tonight, our justice correspondent, pete williams with us this evening, from the justice department. good evening. >> reporter: brian, the inspector general said he found no evidence that attorney general eric holder approved of the risky tactics that the federal agents were using, or that he even knew about them until congress started to ask questions atf agents simply watched as guns were smuggled into mexico, hoping it would lead them to drug cartels. but few were ever recovered, and some showed up where the u.s. border agent was killed. today it was called flawed and seriously unsupervised in arizona, referring 14 federal officials for discipline, two of them including the former head of the atf, stepping down today. the report said they should have warned that the operation was seriously off track. >> pete williams has been on the story at the justice department, thank you. >>> the french government closing its embassies in 20 nations tonight, after a magazine in france printed cartoons making fun of the muslim prophet, muhammad. the government officials asked the magazine which

that's where nbc's pete williams picks up the story. >> reporter: a u.s. airways flight from philadelphia to dallas was barely under way when it was suddenly brought back to the airport and passengers hustled off. on the facebook page of one of them onboard that flight christopher shell, up popped this, quote, i'm pretty disappointed in us airways currently. we just spent a half hour in the air to be notified that the plane has technical difficulties and had to fly back. moments later a stunned christopher shell was escorted off the plane in handcuffs the subject of an investigation for possible explosives but nothing hazardous was found and police concluded he was actually the victim. >> all indications are that this was a hoax and a pretty nasty trick was played on a passenger. >> reporter: investigators say an anonymous caller told airport police earlier this morning shell was carrying liquid explosives. a quick check of flight records found his reservation. the plane was ordered back and police and fbi agents boarded the aircraft, guns drawn. this man

pete williams is nbc's justice correspondent. you had one court send it back to another court in pennsylvania. making this argumentlo,o state, you better prove you can make this law work. we're not saying it's unconstitution a. unconstitutional. we don't know if it will work. >> the law originally passed said you could use a driver's license or like many states, a nondriver stat. >>hi ns shing like that. >> a specific card. a nondriver's license that looks like a driver's license but isn't one. so when people went to get it, the state said, well, that's fine but you have to have a birth certificate with a raised se, a social security card and two other forms o titi more than the legislature intended. here's the problem. we have to do a thorough background check because you can use one of these cards for other homeland security purposes. boarding airplanes for example. the state said wll issue a new third kind ofard that's only e opponents said it's still too hard to get one. when you go to get one, people said but you have to get

we begin tonight with our justice correspondent, pete williams in washington, good evening. >> reporter: savannah, it is a very unusual statement, the top officials admitted today that the attacks that were spontaneous were wrong, but getting answers to exactly what did happen has not been that easy. the u.s. understanding of what happened in libya said a spokesperson for the director of national intelligence continues to evolve. tonight, the dni says "we revised our initial assessment to reflect the intelligence." they believe it was an organized attack, and some involved were linked with groups connected to al-qaeda. but it is not known if any single group or groups were in charge of the attack, a change from the original claim that a copy-cat demonstration spun out of control. >> what happened in benghazi was a reaction to what had just happened hours before in cairo. >> reporter: mitt romney says it raises questions to how the first statements could be so wrong. >> there was a great deal of confusion about that from the very beginning on the part of the administration. and whether t

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us now. we read this, it seems confusing. what does it say, this new ruling by the supreme court in pennsylvania? >> here is what this is now about in requiring voters to show a photo i.d. at the polls the legislature intedded to make it easy for residents who don't have a driver's license to get a voter i.d. card by showing only a minimal amount of identification when getting one. the state agencies are insisting on more rigorous proof of identity. they're demanding applicants have a birth certificate, a social security card and two other forms of identification. the state agencies say if they give the cards out on the more relaxed basis spelled out in the new voter i.d. law, that would create a homeland security problem because the cards with be used to board aircraft. so now the state is coming up with a new voter i.d. card that won't be good for anything else to get around that problem. so today the state supreme court instructed a judge to take another crack at this case and find out whet

more this morning from nbc's justice correspondent, pete williams. >> reporter: a spokesman for the u.s. director of national intelligence now says the attack in benghazi was deliberate and organized. some of those involved, he says, were linked to groups affiliated with or sympathetic to al qaeda. it's a big change from the administration's original claim. >> what happened in benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in cairo. >> reporter: now the republican chairman of the house homeland security committee says ambassador rice should step down. >> either she's intentionally misleading the american people and she should resign for that, or she's unqualified to be u.n. ambassador and she got the facts as wrong as she did and she should resign for that. >> reporter: but the white house's ambassador rice was simply offering the best information available at the time. pete williams, nbc washington. >>> prosecutors say before james holmes went on that deadly shooting rampage in a colorado movie theater, he had been barred from the unive

