. >> here with me now, nbc news national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff. michael, we have been listening to this hearing for a while now. releasing four out of more than 50 terror plot they say have been foiled since 9/11. talk to me a little bit about the four plot. >> right. and i should say, craig, we've gotten some details but far from a complete account. but ones cited here by fbi deputy director shawn joyce were the zazi plot which has been talked about before. that's the guy in colorado who travelled to new york for a plot to blow up the new york subway system. another plot that they've mentioned for the first time today linked to these programs about somebody in communication with the terrorist in yemen who had a plan to blow up the new york stock exchange. a third instance, this is the guy, david hedley, a player in the mumbai terrorist attacks back in 2008. and also, was engaged in a plot to blow up the danish newspaper that published the cartoons that were perceived as anti-islamic and mocking the prophet mohammed. and the fourth one that they pr

let me bring in our national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff, and michael, let's talk abouthe decision to release this information, to tell people some examples of exactly what these terror plots are that have been stopped. >> well, that's what we are waiting for. so far, we've only had very limited disclosure on this matter. the one example that's been cited is the plot to blow up subways in new york, in which these programs were useful and critical in thwarting that plot. there's been push back from people locking at court record on that, suggesting that the situation may be a bit more kplacated. that it was actually british intelligence that first discovered sazzi's relationship to pakistan. we are supposed to be learning more from general alexander today. right now what we have been hearing is deputy attorney general cole sort of laying out what he is describing as the rigorous controls on these programs to make sure that innocent americans are not inadvertently targeted. >> let me go back to your first point which was, questions that had been raised, including by edward

and michael isikoff is nbc's national investigative correspondent. here's what we know about snowden's travels as of this moment. he left his home in hawaii in may and went to hong kong. he stayed until sunday when with the help of wikileaks he fled to russia. that's where is he still believed to be. he had reportedly booked a flight to havana, cuba, with the final destination of ecuador. but snowden never boarded that plane this morning, and it's unclear what his plans really are. let's go to michael isikoff, who is always good at these questions. where is edward snowden and where is he headed? >> well, i was on the conference call, chris, with julian assange of wikileaks today. he said snowden is in a safe place and in high spirits. so look, the u.s. government believes he's in moscow. he was thought to have been -- that he was going to take that plane to havana. he wasn't on it. the seat was empty. assange would not say where he is. would not say where he's headed. we do know that he's applied for asylum with ecuador. and iceland and possibly othe

many times we just never know. >> nbc's michael isikoff with that. justice department officials decline to comment on any aspect of this case. but legal sources tell nbc news federal prosecutors have developed their case without subpoenaing the phone records from "the new york times." >>> the fight over abortion rights in texas is getting personal. governor rick perry now injecting himself into the debate over strict abortion bill that is happening there. he publicly called out the senator who led a filibuster to kill it. speaking at the national right to life convention, the republican used state senator wendy davis' life story of being a teen mom as ammunition against her. >> it's just unfortunate that she hasn't learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters. >> davis responded to the governor by saying his words, quote, tarnished the office he holds. >>> staring at the sun in the name of science. a pegasus rocket launched this iris satellite over the pacific ocean late

michael isikoff, nbc news, washington. >> and when we come back, switching gears. remembering a hollywood icon like no other. ♪ >>> that's screen legend esther williams making an entrance in 1953's "easy to love." we learned that williams died in california today. she was a true movie star, a big box office draw, and leading lady in the 1940s and '50s. she began as a star athlete and that helped define her hollywood career. ♪ the titles of her film tell the stories ksh -- "bathing beauty," "million dollar mermaid." but esther williams never set out to be in the movies. >> i always felt that stardom was my consolation prize. >> she was a championship swimmer. in 1940 seemed headed for olympic gold, but the games were cancelled that year because of world war ii. she was discovered by a hollywood actor and became a favorite pinup girl during the war. she swam more than a thousand miles on camera and it took its toll, including a spinal injury that left her in a body cast for months. >> i was in an aluminum crown, and when i dove in 50 feet in the air, i said oh [ blee

