pete williams, thank you very much. my panel is back here. frank, let me start with you. champing at the bit earlier when we were talking about that other stuff, but i want to start with what we expect to hear from the questioning having to do with the fbi on this, and specifically this idea of what is bias and how do you define it. >> right, because bias is in the eyes of the beholder as they say. but i think you'll see republican try to paint the inspector general as being counter and a checklist guy. so he's going to say, look, kime in, i looked to see if the rules were followed on pred occasion, in opening, i saw sufficient evidence, i checked that box. then you'll hear the republicans say, well, that's really nice, but what we're trying to get to is get in somebody's head about why they opened an investigation. so, the question we all should be asking is, well, how do you get inside agents' and lawyers' heads and figure that out? you do it through the evidence you have in front of them and doing 100 interviews. so this is going to become a circle of you could have do

attorney general barr sat down with this exclusive interview with nbc news justice correspondent pete williamss magically outside of the justice department after just finishing this interview. pete, talk to me about what he said and how it conflicts with the inspector general and christopher wray, the fbi director's response to the inspector general's report? >> what i asked him about, andrea, first of all, his statement whether he thought the president's investigation of the russia collusion was open on the thinnest possible pretext, i asked him about that. i asked him about the inspector general statement that he didn't believe there was any political bias either in the decision to open the investigation or to seek the enforce intelligence surveillance act on carter page, the former adviser. yule hear him mention steele, that's christopher steele, in the dossier that was so important in getting that warrant. and i asked him about ukraine sand at the very end about the pensacola interview. here's our interview. >> mr. attorney general, why do you say that the fbi opened the investigation of t

horowitz's report but i think has a direct bearing perhaps on what was going on in the fbi. >> nbc's pete williamsoins us from the justice department. fascinating interview, pete. you asked him what kind of bias, he wouldn't answer that. i want to go back to after reviewing a million documents, interviewing a hundred people, he didn't find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced decisions to open the investigation into trump campaign aides. barr's take is what, the ig didn't look hard enough? >> reporter: well, he is focusing on what the inspector general also said, that although he found no evidence of political bias, especially in the way carter page surveillance application was handled, there were so many mistakes that were repeated, the inspector general says, that he never found a satisfactory explanation for that. i think that's what barr is talking about. here is more of what he said. >> i think probably from a civil liberties standpoint, the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government use the apparatus of the state,

here is pete williams. >> reporter: in a highly anticipated report, two years in the making, the inspector general found when the fbi secretly opened an investigation into possible russian influence of the trump campaign in july 2016, it fallowed the rules about launching that kind of se no evidence of political bias and said the fbi had a legitimate purpose in looking at whether there was a threat to national security but har c for permission to conduct surveillance on carter paige, a former trump campaign advisor saying there was serious management failures. the fbi relied on an unverified dossier assembled by christopher steele, a british spy hired to conduct research on trump and russia the report says the fbi's court application made statements about steele that were inaccurate and incomplete and unsupported over selling his support and glossing over the fact many claims he made were not checking out the inspector general made no conclusions behind the repeated failures but said it got no satisfactory explanation how the mistakes happened. james comey in charge of the fbi said the rep

by a saudi national since 9/11. >> pete williams, thank you. the two deadly attacks on military bases this week are shining a spotlight on potential insider threats to american service members at facilities where they should feel safe we get more from kerry sanders. >> reporter: it's a nightmare becoming all too familiar for our armed forces a gunman opening fire at a military base today's deadly shooting in pensacola follows an incident at pearl harbor naval shipyard on wednesday where an active duty sailor killed two people and himself in the past ten years, there have been 19 shootings at military bases, much of the violence carried out by an inside threat. including at fort hood in 2009 when the major nidal hasan gunned down 13 people and in 2013, a contractor shot and killed 12 people at washington naval yard after that incident, an independent review warned security was too focused on threats from outside instead of inside the base and recommended reducing the number of security clearances. now, authorities are investigating another mass

