so that was the story at nbcnews.com earlier from pete williams. pete williams tonight has updated the story to add more detail about these expectations, and i can share some of that reporting with you now. according to nbc news' pete williams tonight, a source close to rosenstein says that rosenstein's intention is to stay until mueller winds down the bulk of the investigative and courtroom work in the russia investigation. according to this single source close to rosenstein, quote, that could be mid to late february. several weeks later, mueller would present his report to the justice department. multiple sources are also telling nbc news that mueller is near the end of his investigation and will soon begin paring down staff. again, that is reporting tonight from nbc news. it's obviously important both in terms of what's going to happen with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, how long he's going to stay at the justice department, how that departure may be keyed to what's going on in the mueller investigation. that's also very important repor

rod exronsusive reporting from pete williams, about rosenstein's future and the russia investigation. >>> a massive manhunt under way after a wild chase leaves officers injured and an armed and dangerous suspect slipping away. >>> a major snowstorm about to impact millions and travel could be a mess. al roker is here. >>> growing cause for an investigation tonight after an explosive report. how people can secretly find your location by tracking your cell phone. >>> an nbc news exclusive. the american adventurer, the first person in history to cross antarctica alone, 900 miles. tonight he tells us how he pulled it off. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. we have come here to frame the crisis rocking america. not the one the president speaks of at the southern border but the crisis of dysfunction here in washington that has ground so much of the government to a halt. and the crisis around kitchen tables where families try to figure out what they'll do come friday when the government paycheck doesn't arrive. a day after the president's primetime a

pete williams has late details. >>> an alarming surge in drug overdoses among middle-aged women. >> it is our moms and our aunts, our grandparents, our colleagues, the people we go to work out with. >> tonight a silent epidemic. >>> controversy erupts over the keto diet. so many trying it for the new year. a famous trainer says, not so fast. >>> a heart-stopping save. a bus driver running across traffic to rescue a barefoot toddler wandering in freezing cold alone on a highway overpass. >>> shark attack. love it or hate it, it's the kids song craze so popular it's now climbing the billboard charts. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. we're on the eve of what could be a gutcheck moment in this government shutdown standoff. the pain hits home tomorrow for hundreds of thousands of federal workers who won't receive their scheduled paychecks. pawns in a political tug of war. today as president trump sounded crisis alarms on the border, posing with halls of smuggled contraband, government workers from across the country took to the streets to draw att

our pete williams is in washington. pete, what do we know about her recovery? >> it's the first time she's missed courtroom argument for health reasons, despite two earlier cancer surgeries. on december 21st, doctors removed part of her lung after finding three cancerous lumps. she was released from the hospital four days later and has been recuperating from home. she's 85, and doctors say it usually takes about a month to recover from this kind of surgery. but she will not miss any work on the court. she'll continue to participate by reading the legal briefs and the oral argument transcripts. no word on when she'll be back on the bench, lester. >> pete williams, thank you. >>> kevin spacey made his first appearance today in a massachusetts courtroom, the actor pleading not guilty to a felony count of indecent assault and battery. new clues potentially revealing a key part of his defense. let's get more on this now from nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: swarmed by the media, kevin spacey spent less than 15 minutes in a nantucket courtroom today. he never spoke but

attorney, joining us, and pete williams as well. pete, let's go to you first for your analysis outside the courthouse, then we'll talk to your colleagues about what just helped. >> reporter: sure, i'll tell you what the news is. the news is roger stone came and went without saying anything. >> exactly. >> reporter: perhaps he chose not to speak because there were protesters around and he realized he would have to shout them down which he almost had trouble doing last friday when he was arrested in florida. but the rest of it was as expected, andrea. it's an arraignment. these things are very, very brief. this one lasted less than 15 minutes. he arrived about eight minutes before it started, wearing a suit and tie. and in fact about half the hearing was spent with no one saying anything while he signed a bunch of papers about his release. but his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. and the judge imposed the same conditions on his release as were imposed last week in florida, that is to say, you can't have a passport, he ca

