. >> pete williams outside the court. is it the end of drama with paul manafort. he pleaded guilty in this case, so it's unlikely he would have an appeal. pete, are you there? okay. matt miller and frank, let's pick it up there. we'll reconnect with pete williams. at the same time as this was a tough statement, this is sort of halfway between the guidelines, mid-range sentence. >> the guidelines were very serious for the offenses to which he pled guilty. the statutory maximum for which she could sentence him was 10 years. it's not an unreasonable sentence. i think a lot of people will look at this and look at the totality and think 7 1/2 years isn't a long enough sentence. as she made clear in her opening remarks today, it's not her job, in fact, she's not allowed to correct for deficiencies of another judge. she didn't call it deficiencies of another judge. if people have a complaint about totality of the sentence he's serving. it's what you would expect. some is concurrent because that is what the rules require her to do. >> i think it's very interesting, frank,

let's start with pete williams at the justice department. >> pete, good evening. >> kate, good eveninglate today william barr, the attorney general, sent congress this four-page letter outlining the key findings of robert mueller's investigation and on the question of whether the president obstructed justice, mueller leaves it up to the justice department to decide if the president should be charged with a crime and tonight barr says the answer is no. the summary says robert mueller looked at the new familiar actions by the president to see if they amounted to obstruction of justice. that would include the firing of the fbi director james comey. president trump told lester they fired comey because of the russian meddling investigation. >> when i decided to just do it i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> other public actions include comey's claim that the president asked the fbi to go ease owe michael flynn and there was the president's constant criticism of mueller himself, but barr's er a conclusion one way or the other abo

pete williams, appreciate that context check. we talk about the department of justice. this just in, on another figure tied to the mueller investigation. a federal judge here in washington has set a sentencing date of april 26th for alleged russian agent maria buttina at 10:00 a.m. she pled guilty to engaging in a conspiracy against the u.s. she faces a maximum of five years in prison. >>> still to come -- how pressure from civil rights groups may have forced facebook to make a big move that critics say should have been done ages ago. >>> next, the new fight for democrats to get their hands on a decade worth of donald trump's finances. mp's finances whooo! want to take your next vacation to new heights? tripadvisor now lets you book over a hundred thousand tours, attractions, and experiences in destinations around the world! like new york! from bus tours, to breathtaking adventures, tripadvisor makes it easy to find and book amazing things to do. and you can cancel most bookings up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. so you can make your next trip... monumental! r

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> new at 11:00, san francisco is making history again. this morning the city announced its first lgbt fire chief. bob redell was there. the city went with someone familiar to the fire department. >> reporter: correct, laura. mayor breed of san francisco announced that gene nicholson would be the city's next fire chief. now, nicholson is familiar with the department, been a veteran here with sffd for the past 25 years. she's currently the deputy chief of administration. she'll become the second woman to ever lead the department, the first lgbt person fire chief in the city of san francisco. chief nicholson taking the top job will have a few mayor projects to contend with. there are fire stations to come online, a couple more built, the department must also find a new training facility. chief nicholson did outline a couple of priorities and challenges she knows she is facing, she wants to improve support of first responders, suffering from ptsd and ptsi. since she knows this firsthand. this is from february of 2009. she was hospitalized for

we begin with nbc justice correspondent pete williams in washington. good evening. where does this stand tonight? >> reporter: jose, expectations were high that we might have our first rundown by this time tonight on the main points of the report. but as reporters and congressional staffers waited all day, word came late today that nothing will be revealed until tomorrow, and we don't yet know how detailed that will be. it will be up to attorney general william barr to decide what can be revealed about the special counsel's nearly two-year investigation into whether anyone in the trump campaign helped the russians meddle in the election. barr spent the day at the justice department studying the mueller report to fulfill a suggestion he made friday in a letter to congress to tell members as soon as this weekend what he could about mueller's principled conclusions. barr is under no legal obligation to do this. he's already done what the special counsel rules require by telling congress friday that mueller's work is done and that the justice department never said no to