let's get more from nbc's pete williams. >> good morning. >> reporter: after spending more than a year fighting the federal charges and insisting they werthe ial tply at a hearing scheduled for tuesday in san diego. federal prosecutors charged him and his wife, margaret, who was also his campaign treasurer, with spending $200,000 they received in campaign contributions on themselves -- dental bills, exotic vacations, video games and home repairs, and more than $500 to fly their pet rabbit across the country prosecutors said the couple joked that his purchase of hawaiian shorts could be described in campaign reports as golf balls for wounded warriors prosecutors said hunter also used campaign money to facilitate affairs with five women. margaret hunter pleaded guilty five nt on him, but he tried to blame her, saying she's the one who managed the ne he ton kusi today why he will no longer fight the charges. >> i think it's ree reasons, and those three reasons are my kids. >> reporter: hunter is running for re-election after 11 years in the house, but the county republican party no longer

pete williams has late details. pete, what did the judge decide >> lester, gates and the government both urged the judge to sentence him only to probation because he cooperated extensively with robert mueller's prosecutors, and the judge was lenient today, but says gates has to serve 45 days in jail, a weekend at a time he pleaded guilty to hiding millions of dollars in income for political consulting for the pro-russian government in ukraine. his former business partner paul manafort is serving seven years in prison for masterminding that scheme, and his lawyers now say manafort has been sent to a prison hospital for treatment of heart problems michael flynn, the former trump national security adviser, will be sentenced next month, then long-time trump friend roger stone is sentenced in february, lester. >> all right, pete williams, thank you. >>> the other major story we're following tonight affecting an awful of people is that massive december storm system hitting multiple parts of the country. a deadly tornado ou

nbc justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. based on what we just heard, it seems like attorney general bill barr is trying to have it both ways. he's defending christopher wray and the president. just a few hours ago, the president was going after christopher wray. >> reporter: well, i think what the attorney general is saying is that the problems he was concerned with happened in essence under old fbi management. that's what he's most critical of. he seems to say that chris wray is on the right track trying to fix those problems. it's not just the attorney general, but the inspector general was worried about how the fbi kept processing this warrant application to survey carter page, conduct a wiretapping on him. that's where the inspector general focuses most of his criticism, the fact that the fbi was ignoring in its submissions to the court things that would cut the other way. >> he spoke at length about john durham, running a separate investigation into the origins of the russia probe. tell us more about that. >> yes, he sa

assigned to do a separate review of the fbi may not be done until this summer lester >> all right pete williams tonight, thank you. >>> let's go overseas now developing in new zealand. they're issuing a new warning this evening after that volcano eruption another explosion could happen in 24 hours. janis mackey frayer is in new zealand tonight. >> reporter: tonight new zealand police confirming the eight people missing on white island are presumed dead. the island itself still too dangerous for rescue teams to approach >> we will not be moving until the situation is safe for us to operate in. >> reporter: 47 people were on the island when the volcano erupted, including nine americans newlyweds matthew and lauren urey were on their dream honeymoon to new zealand then a late night voice message to his mother in pennsylvania saying they had been on the island and were badly burned >> terrified, any horrible emotion you can imagine. i hung up and quickly called him back and at least got to hear his voice, that he was at the hospital, but his hands were severely burned he really couldn't use the pho

nbc's pete williams has that story >> reporter: matt bevin, kentucky's former republican governor isbut now the fbi is starting to ask questions about his last-minute pardons and sentence reductions for more than 600 people, including convicted murderers and a man accused of raping a child. chris harris, a democrat in the state legislature who called for an inquiry says he has now been contacted by an investigator the fbi isn't commenting, but federal officials say there is little choice but to take an initial look with all the public calls for some scrutiny among the most controversial actions, the pardon of patrick baker, convicted of murder in a home invasion his relatives hosted a political fundraiser for governor bevin last year, but baker says he didn't kill anyone >> i am innocent i want to thank mr. bevin for his courageous actions and allowing me to come home to my family. >> reporter: also raising questions, the pardon of a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl. the prosecutor says the governor never talked to those involved with the case >> he didn't review the police

