i'm pete williams in for gwen ifill this week on "washington week." it's heating up out there especially between the two republican front-runners. on ted cruz's birth right. >> if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? >> and on donald trump's new york values. >> and i guess i can frame it another way. not a lot of conservatives come out of manhattan. i'm just saying. >> while on the democratic side the question is who's tougher on guns? >> it's time to pick a side. either we stand with the gun lobby or we join the president and stand up to them. i'm with him. >> a candidate who was originally thought to be the anointed candidate to be the inevitable candidate is now locked in a very difficult race here in iowa and in new hampshire. >> from president obama, some introspection as he begins his final year in office. >> it's one of the few regrets of my presidency, that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. >> the politics in washington and out on the campaigns with analysis

pete williams broke the story and explains what the justices have to decide. >>> they said they did basiconstituent service to meet with them, talk about it. it's the normal discourse of political conversation his lawyers say. and to criminalize that, they say, would be a vast overreach. mcdonald never actually put his thumb on the scale of any government decision but johnnie williams never ended up getting anything out of the state of virginia. they say they can't bring corruption. the justice department argued in telling the court they should upheld his conviction, that's not how it works. as long as there's an agreement that an elected official will do something for somebody in exchange for money and favors, then that constitutes a corrupt agreement and it doesn't matter what the elected official actually does or whether the person that provides all the goodies actually gets what he wants. >> pete williams with that report right there. the court will take up the case in april. we expect to get a decision by the end of june. >>> imagine having this feature on the beltway. the new car ad

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> sad news in the world of music. singer natalie cole who joins her father in the unusual and unforgettable collaboration has died. she was 65 years old and had a long and career as we hear from nbc's ron mott. >> reporter: in nearly four decades making hits, nine grammys in all, including the iconic 1991 duet. unforgettable natalie cole made a name for herself all right, but was always nat "king" cole's daughter. >> i feel like i've earned the spot next to my dad. not in front of him or behind him. just next to him. >> reporter: her unique vocal stylings connected with music fans across generations and genres. pop, r&b and jazz and some artists pursue but few attain. and she had hits in the '70s, '80s and the '90s. and substantial hits, different kind of hits. while her recording success was long-lasting. >> i had to really face myself. my consequences. >> reporter: -- so were her struggles with substance abuse problems. chronic hepatitis c leading to kidney failure. >> this is somebody who came back and showed the w

nbc news chief justice correspondent pete williams has been following the developments. ad this press conference. what did we learn? >> well, quite a bit here. basically the fbi says it can't account for 18 minutes of time after the shooting, and then before the fbi started catching up with them when syed farook drove back to his house and they chased him and there was the shoot-out. it's 18 minutes in the afternoon and they don't know what the couple was doing. they know they were driving back and forth within a pretty well defined area in san bernardino, but they don't know why or what they were up to, and they want to resolve this question. it may turn out, the fbi says, that they weren't doing anything significant except trying to figure out what to do next. but until the fbi resolves this, they won't know the answer and that leaves them uncomfortable. they want to know what they were doing. so they've built a timeline from the moment syed farook leaves his house in the morning, drives to the center where his fellow county employees were meeting, then leaves and comes

our justice correspondent pete williams has more tonight. >> reporter: hawaii begins the new year as the first state in the nation to raise the legal smoking age to 21. it applies not only to the sale or the use of tobacco, including cigarettes and cigars, but electronic cigarettes, known as vaping. >> i think it is better we are increasing the age. because they are starting younger. >> reporter: today in texas, adults with the right permits no longer need to hide carry in holsters. proponentens of the open carry law said they will deter mass shootings, though most police chiefs opposed it. >> does it make sense having people running around with guns visible and i think the answer is absolutely not. >> reporter: a today in california. it is illegal for holders of concealed carry permits to bring campuses. and starting today the city of albany, new york, requires those who have firearms to install trigger locks. locks of a different kind in illinois on prescription painkillers. it is the first state to test whether having pharmacy dispense locking pill bottles could cut down on abusiv

