capitol police were hit either. >> pete williams there just outside the capitol looking like he's in front of the supreme court actually. pete, thanks very much. come back if you get in new. just to reset, here's what's going on. outside the capitol building there was a report of shots fired. the report came in around 9:30 this morning. it turns out according to what sources are telling us and according to what the capitol police are saying, a driver, somebody in a car crashed or attempted to crash into this police vehicle, some of those police then opened fire. we don't know how many. the initial reporting at this moment is that nobody was hurt. but we are obviously continuing to follow developments. it is still an active scene. roads around the capitol are shut down as the police establish the perimeter to make sure people stay safe. casey hunter is on the scene, reporting that over the last 45 minutes or so police have allowed folks to get closer to the scene. it looks as though the initial incident appears at this point to be over. the question is what exactly happened, what was t

hack because right now we have nbc news justice correspondent pete williams who is joining us to talkough what this means. pete, can you lay out the nuts and bolts? what do we know and not know about this new development? >> well, it's as the official said this morning, this is a nation state attack. we're talking about the 2014 hack on yahoo! that compromised half a million accounts. and what officials say is that this illustrates the sort of two-headed nature of what we're seeing from nation state attacks in both russia and china. this one particularly involves the russian the russians employ sort of cyberconsultants, if you will, people who are willing to engage in cyberhacks. the government gets information for intelligence purposes. in this case, user names and passwords on people they might want to spy on, and the people that they hire to help them with the hacks get to use the information for whatever financial gain that they can try to get out of it. so it's an emerging trend now that state sponsors, especially the russians, will employ these people and when you hire hackers,

justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> reporter: it was one of the largest data breaches ever. >> yahoo! is dealing with a massive seri with law enforcement. >> yahoo! claims the hack was done by a state sponsored actor. >> reporter: the massive cyber attack on yahoo! launched three years ago made off with information on 500 million user accounts. now the justice department says it was directed out of here, the moscow

we've got our whole team there, no norm, pete williams, and ari melber. chris, start with you. >> reporter: the most important thing that we didn't hear is what we heard on that call, they referenced a one-hour long call, emphasizing the fact they believe there is nothing wrong with the law that they put out, legally with the first travel ban. having said that they made these changes, significantly don't make major changes but there is one thing it affects when you look at the revised immigration order, you see it's 90-day hold on issuing visas, 120 days on refugee admissions worldwide. what they don't answer is what the strategy is going forward, how you present this to congress. already even while they were still speaking chuck schumer puts out a statement saying "a watered down ban is still a ban." they did make the point that the white house is going to be repeating throughout the day the rightful authority of the president to keep american people safe. having said that, then why they were asked why is there this delay until march 16th? you remember t

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more. >> reporter: with a hug and a kiss from his wife for good he gorsuch comes a year after president obama nominated garland. da leaving the seat open for president trump to fill. >> i am deeply disappointed that it's under these circumstances that we begin our hearings. >> reporter: democrats said gorsuch must stand up for judges giving donald trump's tweets about the courts. >> his demeaning and disparaging courts about the shaken the respect of judicial ruling. >> reporter: judge gorsuch vowed to be independent. >> a judge who likes the outcome he reaches is probably a pretty bad judge. >> reporter: some scholars say gorsuch could turn out to be don't think you can expect to get the exact same ideology from neil gorsuch but they're g >> that was pete williams reporting. >>> today homeland security and the tsa will officially announce new rtrictions on electronic devices on some air travelers. the new rules are in response t will specifically apply to passengers flying into the u.s. on certain over seas flights. they will prohibit so

pete williams spoke to a senior u.s. official who said he and others have no idea what the president is talking about in these allegations. so you think he's getting information from somewhere else obviously, the president. >> i think it's based on substance. but i don't know what that substance is. and i went into the classified briefings to hear about the alleged and activities of the russians. i heard opinions from our intelligence community, but i heard no facts. they just gave us this is our judgment to whatever degree of confidence they had and i also have been challenged for accepting the intelligence of the weapons of mass destructions in iraq, that i should have been more critical of the intelligence community then. so i think we need to root it down in fact, start putting together the pieces that we know and then talking about what that indicates. and identifying the other evidence that we need. but we are working here on -- we can't name the people that are producinthis information on either side of t argument