. >>> this is pete williams. robert mueller is nearly done, but michael cohen is now saying publicly what law enforcement federal prosecutors in new york are actively investigating donald trump's conduct as a businessman, as well as his early days in the white house. cohen says they're looking at what trump and his aides said to him after the fbi searched his office last year. >> this topic is actually something that's being investigated right now by the southern district of new york, and i've been asked by them not to discuss it. >> reporter: his testimony raised new questions about trump financial statements suggesting possible bank fraud when mr. trump overstated his assets to get more favorable treatment from banks, but understated his company's wealth to get lower taxes. and they're examining the hush money payments to two women. cohen says president trump was personally th while . he raised questions about trump's use of charity money to buy this portrait for himself. officials say helped pay for t trump in

our pete williams has late details. >> reporter: chelsea manning walked into federal court in virginia this morning fully aware that she might not walk before a federal grand jury now investigating wikileaks and its founder, julian six sa years. originally subpoenaed last month to testify, she has declined saying she doesn't want to answer questions unless they're asked in open court. >> i don't believe in the grand jury process. i don't believe in the secrecy of this. >> reporter: in 2010, the former army intelligence analyst gave more than half a million classified documents to wikileaks, the largest such leak in u.s. history. it made the website and assange household names. manning served seven years in a military prison until president obama commuted the rest of the 35-year sentence. now she'll remain in jail until she agrees to testify or until the term of the grand jury ends in several months. >> and pete joins us now. pete, what exactly is this grand jury looking into, and why was manning called to testify? >> reporter: it's the leaks, the government's interest in assange predat

we begin with pete williams. pete?> reporter: attorney general willm barr sent congress this letter outlining the key findings. on whether the president obstructed justice, mueller leaves it up to the justice department as to whether the president should be charged with a crime and tonight barr says the answe no. the now familiar actions by the president to see if they amounted to obstruction of justice. that would ilude the firing of the fbi director, jamescomey, president trump told lester he fired comey bause of the russian meddling investigation. >> when i said tust do it, i said to mylf, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> reporter: other public actions thade the pre asked comey to go easy on michael flynn and the presidenris constantcism of mueller himself. but barr's letter said mueller did n draw a conclusion one way or the other about whether any of that amounted to obstruction. mueller's report, quote, does not conclude that the president committed a crime. it also does no

but as our pete williams reports, security experts don't agree. >> reporter: police tonight are stepping up patrols around mosques nationwide, from new york to los angeles. no known threat here, they say, strictly a precaution. >> our message to them is one of, we are here with you. >> reporter: but terrorism experts say today's attack in new zealand shows that white extremism has become a global threat. >> we've seen white supremacists move from the margins to the mainstreams. and cleverly use social media and other forms of technology to spread across borders. >> reporter: adl says right-wing extremism caused 50 deaths in the u.s. last year, including the october shooting at a pittsburgh synagogue. authorities in new zealand say the gunman there drew inspiration from other white nationalists, especially anders behring breivik, who killed 77 in a gun and bomb attack in norway eight years ago. last month the fbi arrested a coast guard officer in maryland, accusing him of amassing weapons and plotting attacks on members of congress. also inspired by breivik, prosecutors say. security expe

our justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> reporter: this cell phone video shows federal agents about to unload a remarkable find, 3,200 pounds of cocaine, 1.6 tons with a street value of $77 million. it was hidden in a shipping container of dried fruit at the port authority of new york and new jersey, when scans revealed something suspicious and a closer look turned up white powder in 60 packages. it's the second largest seizure of cocaine at the port and the biggest in 25 years. cocaine use peaked a few decades ago but federal drug agents say it's making a comeback. >> cocaine was the nemesis in the '90s, but this is traffickers today trying to merge cocaine and fentanyl to create new markets. >> reporter: like other drugs, most cocaine comes into the u.s. across the southern border through checkpoints, 90% of it from colombia, and now with a dangerous trend of mixing it with fentanyl, drug agents expect to see more big shipments like this one. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> tonight, there are alarming new signs in this measles outbreak, growing in hot spots a