lester. >> pete williams, thank you. >>> another american has been killed in afghanistan. the pentagon confirmed that one service member died and two others were wounded in a counter-terrorism operation near the city of marjah in southern afghanistan. where u.s. and afghanistan forces have been battling the taliban for weeks. >>> as ten of millions in the east deal with the first real blast of winter, in the west they are getting slammed by a super soaker fueled by the so-called godzilla el nino. tonight several storm systems are lining up and miguel almaguer is in hard-hit los angeles. >> reporter: tonight, the western washout is here. and so is the taste of the el nino effect. relentless rain across california. a scramble for some to escape the fast-rising water. cars and roads submerged near the bay area. rock slides and flooding near los angeles. >> be prepared. this storm is real. and it is coming. >> reporter: a conveyer belt of moisture lasting through the week. unleashing a water hose on the west. it is fuelled in part by a godzilla el nino. now tied as the stronge

if he loses in june then he'd have to go to prison. >> pete williams, thank you, pete. >> you bet. >>> right now investors are licking their wounds on wall street. stocks took a dive as oil prices dropped to below $30 a barrel. the dow is down almost 400 points and the nasdaq off 26 and the s&p 500 down 41. the market is now near its 15-month low. this is the worst two-week start to a year on record for the dow and the s&p 500. the nasdaq and the s&p are at new lows for the year, but this is the first time in 12 years that oil has closed under $30 a barrel. >> and now your storm team 4 forecast. >> it didn't take long. the rain moving in fast and now we'll see a sloppy, nasty ponding. we won't have to worry about any winter icing. 48 degrees between 7:00 and 9:00 pchl m. and rain, some moderate and likely to see moderate to heavy rain after 9:00 and our temperature still at 45 degrees. we're tracking it all for you and have been at storm team 4. that's where the pocket of moderate and heavy rain is right now. warrenton, too, headed toward areas like woodbridge, quantico and waldorf in

pete williams. >> thank you very much, pete. >> thank you so much. >> you bet. >> wendy's is investigatingtial security breach. wendy's said it launched the investigation earlier this month after being alerted of possible fraudulent charges made to cards that were used in the restaurant. the company is now working with a cyber security expert and law enforcement agencies to look into the potential fraud. it's not clear how many cards or locations have been affected. >>> a warm welcome home for "the washington post" journalist recently released from that prison in iran. jason rezaian returned to "the washington post" newsroom this morning and received a well-deserved standing ovation as he attended the morning editorial meeting. it was his first visit to the paper since his release. he was accompanied by his wife and brother. rezaian was held for 18 months in iran accused of being a spy. he was one of the four u.s. citizens released earlier this month as part of a prisoner swap. >>> d.c. police chief cathy lanier has turned down an opportunity to lead the chicago police department. a spokes

pete williams has late details. >> reporter: the fbi said it cannot account for 18 minutes on the eager to solve. 8:37 a.m., december 2nd, farook leaves his house in redlands, california. ten minutes later he arrived at the inland region center. he sits down a backpack that turns out later to have contained pipe bocks. 10:37 a.m., farook leaves the center and returns 9 minutes later when he and his wife open fire with assault rifles killing 14 people and injuring 22 more. at 11:45, farook and malik drive to this nearby lake. but what were they doing that afternoon from 12:59 to 1:17? the fbi said they were in this area driving back and forth on the highways but where did they go and did they meet with someone else? >> we want to ensure if they made contact with anyone, that we don't already know about, between those hours, or between that time, that we're able to fully investigate those matters. >> reporter: the fbi eventually caught up with the couple later that afternoon. rented suv ended in a shootout with police that killed them both. the fbi confirmed today that nothing of interest

this is what we are doing, we need to do a better job of what we are legally entitled to do. >> pete williamson bureau, thanks. as be as pete was talking you might have seen an ovation from former congresswoman gabby giffords. we are about to talk to senator richard blumenthal, democrat from the state of connecticut. connecticut was the home of sandy hook elementary. senator, what did you tell your constituents after. sandy hook, the incident that made so many americans say, well, this will -- we must see some change after this and nothing changed? >> what i told my constituents, brian, is that we would change the law, that we would keep faith with those loved ones who lost 20 beautiful children, sixth grade educators. the president also in my meeting with him yesterday was obviously deeply moved and affected by his contact with those tremendously courageous and strong individuals. but these measures absolutely right, pete williams is right -- are about enforcing existing law more effectively, not changing the law. that still must be done because the president's measures are only a partial so