pete williams is at the department of justice and has details. pete. >> reporter: lester, after day -- a day of calls from some democrats for him to resign, jeff sessions said he has concluded he must bow out of making any decisions involving the investigation of russian's attempt to influence the elections. he said he is doing it to avoid the appearance of a conflict. >> good morning, mr. sessions. >> reporter: the attorney general said he sought the advice of career justice department officials beginning several days ago before making today's dramatic announcement. >> i believe those recommendations are right and just. therefore, i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. >> reporter: jeff sessions campaigned extensively with donald trump and was a campaign advisor. during his confirmation hearing he was asked about campaign contacts with russians in light of russia's attempt to influence the election. >> i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i

chris jansing at the white house, pete williams in "washington post" and we're joined by robert costa, "new york times" reporter michael schmidt and joining me the entire hour, julie and reporter for "the washington post" "the fix" amber phillips. chris, i want to start with you. this this a busy day for the whe house. there's fallout from all the stuff over the weekend. fill us in. i'll let you have it. >> reporter: major fallout. the big official event today is the rollout of the eo. we've been waiting for this since the court's challenge, the president's stand on seven countries banning immigration. having said that, the changes we already know. it's going to not have broader implications for syrian immigrants, iraq is going to be removed from the list, key player in the fight against isis. but it's not going to distract from what the big story is here today and that is the tweet storm over the weekend that started this firestorm of controversy and people asking why did president trump accuse former president obama of wire cantapping him at trump ouer and the question that's being

lester. >>> pete williams with us here in washington. thanks.hree days after the explosive claim by president trump that president obama tapped his phones during the campaign, the white house stood its ground saying the president has no regrets about making the claim. some top republicans are pointing out there's still no proof to support the accusation. we get the latest from nbc's hallie jackson. >> reporter: president trump tonight struggling to shake off a tweet so explosive it won't go away. after he accused president obama of ordering trump tower be wiretapped. republicans forced to respond. >> have you seen any evidence of that? >> i haven't. >> i have not seen that evidence. >> i think the president of the united states, who has stated categorically that trump tower was wiretapped, that he should come forward with the information that led him to that conclusion. >> reporter: even though the president said saturday, he just found out about the alleged spying, the white house still won't say where he actually found it. kicking it to congre

our justice correspondent pete williams has the surprising turn. >> reporter: hiding his face, the man accused of making well over 100 alarming bomb threats appears today in an israeli courtroom. >> we managed to get that suspect after having concrete intelligence from different security agencies around the world. >> reporter: investigators say the calls began six months ago, first to new zealand, then australia, then the u.s. starting late last year. investigators say they finally traced them to 18-year-old marco kadar monday and arrested him this morning in his family's apartment in the coastal city of al shalon. he used advanced technology making the calls from his bedroom using a neighbor's wi-fi. other neighbors were stunned. >> i'm surprised, of course. i'm shocked. >> reporter: the bomb threats, more than 160 to jewish facilities in 38 states forced repeated evacuations and caused widespread fear. police say he also phoned in a threat that forced the evacuation of a delta airlines flight two years ago. kadar's defense lawyer says he has mental problems caused by a brain tumor. >

. >> nbc justice correspondent pete williams live at the supreme court with more. pete, what do we know about her? >> precious little is the answer to your question. briefly involved in the policy shop and now the white house counsel, the person who succeeded alberto gonzales when he went to the justice department to become attorney general. but she's never been a judge. and that is unusual in terms of nominations to the supreme court. >> it means learning the nominee's judicial philosophy is going to be even more important than it was for john roberts. >> this is a pick that was made from weakness, an opportunity here to show strength, and confidence and i don't know if this is it. >> miers met with senators which was worse. when asked how she did, he responded, harriet, you flunked. we can't do this, we know, he replied, give us time. if nominees go down based on vetting, political opposition or losing the white house's confidence, do any of those patterns spell trouble for trump's pick? joining me now, nbc justice rrest pete williams, who covered six of these bat