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> this was a tense and violent day in france. much of the country shut down by massive protests bill neely is there with what's behind it. >> reporter: tear gas, fire and fury in paris as the biggest french strike in decades descended into violence riot police firing stun grenades at protesters, central paris again a battle ground. nearly a million marched in 40 cities police officers and doctors joining garbage collectors and opera singers, public sector workers angry at pension reforms pushed by the french president emanuel macron transport across france stopped, schools and the eiffel tower closed american tourists hit. and violent day in france. much of the country >> i feel a little bit frustrated and i spent a lot of money. >> reporter: echoes today of the violence of last year's yellow vest protests. protesters tonight threatening to cripple the country and economy. more strikes are planned tomorrow and more protests saturday this is a battle of will that could make or break the french government and its president. lester

. >>> a big focus of the investigation is on the shooter's recent travel and pete williams is joining us tonight. what are your investigators telling you? >> well, at this point the fbi and justice department are calling this an act of terrorism and that's the way they're leaning. the u.s. attorney from florida is confident that's no threat from additional terrorist acts. law enforcement officials say after alshamrani arrived in the u.s. for training he returned to saudi arabia, then he came back to florida in february. his friends have told investigators that when he came back he was much stricter about his religious faith and he stopped going to nightclubs and socializing with other students. so that's now a big question. was he radicalized when when went back home? it is true that a few of the fellow students took out phones and recorded video of the attack on friday, but they say many others did the same thing. they also say alshamrani did visit new york recently with some of his fellow students but they believe that that was just a tourist trip. and law enforcement officials have

here is what he told our colleague, pete williams. >> in one area i do disagree with the ig, and that was whether there was sufficient predication to open a full-blown counterintelligence investigation, specifically using the techniques that they did to collect intelligence about the trump campaign. >> the core statement in my opinion by the ig is that these irregularities, these misstatements, these owe missions were not satisfactorily explained. and i think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. >> here for our lead-off discussion on a tuesday night, carol lenic, washington post, jeremy bash, former chief of c, staff at the pentagon and formerly chief counsel of the house intel and michael schmidt pulitzer prize winner for "the new york times."tz jeremy bash, first off, what are we watching here? is the attorney general deciding on his own independent truth as the saying goes, all evidence to the contrary? >> what's amazing, brian, is that the attorney general is complaining in this interview with pete williams. if that is precisely what he's doing alongside giuliani a

then the long-time trump friend roger stone is sentenced in february >> our thanks to pete williams for that report. >>> family, friends, and police officers gathered for an emot n emotional funeral in new jersey. detective joseph seals was laid to rest after being killed in a shootout in jersey city. he is described as a devoted husband and adoring father of five one fz his sons could be seen saluting at the service while wearing his father's uniform cap. delivering a eulogy the police chief said detective seals hate hate-based violence. >>> a suspected armed robber is dead after the two were involved in a shootout. police say the 32-year-old driver was making a delivery in philadelphia when he was approached by a suspected 5r78d robber who allegedly stole some items from his truck authorities say the robber opened fire shooting the driver in the stomach but the driver returned fire using his own weapon, shooting the robber several times both men were taken to a nearby hospitalar with the robber died. the fedex driver is currently in stable condition >>> a florida family received a chr

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> the revelations keep coming about the boeing 737 max the faa facing criticism about its oversight of a plane after a just-released faa document warned last year that 15 of the planes could crash over their life span. here is tom costello. >> reporter: after first speaking with the families of victims from two 737 max crashes, the new faa chief quickly came under congressional fire. >> did the faa at some point in this process make a mistake? >> yes. >> thank you. >> yes. >> reporter: among them, failing to properly oversee th design and production of boeing 737 mad the plane between crashes when faa managers warned another max could crash every two to three years. >> the faa rolled the dice on the safety of the traveling public and let the max continue to fly. >> my highest priority is to make sure that nothing like this happens again. >> reporter: former boeing manager ed pearson who first talked to nbc's cynthia mcfadden repeatedly warned boeing executives of safety lapses. >> i believe production problems at the factory may have contributed