pete williams is in washington. pete, what are you learning about this? >> reporter: lester, the fbi says it was alerted to this 21-year-old man, hasher taheb, by somebody in the atlanta area. last september fbi undercover operatives began meeting with him. court documents say he told them he wanted to attack the white house with guns and explosives but he didn't have any of his own. he was arrested today after receiving them from the undercover operatives. authorities are searching his house tonight, but there never was any threat. he was under close surveillance. despite the government shutdown, fbi agents are still working cases even though they're not getting paid. lester? >> and pete, as that shutdown continues, some federal workers are now lining up at soup kitchens to feed their families. >>> meantime in washington a new fight erupting over the shutdown and president trump's state of the union address. peter alexander with details on speaker pelosi's new power play. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states! >> reporter: one of the biggest

pete williams has the latest from washington. pete? while he was serving as campaign chairman, he was in contact at least twice with konstantin kilimnik, also described by robert mueller as man with ties to russian intelligence. the new details come in a document filed by manafort's eawyers with som out that can easily be read simply by copying and pacific northwesting them into a new document. they say manafort shared polling data with kilimnik about the campaign and met with him in madrid to talk about what manafort's lawyers call a, quote, peace plan for ukraine, the country where manafort earlier did political consulting work. they're statements made by manafort's own lawyer in a document intended to refute claims. >> that was pete williams reporting. >>> a russian lawyer who helped organize the infamous trump tower meeting with trump officials in 2016 is now the center of her own investigation. natalia veselnitskaya is being charged in a case involving moneylaundering and could face up to ten years in prison. nbc's richard engel h

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> i'm krisn at the whi >>e yes or no? >> i never worked for russia. and you know that answer better than anybody. i never worked for russia. not only did i never work for russia, i think it's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. >> reporter: that after he didn't directly deny he was a russian agent on fox news. >> are you now or have you ever worked for russia, mr. president? >> i think it's the most insulting thing i've ever been asked. >> reporter: the president also pushing back against a "washington post" report he went to extraordinary lengths to conceal his conversations with russian president vladimir putin. now top democrats discussing what is needed to go so far as subpoenaing his interpreter's notes. >> subpoena should be a last resort, not a first resort. but it should be a resort if reporter: the latest flash point in the bitter back and forth. kristen welker, nbc news, the white house. >>> the president's secretary of state mike pompeo met with ce orseas. saudi arabi

our pete williams has late details. >> reporter: it's a blow to more than 2,000 transgendered military personnel like lieutenant colonel brie frahm, an air force rocket scientist who came out when president obama dropped the ban on transgender service, a ban the supreme court today allowed president trump to bring back. >> it's a really difficult message to face when you've been singled out as someone whose not wanted for something that has nothing to do with your ability to serve this country. >> reporter: president trump tweeted in 2017 that he wanted to ban transgender service, but in response to lawsuits, lower courts blocked enforcement of his ban. so the trump administration appealed, and today by a 5-4 vote, the supreme court allowed the government to go ahead with the ban while the lower courts consider whether it's unconstitutional discrimination. out of 1.3 million active duty service members, roughly 2400 are transgendered. now under the trump policy, most of them cannot remain, unless they serve in their biological sex and agree not to seek gender reassignment surgery. or t

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> this is peter alexander. president trump tonight ignoring questions about the indictment of his controversial confidant, roger stone, reserving his outrage for twitter, blasting the russia investigation as the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country, no collusion. the president's aides trying to distance him from the charges against stone. >> this has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the white house. >> reporter: and his lawyers argue the indictment does not allege russian collusion, instead, that it's about alleged false statements made to congress. stone, self-proclaimed republican dirty trickster who used to work for richard nixon and has a tattoo of the 37th president on his back, first met mr. trump decades ago. >> roger's a good guy, strong nation, a lot of the things that i believe in. >> reporter: that close connection even noted in a 2017 documentary by the president's former campaign chair, paul manafort, since convicted by robert mueller of tax fraud. >> roger's re

pete williams with the latest for us from washington. >> reporter: while paul manafort was serving as donald trump's campaign chairman, he was in contact at least twice with a man named konstantin kilimnik, a former employee of manafort's consulting company, also described by robert mueller as a man with ties to russian intelligence. the new details come in a document filed by manafort's lawyers with some lines blacked out that can easily be read simply by copying and pasting them into a new document. they say manafort shared polling data with kilimnik about the campaign and met with him in madrid to talk about what manafort's lawyers call a "peace plan for ukraine" the country where manafort earlier did political consulting work. these aren't government allegations. they're statements made by manafort's own lawyer in a document intended to refute mueller's claim that manafort hasn't cooperated with investigators since pleading guilty. but it's impossible to tell from this new filing whether manafort was intending to share campaign information with the russians or just reaching out to