our justice correspond, pete williams has details. >> reporter: at catoctin high school in maryland, students say they still can't believe it. >> it was pretty nuts. everyone was pretty panicky. >> reporter: the sheriff in frederick county in northwestern maryland said an 18-year-old high school senior had been planning months to attack the school april 5th. he said 18-year-old nichole cevario had sawed off a shotgun barrel and had pipes and fuses to make pipe bombs. to the girl's father already suspicious discovered her highly detailed plan when he read her diary and made the difficult decision to report his own daughter to the sheriff's office. >> at one point he might have found some shotgun ammunition in a backpack. when he saw the diary, he tied the two together, he thought, this is for real and i need to report this. >> reporter: authorities say she was struggling with mental health issues retreating into her attack plan. >> you can see the actual escalation of the frustration, planning, putting things together, how she was going to pull this off. >> reporter: in a message to t

let's go to nbc reporters pete williams is in our washington newsroom and chris jansing is there at the white house. chris, why did we not see the president today rolling out this new executive order with the same sort of fanfare he's done almost every other executive order? >> reporter: that's the key question. we asked it when they did that almost hour-long call with seor administration fici anthe answer was ask the white house. so far the white hse isn't talking about that but there is the briefing off camera with sean spicer that is coming up at 1:30. look, we both know that this is a central part of the campaign that president trump waged, talking about making america safer, and that there was a lot of fanfare when he signed it the first time. this time, he did it without any cameras there, except a picture tweeted by sean spicer, not sure what the origin of that photograph is. look, the white house knows that the questions that people wanted to ask the president are not about this e.o. necessarily. they're about his unsubstantiated claims that president obama wire tapped him, wire

our justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> reporter: law enforcement officials say it took far longer than first suggested for the secret service to confront a man who jumped a fence and got up to the white house last friday night while president trump was inside. the officials say the man was actually on the grounds nearly 20 minutes, at one point hiding behind a white house pillar. court documents say he jumped the fence in front of the treasury department next to the white house grounds and then kept moving south. it appears he walked about 1,000 feet and got all the way to the south portico entrance where he was finally stopped by a uniformed officer. officials say the man triggered motion detector alarms but they say the officers on duty thought that was the movement of animals on the grounds, a frequent occurrence. the next day, the president said he felt safe. >> secret service did a fantastic job. >> reporter: but congressman jason chaffetz says his staff has information that the man may have actually tried to open the door. >> this one scares me. the length of time

pete williams, nbc news, beltsville, maryland. >> up next, the college all-american who ran his way to history today. >>> for 60 years, she was a fixture of stage, screen and television. actress miriam colon has died. she studied in the famed actor studio becoming its first puerto rican member. she had appearances on "bonanza," "alfred hitchcock presents" and "gunsmoke" and "nypd blue." just to name a few. in the movie "scarface" she was the mother of tony montana played by al pacino. 2015 she appeared in the tv series, "better call saul." miriam colon died yesterday in albuquerq albuquerque, new mexico. she was 80-year-old. >>> it was a big day in alaska as the iditarod sled dog race got under way today. the ceremonial start took place in anchorage. there you see about 2,000 dogs on 72 teams ran through the city. the official start takes place on monday in fairbanks. the teams will race nearly 1,000 miles to nome, alaska, it will take them between nine and 17 days in one of the world's most celebrated tests of endurance. >>> another race to note tonight. this one measured in seconds i

justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> reporter: it was one of the largest data breaches ever. >> yahoo! is dealing with a massive security breach. >> yahoo! is working with law enforcement. >> yahoo! claims the hack was done by a state-sponsored actor. >> reporter: the massive cyber attack on yahoo! launched three years ago made off with information on 500 million user accounts. now the justice department says it was directed out of here, the moscow headquarters of the fsb, the successor to the cold war kgb, and run by the very russian unit responsible for investigating cyber crimes. >> the involvement and direction of fsb officers with law enforcement responsibilities makes this conduct that much more egregious. >> reporter: federal prosecutors charged two fsb officers with running the attack and accused them of hiring two known criminal hackers to do the actual intrusions. one of the hackers, a canadian, was arrested yesterday in toronto the other three charged are in russia. the u.s. asked the russians to arrest them, but that's not likely. the fbi says the russians w

our justice correspondent, pete williams, has more. >> reporter: for months telephone bomb threats to jewish centers and schools have alarmed the jewish community. now the fbi says this man, 31-year-old juan thompson of st. louis, made eight of those threats, copycat calls, intended to get back at a woman who broke off a romantic relationship with him eight months ago. >> law enforcement at all levels is a close friend of the jewish people in america and we're so appreciative. >> reporter: the fbi said last month he made a phone call and sent emails that named his ex-girlfriend and said she planted bombs in adl's new york office and jewish centers in dallas and san diego. and investigators said he sent email bomb threats to a museum, a school, and and jewish centers in dallas and san diego. and investigators say he sent email bomb threats to a museum, a school and a jewish center in new york and a jewish school in suburban detroit. those threats said they came from juan thompson, according to the fbi. investigators say he posted a message on twitter, saying a racist white girl he date

pete williams has more. >> with a hug and a kiss from his wife for good luck, the hearing for neil gorsuch comes over a year since president obama nominated another. garland never got a hearing, leaving the seat open for president trump to fill. >> i'm deeply disappointed it is under these circumstances that we begin our hearings. >> reporter: democrats said gorsuch must stand-up for judges, giving donald trump stinging for the courts. >> the comments about the judiciary have shaken the foundation for rulings. >> reporter: vowed to be independent, taking the law where it takes him. >> a judge that likes every outcome is probably a bad judge, stretching for policy results he prefers rather than those the law compels. >> reporter: he could be further to the right than scalia was like the rights of crim unanimous defendants. >> you can't expect to get the same kind of ideology from neil gorsuch, but republicans and conservatives are going to be happy with him. >> thanks to pete williams for that report. >>> electronic devices for air travelers. the threat to intelligence. they apply to passen

our justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> reporter: collin and diane say in a company town like washington where government is the big market, the new hotel owned by donald trump is competing unfairly, taking business away from them. >> there's been a decrease in the number of events that we've had at the restaurant. >> reporter: the two active in liberal causes are suing the president saying the restaurant and his hotel lures away customers because lobbyists and diplomats want to impress the president by patronizing it. >> this is about access to him to curry favor with him and his administration. we think that's unfair. >> reporter: political organizations have rushed to put on events at the hotel. some cabinet members are living there. eric trump dropped by to promote a sporting event, and dave bossi was dining in the restaurant. the day before the inauguration the incoming white house press secretary was touting it. >> i encourage you to go there if you haven't been by. >> reporter: the hotel building is owned by the federal government and leased by trump's company. tod

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has more. >> reporter: with a hug and a kiss from his wife for good luck, the hearing for neil gorsuch comes just over a year since president obama nominated federal judge merrick garland to fill the vacancy left by the december of antonin scalia. garland never even got a hearing. leaving the seat open for president trump to fill. >> i'm deeply disappointed that it's under these circumstances that we begin our hearings. >> reporter: democrats said gorsuch must stand up for judges given donald trump's stinging tweets about the courts. >> his demeaning and disparaging comments about the judiciary have shaken the foundations of respect for judicial rulings. >> reporter: judge gorsuch vowed to be independent, going where the law takes him. >> a judge who likes every outcome he reaches is probably a pretty bad judge, stretching for policy results he prefers, rather than those the law compels. >> reporter: some scholars say gorsuch could turn out to be further to the right than justice scalia was on issues like the rights of criminal defendants. >>