pete williams leads off our coverage. >> reporter: lester, less than 24 hours after learning of mueller's conclusions, the democrats in congress say they want to hear from mueller and attorney general bill barr. the democrats know what's in the report, now they want to know why. tonight the new drama, will the public see the whole mueller report? the president says, fine with him. >> wouldn't bother me at all. up to the attorney general. wouldn't bother me at all. >> reporter: after mueller's nearly two-year investigation and 2,800 subpoenas, barr notified congress by letter late sunday of the results. mueller did not find that the trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with russia to interfere in the election. no involvement with russian-led hacking into democratic computers. accounts set up by russian intelligence to spread disinformation. barr's letter says that's despite multiple offers from russia-affiliated individuals to assist the trump campaign. but mueller did not draw a conclusion one way or the other about whether president trump obstructed justic

nbc's pete williams breaks down the findings for us. >> reporter: the summary says robert mueller looked at the now familiar actions by the president to see if they amounted to obstruction of justice. that would include the firing of the fbi director, james comey. president trump told lester that he fired comey because of the russian meddling investigation. >> when i decided to just do it i says to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> reporter: other public actions include comey's claim that the president asked the fbi to go easy on michael flynn. and there was the president's constant criticism of mueller himself. barr's letter says mueller did not draw a conclusion one way or the other about whether any of that amounted to obstruction. mueller's report quote does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. barr says he and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein concluded that conduct did not reach the is they found no other crime that the president would have been trying to cover up. ase letter s

>> pete williams in washington, thank you. >>> this is a haunting anniversary. it was five years ago right about now that malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared on an overnight flight. there is still no sign of the wreckage of the aircraft or the 239 d. but as tom costello reports, airlines are under orders to ensure no plane ever goesti no answer as to what happened to malaysia airlines flight 370, disappearing on an overnight flight from kuala lumpur to beijing. radar and satellite pings suggest the 777 made a big u-turn then flew into the southern indian ocean where it went down. while pieces of the plane have washed ashore, no sign of the plane itself. the official search called off after two years. another search by an american firm also turned up nothing. now the victims' families want the search to resume. >> we are trying our best to keep mh-370 alive in the minds of everybody here. >> reporter: but a the system is operational. it's tracking aircraft globally? >> reporter: at the aridium air and command center in virginia they track 10,000 planes at an

we have it covered from college campuses to the courthouse, starting with pete williams at georgetown. and, pete, a lot of people have reason to be outraged about this story. >> reporter: including here in georgetown in washington, lester, where the former tennis coach is accused of taking $3 million to admit 12 students as players. nationwide, 50 people have been arrested, parents and the college coaches they're accused of bribing. the colleges are some of the nation's most elite, yale, stanford, ucla, eight in all. the fbi sayshetic records paid for by their parents. >> this is a case where they flaunted their wealth, sparing no expense to cheat the systems so they could set their children up for success with the best education money could buy. >> reporter: among those charged, "full house" actress lori loughlin, "desperate housewives" star felicity huffman, and top ceos and lawyers. at the center of the scam is william singer, who ran a college prep business. >> getting into the right college will set the trajectory for the rest of your son or daughter's life. >> reporter: he plead

pete williams, continuing to stand by on all this. thank you so much, pete.d. what's the mood you're finding out around the president? any activity in anticipation of the report's highlights being delivered? >> reporter: there's a waiting mode he, too. the president, of course, has been spending the weekend at his florida estate and also spending time at one of his golf resorts in the area nap is whe. where he has been much of today. the game plan, typically travel back to washington, d.c. late in the afternoon. we don't see evidence that would change. we're also in the time of year where family sometimes spend spring break together and have seen the president's son don jr. is here with some of his children, and he has posted photos of grandchildren with their grandfather. that kind of thing, which is very typical trump family weekend activity. we have not had any sense of an impending change in the schedule or comments. we have talked a lot over the last couple of days about how the president has shown unusual restraint, not commenting on the mueller investi

also news from our own pete williams we get a paper copy in two minutes.insley read it live on television. because it will be a paper copy, not an e-mail copy. very short, though, according to jerry nadler. this is interesting. because, ken, as you know, rod rosenstein was at the justice department over the weekend, and mueller was, still, is still being consulted. i thought they were working on trying to figure out how much of the report, as much of the report as possible, as they could make public? >> i did, too, katy, and i think this answers the question i just raised. seems like if it's a very short report, they are not -- >> sorry to interrupt. >> -- summarize what we already knew about russians prosecuted for interfering in the election by either trying to hack into hillary clinton's e-mails or setting up false social media accounts. but here's what it says about obstruction of justice. it says, after making a thorough factual investigation into these matters, the special counsel considered whether to evaluate the conduct, and he's talking about a n

