alliance that is emerging between america's former friend the kurds and the fdf seeking requests from american adversaries, the syrian government backed by russia? >> reporter: yeah, ayman, it's been a crazy day yesterday. we saw a rot lot of events happg very quickly. you know, one of the things that we're seeing is this withdrawal as mark esper, the u.s. secretary of defense described it, that looks a little bit on the ground here like a retreat. as you mentioned, you know, the u.s. troops in northern syria came under artillery fire from the turks, and there was a whirlwind of activity in our office when we thought some u.s. troops might have been killed or injured. that doesn't look like the kind of behavior you see between two nato allies. and actually, you know, one of the reasons as mark esper mentioned why th

i will turn now to matt bradley, my colleague in beirut, lebanon. he spent a lot of his career covering isis. i want to ask you about the location of this raid, i.d. lick, in northwest syria. perhaps you heard a few moments ago, hans nichols mentioning there is fear of isis detainees. there were a lot in this area. what should we make of the fact that it seems -- again, we haven't confirmed this. but it seems the leader was holed up in northwest syria. this would be a surprise to a lot of people. >> reporter: yeah, it was a surprise to a lot of people. northwest, syria, specifically idlib province, is a depository for all the rejects. every treaty crafted between the syrian regime of bashar al assad and rebel groups, they would move to retreat rebel groups into idlib province. by this time, by the end of the world, the final days of this bloody civil war, everybody was populating idlib is some former rebel from some group, mostly jihadi groups, most of them islamic state. remember, islamic state was ajee hadi group. but there were other jihadi group

joining us now matt bradley who is on the ground in iraq. we also have former u.s. ambassador to the union and dean at george washington university. i want to start with you, matt. you heard the reporting that we had. is that the latest? i was just reading the latest wire saying that the kurds by the border, syrian kurds have said they have completely evacuated the border area. that is going to be a safe zone according to what turkey is saying. >> reporter: i'm hearing that the kurds said they have evacuated the city right there on the border. i think that they are in the process of evacuating. that is a major zone. this is about 300 miles long, 20 miles deep. one of the really big disagreements that will cause a collision on tuesday when the 120 hours long cease fire expires is that there is kind of a misunderstanding. he is the commander in chief of the syrian democratic forces. that's the mostly kurdish forszs that was with the u.s. and really fighting against isis for so many years partly on america's behalf. he said that his understanding of the cease fire as fa

joining us from beirut lebanon, foreign correspondent matt bradley.to get to across the region. we'll get to the killing of the isis leader in a moment and how it's playing out across the region. bring us up to speed first of all on those protests and demonstrations taking place in beirut now turning deadly as in some cases the security forces have opened fire on those demonstrators. zplo >> reporter: it's the 12th day of these protests. they've been going on now for nearly two weeks. what we're seeing today is kind of a general strike. again, a lot of the businesses are closed. everybody who wants to participate is staying away from work. they're closing their businesses, and we're seeing the big problem for the government here is road closures. it's bringing the city and the whole country really to a standstill. folks are dragging furniture into the streets, into the main highways, clogging the arteries, trying to keep people from going to the airplaort. we were worried we wouldn't be able to get out of the airport when we arrived a couple of days a

. >> matt bradley on the ground there.n the reaction of this new development of the statement coming from the secretary of defense saying almost all of the 1,000 will be withdrawn? of course, the defense, at least the reaction to that from the administration is. we also have other partners that are implementing sanctions. how are all of these headlines that we're seeing being seen there on the ground? >> reporter: it's naive to think that the sanctions would check the turkish military juggernaut. the other thing that i found in the extreme was that the sef was making a deal with the russians and the regime. that, of course, means it's interesting that he left out the elephant in the room which is the iranians. if the sdf force fighting isis on america's behalf, if they are making a deal with the russians, it makes sense that mark esper is leaving out the iranians who are under writing the entire enterprise going on against so many forces within syria for so many years. of course, the iranians who the trump administration h

nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley joins us from kiev with more.kraine's prosecutor looking for? is joe biden or his son in any sort of legal jeopardy there? >> just bear with me for a second. in kiev they're hosting a massive marathon behind me. the prosecutor that came out and made that announcement, what he said is they're going to be auditing previous cases that have been handled by previous prosecutors. now that does look suspicious and from a first glance and especially from the u.s. perspective, it does look like the administration of president zelensky in ukraine is capitulating to the demands by the trump administration. particularly what was said on the now-notorious phone call from july where the president asked for a favor from president zelensky and said he wanted zelensky to quote look into burisma holdings, which was the company that hunter biden had served on the board for a few years. and the response from president zelensky was -- this upcoming prosecutor going to be 100% my person. well this prosecutor yesterday who made that ann

nbc foreign correspondent matt bradley made his way to the ukrainian capital kiev. good to see you, my friend. what can you tell us about this three ukrainian associates listed from the subpoena for rudy giuliani. what do we know about them and what do we know about how the ukrainian government is handling this entire ordeal? >> reporter: it's an intriguing set of three new names here that we're going to be hearing a lot about in the coming weeks before they go about congress. the first two, they're both ukrainian americans, and dev furman, they're based in the united states. they were born in the soviet union but florida-based businessmen in the u.s., both in the gas business, trying to sell gas to the ukraine. they have enough contacts here in the ukraine that they were of interest to rudy giuliani and made introductions for him to three different former prosecutors here in kyiv. that third men, kiss lynn, he has major ties with the ukrainian american mafia. while it's not entirely clear what role he played in giuliani's visits here to the ukraine and meetings, he

joining me now, erin mclaughlin in turkey and also matt bradley in iraq.n, let's start with you. what did we hear from putin and erdogan who are planning the future of that region largely absent the united states? >> reporter: well, first let's talk about the letter that was sent from the kurdish to the trump administration within the last hour or so. the trump administration has received a letter from kurdish forces here in the region saying that they have completely withdrawn their fighters as part of the ceasefire agreement brokered by the united states. but that only pertains to a 75 mile stretch of land. going into today, there were serious questions about the remaining sections of the border that were being controlled by syria and russia. that is the topic of a six hour bilateral meeting between pew in-it and erdogan. that meeting just concluded. they had a press conference. and during that press conference, they said essentially they are calling for kurdish forces to withdraw within 18 miles of the remaining very much of the border within the next w

>> matt bradley for us on the ground in iraq. courtney kube for us in washington keeping a close eye on what is playing out in syria right now. again, live pictures there. they are seven hours ahead of us here on the east coast, just after 6:20 there in this particular part of syria. we will continue to, of course, monitor this situation very closely. in a few moments i'll talk with congresswoman chrissy houlihan, one of a group of lawmakers who just got back from the syrian border. we'll talk about what she saw on the ground. >>> also, as we turn back to politics, elizabeth warren might be cutting into joe biden's lead, but perhaps not where it may matter most ultimately. the major challenge that the senator from massachusetts is facing in winning a key group of democrats, black voters. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ introducing new vicks vapopatch easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you,

matt bradley joins us. matt, what are you hearing? >> yeah, there's some 300,000 people who have been displaced from their homes f since this fighting started last week. of those, probably 7,000 have arrived here in iraqi kurdistan and i was at the refugee camp just yesterday. it's a really pitiful sight there. the place is filled with children. there's some 2,000 children who have made it here to kurdish iraq and for them, it's a really, really difficult situation. they're going to have to be t e taken care of and the united nations says a lot of them are going to need psycho social counseling. remember, this whole thing happened so abruptly. no warning to the kurds or anyone else in the region when president trump decided to withdraw u.s. troops from the border with turkey and sort of set in motion this rapid set of events that have led to what a lot of people are calling a humanitarian catastrophe. i spoke to some ref yugees yesterday. here's what they told me. >> he says his house is is destroyed. doesn't expect to go back because

joining me now is matt bradley in erbil east of the area we are talking about. democratic forces spokesperson says that there is a lot of panic in the region. and there is legitimate fear that this could lead to a new humanitarian crisis in that area. i remind everybody syria has been in addition to a civil war a humanitarian crisis for several es. >> reporter: that's right. i mean, the story of syria since 2011 has been one of successive humanitarian crises and spilling out even as are far as europe. and we're already starting to see a germinal crisis because the democratic forces announced that we have even casualties. two dead, two wounded, all civilians. and alongside that, we are seeing another thing that lot of people are he worried about, it will be one of the repercussions from this, this video of people fleeing, civilians getting into their cars and peeling out of that narrow belt that the turks are trying to occupy that abuts turkey and syria. and if that grows could become yet another massive refugee crisis, internally displaced people. however it go,