>> all right, pete williams, thank you. >>> in houston, five police officers are recovering after a brazenhootout. four were shot. two remain in serious condition, and two have been treated and released. a fifth also injured is in the hospital. it happened yesterday when they were serving a warrant on a suspected drug house. two suspects were killed. >>> in new york today, and in just 30 minutes, the defense rested its case in the trial of joaquin "el chapo" guzman after calling only one witness. here is nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: notorious drug trafficker joaquin "el chapo" guzman built his multibillion empire with deception, corruption and violence, according to federal prosecutors. within days a jury in brooklyn will decide his fate. the marathon trial lasted more than ten weeks. have there been any really big surprises? >> every day seems to bring a new surprise, frankly. it's a bombshell after bombshell. >> reporter: taking the stand, drug runners, assassins, cocaine kingpins, a mistress, and even his personal accountant, many of whom the defense argued could not be trusted. p

thank you, pete williams.g ahead on nbc "nightly news"hts rigft a headed to this weekend's nfl playoff game in kansas city, they bettere ready for extreme cold. >> it's going to be brutal. it wass chilly they waited in line for tickets. but when the chiefs host the new england patriots on sunday nighc itld be the coldest game ever at arrowhead stadiu >>> it's been a balmy one degree at kick off twice before butel never zero. and that's exactly what could happen. get this, the arctic blast settling over arrowhead, it's headed right for us next > but there's good things about the game. we know this is patrick mahomes and to be brady going at it. the winds are going to calm down substantially through the day from 30 miles per hour to about 10 miles per hour. so tho gamed be just fine. >> good to know. thank you. >> now onto weather in your local area. dealg with atorm system for us, that will come in during the weekend. we're talking about the arctic air too and here we could be dealing with wind chills below zer

our pete williams has details. >> do you affirm -- >> reporter: william barr came to his confirmation hearing with one mission, make it clear he will not interfere with robert mueller's investigation. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch-hunt. >> reporter: bar was asked what he would do if the president asked him to fire mueller. >> assuming there was no good cause? >> assuming no cause. >> i would not carry out that instruction. >> reporter: he assures senators from both parties that he'll make mueller's conclusions public. >> i am going to make as much information available as i can, consistent with the rules and regulations that are part of the special counsel regulations. >> reporter: barr defended a memo he wrote in june that attacked mueller and called fatally misconceived the idea that a president can be charged with obstructing justice for firing his own fbi director. >> some have said, on both sides of the aisle, that it looked like a job application. >> that's ludicrous. i

pete williams has deils. >> reporter: roger stone was surprisily low-key at federal court in washingtonpushing his way past demonstrators for and against him, his lawyer entered a not guilty plea to charges of lying to congress and intimidating a witness. in a radio interview, stone blasted s mucase. >> they know they have to take me down in order to take donald trump down. >> reporter: meantime, senate democrats s questioned monda surprise comment from acting attorney general matt whitaker. >> right now the only investigation is i think close to being completed. >> it puts aloud over the investigation. and, again, yesterday's comments were exactly the reason why he should im have recused hself. >> reporter: but even other investigations go on. >> there is still work to be done. prosecutors in manhattan have work to do, and congress has work to do. >> reporter: despite whitaker's comment, it's impossible to tell whether roger stone's is the last mueller indictment or re more surprises coming. lesser? >> all right, pete williams, thank you. >>> in houston, five police officers are recove

prosecutors in manhattan have work to do, and congress has work to do. >> thanks to pete williams for that report. >> check back in with bill. it's going to be one of those, where were you days in chicago. >> exactly. people will remember this for the rest of their lives. maybe never seeing it this cold again in some areas. we're going to see if we can get that record in chicago. right now negative 16. doesn't look like we're going to get there today. maybe still heading down to negative 20 which is extremely rare. in top 10 territory. tomorrow morning we have another chance of get that negative 27. you notice we're at negative 22 in lacrosse, minneapolis, dropped to negative 26. lowest on the board international falls negative 29 the in chicago would be your high temperature for the day. we'll see single digits in many areas of the northeast. >>> everyone wants to know when the warm up is coming. that january thaw is going to be quick. it's actually going to be in february. >> can't wait to hear about t. >> good thing we're almost there. >> yes. >> oscar winning actress gwyneth paltr