pete williams, nbc news,sh gton. >>> just ahead, how speaker turned shade thrower nancy pelosi gets alarious new title. >>> then jesse and the one-uppers. full house star john stamos takes his jonas brothers fan dom to new heights, next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ walgreens... battle beautifully walgreens... ever notice how hard it is to clean impossible kitchen and bathroom messes with wipes and spray cleaners? try mr. clean magic eraser. just add water, squeeze, and erase. mr. clean magic eraser works great on burnt-on food in the kitchen. it's perfect for cleaning stubborn bathroom soap scum. even on glass. and it even removes four times more permanent marker per swipe. try mr. clean magic eraser, for your impossible kitchen and bathroom messes. >>> h to tell his side of the scary story, joining us, jaguar kelly,y.everyb that's right. thank you for joining us, jaguar kelly. y'all tryingo kill me. >> what? >> you're killing me, jimmy. this isn't autselfies. this is about a relationship with other animals with the hippos and the i giraffes, an can't do t. i didn't do anything to nobody. ou're all killi

nbc's pete williams has the details. >> reporter: this cell phone video shows federal agents about toload a remarkable find. 3,200 pounds of cocaine, 1.6 tons with a street value of $77 million. it was hidden m a shipping container of dried fruit at the port authority of new york in new jersey when scans revealed something suspicious and a closer look turned up white powder in 60 packages. it's the second largest seizure of cocaine at the port and the biggest in 25 years. cocaine use peaked a few decades ago, but federal drug agents say it's making a comeback. >> cocaine was the nemesis in the '90s, but this is traffickers today trying to merge cocaine and fentanyl to create new markets. >> reporter: like other drugs, most cocaine comes into theacss. 90% of it from colombia. now with a dangerous trend of mixing it with fentanyl, drug agents expect to see more big shipments like this one. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> just ahead, how speaker turned shade thrower nancy pelosi gets a hilarious new title. >>> then jesse and the one-uppers. full house star john stamos takes his

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >> and the president is facing bipartisan backlash this morning after defending kim jong un in connection to the death of an american student. the president says he doesn't believeto warmbier. the -yd was imprisoned by north korea in 2016 and died shortly after his release. nbc's hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: bipartisan backlash after a critics call naive and appalling. >> i don't think that the top leadership knew about it. >> reporter: president trump accepting kim jong un's claim he was unaware of the torture of otto warmbier, the american student who was returned to the u.s. in a coma and died after 17 months in a north korean prison. >> he tells me that he didn't know about it. and i will take him at his word. >> reporter: hardly anyone else takes kim at his word. >> the blood of otto warmbier is on the hands of kim jong un. >> we shouldn't be naive about this regime. >> the love affair, kim jong un. our national reputation is being tarnished. >> reporter: it's not the first time the president has seemed willing to take the word of st

all the questions surrounding the special counsel's report we'll have a live report with nbc's pete williams in our next half hour. >>> a bde situation in district heights this afternoon has ended with the gunman still on the loose. police say a man shot two people in the neighborhoodthere, and in the h last halfour, the search expanded beyond pennsylvania avenue and silver hill road near suitland high school. wilkins was first on the scene and joins us live with the latest. >> reporter: prince george's countyolice were concerned about the gunman possibly being inside of a home and they were concerned about the possibility that someone els may have been tn the home with the gunman according to wha witnesses told them. but as you can see here, the police are wrapping up the scene here right off royal plaza drive. let me show you what it looked like earlier. this all started just before 2:00. two people shot, a man who is now in grave -- or has left -- has been left with grave injuries. and another woman who was injured by gun shots. andrince george's county police were told that that gunman p