>> michael isikoff starting us off from our d.c. newsroom tonight. michael, thanks. >>> as we mentioned, this was a history-making day across town on capitol hill. as the u.s. senate finally passed a sweeping immigration reform bill, it gives hope to millions living here illegally, while it will also tighten security along the border. the vote was 68-32. nbc's kelly o'donnell covering all day, with us from the hill tonight with details. kelly, good evening. >> good evening, brian. this is proof of a cultural and political shift in our country. it was a packed, standing room only senate, where democrats and republicans passed a compromise that could bring dramatic change to an immigration system that just about everyone says is broken. on the capitol steps today, waiting and hopeful undocumented immigrants who say they want this flag to be their own. >> this is saying don't deport my father. because everyone deserves to be with their parents. >> reporter: the vice president came to preside. >> a good day. >> reporter: over the first overhaul of immigr

michael isikoff, michael. >> you asked me to stay. >> i will give you the last word.ssue of rand paul and on the issue of putting out the actual thwarted plots, if you could be quick for me, thwarted plots, michael isikoff, will they do it? >> i think they will. the problem is we will get it. we won't know what to make of it. whether or not there was other ways the same information could have been gotten or what aspects of the program led to those thwarted plots and is eight part of what many people have found overreaching? and i do want to come back to that october 3rd, 2011, fisa court opinion, 86 page, really significant and that's something we have seen or even known about until now. >> boy that, is the rand paul document. oh my good. anyway, michael isikoff thank you as always, rich lowry will hang around him look at this, massive explosion in a chemical plant in louisiana today, we got the latest on that story and the update on the breaking news on the syria chemical weapons story all next on kudlow. out there owning it. the ones getting involved and staying eng

michael isikoff, nbc news, washington. >>> we've got a lot more to tell you about on this friday night. ahead, student loans. the interest rate set to double on some of them starting monday. and congress heads out of town without taking action, leaving millions of families wondering what to do. >>> and later, an american success story who made it to harvard and wall street and beyond, now making a difference for a lot of folks back home. >>> tonight, members of congress headed out of washington on a >>> tonight, members of congress headed out of washington on a week-long break, leaving monday's deadline on student loans to come and go, without any action. that means millions of student will start paying double, regardless of what lawmakers eventually do, the price of college has left a lot of families deep in debt. we get our report tonight from our chief education correspondent rehema ellis. >> reporter: in washington, students outside of the capitol blasted lawmakers for failing to act, ensuring student loans will double to 6.8% on monday. that hike affects the estimated seven millio

michael isikoff getting this news from a u.s.hina visiting the united states today to meet one on one with president obama. this is going to be their first meeting since the new chinese president got that job back in march. the one-on-one meetings are scheduled for five hours over two days, at a giant california desert estate, called sunnylands. they hosted seven previous presidents, including richard nixon who visited sunnylands shortly after he resigned the presidency because of watergate scandal. he signed the sunnylands guest book when you're down, you find out who your real friends are. in terms of friendship, imagine the trust level between president obama and the head of the government that hacked into his campaign computers even before he was president. maybe because of that, president obama will be spending the night at the sunnylands estate tonight, but the chinese president will not. he will be staying at a nearby hotel, maybe less buggy there, you know what i mean? here in theist, u.s. government officials timed the t