does it seem -- pete williams said earlier this hour that that's his style. he likes to speak for himself. >> i think it is clear that the attorney general has more to say on this topic. and while that may sound like an obvious observation, it is very relevant because, as folks may remember from hearing about inquiries during the campaign and from the fbi director, we generally are accustomed to the law enforcement chiefs, the attorney general and the fbi director to not comment much on ongoing investigations. >> ari melber. stay with us. we have been joined at the desk. if you've heard shuffling around, brian williams is with us now. this broke during your broadcast last night. >> we had a previously scheduled two-hour broadcast last night on all things russia, putin, trump. first the "new york times" story dropped, and then the "washington post" story, which has dominated your conversation. so thank you for having me at the table here. hallie jackson is apparently our first stop at the white house as we await, again, what the department of justice has calle

pete williams got rare access inside one of these labs in maryland. >> reporter: from the streets of come pouring in, fragments of the rounds of ammunition recovered from crime scenes in a city where 4,300 people were shot last year with 762 murders. sometimes the only hard evidence is a spent bullet case found at the scene. chicago sends in a thousa checking them for valuable clues is the job of the atf national laboratory in maryland. chicago is also been atfs number one customer for tracing crime scene guns, nearly 6,000 in 2015. atf says 60% come from 14 other states illegally trafficked into the city. guns found at crime scenes can be sent here and test fired into a tank of water or at a firing range. the goal is to recover the cartridge case ejected when a gun is fired. every gun leaves distinctive marks, ballistic fingerprints from the firing pin, and the back of the firing chamber a series of ridges and grooves. cartridge cases are digitally scan and checked against atf's database looking for potential matches. >> these parallel lines here, they go all the way down. >> report

savannah. >> pete williams starting us off in washington. thank you. >>> at the question consuming the white house and investigators at the highest levels of government, was there any connection between the trump campaign and russia's meddling during the election? tonight the president's former national security advisor general michael flynn once one of his most loyal and trusted advisors says he's ready to talk, ready to reveal what he knows and his lawyer says he has quote a story to tell but not without a promise that he cannot be prosecuted for it. will he get a deal and should the white house be worried? nbc's kristen welker with new details. >> reporter: tonight a new cloud of controversy growing over washington, the senate intelligence committee rejecting a request for immunity by president trump's o ousted security michael flynn. he said through his lawyer he wants immunity for protection against a highly poll lit sized process and his lawyer adding general flynn certainly has a story to tell and very much wants to tell it should the

pete williams, keep us posted. we're going to take a quick break and we're going to talk about another campaign adviser under scrutiny for talking to the russian ambassador. you're going to watch for yourself coming up. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alco

pete williams is live in d.c. pete, wla's up?>> this is a big setback for advocates of transgender rights. the u.s. supreme court sent the case of a transgenter student to court. it wiped off the books, a lower court ruling in his favor. this is a direct result of the trump administration's change in policy. you are looking at gavin grim, the virginia high school student challenging a policy that said he could not use the bathroom matching his genter identity. the question that was going to be addressed was, can the schools under a federal law under title ix, refuse to let the students matching the genter of their identity? the obama administration said it included gender identity. that was challenged by the school board in this case and the supreme court agreed to hear that later this month. the lower court ruled in his favor and they appealed. today, the supreme court said in light of the trump administration's change in policy, it's not going to hear the case. it sent it back to the lower court. in doing so, it wiped off the b

casey hundred, and pete williams. pete, let me start with you. you cover the attorney general.ou cover the fi. you know the law. whether or not he misled under oath, whether or not it is a legal issue of perjury as democrats are of course claiming there is a question about the way he testified, especially in the written answers that he wrote back to pat leahy, which specifically asked him about meetings with the russian ambassador. >> about the campaign. that was the senator -- in essence's senator leahy's written question is clearer. he said did you have any meetings with the russians about the campaign? and session's one-word answer was no. the question from senator franken in the open session was a little more general. what he basically said he i haven't had any contact with the russians about the campaign. that's what he said again this morning. what justice department officials tell us is when he was answering the question from franken he didn't think about the meeting he had in september that he was thinking in the context of trump surrogates talking to the russians about