pete williams will be joining us the next half hour to discuss this case. >>> the jury rowill resumebe detions in the trial of a man accused of killing a young artist nearly two years ago. news4's megan fit fitzgerald wao in the cou for closing arguments today. >> reporter: it's been nearly two years to the day since camille was tied up, brutally raped and murdered. now it's in the hands of the jury. the day started with the prosecution presenting their closing arguments to jurors.nt they p at torre and said he is the one that killed carina, a thriving artist who wanted to change the world thugh art and was in d.c. working on an exhibit.or prosecut went back through the evidence telling jurors that torre's dna was found on carina's body and a backpack he s arrested with. they said after her left her northeast apartment on march 20, 2017, he took her blue toyota prius. prosecution said he was sign usingit her d card at atms across the dmv. but the defense tried to tear gu down that nt, saying that its client is innocent and police didn't thoroughly investigate and didn't follow-up on ot

but it's certainly a terrible thing. >> justice correspondent pete williams joins us now.s it a small group as the president said? are we able to track these people? sometimes they're reay underground it's hard to count them. >> according to the experts on this, and this would include law enforcemt and intelligence in the u.s. the threat of this kind of right wing white supremism is growing around t world. more attacks are being committed in the name of white supremism and nationalism. more people were killed last year by people associated with white supremacists or right wing iedologists. that includes the people shot at the pittsburgh mosque in october. is they say a global threat. and one of the things is they e insp each other on the internet. we're seeing the same kind of thin thatappened with the ideology from isis, encouraging people toake action as we're now seeing among these white he was a big user of social media and a big follower of this andrew brevik in norway who killed 77 people i2010 in that attack. a common thread throughout these atcks and the attackers

here's nbc's pete williams. >> reporter: some of the most elite, yale, stanford, ucl, eight in all. the fbi said the unwittingly students with inflated test scores paid for by their >> this is a case where they flaunted their wealth, sparing no expense to cheat the system so they could setheir children up for success with the best education money could bu reporter: among those charged, full house actress lori loughlin, desperate housewives star huffmannd top c.e.o.s and lawyers. at the center of the scam is william singer, who ran a coll be prepiness. >> getting into the right college will set the trajectory for the rest of your son o daughter's life. >> reporter: he pleaded guilty admitting parents paid him a total of $25 million to ge students admitted as athletes, many having never played a sport. he photo shopped the faces of their children onto pictures of actual athletes and got sames of a student's handwriting. singer then bribed coaches at the schools who put the applicants into their designated admissions slots. prosutors say the former yale women's soccer coach was paid $4

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our pete williams has details. >> reporter: don holmes, retired business consultant in arizona, says he was using his computer when a message popped up like this. a computer virus warning telling him to call for help me ately. he did, paid up. but the problem kept getting worse. >> i said, you know, i think this is a scam. and he just laughed and he says, you can't do anything about it, we're into your computer. r, reporter: he ended up having to buy a new com total cost $1,500. the justice department announced a roundup of more than 260 people in the u.s. and overseas accused of cheating 200 million american victims, most of them seniors, out of $750 millionny with a pomputer virus, one of the fastest-growing scams. >> it's despicable because the pe, le involved are vulnerab and because of their stage in life, they don't have the opportunity frequently to recover. >> reporter: don't fall for sudden claims that your computer has a problem. >> hang up on an unexpected call from someone who claims to be providing tech support. just hang up. it's a scam. >> reporter: prosecutors say oun

here's pete williams. >> reporter: the man who helped get donald trump into the white house now faces almost seven years in prison on topthe nine months he's already spent alf yearsseven and a in all, on charges stemming from his political consulting in ukraine. ated in a wheelchair, manafort said, i'm sorry for what i have tone and all the activities that have gotten us hery. judge amy berman jackson responded, saying sorry i got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency. he faced a maximum of 10 years on the washington, d.c. charges but the judge added 3 1/2 yearsy onto the 4ear sentence manafort got last week in virginia. >> i don't think it is overly lenient. two federal judges have looked at it, they've fashioned sentences they believe are fair an appropriate. he's going to go to jail for a long time.r: >> reporte manafort's lawyer called the sentence callous and harsh but said there was never any suggestion he helped russia meddle in the election. >> judge jacon conceded there was absolutely no evidence of russian collusion in this case. >> reporter: manafort might be hoping