here is pete williams. >> reporter: inspector general michael horowitz offered this stinging assessment of the investigation of the trump campaign when asked if his report is a vindication of the fbi. >> i think the activities we found here don't indicate anybody who touched this >> reporter: democrats stressed they had a reason for launching the investigation and not motivated by politics. >> you didn't find a deep state conspiracy against candidate or president trump. >> as to the opening we found no bias, no testimony on documentary evidence on that >> reporter: no evidence horowitz found that peter strzok and lisa page who shared anti--trump messages played a role >> the investigation we found was not connected to any of the bias texts we identified. >> reporter: republicans concentrated on the report's conclusion that the fbi made serious mistakes in seeking permission under the foreign intelligence surveillance act or fisa to eavesdrop on carter page, a former advisor >> do you feel like mr. page was treated fairly by the department of justice and the fbi >> i don't think the depa

pete williams. he's here with me. ity and pentagon reporter courty cuby joins me on the phone. pete, let me start with you. what new have we learned? >> well, he's a second lieutenant or was a second lieutenant in the saudi air force who came here for flight training. there are sort of three groups that come. very junior officers, very senior ones. he was in the middle. beyond that, we don't really know much about him. there are some pretty fundamental questions like how did he get the gun? the sheriff's office says he did the shooting today with a handgun carrying it out in a classroom building at the naval air station. now, this is a training base. so it has a lot of classrooms. but the sheriff's office says that when the agent or when the officers came in, the deputies came in to encounter the shooter. it actually played out over two floors of that classroom building. so they were obviously pursuing him. and as you say, they were not seriously wounded. one hit in the arm. one hit in the knee. so they're going to be,

and of course a decision by the end of june when the court wraps it up for this term. >> pete williams if you think you've been watching this court longer than any of us here, if you think that it will be a different climate in donald trump's two picks and i'm sure that's how he views them in his eyes, will be ruling on a case that will really capture the president's attention, for lack of a better word, he is likely to be tweeting about it around the clock. just your thoughts from watching this court. have you ever seen a dynamic like that shape up? >> well, we saw justice gorsuch on the court involved in some of these privileged cases involving the presidential powers. remember, in the 1970s when the supreme court said president nixon was not immune from a subpoena for the white house tapes, william renquist did sit the case out. but other members of the court did vote on that case. i wouldn't think that any of the current justices would recuse themselves. renquist had worked in the justice department. that's what complicated that. that's not true of either kavanaugh or gorsuch. so,

that had a level of sophistication and scope of threat that we rarely see. >> joining me now is pete williamscorrespondent, and joyce advanced, former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor. welcome, both. pete, you were at the news conference. do they have any idea who these guys are? >> yes, they know they're both in russia. the poster you showed earlier says it all, wanted by the fbi. they admitted these charges won't shut down their operation. but whenever these individuals are indicted, it makes it impossible for them to travel, there are interpol notices and so forth. they said this is the worst hacking operation in a decade, 300 organizations targeted in 43 countries. it was a very simple thing. they sent innocent-looking emails. this is the basic phishing thing that people clicked on, launching malware into their computers and it injected very sophisticated malware that was connecting a hose into people's bank accounts and draining them. >> in answer to a question you asked at the news conference, this stuff is still there in various places, the malware, so victims need to be alerted. >>

. >> i want to bring in pete williams. we just lost pete as well. colonel jack, are you with us?he gun laws in the state of florida, how much did they impact what the protocol is on a navy base like this? >> generally speaking they don't have anything at all to do. what takes place on post, which is federal property, i don't know specifically about the navy, but in the army, when i was in the army, the following rules applied. you can have weapons, but the weapons a, had to be registered, and b had to be under lock and key in the arms room which it itself is locked and attended by the armor when the commander dictates it is possible to do so. the weapon has to be signed out and signed back in after a specific time. even weapons on post are very strictly controlled. weapons that are off post is a different story all together. not every vehicle coming on a post or base, under normal circumstances, is examined fully. so most posts, bases, stations, if you a government sticker with your car registration sticker for your car, and you have a government id. they will check your id and y