joining me now is nbc's matt bradley. tt, talk me through the decision which is a very interesting one that the kurds have now made to basically ally with bashar assad. someone who has historically been an enemy of the kurds. the choice that they are making here. >> yeah, yasmin. you know, there was a really interesting piece in foreign policy that was published just yesterday. it was my -- that's the mostly kurdish force that as i've said has been, you know, the tip of the spear in the u.s. effort against isis. he mentioned something that's been a little bit off the headlines. you know, you really should read it because it's filled with righteous indignation about the, you know, the depth of the kurds and how they're feeling of betrayal by the u.s. and it's not just this years and years in which the kurds really felt as though they were kind of doing the dirty work of the fight against isis. not just for the u.s. but for the entire world. but only a couple of months before this all happened, the kurds entered into a deal

nbc's matt bradley joins us now from the ukrainian capital of kiev. good to see you. how are names that i mentioned, namgs that our viewers are not familiar with, what does congress hope to learn from them? >> reporter: these are three new names we're probably going to be hearing about for the next several weeks. the first two are more well known and it's clear why they were subpoenaed. they're basically known as florida businessmen, known as florida fixers. while all three were born in the soviet union, they spent all of their adult lives in the united states. they're all american citizens. but they all have enough contacts here in ukraine to peek juli giuliani's interest. they were making a lot of donations in order to try to secure contracts to export gas to ukraine that. was their business. it seems that giuliani knew they would have those connections here in the ukraine. they introduced giuliani it sounds like to no fewer than three prosecutors, successive prosecutors. the third man, siemian kislian, he has a long relationship with giuliani. he came to the aid of

matt bradley, and ken, thanks to you both. i want to show you a live picture of a neighborhood in congress hong. this is a police line. officers in riot gear on the streets. it's just after 11:00, actually 10.23 p.m. there. we're also about to show you new video from the associated press and i have to warn you, it is disturbing. it apparently shows a protester shot in the chest. nbc news has not independently verified this video and we don't know yet what happened before this incident went down. janice is in the thick of it in the live shot we just showed you. janice, you've been in this for a couple of hours now. tell us what it's like as night has fallen. >> we're still seeing protesters and clashes in various parts of the city, almost a cat-and-mouse game with riot police who moved through the central part of hong kong over the past several hours, squeezing protesters from all sides, trying to hem them in. and then large groups of officers going street by street making arrests. in a lot of cases, too, when the officers were

matt bradley is in northern iraq. courtney who covers the pentagon for us is here in washington. matt, first to you, tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: hallie, you know, this incursion is starting off with air strikes which would be a typical order of battle that you would expect from the turks. they have amassed on the border and this is actually starting in that peace corridor. he's described that he wants to move 20 miles south of the kurdish border so they're no longer flush against the turkish southern border. we're starting to see air strikes and there are turkish troops that have amassed. i should tell you, hallie, it's not just turkish troops. we're starting to see free syrian army forces and these are turkish-backed syrian arabs who are coming from mostly the northwest part of syria who the turks actually removed from syria, took by bus presumably through turkey and are going to be bringing them back to syria. this allows them kind of a local cover pretext to repopulate the area, not just with militants from the free syrian army who like the kurds have been fighting

matt bradley joins us right now from northern iraq. matt, what's the latest on where those troops are heading? >> reporter: we don't know for sure. of course, this is kind of a secret. they don't want to put too much attention on troop movement coming out of syria and headed here into iraq. we have seen some videos from reporters in syria that have shown convoys of vehicles moving around in northern syria. probably headed maybe in our direction where i am in kurdish. if you remember, that's in the corridor fear fallujah and those places that we heard back in the day during the iraq war. these thousands soldiers will join more than 5,000 u.s. troops who are stationed here. their task is fighting isis. the president said that he defeated isis. that was one of his crowning achievements. that's what they're going to do, their mission, fighting the remains of islamic state that are still launching attacks in points further south. it's not like a constant battle that's been going on. there have been terror attacks. remember, the caliphate use

