nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house tonight to tell us more. mike? >> reporter: good evening, lester. coming on the heels of his oval office clash with the israeli prime minister, today the president walked into what one expert described as a lion's den. once again the volatile issue of israel's borders was front and center. in a speech before some 11,000 of israel's strongest american supporters, president obama did not back away from his controversial remarks that palestinian statehood should be based on israel's pre-1967 borders. >> what i did on thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately. >> reporter: mr. obama said his stance on israel's borders had been misrepresented. but it was an infuriated benjamin netanyahu himself, face to face with the president friday, who was among the strongest critics. >> while israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines. because these lines are indefensible. >> reporter: today the president stressed he doesn't want to go back either. inst

nbc's mike viqueira reports. >> you had enough of barack obama?reporter: from the campaign trail in new hampshire, tough talk from republican presidential hopefuls. seeking political gain from voter pain at the pump. >> we're going to have to hang the obama misery index around his neck. we're going to hang him with that -- so to speak, metaphorically, with -- you have to be careful these days. i learned that. >> reporter: today in his weekly address the president called for repeal of the $4 billion in subsidies oil companies get each year. >> these tax giveaways aren't right. they aren't smart. and we need to end them. >> reporter: mr. obama's push comes as the companies report near-record first quarter profits. exxon leading the way with a 69% gain over last year. with shell, chevron, and conoco phillips all showing big increases. >> when oil prices go up in america, oil profits go up. >> reporter: democrats call the profits excessive and portray republicans as wedded to oil interests. but today the gop rejected the president's call to end federa

. >> let's bring in mike viqueira, live at the white house at his post. good morning. >> good morning, alex. >> congress returns shortly from the recess. where does the debate pick up? >> reporter: there will be two things on the. gas prices is one, as we headed into this weekend, you're going to see competing proposals from senate democrats. they'll have a bill on the floor to cut the $4 billion in subsidies that the oil companies get. they reported near-record profits against for the first quarter of this year. house republicans meanwhile, say, no, that's essentially a tax increase that will be passed on to consumers. it will have the opposite effect. what they want to do, is drill, baby, drill, they want to open more domestic drillings across the united states. that and the debate over. may 16th is the date that this country will officially exceed at the debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion. now, we all know that the treasury has said they can move around some things, play some sleight of hand with the bookkeeping and cover obligation sometime midsummer, but

. >>> let's bring in mike viqueira. >> reporter: good morning, alex. >> what is nato saying about the strike? >> reporter: well, there is a contradiction from the u.n. mission resolution security counsel, 1973, and 1975, their numbers to protect libyan civilians from moammar gadhafi. nato forces could go search and destroy the offensive forces the military assets that the gadhafi government had. this morning, nato, which is in charge of this operation is saying they only target command and control centers. this is a statement from brew shaurd, a canadian. he says they are military in nature, and clearly linked to the gadhakau dauf's systematic attacks on the libyan population and populated area. nobody here suggested that gadhafi or any family members be targeted by military air strikes, which has apparently happened. nato says they cannot confirm that the son and his three children were killed in the air strike. but there is a contradiction over the two separate policies, how they are carried out and where the lines in between them get blurred, alex. >> thank you very much, mike viqu

. >> nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house now. so, mike what are you hearing about a decision on releasing that picture? >> reporter: still under consideration. you saw that interview that the cia director leon panetta had with brian williams on "nightly news" last night in response to the question of the photograph. he says there is no question it will be ultimately be presented to the public. we have to reveal it to the rest of the world. the question is really when and what is to be gained by releasing it, said to be very gruesome, as you know. bin laden was shot in the region of the left eye, blood and brain tissue said to be visible there. you don't want to present that image to the public and unnecessarily inflame the muslim and arab world and what is to be gained really? are people going to believe it if they publish a photograph? there is already a taliban commander saying bin laden has been dead for a year and a half, nothing really happened that night or that day in pakistan. so all of these are being measured. all of the

nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house now. mike, what can you tell about what we're expecting to hear again from the president, now some 12 hours or so after he first made the announcement? >> reporter: well, the president is slightly delayed. we're told he was supposed to have appeared five minutes ago. you're right, this will be first time we see him in public since that dramatic announcement, the president walking across first floor through the grand foyer of the white house to the east room and making the announcement that justice has been done, that u.s. special operations forces had helicoptered into that compound just 35 miles from the pakistani capital of islamabad, executed the operation, killed osama bin laden, retrieved his body, so much to talk about, so many details at this point, some harrowing moments during that operation. one of the helicopters lost altitude, came down to the ground, very -- an unscheduled -- some call it a heart stopping moment according to reporting we have from my colleague, savannah guthrie

we start with nbc news mike viqueira at the white house with the latest from this afternoon's briefing. the big headlines, mike? >> we just saw the president for the first and only time today out on the south lawn of the white house, an event for wounded warriors, starting a cross country bike ride. here is what he said. "america does not forget. america will ensure that justice is done." once again, an allusion to the dramatic events that cull lynn minh nated in that press conference sunday night. jay carney went on to quote that interview with "60 minutes" the possible release of that photograph and the president's decision not go ahead and do so the president said, "people know he's gone. we don't need to spike the football." he rights can the fact that what they are picking up from al qaeda is leaders of al qaeda, those that are left, believe that osama bin laden is dead and the president concludes by saying, you will not see osama bin laden walking this earth again. there are con throw verse says that continue, dylan. we just had a press briefing from press secretary jay carney an

. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house for us this morning. mike, good morning. tell us about the president's trip to ft. campbell. >> reporter: first he's going to indianapolis, and of course this was a trip that was delayed over that fight during the budget and the government shutdown about a month ago, so he's going to get that business out of the way, going to another one of these hybrid -- they make transmissions for hybrid vehicles. obviously, this is something the president has emphasized ever since the stimulus package was passed last year. the keynote of day on to ft. campbell, kentucky. as you mentioned, he's going to be talking about what the white house terms those special operators, another term for the commandos that not only led the raid, that participated the raid even outside that compound on the perimeter, not only the navy s.e.a.l.s who were in the compound that fired the shots that killed osama bin laden but also other elements of the military. the 101st airborne is based in ft. campbell, kentucky. he will have public comments. part of the rea

mike viqueira is live at the white house on the north lawn for us. let's start with the speech that we expect in just over an hour. what are we expecting from the president there in indianapolis? >> reporter: he's going to visit a facility that works in the new energy economy. allison transition itcsmission vehicles. the president as you know has frequently visited wind turban factories and many alternative energy plants and facilities around the country since the stimulus package. he was supposed to go during a month ago but it came in the middle of a fight about funding the government. the president often makes trips on the day that there are big economic figures coming out and perhaps the biggest economic figure that comes out every month is the unemployment number. a mixed bag. white house officials will concede that even as they look at the positive. 260,000 some odd jobs created on a gross basis closer to 240 on a net bases. strongest growth in five years. they point out that there were headwinds fighting against growth in the economy and sinki

we begin today with mike viqueira at the white house where the president monitored the operation in realtime from his situation room. mike, are we going to ultimately get a photo of the deceased osama bin laden? i understand that that has been a subject of rather wide debate at this point. >> reporter: well, obviously the u.s. military, the u.s. government is in possession of some sort of photo, if not video and other evidence. you mentioned, of course, the dna, which we learned progressively the numbers, the likelihood that is osama bin laden have grown higher each day with the dna match, as you report, now at 100%. it's a difficult decision. what we heard from the homeland and international terrorism adviser at the white house, john brennan, in the last hour or so, is any indication. they're always trying to determine whether anything they reveal, any facts, even a picture of the deceased terrorist osama bin laden, will reveal any sort of operational detail, whether it would be compromised when they go after any future bad guys. dylan, you mentioned at the end of that report there, your op

i want to turn to white house correspondent mike viqueira. and we hear that the president was sitting in the situation room watching the operation go down. >> yes, an extraordinary report from our savannah guthrie this morning, in the situation room over the previous weeks, there were increasing meetings of the national security principles and when we talk about the principle, we are talking about the upper echelon of the apparatus from the president and the vice president and the secretary of state and the ci, a director on down to the homeland security director and so on and so forth, and culminating yesterday at 7:00 p.m. eastern time when the president was informed that the so-called hvt, the high valued target, they were after was indeed osama bin laden, and a positive identification was made. then the public relations wheels started spinning and the choreography to get the camera crews back into the white house sunday night late so that the president could make an extraordinary and dare we say triumphant announcement of the death of osa

. >> joining me now is mike viqueira. we're learning the significance of this raid. it's grown even more in the last 22, 24 hours, as well as the political benefits for obama. >> well, first of all on the significance of the raid, you know, it's very interesting. the cia and the defense department yesterday put out that video that we've been playing in the course of the last 24 hours here on msnbc in part to some of demon thol jazz and to demonstrate to the world it was, in fact, osama bin laden who was killed in the daring raid that happened a week ago today. on the other hand the white house and the administration, the defense department and the central intelligence agency really not releasing much mrp than that, being tight-lipped about what they're learning from that intelligence, that massive cache of materials that were taken from that compound by those americans, those navy s.e.a.l.s who conducted the raid. the white house has been very careful not to overplay their hand, not to be seen as exploiting this, even as the president has made a number of appearances

that's where nbc's mike viqueira is joining me. a good sunday morning to you, my friend. >> happy mother's day, alex. >> thanks so much. let's get to who knew what and when. first of all, how are things between the white house and pakistani leadership right now? >> it's very interesting. the national security adviser here at the white house, his name is john donilin, he made his rounds on sunday's shows including meet the breas"meet ." there's no secret in the immediate aftermarket of that dramatic announcement that the president made behind me a week ago today that suspicions have been raised. there is no possible way implicit of a lot of government official, no possible a way that the government of pakistan could not have known at least some of the el managements. could not have known that osama bin laden was there after all, just a matter of a mile or two from the military academy in pakistan. donilin was asked about this this morning by david gregory on "meet the press," and here's what he had to say. >> we've had differences w

nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. we started off playing congressman peter king and senator mccain, and you know it's interesting, difficult, opinions. but peter king is in the minority when you look at lawmakers who say, most say, it was not a good idea to release the photo. >> reporter: right, after a series of briefings on capitol hill by leon panetta and others, a variety of opinions as lawmakers come out of the committees, diane feinstein saying it would be too gruesome blood, vis ser ra, this is what we're talking about here, whether it would be the benefits would be worth the costs in releasing such a picture just to prove to the arab street and others around the world this mission had been accomplished. the president now coming down on the side of those who say we should not release those photos. he had an interview with "60 minutes" the news program where he revealed his decision, i'm going to quote from the website, risks of release outweigh benefits, the president said. conspiracy theorists around the world