justice correspondent pete williams gathering information as well on the dc newsroom. pete?reporter: it was phoned in about an hour and a half ago and it's interesting the way the navy is putting it now. according to initial reports of a single witness. they haven't had multiple reports, nobody has seen anyone with a gun. now it may be that there was some kind of dispute and somebody fired a shot but in any event, not what we've come to think of as an active shooter and no shots fired after this initial report so we're waiting for the all-clear, brian and there's nothing, no reason now to think we're not going to get that pretty soon. >> pete, thank you. and we should point out, our helicopter knsd and it makes certain shots visually impossible. we'll stay on this and come on the air with any details including let's hope the all clear but for now, back to washington. back to andrea mitchell. >>> thank you, brian. and i know we'll get the all-clear we hope shortly and you'll have all of the details. thank ifss for that. and six days until iowa. donald trump and ted cruz have

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us live now from the supreme court you see there behind him. the timing of this obviously intriguing with what happens on the campaign trail and what we're seeing now play out especially with republican party. >> reporter: well, if the obama administration was ever to have a chance to enforce these rules it would have to get this case before the supreme court this term and it has just managed to do so, coming in just under the wire for the deadline to have cases considered this term. so the court will hear the case in april and with a decision some time in late june, if the administration wins here, then the administration could begin to put the new rules into effect in the waning months of the obama presidency. but if the administration loses, then it goes back for another round in the lower courts and it would be another couple of years before the issue is finally resolved. now the government's argument here is that the states have no right to bring this case in the first place. this he say that immigration law is uniquely a federal resp

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams outside the supreme court. pete, this is potentially one of the biggest cases they would be deciding this year. >> reporter: absolutely. by granting the case now, it comes in just under the wire, the cut-off to get in this term, so that means the case will be argued in april with a decision by june if the administration wins, then the government can start enforcing the law in the closing months of the obama presidency but if the government loses, it will be back in court for another couple of years. the court added a question today about lawyers for both sides have to answer whether this violates the constitution's requirement that a president take care that the law be faithfully executed. one of the things that the 26 states challenging the administration say that the government does violate the law. does it mean, is it a good or bad sign that they added this question? >> if you are the obama administration i think it's a bad sign. the lower courts didn't decide this question and supreme court frequently will n

nbc's pete williams is following the developments and nbc's ron allen with fresh reaction from the whiteete outside the steps of the supreme court. let's talk about the time line, pete, and factors that this court will take into consideration. >> reporter: okay. in terms of the timeline, it's argued in april with the decision in june so that means if the administration wins it could start putting this in effect in the closing months of the obama administration. if it stays it is going to bounce around for a couple of years and finally decided one way or the other. the issues are these. first of all, does the government have the power to do this? texas and 26 states say the answer to that is no. two reasons. one they say the administration failed to do what it should have done which is put out a notice to do this and seek public comment so the failure to do that they say is illegal. secondly, in the lower courts, this is an interesting point here, the lower courted argued it was unconstitutional and a phrase that the president must take care to see that the laws are faithfully executed. n

our justice correspondent pete williams is in washington with late details. pete? >> reporter: a surprising turn, leverett, in an investigation requested by the wanted to know if planned parenthood broke any laws. the question arose after anti-abortion advocates made videos of representatives of planned parenthood talking about tissue from aborted fetuses. the videos became a sensation and now the makers. videos are indicted, two face tampering with government records and one is accused of violating state laws about buying human organs, a it is demeanor and the district attorney said we must go where the evidence leads us and said the government cleared planned parnd hooth of breaking any laws and that brings to 12 the number of states where investigations have cleaned planned parenthood. no comment from the organizations that made the videos. >> thank you. >>> a massive manhunt for three dangerous inmates who pulled off an elaborate daring escape from a maximum security jail. as nbc's joe fryer reports authorities public for health. >> reporter: three days after a