alex. >> wait a minute, pete. williamarr said he will release as much information as possible as is consistent with the law. you are saying that legally speaking, he does not have to release any. is it possible that other than the perhaps bullet points he gives to congress, that would be it? >> reporter: i think what the justice department is trying to struggle with here is two conflicting things. on the one hand, mueller is under the rule, suppose to tell the attorney general about people he investigated, but didn't charge. normally speaking, the justice department doesn't do that. if it investigates somebody and doesn't bring charges, you don't blab about it. you think the hillary clinton is the notable exception to that. of course, yes. you may recall how that ended. that's the interest, i think, on the one hand that the justice department is struggling with. on the other hand, barr knows the need to get out as much information as possible. that is what they are trying to balance right now. they want to tell congress a

i'm going to start one on one with pete williams who has been leading our reporting charge. pete, walk us through exactly what happened today or didn't happen, what you glean from it and what that means for tomorrow. >> so what happened today largely was out of public view. it was bill barr at the justice department with rod rosenstein who's been supervising the mueller investigation, finishing their review of the report and discussing and probably drafting what it is that they can make public. so i think you characterize it exactly right. we're halfway between the point last night when it was made must be and the point tomorrow night when we're going to get our first insight into what the mueller report concluded, or as barr said in his letter to congress friday, the principle conclusions. you have exactly characterized what the letter said we're going to get because in the -- the letter yesterday did several things. it fulfilled the statutory obligation that the attorney general said in the first paragraph when he said mueller's investigation is done and we never did anythi

let's go to pete williams. walk us through what happensno >> reporter: to be very clear, this is all we know. that bob muelleras submitted his report to the attorney general. period. we are not going to hear today what the report says. and as you've noted, lester h ba made a commitment to give congress as much as he can, but we don't know how long that process is going to take. that's the first thing. the second thing, and this is important to emphasize, thisan that the special counsel's work is done. because the rules specifically say t dt hes not submit a report until at the conclusion of the special counsel's work. so that means bob mueller is no longer, as of ae short t from now, the special counsel. there'll be no more indictments from the special counsel. now one question had been might he,e last minute, file indictments. likely.dn't seem but it doesn't seem now that that's going to happen. so no more indictments. and that means that during the entire course of his work, assigned to determine whether anyo

i start with pete williams who has been leading our reporting charge. walk us through what happened today or what didn't happen. what it means for tomorrow. >> what happened today largely was out of public view. it was bill barr at the justice department with rod rosenstein who has been supervising the mueller investigation. finishing their review of the report and discussing and probably drafting what it is they can make public. i think you characterize it just exactly right. we're sort of halfway between the point last night when it was made public and the point tomorrow night when we're going to get our first insight into what the mueller report concluded or as barr said in his letter to congress on friday, the principal conclusions. i, ari, think you have exactly characterized what it is the letter said we're going get. because in the paragraph -- i mean, the e letter yesterday did several things. it fulfilled the statutory obligations that the attorney general said in the first paragraph when he said mueller's investigation is done and we never did

pete williams over to you. i'm curious what your big unanswered questions are and what exactly the attorney general is up to at the doj today. >> i think he's going about most of his business. there's going to be a long process to see how much of the mueller report can be shared with congress. mr. barr's letter to congress yesterday said his big concern is not classified evidence as we thought it might be but grand jury information, because federal law prohibits sharing that in all but sort of imminent danger sort of situations. he says he's going to ask mueller and his team to help go through the report, and filter out any grand jury secret information that can't be shared publicly. so that will be done, and i don't know how long that's going to take. i don't know that anybody knows how long that's going to take. and then that will go to congress. and then i suppose there will be another fight over whether they can get access to the material that was redacted, but it's going to be a long time before that proce