nbc's matt bradley is in iraq where thousands of syrian refugees are arriving in search safety. also with us erin mclaughlin in turkey which is just north of the syrian border. matt, let's start with you. first aftof all dror we know whether the kurdish forces are part of this agreement and what happens as a result of it and if this ceasefire or pause is now officially over? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, alli, it looks as though they are accepting this because they have no other choice. they've been slapped in the face once by president trump when he withdrew. then they had to accede to an agreement with the russians and assad. then mike pence and mike pompeo went and inked another deal between the turks that was imposed upon the syrian kurds. and now once again we've seen the humiliating circumstances where erdogan is in russia meeting with putin and once again the kurds have to accept very unfavorable terms that are solidifying that deal that mike pence had made with president erdogan. it's all just exactly what erdogan had planned, every side is giving in and everybody is benefit

joining us now, live from iraq, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley. back with us. what is the situation currently like on the ground and what more can you tell us about the new alliance between america's former friend, the kurds, and the sdf, and now seeking help and protection, if you will from the syrian government in damascus, which is backed by russia? >> yes, you know, amin, i was speaking to some former u.s. officials and they mentioned that this depth of the betrayal that is felt by the kurds it is not just because the u.s. and the kurds aligned with each other in the long fight against isis, the kurds of course, they populate the majority of the syrian democratic force, and this is a very effective fighting force, i was with them back in march, and you know, they're not a first world army, they're still a militia, but they are very disciplined and well armed thanks to the u.s. and you know, what is interesting about this isn't just that the u.s. betrayed them, by backing out, and leaving them, to the mercy of the turk, but that the, the turks,

joining us from beirut with the latest is matt bradley this is a major victory for president trump. >> reporter: yeah, it is, actually you know, a lot of people are saying this is nearly symbolic the thing is, you know, when it comes to isis, there is no such thing as meric symbolic. the group has simp liz bo simbo brought thousands to flock to its ranks. killing al baghdadi was a big deal, tantamount to the dismemberment. what made islamic state a state was ended. it was done by america's kurdish allies on the ground again, we're hearing it was the kurds who provided the crucial intelligence that allowed for this raid yesterday -- excuse me -- late saturday night -- that killed al baghdadi. it goes to show that the u.s. does need allies on the ground remember, it was the kurds who the president really betrayed when he withdrew forces from syria earlier this month >> we do have to thank them for their help in what resulted in the killing of the most infamous terrorist in the world thank you is o muso much, matt. >>> president trump kept al baghdadi in his sight since the beginning of

what is the latest on the reporting and everything that matt bradley just suggested? ll in perspective. give me your thoughts on all that matt reported. >> well, so, i think one of the things that the trump administration is really hoping for right now is that there will be some kind of action in ukraine to investigate burisma, because it will offer credibility to their narrative that the real corruption here, the real problem here is with the bidens, is with biden's son, hunter. >> but one thing, matt just said it's not entirely clear that this is even going to be looked at with burisma while hunter biden served on the board. >> that's been one of the persistent questions about the allegations that the trump administration and rudy giuliani in particular have made against hunter biden is it's not entirely clear that the timeline even matches up, the timeline of when hunter biden was actually on the board of burisma, when the biden -- or when the obama administration and vice president biden were urging this prosecutor to either ramp up their investigations of corrupti

joining me now, nbc news foreign correspondent matt burt bradley. d matt, can you tell us what's happening there on the ground? >> well, the latest, katy, you mentioned that the air strikes were already happening, it's too late to reverse it, well, it's too late to stop the ground incursion that just started. we're learn iing there's now turkish forces who are streaming into syria and alongside them are syrian forces that are actually backed by the turks, you know, sunni muslims who have long enjoyed support from the turks, and they're moving in, as well, and there's fierce fighting all along that border tonight and it's just going to get more hot as this day goes on and as the evening goes on and as the days continue. we've heard now that the number of casualties has risen from two to seven and this is according to the associated press. so, we can expect that that number will rise dramatically as the ground forces start to move in alongside what we've already seen today, the aerial artillery and heavy artillery that's been firing from turkey into no