. >> joining me now, nbc news national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff. chael, are you there? >> reporter: i am indeed. >> so it is interesting to see this balance, if you will, that the president was referring to, how much we now know regarding the secret programs after edward snowden leaked this information, including these plots, at least four of them detailed. one of them we knew about. >> reporter: right. and we got some details today, but not a whole lot. there's a reference -- the zazy plot has been discussed previously and that's been cited as an example where the surveillance of a terrorist overseas led to his identifying a plotter in the united states. there's been some pushback on that because there's court testimony that suggests actually it was british intelligence that first identified him in the united states, not the nsa surveillance program. there are three others that were mentioned, very sketchy details about exactly the role that the nsa surveillance program played. the plot -- the alleged plot to blow up the new york stock exchange tha

joining us now from washington, nbc news investigative correspondent michael isikoff. hi, joy. >> michael, can you explain how somebody cannot be in russia but also be in the moscow airport? >> well, he's in the transit zone. it is technically not russian territory. but clearly, to imagine the russians are not fully aware of his presence there and what he's doing would be a stretch. one thing that is interesting and worth noting here is, putin is saying on the one hand he's denouncing u.s. allegations here as rubbish, and he has pointed out that there is no extradition treaty between the united states and russia. so when the united states requests that he be returned to the united states, snowden be, it is, in some senses, would be an extra legal process. now secretary kerry has pointed out that on occasion the russians have asked the us to return prisoners to the united states who they want and we have done so, so as a matter of being a dating, the united states has a request that they want honored. purely as a matter of law, a lot of it rests on the law here. there is

. >>> a big new development tonight from nbc news investigative correspondent michael isikoff on theoing investigation into the leaking of classified information about u.s. cyber warfare. sources telling michael isikoff that retired marine general james "hoss" cartwright, former vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has been notified he is under investigation for allegedly leaking information about a massive attack using a computer virus named stuxnet on iran's nuclear facilities. the story of the stuxnet virus was reported last year by david sanger in "the new york times." i have a lot to say about when we condemn leakers in this country and when we don't. coming up. >>> for the last two days in the trial of george zimmerman, the prosecution's key witness has been on the stand. her name is rachel jeantel. she's the last person trayvon martin talked to before his altercation with george zimmerman on the night of february 26th, 2012. she was on the phone with martin, and the moments before that altercation, an altercation which ended with trayvon martin dead. george zimmerman is

michael isikoff joins me with the latest on this manhunt. the diplomatic fallout over his flight and that leads us to our question of the day for you. should there be repercussions from the u.s. towards russia and china for failing to assist in snowden's capture. weigh in on facebook or twitter. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while

. >>> on nightly news tonight on nbc, the investigative reporter michael isikoff just dropped a bombshellhe highest ranking members of the u.s. military who just retired, general cartwright has just been notified he is the target of a criminal investigation, regarding a highly sensitive leak, that president obama had covertly ordered an attack on it was escalated by president obama, including the stuxnet attack, it was reported in that story that general cartwright oversaw that operation, that cyberwar operation. but now, as of tonight, breaking news, michael isikoff reports that cartwright is the target of a criminal investigation into whether or not he was the leak behind that story. this is rather stunning news, especially if it means that the general is potentially going to be arrested in conjunction with the case, we don't know if that is the case. but we have been told he is the target of this criminal investigation, we will keep you posted. >>> do you want to know who is really happy that we're right in the middle of a really busy news cycle right now? this guy, the guy from virgin

michael isikoff, national correspondent, and eugene robinson pulitzer prize winning columnist for theashington post" and msnbc political analyst. michael, you're a great fabulous investigative reporter. maybe this isn't your area to ask you about. we have been attacked, know we'll be attacked as long as. the only power comes in knowledge. we need that knowledge. and yet we value very much or cowboy american independence and privacy. what are we -- are we getting to the information from both sides of this argument that's going to help us make that decision? where to draw the line? >> well, first of all, we have clearly learned in the last couple of weeks a lot more about these super secret programs. >> certainly. >> how they operate. legal authorities. because of the leaks of snowden. i think it's going to be an extensive debate about how productive that's been. the intelligence community has declassified a lot and spoken much more openly about these programs trying to make the case that they have been helpful in thwarting terrorist plots. >> were you surprised as an expert? >> the fac