i want to bring in our justice correspondent pete williams. s concerns here. a lot of folks are likely going to be opening one of these dna testing kits tomorrow morning. >> this was a somewhat surprisingly blunt memo issued december 20th. yahoo! news first reported it. it basically says, it urges military personnel not to get these kits. it says there's concern the information they send in could be used either to track them individually or track them as part of a military unit, putting them in potentially the military unit at risk. i have to say this is not a new concern from people at the defense department. back in july, the chief of naval operations was speaking about this, gave a speech in washington and said much the same, that military personnel should stay away from this. i think the reason this d.o.d. memo came out just before christmas is the memo says there has been some indication that some of the test makers were offering military discounts, and for that reason they said they didn't want military personnel buying these. >> pete, ou

it seems like this case is fizzling out. >> pete williams is our justice reporter.g to alice marie johnson who was granted clemoency by president trump. >> the u.s. intelligence agency say something completely different. igence agency say something comp you are watching "velshi & ruhle." tely different. you are watching "vehils & ruhle. sleep this amazing? that's a zzzquil pure zzzs sleep. our liquid has a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no next-day grogginess. zzzquil pure zzzs. naturally superior sleep. we di didn't have to call an ambulance.. and i didn't have to contact your family. because your afib didn't cause a blood clot that led to a stroke. not today. we'd discussed how your stroke risk increases over time, so even though you were feeling fine, we chose xarelto® to help keep you protected. once-daily xarelto® ... ...significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib... not caused by a heart valve problem. in fact, over 96% of people remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as

pete williams is at the supreme court. pete, what do we know. >> reporter: the president is appealing court rulings to turn over years of tax returns and financial documents. one case involves a grand jury subpoena issued by the manhattan d.a. investigating the hush money paid to two women during the campaign trump's lawyers say a president can't be touched by any part of the criminal justice system. the other two cases involved demands from documents from three house committees the court will hear the cases in march with a decision by late june and the subpoenas that remain on hold lester. >> thank you, pete. >>> a break in the brutal killing of a college student here in new york a young teenager arrested and charged as an urgent manhunt continues for more suspects. ron allen has more. >> reporter: today as grief consumes the college community, multiple law enforcement officials say a 13-year-old boy is under arrest in the death of 18-year-old student tessa majors nbc news is not naming him because he's a juvenile charged

. >> nbc justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. pete, what more do we know about the victims and the shooter and what caused this? >> reporter: the navy says this happened just before 7:00 local time, that's central time, in a classroom building at pensacola. we're waiting for word on who fired the shots this morning, whether it was someone connected with the base or someone from outside. there are some local reports the attack was carried out by a sailor, but there are other reports indicating that that's not the case. tellingly, authorities say they have not yet ruled out the possibility that this was an act of terrorism. and that is an investigative aspect that's being followed closely right now, andrea. as you noted, andrea, two of the wounded were sheriff's deputies among the first to respond. one was hit in the knee, one was hit in the arm. officials say they actually exchanged gunfire with the shooter in two floors of the building and that was one of them who killed the shooter. the fbi officials say they have sent experts to

possible connections to the trump campaign and in particular, what william barr said to our colleague pete williams which was completely not really relevant when william barr is seizing on the fact that's doesn't believe there was a predicate, a legal justification for launching that probe in the first place and that the trump campaign should have been warned. in fact, the trump campaign was adequately warned by john brennan and others at the time, during the transition and when donald trump was the candidate when he was the nominee, that there was the possibility of russian interference, that they should be on guard against it. there was plenty of justification according to fbi officials and other and michael horowitz for not telling the trump campaign that there could be a mole in the trump campaign. it's one thing for john brennan to say to the russians in moscow, hey, we know what you're doing, cut it out. for barack obama to say to vladimir putin at the g20, we know what you're doing, cut it out. but they have argued, and a lot of democrats disagree, they think they should have done more. they