our justice correspondent pete williams is with us. chief white house correspondent chris jansing is with us. pete to you, people hear the expression executive action and opinion polls back the president but how much can the president expect to get done in this way? >> well, you know, not a lot, frankly. i think the administration admits as much but the question is are there thing tons mar yin to make a difference and what the president is counting on here. talking about keeping the guns out of the hands of criminals, subjecting more people to background checks. if you go to buy a gun at a gun store, they have to do a background check but buying from somebody that's not a deal, they don't have to do the background check k. the people who are federal, licensed dealers be expanded? the law says you have to have a license if you are engaged in the business of selling a firearm but it makes an exception for people who do it as a hobby or trying to enhance their collection or just make occasional sales. a question is, is there a way of encou

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> in a moment, the budget busting holiday spending spree.o you have any regrets? we'll see how many shoppers find themselves in financial jeopardy. when you've got a house full of guests on the way and a cold with sinus pressure, you need fast relief. alka-seltzer plus severe sinus congestion and cough liquid gels rush relief to your tough symptoms. to put you back in control. [doorbell] woman: coming! alka-seltzer plus sinus. and then santa's workers zapped it right to our house. and that's how they got it here. cool. the magic of the season is here at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection. whfight back fastts tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid at the source tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies! only from tums >>> there is new word this morning about that rochester man arrested this week for allegedly plotting a new year's eve attack on a bar in that city. the owner of the -- investigators say the 25-year-old has a history of mental illness and had

our justice correspondent pete williams has late details. >> reporter: the fbi says it cannot account for 18 minutes on the day of the shooting. 8:37, farook leaves his house in red lands, california. ten minutes later, he arrives at the inland reasonable that will center. 10:46, he leaves the center, and at 10:56 he and his wife open fire with assault weapons, killing 14 people and injuring 22 more. 11:45 they drive to this nearby lake, but were they doing from 12:59 to 11:17. where did they go? and did they meet with someone else? >> we want to ensure that we don't already know about between those hours, between that time that we're able to fully investigate those matters. >> reporter: the fbi eventually caught up with the couple later that afternoon. the chase of their rented suv ended in a shoot out with police that killed them both. the fbi confirmed today that nothing of interest to investigators was found after searching the lake. and investigators have no idea whether they intended to attack other targets that day or in the future. they still don't know why the couple chose th

as nbc's pete williams reports, it happened before in this country. >> reporter: as four police officers posed for a picture on a new york city street, a little over a year ago, a man with a hatchet rushed up and attacked them. one was hurt in the arm. but one officer was hit in the head and seriously injured. >> i didn't think i would live. >> reporter: police say the attacker, a e-year-old, was a muslim convert inspired by isis. six months ago police shot a boston man preparing to board a bus with a knife after he was heard on a wire tap saying he planned to kill police officers that day. called them. police identified him as rahim and said he too was inspired by isis. for months isis on social media has been encouraging people worldwide to attack anyone in uniform. a year ago, for example, an isis leader said, rise up and kill intelligence officers, police officers and soldiers. so far this decade the over all number of u.s. police officers killed in ambushes has been down slightly. an average of nine a year. but police chiefs nationwide say the repeated calls by isis to attack them h

our justice correspondent pete williams is in washington with late details. pete. >> reporter: a surprising turn, lester, in an investigation requested by the governor of texas, who wanted to know if planned parenthood broke any laws. the question arose after anti-abortion advocates made videos that appeared to show representatives of planned parenthood talking about selling tissue from aborted fetuses. those videos quickly became a sensation, but now it's the makers of the videos who have been two face charges of tampering with government records. one is accused of violating state laws against buying human organs. the harris county district attorney says, quote, we must go where the evidence leads us and says the grand jury cleared planned parenthood of the gulf coast of breaking any laws. that brings to 12 the number of states where investigations have cleared planned parenthood. no comment tonight from the organization that made those videos. >> pete, thank you. >>> in california right now, a massive manhunt for three dangerous inmates who pulled off an ela