now according to michael isikoff's reporting, michael isikoff is reporting that the justice department is looking at him as a prime suspect. he's not been charged, but a prime suspect in the stuxnet leak -- >> very serious leak. >> to david sanger. brilliant book by sanger, of the "new york times," on the whole issue of how we slowed down the iranian nuclear program with israel working to undermine their computers. >> it is kind of hard to understand the motivation. >> it could have been an inadvertent leak which was also the case in the valerie plame case. >> i'm probably in the minority on this but this strikes me as as big a deal in snowden in a kind of way. we aren't talking about a disaffected 29-year-old hacker. we're talking one of the nation's senior-most military leaders. a criminal investigation. i think this is going to have an impact -- again, we've talked a lot in recent days about the chilling effect all these leak investigations have on journalism in washington. but from a national security side, that was a pretty amazing leak and it did clue the iranians in to what we w

. >> however, nbc's michael isikoff is now reporting the nsa has accidentally intercepted the privateessages and phone calls of americans who had no connection to terrorism whatsoever. while some republicans are defending the nsa programs, others are decidedly not. >> this is a big deal. a really big deal. i want to find out why they've decided to have such a broad brush to bring in everybody, and if we have to amend the patriot act before 2015 to stop this from happening, i am all for doing that, and i'm the author of the act. >> let's get right to our panel. with us is karen finney, star of msnbc's newest weekend show "disrupt with karen finney. the" which premieres tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., pit which of course e best time slot of any day. and dana milbank, "washington post," and "saturday night live." good afternoon to both of you. karen, the president had strong points today about leaks. on the specific issue of digital surveillance, he said the government's programs are legal and they're limited. do you think he made the sale? >> i think he did, although the problem is that there's

let's go to michael isikoff who is always good at these questions. where is he and where is he headed? >> well, i was on the conference call, chris, with julian assange of wikileaks today. he said snowden is in a safe place and in high spirits. so look, the u.s. government believes he's in moscow. he was thought to have been -- that he was going to take that plane to havana. he wasn't on it. the seat was empty. assange would not say where he is. would not say where he's headed. we do know that he's applied for asylum with ecuador. and iceland and possibly other countries, assange would not say what those other countries were. we did -- did he say that, because the question was asked, his passport has been revoked. how is he traveling that he received something called a refugee document of passage from the ecuadorian government, sort of shades of casablanca here. but how far that will take him, where it will take him we still don't know. we do know as sang did say because there was some question about how is he traveling. and assange did say at one po

bring in michael isikoff, our investigative correspondent in washington. so many things to talk about. wow. this has a lot of moving parts here now, michael. the way "the new york times" puts it the elusive snowden is, quote, threatening to strain relations on three continents. never a good thing. start with russia. what are the options? >> well, first of all let me give you some breaking news as we speak. julian assange is having a press conference as we speak right now, he has confirmed that edward snowden has applied for asylum in ecuador and possibly other countries. he said. he said he has asked wikileaks to use its four assistants in getting the applications processed. he's embraced wikileaks which is also being criminally investigated by the justice department for the earlier leaks through bradley manning. >> and the reps including lawyers from wikileaks believed to be with him? >> yes. actually, just before mr. assange came on, michael ratner, who is the chief lawyer for a group called the senate for constitutional rights in new york, which has been

nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff reveals the target is james cartwright and issy cough has the details. >> reporter: general cartwright was a key member of president obama's inner circle of national security advisors but legal sources tell nbc news that cartwright has been notified he's the target of a justice department criminal investigation into a highly sensitive leak about a covert u.s. cyber attack on iran's nuclear program. >> my attitude has been zero tolerance for these kinds of leaks. these are criminal acts when they release information like this. >> reporter: "the new york times" last year broke the story that president obama secretly ordered a stepped up cyber weapon attack using a malicious computer virus known as stuxnet and that cartwright conceived and oversaw the special operation from the pentagon. >> we're trying to build a second cyber force right now. >> reporter: cartwright did not respond to requests for comment from nbc news. contacted today his lawyer former white house obama counsel greg said i have no comment. including its code na