joining me now, blayne alexander and pete williams. let's start with you blayne, what do we know at this point? >> reporter: we are expecting to hear that press conference with the latest from the escambia county sheriff's office, we know the base is closed for the rest of the day. only essential personnels allowed in and out. we know that the shooting that we are learning more about where the shooting happened and how it unfolded. it happened in one of the classroom buildings. the briefing earlier, officials would not say which room, they did not want to give too many details. it happened at the naval air station. the call came in around 6:30 this morning, calling for an active shooter. we know three people have been killed zand others taken to the hospital near by. two departments were aluties wee shootout. we are waiting to hear from officials. >> when we listen to the previous news conference, they were squasked about the shooter they did not get any information. what can you tell us? >> reporter: the suspect, the person that carri

joining me now from outside the supreme court is nbc justice correspondent pete williams. , just to underscore this, this particular legislation about which this case is based is no longer on the books. which is kind of curious that this thing has continued all the way to the supreme court. >> well, the -- the -- it's continued to today's argument. after the supreme court agreed to hear the case is when the city repealed the ordinance. and for that reason, the city says there's nothing to fight here. go home. but the lawyers for the three gun owners who brought this case say not so fast. there's still enough of the law left or enough of similar laws left that restrict their second amendment rights. now, they wanted to be able to take their guns they have permission to keep at home. they wanted to take them to shooting ranges, gun competitions, second homes. the city ordinance that was released said you can only take them to shooting ranges inside the city. can't leave the city limits. that law is gone. but what their lawyer told the court today is that there are still restr

issued hundreds of pardons now the fbi is reportedly taking a closer look at just who walked free pete williams more >> kentucky's former republican governor is out but now the fbi is asking questions about his sentence reductions for more than six hundred people. chris harris, a democrat in the state legislature says he's now been contacted by an investigator there's little choice but to take an initial look the pardon of patrick baker convicted of murder in a home invasion his relatives hosted a fundraiser for baker last year >> i am innocent i just want to thank him for his courageous actions and allowing me to come home to my family >> the man accused of rapes a nine-year-old girl >> didn't review the police zvpt fierlt and he never talked to the victim or her mother >> he says there was no impropriety in any of the pardons but now members of the republican party are urging state officials to conduct their own investigation. >>> chaos grips hong kong on christmas eve. thousands clashed with police at a shopping mall. >> reporter: in hong kong on the eve before christmas, clashes. one of the

joining me now from pensacola, florida, blain alexander, also with me, pete williams, tom winter and jim kavanaugh. what do we know so far? >> we have now on the record the governor saying what we've been reporting is the person who fired these shots was a member of the saudi air force in the u.s. to receive aviation training. we've reported his name. al shamroni. one point to make here is that when people come to the united states for this kind of training, they are vetted by not only their host country for us but by the u.s. military as well. so it's -- it takes a lot to get into one of these programs to train in the u.s. they're going to be real serious questions about that. before we go any further, i think it's important to say that while there is an investigation obviously to see whether this is an act of terrorism, no one is saying that there is. and it's of course entirely possible that this person could have been motivated by something other than a terroristic motivation. the same kind of motivation that could cause other people to carry out shootings, jealousy, mental probl

pete williams. ben wittes, thank you. it's pretty clear the fbi and some others are treating fisa applications as if they're any other government bureaucrat's paperwork and that is, clearly, is a problem. it's too loose. anyway, thank you both. >>> up ahead, much more on today's testimony from the department of justice's inspector general. what impact could it have on the impeachment inquiry? i'll ask democratic senator sheldon. and the relentless fight over what's actually real in the trump era. less fight over what's actually real in the trump era. great riches will find you when liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wow. thanks, zoltar. how can i ever repay you? maybe you could free zoltar? thanks, lady. taxi! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ the ones that make a truebeen difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check

in an exclusive interview with our own pete williams, attorney general barr insisted the trump campaignpied and and said the russia investigation was based on bogus narrative. also criticized the scope of the i.g.'s investigation, the media and a whole lot more. here are just a few of the highlights from this extraordinary interview. >> but in one area, i do disagree with the i.g., and that was whether there was enough to open a full-blown counterintelligence investigation specifically using the techniques they did. from the very first day of this investigation, which was july 31st, 2016, all the way to its end in september 2017, there was not one incriminatory bit of evidence to come in. it was all exculpatory. the core statement in my opinion by the i.g. is that these irregularities, these misstatements, these omissions were not satisfy factually explained. and that leaves open the impossible to infer bad faith. i think it's premature to reach a judgment on that, but i think that further work has to be done and that's what durham is doing. >> based on what you know so far, is it -- do