pete williams haslu eve reporting on rod rosenstein's future. >> reporter: no commenthis morning from a smiling rod rosenstein administration sources say he has decided to step down after a new attorney general is confirmed. they say it's rosenstein's whcision, that he is not being forced out by the house despite sharp criticism in the past from the president and congress. one source says rosenstein intends to stay on until robert mueller's courtroom work is fished. others say there's no timeline. rosenstein appointed mueller to be special counsel and has overseen the investigation cause the previous attorney general, jeff sessions, was recused due to his active role in the trump campaign. >> wow! what a crowd this is! >> reporter: but even under the acting attorney general, who took over, matt whitaker, it's clear rosenstein has remained involved in mueller'work. >> we've continued to manage the investigation as we have in the past. and it's being handled appropriately. >> reporter: today william barr, president trump's nominee to be the new attorney general, made the senate rounds a

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >> some changes in the work for this year. >>> thanks for watching i'm marlie hall. >> i'm frances rivera. have a great first day of 2019. hope to see you in the new year hope to see you in the new year on twitter and ♪ (gasps) ♪ (coughs) ♪ (coughs) (sneezes) for real cold and flu protection. you can't protect them from an imaginary cold. but with lysol, you can help protect them from the real one. lysol disinfectant spray kills the #1 cause of the cold and clorox wipes don't. lysol. what it takes to protect. windy and cold! >>> it's tuesday, january 1, 2019. taking a live look outside overlooking fremont. some windy, clear, cold temperatures out there. whether you're just getting home or just getting up, it's 2019. thank you very much for joining u us. >> windy and cold. you made that prediction last year and it came through. >> yeah. way last year. i hope people bundled up. i know a lot of people went outside. it was windy, cold. here are your current temperatures. 37 degrees in morgan hill.

>> pete williams at the justice department, thanks. wh >>e the trade war is raging, president trump also has 2020 on his mind. today he practically dared a big name in the business world to jump into the race. ex-starbucks ceo howard schultz is considering an independent run. but as andrea mitchell explains, that has democrats up in arms. >> reporter: billionaire former starbucks ceo howard schultz could be brewing trouble for democrats in 2020. announcing he's considering running as an independent, eeting today -- >> botparties at the extreme are not representing the silent majority of the american people. >> reporter: the life-long democrat telling "60 minutes-- >> the american people are exhausted.r thust has been broken. and they are looking for a better choice. >> reporter: schultz, who grew up in brooklyn public housing, ansformed starbucks from single seattle coffee bean shop into a global brand. 30,000 stores in 77 countries. he could distance his own race. "forbes" says he's worth $3.5 billion, more than donald trump. the pres

prosecutors in manhattan have work to do, and congress has work to do. >> thanks to pete williams for that report. with bill.ack i it's going to be one of those, where were you days in chicago. >> exactly. peopbe will rem this for the rest of their lives. maybe never seeing it this cold some areas. we're going to see if we can get that record in chicago. right now negative 16. doesn't look like we're going to get there today. maybe still heading down to negative 20 which is extremely rare. in topte 10 itory. tomorrow morning we have another chance of getting towards that negative 27. you notice we're at negative 22 in lacrosse, dropped to negative 26. lowest on the board international falls negative9 the that's not wind chill, that's the temperature. that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your day ahead. >>> the high temperature negative 27, going to be really hard to warm it up today. even negativ c16 incago would be your high temperature for the day. we'll see single digits in many areas of the northeast. >>> everyone wants to know when the wa