. >> pete williams is jonesing me now, ashley parker who's back from maternity leave and political senior white house, darren samuelson and chuck rosenberg is joining us as well. pete, first to you, rod rosenstein and barr was at the white house today, what was happening? >> it is routine meeting. they go the white house to talk about national security issues. >> it was not necessarily about the mueller report. >> we are told it is not about the mueller report at all. >> pete, during the confirmation hearing, william barr, says he'll do what he can and regulated to do. have we gotten any details on how they envision this playing out? >> not really. when mueller finishes his work in terms of the report that the justice department will make that fact public that mueller has handed his report to the attorney general as the special counsel regulations lay out, the special counsel is to do when the work is done. and we'll be told that has happened and congress will get some notice. there is a good chance that the justice department will impose itself a deadline for when bar will make whatever

nbc's pete williams reports. >> reporter: federal drug and customs agents say they noticed that this container which came off a ship in south america showed signs of tampering. and the cell phone video shows them beginning to unload what will they found inside, 1.6 tons of cocaine. street value $77 million. the drugs were wrapped in burlap bags, backed inpp a sg container for dried fruit. the demand in the u.s. peaked a few decades now drug cartels are looking to exploit the opioid idemic. >> cocaine was the nemesisth in 1990s but this is traffickers trying to merge cocaine and fentanyl to create new markets. >> reporter: most drugs is smuggled into the u.s. through checkpoints. and more than 90%ro comesm colombia where production is surging. now with the dangerous trend of mixing it with fentanyl, drug and inspection agents say they expect to find more big drug shipments like this. >> pete williams wasracing how drugs got into the u.s. and how it was involved. >>> and conor mcgregor is altercation an outside the ring. mcgreg smashed anhone when a tried to take a phone. mcgregor alle

i want to bring in pete williams to this conversation.l me about what implications are of this release. >> a couple other. ♪s about the letter to congress, first he says the he poreport i nearly 400 pages long. he says in terms of executive privilege issues, he said they plan to defer to the attorney general on executive privilege, and there is no plan to submit the report to the white house for a privileged review. and finally he says my letter that came out on sunday has been, in his words, mischaracterized as a summary of the mueller report. he said it was never intended to be that, he said just what he calls the principal conclusions, that is to say the bottom line and he never intended it to be a summary or supplant what mueller will say when the report comes out. it will take weeks to get the report out, i think we know that he meant three weeks because he thinks he can get the report to the hill and publicly released by mid april. >> he says here i don't believe it would be in the public's interest to release it in serial or piecem

alex. >> pete williams in washington. thank you for that. joining me now nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly, good morning to you on this saturday. we know that the president this week backed publicly releasing this mueller report. what's going on at mar-a-lago as the president is waiting for the report's main findings? >> reporter: what's so unusual is after the president has been vocal and combative at so many times about the mueller investigation, he has been quite quiet. so it's roughly 12 hours since the public became aware that the report had been submitted. no tweets from the president. there s-of course, a family gathering at mar-a-lago. we're told he spent some time with the family on the patio at the estate having dinner. he also made a little pop in visit to an event being held at mar-a-lago for the palm beach republican party and that was not an open press event but there were people who posted on social media about the president being there and based on their accounts they claim he didn't say anything about the

. >> pete williams joins us this evening to talk about it. what would be redacted in this report. >> there should be no surprises here. this is exactly what barr said in his letter to congress last sunday, yes, the full report will be made public and given to congress, but certain things have to be left out. grand jury material, which he said i i his letter illegal to share outside the justice grand jury process. any information that wouldop dize the sources and methods for gathering yttelligence. ng that would impede ongoing investigations. those three things were inis tter. then he added a fourth category, i'm reading into this a little bit, i'll tell you what theis language i'm assuming it'le peop who were investigated but not charged. this is the way his letter describes it, he says, information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties. so i don't think it would be -- it would damage anyone's reputation to knowwere interviewed by the special younsel, but if the report said f

pete williams, nbc news, >washington. now, among those named in the federal indictment include a former coach at georgetown. gordon gordy ernst, head coach of men's and women's tennis at he's accused of taking more than $2.5 million in br oes. he's o a $200,000 bond this morning. he hasn't coached there since 2017 when an investigation found he violated university admissions rules. ernst is now at the universit of rhode island. but has been placed on leave.trative >>> are you feeling lucky today? you have 448 million reasonso buy a powerball ticket. nobody won saturday's jackpog. it's grow the cash value, worth $271.7 million. drawing is tonight. good luck. >> the highest ranking catholic parish worldwide to be convicted of child sex abuse sentenc today. how the church is react will. >>> ethiopia is aing forelp to investigate the plane crash. safety questns are growing about the boeing 737 max. >>> the crisis is the catholic church continues. they sentenced him to six years in prison. he's accused ofolting two choir boys