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. attorney general eric holder has been cleared of any wrongdoing in this case. what's the next step? >> reporter: here it is, thomas. about 470 pages in this inspector general's report. what it says is not only did attorney general holder not approve the risky tactics that agents were using, he didn't even know about them until he was told about it when congress started asking questions. it appears the seminal moment is when a border patrol agent was killed in a shootout and some of the weapons that were allowed to walk across the border were found at the scene of the shootout. that was in december of 2010. at the time the report says the attorney general wasn't even told that some of the guns were at that scene. he wasn't told of the whole fact that this operation was falling apart until early in 2011 when congress sent a letter saying what's going on here. the report says some officials at the justice department should have recognized warning signs and sounded the alarm on this. it s

pete williams joins me on set. thank you for being here. you're the man who explains things to me. a partisan football. republicans have been ginned up about this for months and months. >> the report lays the blame in arizona and says atf and the u.s. attorney were desperate to make a big case that would bring down the supply chain for the mexican drug cartels getting guns from the us and lost sight of the problems they were creating. it also says there were several key moments where people at atf headquarters should have recognized it was offtrack, missed the chance to rein it in and never warned the attorney general about it. the report says, eric holder never approved of the risky elements of the operation and didn't know about it until january of last year, when congress started to ask questions about it. >> i hesitate i look at review that you have before you, i love props, i hesitated to ever say, is this the last word. i assume it's not. where do we go from here in. >> it's not entirely the last word. it moves it to a different stage. perhaps anticlimax. the report does more

craig, back to you. >> pete williams in washington.'s switch gears to indiana and the senate race where things just got lot more interesting. a few months ago, tea party star, richard murdoch, defeated veteran republican senator richard luger. murdoch's campaign was built on framing dick luger as a rhino, a republican in name only. but guess who has gone rhino? you got it, it's murdoch. an apparent attempt to pander to moderate voters by scrapping the ultraconservative label and running toward the center. this includes suddenly coming out in support of parts of the president's health care plan. that's just one of the things. could this be a sign, though, that the tea party, that the tea is starting to cool for the tea party movement? joining me now from indianapolis, tom lobianco, political reporter for the "associated press." good afternoon to you. >> talk about a game changer here. could the latest poll showing murdoch two points behind his opponent. democratic congressman, joe donnelly, could it have anything to do with a sudden cha

pete williams, tom costello will have the latest on this quickly. our package coming up. we will be right back. it's a big night, big panel, we'll be right back. stay with us. welcome aboard! [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. [ male announcer ] fedex office. what do we do when something really wants to be painted? we break out new behr ultra with stain-block

pete williams is in washington this week. good morning, pete. >> reporter: tamron, good morning. a passenger aboard that us airways flight in pennsylvania to see a family in texas is at the center of all this. the fbi said he was a completely innocent victim unaware of what was in store. christopher shell of philadelphia intended thursday to be a celebration of his birthday. instead he was twice taken into custody by police at two different airports in handcuffs. he had just settled in for a morning us airways flight to dallas when he posted this on his facebook page, quote, we just spent a half hour in the air onto be notified the plane has technical difficulties and have to fly back. >> going back to texas for his birthday. the company he worked for was paying for him to go back. said he had broke up with his girlfriend. >> reporter: moments later a stunned christopher shell was escorted off the plane, investigation of explosives, a phoned in tip. nothing was found. he was the victim. >> all indications are this was a hoax and a pretty nasty trick was played on a passenger. >>

. >> our moderator today is pete williams.e is well known for being one of the first journalists to get the reporting right on that long ago december evening when the decision came down in bush vs. gore. we are grateful to him for leading the discussion today. >> each of our panelists has a set of cases to produce. "playboy" magazine has just declared the university of virginia as the top party school. >> i was in the library the whole time. >> into a dozen 6, he became the first lawyer to fill a position, assistant attorney general for -- and is now in private practice. ken, please. >> i always thought it was dangerous to be on a panel that starts with a reference to "playboy." i have been asked about three cases, and national security case, and then other cases. clapper vs. amnesty international, a standing case related to a challenge of the fisa amendments act. fisa was passed to a dozen a, an amendment of the foreign intelligence surveillance act passed in 1978. you have to understand the merits of little bit. >> for those