we've got it all starting with nbc's pete williams. >> lester, the charges do not accuse roger stone of directly colluding with the russians to influence the election, but they do bring the robert mueller investigation one stepr to the trump campaign, involving a man who's been a friend and confidant of donald trump's for mo than 30 years.st rogee was defiant after a brief federal court appearance in ft. lauderdale, florida, where fbi agents arrested him is th morning and began searching his house. robert mueller's prosecutors accuse stone of lying congress and urging a friend to lie too. outside the courthouse, stone said he never meant to mislead r any investig >> i will plead not guilty to these charges. i will defeat them in court. i believe thiss a politically motivated investigation. >> reporter: prosecutors say stone lied to the house intelligence committee in september 2017 about his efforts to discover more about e-mails hacke by the russians from th clinton campaign and the democrats and passed along to wikileaks which made tusands of them public. court documents say stone

pete williams is there.ecision or an announcement from the supreme court on that transgender military ban. >> right. this is the one, remember, that president trump announced by tweet last year. saying he wanted to ban transgender military service. the pentagon modified that to say you could stay in the military basically if you served in your own biological section and did not seek reassignment surgery. three courts put that on hold saying it was discrimination. the trump administration came to the supreme court and said we want you to let us enforce this ban while it playing out in the lower courts. today the supreme court granted that request. so if it chooses to do so, the pentagon can now start enforcing the transgender military service ban. we'll have to see whether the pentagon chooses to do that. obviously, this case will not be heard until next year. if the supreme court grants the case. so it's somewhat up in the air. it's -- the order here says that if the court grants review and decides it's unco

joining me now, nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. it is amazing to see you face to face, number one. >> nice to have you here. >> number two, what happened today? >> so the court voted 5-4, conservatives against liberals, to lift these lower courts. what happened is, remember, president trump tweeted on this in 2017. the pentagon ultimately changed it a little bit with the president's permission, put it into effect. but before it could take effect, it was challenged. three different federal courts said, no, you can't do this. it's unconstitutional discrimination. we're going to put a hold on enforcement. you can't enforce it. today at the request of the trump administration, the supreme court lifted those stays. that gives the pentagon the green light to go ahead and put this ban on transgender service into effect. so it means that you must serve in your biological sex. that's the term the pentagon uses. and you can't now seek gender reassignment surgery. >> so what happens to those who have already had gender reassignment surgery? >>

pete williams is at the supreme court for us. pete what can you tell us about this? >> reporter: lester, today was the deadline for the supreme court to accept new cases for m, this current tnd it took no action on daca. that means this issue won't be heard until the court's next term beginning in the fall if it's heard at all. so for now daca rema force, probably for at least the next 10 or 12 months. it lets children of illegal immigrants stay here if they ween under 16 when their par brought them to the s. and has allowed about 700,000 young people to avoid deportation. the trump administration tried s to shut rogram down, but the lower courts stopped that effort and those rulings remaine ect, lester. >> all right, pete, thank you. >>> also at the court today, the annual march for life that stretched ck to the national mall. vice president mike pence attending the gathering of ponents of abortion rights. president trump addressing the crowd via video today. >>> also taking to the streets tomorrow in our nation's capital trand cities across the co a third annual wo

. >> we'll bring in pete williams. he's been poring over the indictment. good morning. a lot of people are wondering how does roger stone fit into the big picture. >> he brought it on himself. he was bragging during the campaign that he was in touch with wikileaks. first directly and then through an intermediary. what the charges say is the intermediary was a radio talk show host named roger credico. it documents a number of texts and e-mails in which, according to the special counsel, roger stone was urging him, egging him on to find out what wikileaks had and get them to release it. remember, robert mueller in a previous court document said it was the russians who hacked the e-mails of the dnc and the clinton campaign and passed them on to wikileaks. it doesn't say -- the indictment today does not say that stone was directly in touch with any russians or that the trump campaign was in touch with any russians. it does say he lied about his contacts with intermediaries to try to find out what wikileaks had and get them to put more out. that's where he got in trouble. >>

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. white house reporter kristen welker as well. you got the trump campaign, you got roger stone. he's been out again and again publicly denying he passed information to wikileaks. this indictment showing that doesn't seem to be the case. >> the problem for him is he brought this on himself by publicly claiming early on he was in touch with assange and wiki leaks and that put him in the bull's-eye from the special prosecutor to find out if any of that was true. from then on, basically stone said, no, i wasn't -- the contact that he claimed he had intermediaries. what mueller's team says is he lied to congress about what he did trying to find out about damaging e-mails, working with these intermediaries and he also tried to egg them on. they say stone urged this friend of his to lie to congress too about any contacts he had. the charges don't say stone himself was in touch with wikileaks or the russianings. the court documents do say that stone was contacted by what they describe as a senior official in the trump campaign who was ask