. >> joining me now for more on all of this, nbc national news investigative correspondent michael isikoff. michael, you spoke with intelligence officials. what new information did you learn about just how many phone calls were collected? >> well, this telephone met adata collection which we've just learned about in the last couple weeks impacts millions of callers and you can do the arithmetic on how many phone calls you make in a year and it might add up to hundreds of millions of records of phone calls. what u.s. officials, intelligence officials are trying to do now to try to bolster public support for this program is show the controls on it. and they put out a statement just yesterday, late yesterday, suggesting that the actual times that they've gone into the database to query those records of phone calls is very limited, are less than 300 last year, they said, only after they got specific information that the -- that the phone number was linked to some specific foreign terrorist organization. now, it's very hard to evaluate that in a vacuum. what we're getting is selective disclosur

michael isikoff has more. >> reporter: general cartwright retireed from the marine corps in august 2011 after nearly 40 years of service. cartwright continued to serve, appointed to the defense policy board and lead pentagon advisory panel with top security clearance. last january, cartwright resigned out of the blue citing health reasons and business. legal sources tell nbc news the fbi was already investigating cartwright, suspecting him of leaking secrets about a u.s. cyber attack using a computer virus called stuxnet on irans nuclear program. a spokesperson says it was unrelated. they said in a statement, general jim cartwright is an american hero who served his country with distinction for four decades. any suggestion that he could betray the country he loved is propostrouse. eric holder is not talking. former colleagues say they are stunned to learn cartwright has been targeted. >> he dedicated his life to protecting the american people. i find it shocking he would be under investigation. >> reporter: he was a politically savvy general with contacts at the white house where he wor

. >> joining me now, nbc news national investigate correspondent michael isikoff. hear that sound bite of the attorney saying he followed the procedure you or i would and we're not the focus of a man hunt. >> exactly. there's also an explanation from hong kong authorities that there was confusion in the documents submitted by the u.s. for the arrest of snowden. apparently there was a discrepancy in the middle name, whether it was james or joseph, which differed from his passport. hong kong authorities are citing that, suggesting there may have been a screwup by u.s. authorities in its formal request to the hong kong authorities for the return of snowden. couple things. first on putin's comments today, he did point out when he said that we weren't going to, that the russians were going to extradite snowden, that there is no extradition treaty between the u.s. and russia. that does complicate matters for the u.s. >> all right. thank you very much, michael. i want to take our audience to developing news. members of the congressional black caucus and hispanic caucus sp

just last month, nbc's michael isikoff flagged reports that a special home run security unit was closely monitoring anti-wall street demonstrations including tracking the facebook pages and websites of the protesters and writing reports on the potential impact on commercial and financial sector assets in downtown areas. right around the time the u.s. government received the second of two warnings from the russian government about the radical islamic ties of alleged boston marathon bomber tamerlan tsarnaev. when you construct a massive surveillance apparatus, history tells us that it will be brought to bear not just on, quote, the enemy, but on the people who threaten society's power structure. on whoever exists at the political margins, whether it's martin luther king jr. or some occupy boston protesters. it's not some orwellian abstraction. it's america's history and america's recent history, and left unchecked i fear america's future. joining me now is civil rights activist, julian, former chairman of the naacp. a founding member of the student nonviolent coordinating committee. it's a

michael isikoff, eugene robinson, this is going to continue this conversation.s great american conversation. they don't have this argument in russia. we'll be right back after this. help the gulf recover, and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i've been with bp for 24 years. i was part of the team that helped deliver on our commitments to the gulf - and i can tell you, safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge safety equipment and technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all our drilling activity, twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. safety is a vital part of bp's commitment to america - and to the nearly 250,000 people who work with us here. we invest more in the u.s. than anywhere else in the world. over fifty-five billion dollars here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] f