our correspondent pete williams is following developments from pensacola. classroom building on the facility. we're waiting for word on who fired the shots this morning, whether it was someone connected with the base or someone from outside. there's some local reports that the attack was carried out by a sailor. the navy now said 11 people in all were shot at pensacola. four of them died including the gunman. there's no word on the extent of injuries of those that were wounded and the navy and sheriff's office say two of them were sheriff's deputies that were among the first to respond. neither of them suffered life threatening injuries. officials say those deputies exchanged gunfire with the shooter on two floors of the classroom building before it was over. the sheriff of escambia county florida where the base is located says it's all over now. >> at 6:51 this morning the call went out to the escambia county sheriff office that there was an active shooter on naval air stati station pensacola. we had two units respond and many to respond. while we'd love t

the past decade and tonight federal prosecutors have charged two men in russia with running it pete williams has details. >> reporter: operating from inside russia federal prosecutors say tonight these two men targeted thousands of victims vacuuming millions out of their bank accounts. criminal who, with the stroke of a key and the click of a mouse committed cybercrimes gle. million from a pennsylvania oil company which eventually managed to get the money back but most victims weren't so lucky. an order of nuns in illinois lost $24,000 the hackers focused on small businesses and city and county governments. in all investigators say u.s. victims in 11 states lost $70 million. worldwide say officials in the u.s. and england the hackers hit more than 300 organizations in 43 countries. >> there is real world harm with people's life savings, people's companies are being compromised by these individuals >> reporter: the u.s. is offering a $5 million reward for information that leads to the capture of him living moscow and the russians aren't doing much t lp >>> this was a tense and violent day in

pete williams has details. >> reporter: they're one of this year's hottest christmas gifts, home dnaesting kits that help trace a person's ancestry or flag potential vulnerability to disease. the companies have long said they carefully guard the data they gather, but now the defense department is warning u.s. military personnel not to use them, a memo co-signed by the top pentagon intelligence official says the kits could expose personal and genetic information and potentially create unintended security consequences and risk. the kits are hugely popular with over 26 million people having submitted their dna to trace their lineage. privacy concerns have grown along with their populari popularity, given how revealing dna can be. >> one of the things about dna is it's almost always unique so therefore, while you can change your i.d., you can change your password, it's really difficult to change your dna. >> reporter: ancestry.com says it does not share dna data with insurance companies or employers. 23andme says its customers choose how their information will be used and shared though b

nbc's pete williams is at the court to explain why. >> reporter: hallie, the biggest surprise is the court is hearing this case at all, because after ruling in 2008 that the second amendment does provide an individual right to have a gun at home for self-defense, the court has repeatedly brushed aside other challenges to gun laws and has not examined the question about what about having guns outside the home, like concealed carry laws orbans on assault weapons or high capacity magazines. this involves a city ordinance in new york that said if you had a permit to have a handgun, you couldn't take it outside the city. and it was challenged by gun owners who wanted to take their guns to shooting ranges or shooting competitions or second homes. they sued, but the lower courts upheld the law and so they appealed to the supreme court. and after the supreme court agreed to hear this case, the city repeeled the law and the state legislature passed a law. so this law may be declared moot, but nonetheless, here is the supreme court looking at this issue of the second amendment right to bear ar

craig. >> pete williams for us there in washington, pete thank you. joined now by rich lowry, a leading conservative thinker, editor of the "national review" also author of "the case for nationalism. >> good to see you >> another slow day news day in america. >> let's start with bill barr left off that the entire investigation was based on this bogus narrative, intelligence agencies have disputed that, special counsel robert mueller documented more than a hundred instances where there was contact between the trump campaign and a foreign person. what do you make of bill barr taking on his own inspector general? >> i think there's a tension here, right, because the bar for the predicate of an investigation like this is very low, but you think commonsensically, you want to be extra cautious ithoutldish, i ts sense to have more facts but the chance of this being resolved to everyone's satisfaction is basically zero. >> let's turn to the impeachment now, democrats settled on two articles, abuse of power, and obstruction of congress. and not obstruction of