>> joining with me, pete williams a williams. what else did they tell you? i think we are getting a fu fuel -- based on talking to several people inside and outside government who are familiar of what mueller is up to, they say he's pro pairing to finish the bulk of his work. the heavy lifting investigate and prosecuthese are all of cou things being equal and if they come across something else. this is the way of looking light now. for several weeks they would prepare their support and present it to the justice department. >> what we were told of people close to -- to see mueller through the bummi work. now that's his desire, that's rosenstein's destiire. rosenstein as made a decision that he's going to step down. the ten year for the attorneys general is about 22 months and that would be 22 months if you leave late february and early march. >> he wants to have an orderly transition when an attorney general comes in. >> pete, you had your ears on the door of the doj now for any years. >> is there preswer h-- >> i think the picture we are getting here is that

we've got matt miller and pete williams, katy tur in new york. i wanted to ask chuck, what happened in that quick procedure down there and what's next for roger stone? >> sure. that court procedure was fast and not all that interesting. it's called an initial appearance, and simply mr. stone goes before a federal magistrate judge. she ascertains that he is in fact mr. stone and that he has a charge pending against him in washington, d.c. in this case she set a bond, so he is released and will have to travel on his own to appear. so not a big deal, nothing adjudicated, no testimony. it's really just a quick administrative proceeding. >> he's apparently done a telephone interview and talked about -- with alex jones of info wars, obviously a friend and compatriot, and is complaining about the procedure, they took him from his house, scared his dog, scared his wife. why the predawn arrest? >> there's a couple of reasons why you arrest somebody. one is he has been charged with committing a crime, not to be overly simplistic here, but that's one reason

pete williams has been reading the indictment.er stoon lied toess regarding his efforts to find out about damaging e-mails hack by theussians from the democrats in hillary clinton's campaign. they say stoea rdly urged a friend of his to lie to congress, too, aboutontacts with wikileaks on stone's behalf. the charges do not saysthat e himself was in touch with wikileaks or the russians which was the source mueller has said keeviously for the hac e-mails. court documents say stone was contacted by a senior official in the trump campaign who asked about future releases by wikileaks of hacked e-mail the documents say he, stone, through his friend, tried to prod wikileaks to release more material. when his friend was called to testify to congress, thehaes say, stone urged him to plead the fifth invoking the name of a character from one of the godfather movies who lies to congress. stone was arrested in florida where hll appear in court today to formally face the charges. >> pete williams in our washington newsroom. >>> joyful newsverni

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >> isn't that interesting?ell, another interesting thing, the other big legal story that's going to dominate headlines in the new year as it did in 2018, special counsel robert mueller's russia probe. the nearly two year long investigation has loomed large over president trump and engulfed many in his -- at least once in his inner circle. what could mueller reveal in 2019? joining me now, msnbc legal analyst cynthia ox ny. doug burns. pete williams and ken dilanian reported exclusively mueller is likely to wrap up his investigation by mid-february. what do you think? is the end game near? >> i don't really think the end game is near. there may be some kind of interim report, though they're obviously outstanding reporters. there's too much on the plate. there's the question of don jr. getting a target leader and perhaps being indicted. and perhaps being indicted in the mueller investigation for lying to congress. those are just a couple of things and a lot more. >> let's look directly at the president, including