. >>> we have breaking news and for that we go to nbc news national investigative reporter michael isikoffoining us from washington. what have you got? >> there's some new figures, martin that really show just how dramatically the government has used this controversial and obscure provision of the patriot act section 215ing to obtain all these records that we're now hearing about. remember, it was that 215 provision that was the basis for that verizon court order that was disclosed by guardian that opened the door to this entire debate. it turns out the justice department had just recently filed a report with the congress saying that in last year, it had used that provision 212 times. that is a 900% increase from the number of times it used it in 2009 when president obama took office. and just to take you back a little further when this patriot act provision was first enacted, there was great controversy at the time because people feared it was so broadly worded you could obtain library records by invoking this provision. and then attorney general ashcroft released the statement in 2003 to

joining me now, nbc news national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff. what else did he say in this q&a? here's this man on the run and he's stopping somewhere in an internet cafe or somewhere to have this conversation. >> look, there's a public relations battle going on right now. over these surveillance programs. the intelligence community is putting out more and more information declassifying more and more. trying to show how justified they are. and how dangerous edward snowden's leaks were. and snowden is pushing back. and trying to explain himself more, trying to provide more context of why he did what he did. trying to cloak himself in the mantle of the traditional whistleblower. so the comments about president obama were quite interesting, because they obviously went beyond his objections to the surveillance program, suggesting other matters, such as failure to close guantanamo. was one of the motivating factors behind him doing what he did. but in terms of some of the other questions, he made clear again that he views himself as a selective leake

snowden's father lonnie told nbc's michael isikoff that he was sending a letter to attorney general ericying he thinks his son would be prepared to return home if the doj allowed him to choose the location of his trial. >> at this point i don't feel he's committed treason. he has in fact broken u.s. law in the sense that he has released classified information, and if folks want to classify him as a traitor -- in fact, he has betrayed his government. but i don't believe that he bewould betray the people of the united states. >> the united states continued to defend the data mining programs saying yesterday they helped disrupt 54 terrorist activities, including 42 active plots, 13 of which were inside the united states. >>> joining me now, wikileaks spokesm spokesman, thanks for coming back. obviously the most important question -- is edward snowden still hold up in the moscow airport? >> i can't reveal his exact location or his travel plans. >> the russians have revealed his exact lotion. they said he was in the moscow airport. wikileaks is paying for his travel. do you guys not know wher

. >> michael isikoff, thank you so much. >> sure. >> texas governor rick perry is making things personalr wendy davis joins us next. later in the show anchor woman -- "anchor man 2" actor steve carell with us on set. joe, update, three stitches. not bad. "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day. good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate, ever. because she's got other things to stress about. ♪ go to citi.com/simplicity to apply. ♪ happy birthday! it's a painting easel! the tide's coming in! this is my favorite one. it's upside down. oh, sorry. (woman vo) it takes him places he's always wanted to go. that's why we bought a subaru. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >>> who are we to say that children born in the worst circumstances can't grow up to lead successful lives. even the woman who filibustered the senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances, the daughter of a single woman, a teenage mother herself. she managed to eventually graduate from harvard law school and se

say government-backed chinese hackers have stolen billions in intel lecture property and nbc's michael isikoff reports the obama/mccain campaigns were targeted by hackers from china. >> this is espionage against the two political parties. >> reporter: chinese officials deny any role in cyberattacks. another issue, the first lady of china, a former pop star known for her fashion sense, will be in attendance today. ♪ >> reporter: but michelle obama will not. foreign policy experts say some in china might see it as a snub. while in the u.s. it sends a different message. >> that she is first and foremost the mother of her young children who are in their last week of school. >> reporter: white house officials say it has been open with chinese officials from the start. the first lady was not planning to attend the summit. president obama has been attending fund-raisers here in the bay area. he will make comments about his health care law, part of his pr push to sell the law before heading to california for that all-important summit. back to you. >> all right. kristin welker in san jose, california,