speaking with nbc's pete williams, barr essentially dismissed the i.g.'s conclusion that there was no evidence of political bias when the fbi launched its russia probe, arguing that his hand picked prosecutor john durham will have the final say. barr also stood by his assertion that the trump campaign was spied on. >> i think our nation was turned on its head for three years. i think based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press, and i think that there were gross abuses of fisa and inexplicable behavior that isn't tolerable in the fbi. in one area i do disagree with the i.g., and that was whether there was sufficient predication to open a full-blown counter intelligence investigation specifically using the techniques that they did to collect intelligence about the trump campaign. the score statement in my opinion by the i.g. is that these irregularitieirregulariti misstatements, these omissions were not satisfactorily explained, and i think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. >> do you s

attorney general barr did all of those things today in an exclusive interview with pete williams. rr said based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, quote, in most campaigns there are signs of illegal foreign money coming in. that is absolutely not true. that is a lie that the attorney general told today to try to help donald trump. he also said he disagreed with the justice department inspector general that there was sufficient evidence for the fbi to start an investigation of the trump campaign's possible involvement with russia's attack on our election. >> i think when you step back here and say what was this all based on, it's not sufficient. remember there was and never has been any evidence of collusion. and yet this campaign and the president's administration has been dominated by this investigation into what turns out to be completely baseless. >> the investigation that the attorney general now calls baseless delivered criminal convictions of donald trump's first national security advisor, michael flynn. donald trump's campaign chairman, paul manafort. paul manafort's depu

nbc's pete williams has more on this one. pete, good morning. >> reporter: hoda, the first appearance before congress by the inspector general since he issued that report on the fbi's investigation of the trump campaign, and it ended up as a tale of two he republicans and democrats concentrated on two different parts they found the most important. senate democrats wanted to know about the conclusion by inspector general michael horowitz that politics played no role in the fbi's decision to launch its investigation of the trump campaign in july 2016. >> you didn't find a deep state conspiracy against candidate or president trump? >> as to the opening we found no, no bias, no testimonial documentary evidence on that. >> reporter: horowitz said he found no evidence either that the fbi's peter strzok and lisa page who exchanged hundreds of anti-trump text messages played but republicans zeroed in on the inspector general's conclusion that the fbi made serious mistakes, some intentional, in seeking permission under the foreign inte

steve: one of the other things bill barr told pete williams last night he dismissed the department ofthere was no evidence of political bias he said you know what john durham is going to have the final. his report could come out in the summer. brian: late spring it. depends on when the flours flows bloom. ainsley: before september 1st. carley: manhunt intensifies for a driver who hit a police sergeant and left her to die. kayla sullivan was seriously hurt as the suspect sped away from a traffic stop in nassau bay, texas. she died at the hospital two weeks before her 16th anniversary with the force. >> this is a nightmare scenario for our city. first time an officer has been seriously injured much less killed in the line of duty. we are a very safe city. we will catch the suspect. carley: at least five officers have been killed by vehicular assault. today the family of a toddler who fell to her death on a cruise ship will file suit against royal caribbean. lowe's parents could be awarded tens of millions of dollars it. comes as chloe's grandfather sal tore is charged with negligent hom

pete williams, what is going on here? in many ways the bigger surprise is that the court was hearing this at all. this was a new york city ordinance that said if you have a permit for a handgun you could only go to one of seven shooting ranges in the state. one said he had a vacation home, a summer home, and he wanted to take his handgun there. they sues and new york city won. the law was upheld by a local court and a court of appeals, and they appealed the case to the supreme court, and while they were deciding whether or not to take the case, they did and at that point the city repealed law, and then they said cities could not pass laws like it. the law doesn't exist any more, but the supreme court will hear this argument today. one big question is whether or not this case is moot, the gun owners say yes, there is, but the city still treats them, but the biggest point here is that for the first time in a decade, the supreme court will go back into the second amendment issue and that is a surprise because after ruling in