. >> pete williams reporting. >>> d.c. public school said it's following through with changes prevent hundredsover middle schoolers fall short on science classes. this came after at report t they were not providing science lessons to kids. >> our investigation found four middle schools in which d.c. public schools were not providing the required amount of science instruction, an average of 45 minutes a day. itncludes elliott hine brookland kelly miller and car doe a. a memo listed several reasons why, budget short falls and difficulty hiring sciencers teac they're telling the i team they're looking to make up for e short falls with a series of science only days. one parent told news4 s satisfied with the proposed fix. >> i think it's actually good. i think it allows for an intense look at a particular topic. >> reporter: the science only days begin this month at elliott hine middle. we keep you posted on the changes at the other schools. >>> now an update to another news4 i-team investigation, thousands of maryland commute

nbc news' chief justice correspondent pete williams has more on this. >> reporter: roger stone was low key in washington. pushing his way against demonstrators for and against him. his laurenne terred a not guilty plea in lying to congress and intimidating a witness. in a radio interview, he blasted stoep's case. >> they know, they have to take me down in order to take donald trump down. >> reporter: meantime, senate democrats had acting attorney general matt whitaker. >> right now the investigation is i think close to being completed. >> it puts a cloud over the investigation and again yesterday's comments were exactly the reason why he should have recuse himself. >> reporter: even if mueller finishes, other work goes on. >> prosecutors have work to do and congress has work to do. >> our thanks to pete williams for that report. speaking of the mueller probe, with msnbc yesterday, former prosecutor and head of the trump transition team chris christie says the mueller probe is actually not the biggest legal threat the president faces. >> i think that the

nbc's mariana atencio is with us, and nbc justice correspondent pete williams. all of you have far too many titles for me today. i know where mariana is, with the furloughed workers who are getting needed food from chef jose andres. >> reporter: not only the furloughed workers, andrea. you see a little bit of commotion behind me, that's because virginia senator tim kaine has just showed up at the food kitchen as well. we'll try and get a couple of questions with him. as you mentioned, there are thousands of federal workers who are hurting in states like virginia and maryland and here in the nation's capital, steps away from the white house and capitol hill. this morning they were lining up outside this resource center next door to chef jose andres' pop-up kitchen were they're now able to get everything from toiletries to pet food to help paying their utility bills. the speaker, as you mentioned, paid a visit to the volunteers here. i pressed her on if there was anything from the bill that mitch mcconnell introduced in the senate that she would be willing to supp

pete williams has been following all of this. pete, tell us what happened. >> it's a short term win for the president. what happened here is the president announced in 2017 that he wanted to ban transgender service. the pentagon ultimately came up with a modified version of that. that's what it wanted to put into effect. it said transgender people can serve in the military as long as they're not open about it. as long as they serve in their biological sex and don't seek gender reassignment surgery, two things that were allowed under the obama policy. that was challenged in court and three federal courts put a hold on enforcing the policy. today, the supreme court granted a request from the trump administration to put those orders on hold and let the military go ahead and start enforcing the transgender ban. now, of course the military says this isn't a full up ban on transgender service. i guess that's accurately correct. it's a ban on open transgender service. but here's what happens. it's going to stay -- the military can now be

we get the latest from pete williams here onset elliot williams, jonathan and betsy are back with me. pete, let me start with you. explain what you're hearing from your sources on rod rosenstein and what's next. >> well, what the sources are telling us is that he intends to step down within the next month or so after bill barr, after the confirmation of the new attorney general. number one, that's the usual way it works when there's a new attorney general or a new head of any cabinet department, they typically want their own deputy. there's a different deputy that comes in. that's one thing. we're not in a typical time with the russia investigation. but the second thing is that people familiar with his thinking say he had always planned to serve about two years in this job. and, of course, this has been an especially wearying time for him. not only the pressure of the mueller investigation but also being bombarded by criticism from two directions from the white house, the president's tweets which have sort of died down in recent weeks and also from congressional republicans. for all t

apparently according to pete williams, the last thing said at the hawaiian news conference is the mueller investigation is close to being completed. we'll have more on that right after the break. stay with us, jake sherman, bob costa, thank you both. good faith, susan, and aiyesha will stick around. stay with us. ok look, if you're not the lead dog, the scenery never changes. that's why this is the view for every other full-size pickup. and this year, it's déjà vu all over again 'cuz only the ford f-150 with its high strength, military-grade aluminum alloy body gives you best-in-class torque, best-in-class payload... and you got it, baby... best-in-class towing. still leading the pack. this is the big dog! this is the ford f-150. it doesn't just raise the bar, pal. it is the bar. minimums and fees seem to your typical bank.n of capital one is anything but typical. that's why we designed savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet? your digestive system has billions of bacteria, but life can throw them off balance. re-align your