pete williams, thank you as well. let's turn to some league expere experts, greg bower and dan danny sevales. >> i don't think letter could have been better especially in comparison to sunday's letter that i thought was ill advised and caused a lot of confusion. this letter has something for everyone. the ag commits to giving the report quickly, and appears on capitol hill, and there is no plan for the white house to do a privileged review. i think this is a better communication from the ag. it will satisfy a lot of those speculating and criticizing for the last few days, the devil will be in the details, but i thought it was a good communication. >> how do you expect to see from this letter? >> from the mueller report. 400 pages. >> barr says there are 400 pages but that is exclusive of exhibits and other things, i expect those will be significant as well. don't think this barr letter is as deferential to the president as some are saying. he says the president has the right to assert privilege. he doesn't say that th

joining us with a closer look is nbc's pete williams.enter of the probe who seemed to be directing all of this? >> reporter: he's the man who pleaded guilty today. williainr of new port beach, california. he ran a college prep progr at was legitimate on the one hand but on the other hand the fbi saide accepted $25 million over the past seven to eight years from parentsd who wan to get their children into elite universities when they couldn't get in through test scores or athletics. they say there were two aspects to t am. one was a test score scam in which other people would fill t ou test forms for the students once they had started them and singer would bribe the proctors giving the test to inflate the test scores. the other part was this athletic side in which people would apply or schools and then he would phony up their athletic profiles. photo shoppingir facing onto pictures of actual student athletes, using their handwriting to make the rest of their applicationsitatch their own handwriting. and he bribed the tennis coach they say

>>> nbc justice correspondent pete williams expects us to have details on thehi report by time tomorrow. but pete emphasizes it is entirely up t to attorney general to decide what we will or what we won't see. william bar huddled with his deputy rod rosenstein at the justice partment today to review the probe. stay withew and our app for continuing coverage and the conclusions. >>> new tonight, there is a race to find tiseeng sisters in fairfax county. we want you take a good look at your screens this evening. these are pictures of 12-year-old arianna, 10-year-old anaya and 8-year-old athree ena ford. the girlsere last seen at the mt. vernon apartments on russell road and buckman road. if you've seen them, police call police. >>> so folks in fairfax county will be spending the night in a moment, their t un home going in flames. neighbors grabbing their cell phones as the fireed destr one home and quickly spread to others. >> reporter: you can hear fire engines racing to t scene as intention fe intense flames ripped through this townhouse in fairfax countyrn >> i was con about my neighbo

justice with correspondent pete williams. pete, good morning. >> it is a theorney general who is studying the report and who will decide how much of it can be given c togress and made public you. and he is well aware of the intense interest in finding out as much about it as possible. >> reporter: it is robert mueller's final act as special unsel, formally ending his investigation just two months shy of two years after he was appointed to find out whether anyone in the trump campaign helped the russians meddle in the election. following federal rules, mueller submitted his confidential report directly to attorney general william barr. in a letter to leaders of the hous and senate, barr says the report explains who mueller prosecuted and investigated but did not process out. the letterays bar might be able to advise congress of the principle conclusions as soon as this weekend. but mueller did not issue anymore indictments and law enforcement officials say no other special counsel indictments were filed under seal that have no

despite calling it a hoax and witch hunt from the beginning. >> and we want to check back with pete williams. >> this marks the formal end of robert mueller's investigation. 22 months after he was appointed. he turned in his report late friday to the attorney general william barr as required by the rules that govern special counsel investigations. barr then sent a letter to leaders of the house and senate judiciary committees telling them that the report explains who mueller prosecuted and was investigation the astressed ine prosecuted. he might be able to advise of the principal conclusions as soon as this weekend. so mueller's investigation ends with no further indictments and we've been told there are no other indictments filed under seal and have not been made public. in his letter to congress, barr says that he will consult with mueller and the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein about how much of the mueller report can be made public. but none of the people who worked on the trump campaign and who were charged by mueller's prosecutors were accused of helping russia meddle in the ele