are nbc national correspondent peter alexander at the white house and nbc justice correspondent pete william. first pete let's break down the new travel ban. peter also, the two petes. let's talk about the way it was rolled out, but more importantly i guess the substance of it. pete williams, what is the big difference, the big differences which we're showing up there on the board as well? >> right, it's six countries now, not seven. doesn't include iraq. the government says that iraq now has given assurances that it can provide the kind of information needed to vet visa applicants. it takes effect march 16th, not the day the president signs it so it gives people a chance to get ready for it and the government hopes it will not create the chaos at airports. it says that the people who don't have a visa that was valid as of the day the first executive order was signed on january 27th, they're the ones who won't be able to come in. anybody who had a valid visa as of then can still enter the country. so it doesn't cancel existing visas. no blanket ban on syrian refugees. there will be a pause o

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more. >> reporter: it was one of the largest data breaches whatever. >> yahoo! is dealing with a massive security breach. >> yahoo! claimed it was done by a state sponsored actor. >> reporter: the massive cyber attack made off with 500 million user accounts information. now the justice department said it was out of here, the successor to the kgb and run by the russian unit charged with investigating cyber crimes. >> the involvement of fsb officers with law enforcement capabilities makes this much more egregious. >> reporter: pe accused them of the attack. one of the hackers, a canadian, was arrested in toronto. the other three charged are in a russia. the u.s. asked the russians to arrest them but that's not likely. the russians were in it for intelligence. rush han journalists and politics and u.s. diplomats and government officials including unnamed obama white house employees. the hackers were in it for the money and allowed to exploit credit card numbers and other data they stole to launch fraud schemes. cyber experts say russia is depend

nbc's pete williams has more on this story. >> reporter: for months telephone bomb threats to jewishenters and schools alarmed the jewish community. now the fbi says this man, 31-year-old juan thompson of tlust. louis made eight threats, copycat calls intended to get back at a woman who broke off a romantic relationship with him eight months ago. >> law enforcement at all levels is a close friend of the jewish people in america and we're so appreciative. >> reporter: the fbi says last month, he made a phone call and sent e-mails that named his ex-girlfriend and said she planted bombs in adl's new york office and jewish centers in dallas and san diego. investigators say he sent e-mail bomb threats to a museum, a school and jewish center in new york and suburban detroit. investigators say he posted a message on twitter saying a racist white girl he dated sent those bomb threats trying to set him up. thompson's family was in federal court in st. louis where he was charged with cyber stalking. police there say day want to talk to him about headstones knocked over last month in a jewish c

let's start with justice correspondent pete williams at our d.c. bureau, and kasie hunt on capitol hill as usual this afternoon. pete, let me start with the yahoo! situation, if i can. you've been covering that all day today. what exactly is the justice department saying and who are they holding accountable? >> sure does sound like a russian novel. they're not saying the russians were spying on all 500,000 yao!sers but they do say two russian officers assigned to the fsb, that's the successor to the kgb, the unit in the russian government for investigating cyber crime was actually committing cyber crime by directing this hack attack against yahoo! in 2014 that compromised the attack -- the accounts of -- or compromised, rather, 500 million user accounts. now, according to the government, the russians wanted it for intelligence purposes. they wanted to get information that they could then use to spy on specific people. many of them, it seems, russians, russian journalists, russian government figures, anybody critical of the russian government but als

back withus, nbc justice correspondent pete williams, who is working overtime for us today.me what the supreme court's reasoning was here. >> well, we don't know what the reasoning is. they didn't say so in a short order. but it does seem to be a direct result of a decision by the trump administration to change the government policy on the transgender issue. the court had asked lawyers for both sides what it should do in light of that change, given that the case was going to be argued on march 28th. both sides said you should go ahead and hear the case, but today the court said it would not. it also in a further setback to the student at the heart of this case, wiped off the books a lower court ruling in favor of the student. you're seeing him here, gavin grimm, high school student from gloucester county, virginia, transgender, undergoing hormone and other kinds of therapies. he wanted to use the boy's bathroom. the school said, yes, you can. the skeel board said no. he sued and fourth circuit ruled saying the department of education has a policy. it interprets the federal l