that's really the controversial part of this in the first place. >> pete williams, thank you very much this. first, talk to me about the fact that the supreme court can rule one way or another if it rules against the administration, then pete says it would go back to the local courts. but what it really would do is make it moot. >> well, it would make it practically moot and that is because this is all been a red light in the lower court. the big news today is the supreme court agreeing to hear this. if they send it back to the lower courts with the red light on, then everyone's going to say, okay, that's that, and then we'll see what the next president does. now legally the answer to that is a little more intricate because unlike a criminal trial where you see the whole thing happen and you go to the jury and you're done, these types of appeals are dealt with at an earlier stage. you get what's often called a preliminary injunction or early ruling on a motion for summary judgment. all of that is lawyer speak for step one. if it were a baseball game, you're in the second inning. but pr

we are joined by chris jansing and pete williams.s loretta lynch, who else will be there? >> this isfrances, with the key people who have been involved when the president tasked them with the idea of looking into what congressional action he might take in lieu of -- we know a little bit about some of the proposals that are going to be made. the key one is going to be essentially increase background checks. how will they do that? by expanding essentially what the definition is of a gun dealer. people who occasionally sell at gun shows would now also be required to follow the same regulations, as if you walked into a regular gun store. improve reporting and of lost and stolen weapons is something that we know is under consideration. it's reported they'll target criminals who attempt to buy illegal guns. and in a radio address over the weekend, the president said, frankly, a lot of this was pushed by the fact that he gets letters from parents, from children, from school teach who are say they want something done here. usually in the cas

pete williams, nbc news at the supreme court. >>> harrowing scenes in one of the most desperate and cut off places on earth. cities and towns inside of syria where hundreds of thousands of families, including little children, are quite literally starving to death. including a nine-year-old boy this past weekend. today u.n. aid convoy finally reached some of them. and as our chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports, they are trapped by a war in which both sides are using starvation as a weapon. >> reporter: slowly and tragically late, some aid finally arrived in the besieged town of madaya today. 44 trucks loaded with food, medicine and blankets. the people of madaya, just 15 miles from damascus, have been starving for months. medics tell nbc news 40 have starved to death since december. by phone, i spoke to a person from a trapped in madaya. >> your five children are starving? >> we have nothing to eat. >> how do you feel with that? looking at these children every day? >> i can't tell you the feeling that my kids, my little kid, he is just three years old and he's saying, i'm h

attacks on officers inspired by calls from isis to target as nbc's pete williams reports, it happened before in this country. >> reporter: as four police officers posed for a picture on a new york city street, a little over a year ago, a man with a hatchet rushed up and attacked them. one was hurt in the arm. but one officer was hit in the head and seriously injured. >> i didn't think i would live. >> reporter: police say the attacker, a e-year-old, was a muslim convert inspired by isis. six months ago police shot a boston man preparing to board a bus with a knife after he was heard on a wire tap saying he planned to kill police officers that day. the boys in blue, he called them. police identified him as rahim and said he too was inspired by isis. for months isis on social media has been encouraging people worldwide to attack anyone in uniform. a year ago, for example, an isis leader said, rise up and kill intelligence officers, police so far this decade the over all number of u.s. police officers killed in ambushes has been down slightly. an average of nine a year. but police chiefs

i want to turn now to pete williams, msnbc chief news. fbi said there are people just illegally occupying this area. when you look at that and you look at the history of what these occupiers are demanding, that two of these ranchers who are in custody, in prison be freed, and that federal land be turned back locally, and this is the outcome that we saw last night. >> the fbi did not want to give any details publicly, but what we're told is that they made this decision when they knew that eight of these -- or eight or nine of these people would be leaving the compound going about 100 miles away tie community meeti meeting, so they set up a roadblock on a highway along the way, stopped them, and according to law enforcement officials, there were two cars. both stopped. the first car, after the stop was already made, took off, ran into a snowbank, and they say the finica who was shot jumped out and came at them brandishing a weapon. that was the account. some of the militants disagreed with that, saying he was unarmed. interestingly, there i