. >> our moderator today is pete williams. he is well known for being one of the first journalists to get the reporting right on that long-ago december evening when the decision came down in bush vs. gore. we are grateful to him for leading the discussion today. >> each of our panelists has a set of cases to produce. "playboy" magazine has just declared the university of virginia as the top party school. >> i was in the library the whole time. >> into 2006 he became the first lawyer to fill a position, assistant attorney general, for -- and is now in private practice. ken, please. >> i always thought it was dangerous to be on a panel that starts with a reference to "playboy." i have been asked about three cases, and national security case, and then other cases. clapper vs. amnesty international, a standing case related to a challenge of the fisa amendments act. fisa was passed in 2008, an amendment of the foreign intelligence surveillance act that was passed in 1978. you have to understand the merits of little bit. >> for thos

our moderator today is pete williams nbc news justice correspondent. among his many other comp which meant he is well-known for being one of the first journalist along with his colleague dan abrams to get the reporting right on that long-ago december evening when the decision came down in bush versus gore. we are grateful he is here with us today to lead the discussion. spierer panelist has -- so i will refer introduce each one as they speak. playboy magazine has just declared the university of virginia america's top party school but if it was like that when ken wainstein graduated from uva he has spent his career making up for by it by getting very serious. >> i was in the library the whole time. federal prosecutor in new york u.s. attorney in washington, chief of staff to the fbi director robert mueller. in 2006 he became the first justice department lawyer to fill a brand-new position position assistant attorney general for national security. event served as the homeland security adviser to president george w. bush and is now in private practice and

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more. good morning, pete. >> reporter: tamron, good morning. a passenger aboard a flight from pennsylvania to see family in texas is at the center of all this. but the fbi says he was a completely innocent victim unaware of what was in store. christopher shell of philadelphia intended thursday to be a celebration of his birthday. instead, he was twice taken into custody by police at two different airports in handcuffs. he had just settled in for a morning u.s. airways flight to dallas when he posted this on his facebook page -- we just spent a half hour in the air to be notified that the plane has technical difficulties and had the fly back. steve mcneil was seated next to him. >> he was going back to texas for his birthday. his company that he works for was paying for him to go back. said he had just broke up with his girlfriends. >> reporter: a stunned christopher shell was escorted off the plane in handcuffs, the subject of an investigation for possible explosives based on a phoned in tip

our moderator today is pete williams, the nbc news justice correspondent reva among his many other accomplishments, pete is well known for being one of the first journalists along with his colleague dan abrams to get the reporting right on that long ago december evening when the decision came down in bush v. gore. we are grateful he is here with us today to lead the discussion. pete? >> each of our panelists has a set of cases to preview and i will delete your you have full biographies. playboy magazine just declared the university of virginia america's top party school. but if it were like that when tenet wainstein graduated he spent his career making up for it by getting very serious. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> in the library the whole time. >> federal prosecutor in new york, u.s. attorney in washington, chief of staff to the fbi director robert meueller and he began the justice department lawyer to fill the position as the attorney general for national security he then served as the homeland security adviser to president george w. bush and is now in private practice in washington. ken, please

. >> pop for williams company is up 1%. pete? >> we're talking about oil and gas.name continues to perform very, very well. the january 40 calls were extremely active so people expecting to see more heavy volume day two. >> drop here for pulte. >> barclays suggesting they might be more attractive. basically they downgraded the whole sector. otherwise on inventory, this is a sector that looks pretty stretched here. >> got a drop here for mondelez. it appears there might be an utterly hilarious controversy. the name of kraft's new global snack business shares a similar pronunciation with a vulgar sexual word in russian. it is a combination of the latin worlds for world and delicious and now it's generating a world of delicious jokes online. you actually did on-the-ground research. >> i had to do some channel c x checks. i got affirmation that -- check your urban dictionary, folks. you might be a little startled. >> if you're over 18. >> i'll leave it there. >> a drop for staples. down 4%. >> maybe on another day this would have been received better, but staples annou