you just heard pete williams, what he said. these are political appointees. every president does this. i didn't hear the outcry when president clinton in his first week in office asked fortress i guess nation of all 93 u.s. attorneys. it's important the work continue. it's important that the president appoint a professional. let me just say this about preet bharara. i think to the extent i know of the investigations, what he did to disclose and prosecution in albany was terrific. >> on both sides of the aisle, democrats and republicans. >> having been there and running the government for 12 years, i think it was long overdue. i give him enormous credit for that. that doesn't mean you don't have a new administration that puts in its people. that's the way it always works. that's the way it will work now. >> this is an administration that -- a president who has, what, more than 4,000 lawsuits have been filed against him. there's investigations under way. so i think maybe that's why people are raising questions about why he would get rid of someone who's known f

kasie hunt on capitol hill, pete williams in our bureau and peter al sander in the white house briefing room. is the white house concerned about how the cbo could score this bill? >> i think the best evidence of that is the fact they've been pushing back with the credibility of this estimate expected to me out as recally as today. it was tee years ago that the press secretary sean spicer said of the cbo it confirms that obamacare is bad for the economy. pushing back last week he said if you're looking at the cbo for accuracy you're look in the wrong place. republicans are concerned this could explode the deficit and cost a lot of americans their insurance. the bottom line evidenced by the president and in his comments visiting what the white house describes victims of obamacare focused on criticizing obamacare as a disaster. they have yet to show why their replacement plan will be better than that. >> not just the experts who have concern, as we have been reporting but as peter alexander mentioned it's folks on capitol hill concerned as well, folks in the republican party. listen how pa

let me bring in justice correspondent pete williams. pete, walk us through what's happening here. >> reporter: we've just gotten a statement from the attorney general. this is the one that he'll deliver in which he says he will recuse himself from any involvement in the investigations of russia's influence in the election. he says he's had several meetings to talk about whether he should do this. therefore, he's decided to recuse himself. we expect to hear shortly from the attorney general as well as his chief of staff. the justice department has strict rules on recusal. one of the things it says is to avoid conflict of interest. there's a specific part of that that talks about officials who have had a close involvement with someone or an issue that's under investigation. this puts sessions in a different situation beca h and several people have said that involvement in and of itself should be grounds for recusal. he said that he has taken no actions regarding any matters. that's the news we expect to get here when we hear from the attor

i'm going to pete williams. pete, walk us through why these judges blocked the revised version of the travel ban. we were under the impression this new version was designed specifical to make its way through. >> it was and it didn't work. both judges said it basically discriminates on the basis of religion. the first ruling came in hawaii less than six hours before the travel restriction was set to take effect after midnight. the judge there and the judge in maryland said much the same. the 90-day pause on issuing visas from six muslim countries amounted to religious discrimination. they said they can't turn a blind eye to the statements during the campaign that called for a ban on all muslim immigration. the judge in hawaii said any reasonable objective observer would conclude they were drawn up to favor a particular religion. the judge in maryland agreed, protecting national security, which is what the trump administration said was the reason was secondary to blocking the entry of muslims. what does that mean?

with threats made against at least eight jewish community centers nationwide, but according to pete williams law enforcement officials say the arrest does not solve the jcc threats case. the person authorities arrested is considered a copy cat who made threatening calls to sell the a personal score and use the jcc bomb threats as cover. >>> bullets flew this morning outside a mt. airy bar. >> the shots hit four people, including a bartender. and now police have a description on the shooter and his car. katy zachry has more from the scene. >> reporter: we learned it was an argument that started inside the restaurant 7165 germantown that began it all. there's one bullet hole in the glass here. there's another bullet hole across the street. and police say eight shots were fired here on the sidewalk into a crowded area. officers on scene say an argument inside spilled out to the sidewalk when the restaurant closed around 2:00 friday morning. things turned violent when someone in the group pulled out a gun and began shooting. police say the woman was the bartender and got hurt trying to break up