troops are now headed to iraq to fight isis nbc's matt bradley is there. >> reporter: after more than four years of u.s. boots on the ground in syria, u.s. soldiers have finally arrive in northern iraq. they are withdrawing this is their convoy >> reporter: tonight the pentagon announcing some u.s. troops could stay in syria to protect oil fields around a quarter million kurds have already run from their homes including aid workers say 70,000 children, hundreds have been killed by turkey's offensive, which could resume tomorrow when the cease fire ends lester >> richard engel in syria tonight, thanks. >>> back home, four more parents pleaded guilty in the college cheating scandal nbc miguel almaguer explains what it could mean for actress lori loughlin, as we see felicity huffman behind bars for the first time >> reporter: facing the pressure of a conviction, today four parents charged in the college admissions scandal reversed course, walking into federal court to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty with each facing fraud and money laundering charges "the l.a. times" reports

matt bradley is live in iraq. help us understand what is happening.s just a week or two ago that the president said the isis caliphate is wiped out. help us uns the shake up of alliances? >> yes, it is confusing and going very quickly. yesterday was a whirlwind day. america backed out and of course withdrew from that border between syria and turkey. that left the kurds that left most of the forces. and they were left with nothing. with no real allies, so yesterday they had to go back and resort to noeshting with the russians and the syrian regime. the acting secretary of defense came out and mentioned that the russians and the syrians would be directly benefitting but he didn't constantly intag niced and confronted that it was the iranians that have under written so much of the fight on the side of bashar al assad, so the iranians will be benefits quite a bit. they will get a lot of influence from, including, russia. part of what is so startling is how not surprising this is. you see the worst expectations come to life in such fast order, and that is

foreign correspondent matt bradley joining us from erbil, where a lot of refugees are rushing to thatknow, rushing here but not entirely clear, kendis if they'll be able to get in. this is kurdish iraq. solidarity between kurds and iraq and the kurds in syria but nobody knows if these refugees, supposed to be 100,000 of them will actually get in. the kurdish iraqiss beleaguered by this. almost a decade-long war in northern syria. just to update you on what we're seeing. we're hearing about dozens of dead among civilians, among the kurdish population and dozens more injuries. again, i mentioned that 100,000 people displaced. they're going to be headed probably to camps in, elsewhere in northern syria and might be headed into a regime-held territory in syria, though that's not necessarily a great bet for them. it's unclear where this is headed especially for the displaced people. >> what do we hear about the americans who came under fire? >> reporter: there was a big stir last night when we thought some americans had been kill ed turns not to be the case. disputed reports whether or not

nbc matt bradley is in the region in iraq with the latest, what is going on?, you knee speech last night was such a bray talatant misrepresentation. they were so grateful to him for negotiating this, but he was congratulating himself for a crisis that was entirely of his own making, and he mentioned a general who was a leading figure here in syria fighting for the sdf and he said he called president trump and thanked him for these negotiations. of course the commander would do that because they were being slaughtered by the turks. he needed the president to step in and finally negotiate a seat fire. i talked to refugees that are not grateful for the president. they blame the united states and they named the president by name and blamed him for the crisis that destroyed their homes, nations, and sent them fleeing. >> former ener eer new jersey s what is your take on all of this. >> donald trump took his finger out of the dike and now a series of events are going to unfold of consequences going on for many years. first the russians are now permanently going to g

matt bradley from the capital of kiev. thank you. >>> mike pence. and how the white house is responding in the wake of these growing revelations. responding in the wake of these growing revetilaons. it's been a long time since andrew dusted off his dancing shoes. luckily denture breath will be the least of his worries. because he uses polident 4 in 1 cleaning system to kill 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. polident. clean. fresh. and confident. when you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24/7. so, where you go, the pro goes. go with align, the pros in digestive health. >>> the new president of ukraine ran on the basis of no corruption. that's how he got elected and i believe he really means it but there was a lot of corruption having to do with the 2016 election against us. and we want to get to the bottom of it. >> china should start an investigation into the bidens. >> i don't care about politics. i don't care about anything