nbc's pete williams will tell you. >> reporter: vermont will begin paying people to move there, up to,000 over two years, for people employed by out of state companies who are willing to work from vermont remotely. >> we have a demographic problem in this state. we need more people. >> reporter: connecticut and hawaii make it illegal for employers to ask job applicants about their pay history. that brings to ten the number of states with similar bans intended to stop the cycle of pay discrimination against women and minorities. >> i think there's an element of this about us competing, and we don't want to be known as the state where women can be lowballed. >> reporter: in new york city, it's illegal to sell anything in foam containers made from polystyrene, something that cannot be recycled. >> plastic works just as good, and the paper cups. same difference. less landfill. >> reporter: foam packing peanuts are also banned in the city. washington state cracks down on people who misrepresent companion or emotional support pets as trained service animals. >> i've had my dog attacked twic

nbc justice correspondent pete williams has the story. fentanyl, a lot of it is coming from china and through the southern border. do you know where this came from or who produced it? >> yeah, in fact, andrea, most of the illicit fentanyl in the united states comes from mexico. that's what federal authorities say is the case this time. this seizure at the border crossing at nogales, arizona, a truck carrying produce, carrying vegetables, was stopped, and authorities discovered what they say is this huge amount of fentanyl. the previous record for a fentanyl arrest in the u.s. was i think 120 or so pounds. we're told that this is at least twice that. so that would be an enormous amount of fentanyl. it is a synthetic opioid. you're looking at legal fentanyl here, which has long been used in hospital settings and surgery patients and so forth. but illicit fentanyl is a white powder, and it's often sold to look like heroin. heroin users think that's what it is. it's 100 times more powerful than morphine. and that's why it's causing so many ove

pete williams has been following all of this. te, tell us what happened. >> it's a short term win for the president. what happened here

pete williams in washington. it is an important point.re are -- there's a lot of drugs coming into america. we have a serious problem with it. but experts, border patrol folks, tell us they come through ports of entry, not through unfenced parts of the border. this was a truck carrying cucumbers. in the el chapo trial, i think it was tomatoes, something like that. >> i speak for both of us, we're grateful for the dea. >> yes. >> for border patrol, for i.c.e. >> those drugs were going to do a lot of damage in america. >> now to another big story. in his sit-down interview with the daily caller, president trump was asked about the arrest of former adviser roger stone. he said this, quote, i'm speaking for a lot of people that were very disappointed to see that go down that way. >> all right, so when asked whether he would review the fbi's use of force in cases like stones, the president praised the question, saying it's something i'll think about. roger stone mentioned support. >> i'm heartened by the fact that senator graham and these hous

nbc justice correspondent pete williams at the court today. what more can we add to this?> reporter: nothing, andrea, to indicate that the surgery or diagnosis was more serious than disclosed. as a matter of fact, at the time that justice ginsburg had her surgery on december 21st doctors saying the normal recovery time is four to six weeks and she's 86 and the recovery time is longer. you're right. she's made a point of never missing a day of oral argument when she was physically able to be here. the only time she's missed it is if she was recused from a case, but never for health reasons. she had her surgery on the 21st and released from the hospital on christmas day. she's been recovering from home and the court and the chief justice both said today that she will participate in the cases that are being argued this week. she will do so by reading the legal briefs and by reading the transcript of the oral arguments something other justices have done when they've not been able to physically be present in the court. so she'll still be voting on these cases. there will be six

pete williams. >>> that is it, a number of changes ahead.ing to the pick up the coverage. are you tired yet? >> no, i am energized and 2019 is goi is going to be huge. your whole family is here. >> yes. >> and we are celebrating with the cutest kids you have ever seen. thank you, yasmin. i'm chris jansing, and happy new year to you. it is january 1st, 2019. let's get started. >> we are learning more about the american detained in russia accused of be being a spy. >> my family members have been in contact with the people at the state department and the embassy in moscow, and we have heard they have received an announcement from the russian government that paul has been detained, but they have not yet been able to have consular access with paul. >> they can come over right now or any time. i spent christmas in the white house, and i spent new year's eve now in the white house, and you know, i am here and ready to go. >> the presumptive speak over the house nancy pelosi and charles shum vchumer have propo parts of the bill that would keep the g