that is where we start with my colleague matt bradley who joins us from syria. more than 700 islamic state supporters broke out of the camp as the united nations say 130,000 people have been displaced from the fighting in its fifth day. you are 100 plus miles away from where all of this is transpiring. this is being described as a predictable qaa taft fee. what is the latest on the ground in syria? >> reporter: this happened, david, in just the last couple of hours. what we have heard is there is probably 750 to 900, depending on the source of isis family members. these aren't the isis-hardened criminals and terrorists who are also held in camps. they are women and children. it looks as though they either took advantage of the security vacuum that was left by members of the kurdish fighting group, sdf, rushing to the front lines to fight off the invading turkish military and syrian allies, or it was coordinated between the turks and their syrian allies and the isis elements that were inside this camp. depending on who you would ask, it would seem as though this

we are joined now from matt bradley in beirut. matt, you have been covering the story over the years of the rise of baghdadi and the reign of terror that he had and the president gave credit to several other nations for the role in the raid and tell us more about that. >> yeah, it is interesting that he mentioned four countries and crediting the u.s. troops for the involvement in killing al baghdadi. and the interesting things that are coming out the syrian democratic forces he credited but lightly, and they have come out and said that they had a decisive role in the intelligence leading up to this, and that it was delayed one full month because of the president's decision to withdraw the troops from syria with the border of turkey, because it greenlighted the incursion of the turkish troops with the arab allies into northeastern syria, and this to say about russia. he is also basically credited russia, and actually did it voluminously, and he mentioned russia over and over and over again and feeding into critics who are saying tha

joining me in turkey, keir simmons and irbil iraq, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley.ven mnuchin just announced sanctions saying these are powerful sanctions, we hope we don't have to use them but we can shut down the turkish economy if we need to. keir, is this going to matter? >> reporter: it's not going to matter at all, katy. hearing that news from steven mnuchin, we're stunned by that. what speaks loudly from being on the ground in turkey, what's making the most noise are the facts of the sound, the turkish are ti-- artillery pounding all day, the helicopters overhead, seeing tank after tank heading to the syrian border. that is what is having an impact, not a statement from steven mnuchin or tweets from the president saying turkey will never stop this step no matter what anyone says, it will continue this fight until we go further south and push 20 miles from the border. so the genie is out of the bottle here, turkey is doing this and we've been watching them do this now for the last three days. there are thousands of civilians fleeing, people are dying. from see

matt bradley made it all of the way to the ukraine to get to this. let's first share what the president had to say about bill barr back in may. >> the attorney general is one of the most respected people in this country. he can look, i hope he looks at the u.k., u.s. trail ya, ukraine, i hope he looks at everything. this is not a complete surprise, but why is it such a big deal today? >> the top law enforcement official in the united states is spending his time amid all of the great concerns on his plate, pursuing what is a conspiracy theory about the origins of the russia investigation and interacting with foreign aofficials and seeking their help in investigating in matter. they that v taken into whether anything was amiss with the russia investigation origins. people are may concerns with what his movements are. now the attorney general is keing these countries to cooperate in the investigation. we have yet to hear about any premise. they heard that the russians told pothat russia had hillary' e-mails. and donald trump has even gotten involved and

. >> joining us now, matt bradley, john hudson, lani chen and also and you ba back with us, scott wong. there is some reporting but not confirmed yet that the cia got a tip on al-baghdadi's location via arrest of a wife and courier. related here to leadership. and of course there is so much happening right now in terms of what led us to what happened almost 24 hours ago. what is the latest that you are hearing? >> and that late. we knew what happened several months ago. and what is interesting is that the wives of some the isis members they turned against their husbands after the husbands enslaved those young gills. girls. and so when they came into the captivity of the kurdish fighting force, and the allies were fought by the turk, they caught the intel against, they made these arrests and they flipped these isis wives and specifically baghdadi's wife and some of his lieutenants. they felt so spurned with the way their husbands were behaving and they turned on them. and we had that reporting at the time several months ago and this is why the sdf which have since been more or less betr

hans nichols and matt bradley is standing by. matt bradley in irbil capital of curd sta kurdistan, and what more are you learning about the isis prison breakouts? >> well, there is something like 750 to 900 women and children mostly, alex, who have managed to make some kind of jailbreak from what is one of the major camps holding them up in the northeastern syria. this is troubling for a lot of reason, because it is going to put pay to all of the critics of the drutrump administration say this is what is going to happen. and the isis and some 12,000 hardened jihadis held in camps throughout northern syria, and along with some 58,000 family members who escaped today that are threatening to possibly leave, a possibly reconstitute that caliphate declared over back in march. now, we need to stress here, alex that these are women and children. these are not among the fighters who are still being held, though there has been video circulating on the social media riots insid the isis prisons, because clearly some of the people feel they

nbc news international correspondent matt bradley joins me from the iraq/syria border with the latesttt, let's start with this. defense secretary mark esper arrived in baghdad this morning. what is he saying is going to happen to the u.s. troops, especially now that the foreign minister said you've got four weeks to get out? >> reporter: well, he just agreed, stephanie. he acquiesced entirely to what the iraqi defense minister said. well, now we have four weeks. it speaks to the chaotic withdrawal, because remember, first it was u.s. troops withdrawing from the turkish border. then they were withdrawing from the whole country, then some of them were staying, then they're going home, then some were going to be going to iraq, and now they're all just transited through iraq. which you know, stephanie, it really speaks to the modus operandi of this administration because the iraqi government, just like the kurds, were america's principal partners in fighting against islamic state and it goes to show that just like the administration didn't consult the kurds when they withdrew from syria,

. >> matt our correspondent on the ground in kiev, matt bradley reported that there is an, a review that'so happen on several cases here. does it appear that the quid pro quo then worked, do you think? >> i think it absolutely worked. had it not been for the whistle-blower coming forward and blowing the wis onl what's happening in the white house, the review would have been announced, announced without all the fanfare. and you would have seen a lot of media stories that the vice president's son is now under investigation and the republicans would have taken it and ran and said the vice president is under investigation. you can't trust joe biden, look at his actions while he was vice president or under investigation. they would have gotten away with it, had this whistle-blower not come forward. >> matt miller, thank you so much. >>> there's a new turn in the push to get the whistle-blower to testify. we'll tell you about it, next. i have moderate to severe pnow, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand

been displaced including 70,000 children, and to put a face on that number, one of our colleagues matt bradleym nbc spoked to some people who arrived at a refugee camp in iraq. i want to play some of that. >> he says he saw tanks, missiles, air strikes. he says he's been on the road for three or four days. she said america betrayed them and there's no future in syria right now. >> there's going to be a whole generation of syrians that will look at the united states and say what did you do to us. i think it's really important to focus on what's happening on the ground. these are people who have been the subject of conflict. the united states needs to be doing more on the humanitarian assistance side, accepting syrian refugees, showing leadership with the europeans to come up with a humanitarian assistance package but none is happening right now. the president's cleanup crew is trying to undo the mess that he started in that phone call. >> in about 35 minutes we will see vice president pence when he is scheduled to be holding that news availability, press availability, some of the reporters that

. >> keir simmons and matt bradley. thank you very much. >>> and breaking news from fort worth, texas. the officer who shot and killed a black woman inside her home over the weekend has just resigned. the interim police chief announcing, announced that moments ago. gabe gutierrez joins me now from the phone. what exactly can you tell us? what happened? >> reporter: hi, there, katy. officer aaron dean publicly identified for the first time, police chief in fort worth said that he tendered his resignation this morning. the officer did before he met with the chief. the chief also said that if the officer hadn't done that, he would have been fired anyway. there are currently two investigations ongoing into this case. the internal affairs investigation and a major case unit investigation. now, aaron dean, that officer, he was hired by the police department in august of 2017. and he was licensed as a peace officer in april of 2018. that's last year. he could potentially face criminal charges. now, katy, we were following this

let's go to the pentagon where correspondent courtney kube is standing by and matt bradley in iraq milese border with turkey and syria. courtney, this is happening now. what are you hearing? >> so, all we're hearing are very early, so far unconfirmed reports, but one of them is from the spokesperson for the syrian democratic forces. this is the opposition force, who the u.s. military has been fighting with for several years there in syria. he's saying that turkish warplanes have begun air strikes. i've spoken with one person in the u.s. military in baghdad who's confirming that they expect that the air strikes -- they believe the air strikes are just now beginning. so, the question is, you know, what does this mean and where does this go from here, if in fact, it's confirmed these are turkish military strikes into northern syria? what we know is that the turks want to clear out an area along the border with turkey and syria and create what they're calling a safe zone. they want, basically, a buffer zone, because they believe that the kurds, many of whom who have settled in that area near