peter alexander has that story. >> reporter: exactly eight months after the deadly attack in benghazi that killed ambassador chris stevens and three others, leaked e-mails reveal the obama administration was more involved than initially stated. in watering down the widely discredited talking points. >> it makes it look like they're trying to hide something whether or not they are. >> reporter: the e-mails show 12 separate drafts of those talking points. the cia's first version blaming the incident on protests in cairo over an anti-islamic video and noting, we do know that islamic extremists with tie to alexander participated in the attack. the text made mefreverend to fi other attacks against foreign interests. spokesperson victoria nuland e-mailed that the mention of prior attacks could be abused by members of congress to beat the state department for not paying attention to agency warnings. so why would we want to feed that either. concerned. at white house meetings the following day, other officials further diluted the language eliminating the reference to terrorism and previous at

>> all right, peter alexander tonight. peter, thank you. >>> in moore, oklahoma, darkened skies again today as the first funerals were held for the 24 victims of monday's tornado, 10 of them children. for the survivors, this is also a day to reconnect and start moving forward again. nbc's janet shamlian joins us now from moore. hey, janet, good evening. >> reporter: ann, good evening to you. it's just what they didn't need here, thunderstorms and flooding, putting this community on edge and shutting down cleanup efforts for several hours. and it came on a day when students and parents were taking their first steps towards something resembling normal. the children of moore, oklahoma, headed back to school today, days after the tornado ripped through two of their buildings, killing seven of their classmates. >> how are you, sweetheart? >> we talk to each other and we just got to say hi to each other again. >> reporter: students from the two devastated schools were sent to other schools for the final assembly, a chance for clo

our white house correspondent peter alexander joins us from the north lawn. peter, good evening. >> reporter: ann, good evening to you. today the president refined his idea that the so-called war on terror launched by the bush administration is no longer relevant instead presenting a much narrow definition of american counterterrorism. president obama today reframed the fight against terrorism and evolving threat now facing the u.s. >> we must define our effort not as a boundless global war on terror but rathers a series of persistent targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that tart america. our nation is still threatened by terrorists from benghazi to boston we have been tragically reminded of that truth. >> reporter: in defense of america's secret war the president laid out clear and narrow guidelines for drone strikes arguing they are legal and carefully considered. >> before any strike is taken there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. the highest standard we can set. >> reporter: but there's a

peter alexander with us. peter, let's go back. september 11th of this past year. firefight rages for hours. four americans are dead including our ambassador in benghazi. we now know it mattered greatly what the administration said about this, what they knew versus what they said. we were, after all, in the midst of a presidential campaign. >> reporter: that's why the white house put these 100 benghazi e-mails out late this evening. they say they show exactly what the administration has been asserting all along. the e-mails show exchanges between the white house, state department and cia as they worked to prepare talking points for the house intelligence committee. the same talking points that would be used by u.n. ambassador susan rice when she went on the sunday morning news programs that following sunday. republicans have criticized the administration for scrubbing talking points to remove references to al qaeda. they insist to protect the president in the final months of the presidential campaign when one of mr. obama's key themes throughout had been that al qa

our white house correspondent peter alexander was along for all of it. he's with us from there tonight. peter, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian, good evening to you. beach boys, jersey boys, people will be having fun with this one for a while. the president came got jersey shore for an important message he wanted to get across and what might best be described as the sandy recovery reunion. they looked like old friends, enjoying an extended memorial day weekend down the shore. president obama and governor christie back together again. at the arcade as for the longstanding debate about whether these are games are skill or chance today the governor showed he's the experienced local hand naming his shot. greeting nearly 4,000 rain soaked supporters they seemed careful for a full-on hug. >> hello, new jersey. >> reporter: the president sounded like a one-man tourism board. >> we've got wonderful shops and restaurants and arcades that are opening their doors and i saw what thousands of americans saw over memorial day weekend. you are stronger than the stor

recognize are going to be drowned out by the conversations surrounding them. >> good choice of words, peter alexander, being drowned out by a lawn mower as we speak. stand by. we have the other stories as well. i know you're in the middle of all of them, peter. things got a bit heated on capitol hill yesterday as attorney general eric holder faced questions from the house judiciary committee. the hearing's primary focus was the justice department's use of secret subpoenas to obtain phone records from the associated press reporters as part of a doj investigation. however, while discussing a separate matter, holder lashed out at congressman darrell issa. >> i'm sure there must have been a good reason why only the to and from parts were -- >> yes. you didn't want us to see the details. mr. attorney general, knowing the to and from -- >> typically -- i'm not going to stop talking now. you characterize something as -- >> mr. chairman, would you inform the witness as to the rules of the committee? >> -- and is too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of congress. it's unaccepta

joining us, peter alexander. the political odd couple. they are back together once again. certainly what a difference six or seven months can make there on the jersey shore. >> yeah, in many ways it's a second act for this political odd couple. chris christie and the president will be together. the president is supposed to be here in the next 30 minutes or so. you can see it's raining now but the people that are from asbury park tell us we survived sandy. rain is just a nuisance at this point. the president is going to visit with the people badly impacted. the business owners as well. i spoke to the mayor that said in an average summer they hired about 1500 workers and they're hiring 900 for this summer. they still have a ways to go. that's the message they want to deliver is the need to support tourism which in this state is a $40 billion industry. the president who was just in oklahoma over the weekend visiting with the people where the tornado ravaged the community of moore, oklahoma, said that he will pledge to support -- the on going support of the government. white h

nbc's peter alexander is live at the white house.s is in our washington bureau. and nbc congressional correspondent luke russert standing by on capitol hill. mika, a lot to talk about. we talk about a white house fighting back. >> absolutely. president obama is facing ongoing questions stemming from the irs's targeting of conservative groups. with the first of several hearings on the issue set to kick off today, a second irs official is stepping down. he follows the agency's acting commissioner who announced his resignation earlier this week. now a white house budget official will take over the irs, meanwhile we learn the irs staffer who was in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time the tea party groups were targeted -- >> got fired, right? >> well, no. that person -- >> suspended? >> hum. a little different than that nk i bet they demoted him. put him in a position that is not going to be important as we move forward. >> maybe in a holding room. no. >> really. kind of like, you remember where bloomberg would put the teac

and on the jersey shore, nbc news white house correspondent, peter alexander. peter, thanks for joining us. if you could give us a sense of what it looks like down there. 80% of businesses are up and running. residentially, we know there's more work to be done. could you give us your assessment? >> to give you a sense now it looks like a rainy day here along the jersey shore. as one person said to me a short time ago, they said we can deal with this we survived sandy. as the beaches are now reopened for this summer, 22 of the 23 boardwalks along the shore here are reopened. the real hope for the people who live in this community, i spoke to the mayor of asbury park, a short time ago to send a postcard to america saying we're back open for business. tourism in this state is nearly a $40 billion industry. asbury park is not as badly hit as some other communities here, seaside heights of course, manoloking badly hit. but already some reconstruction is taking place here. they admit it will be many more years before it's certainly complete. >> peter, anecdotally, wha

i'm peter alexand aer, my friend chuck todd on assignment in arizona. he's out there for education nation. >>> we begin with developing new surprising numbers in the april's jobs report not to mention critical revisions from february and march. but, first, the numbers from this past month. 165,000 jobs were added in april. lowering the unemployment rate to 7.5%. that is the lowest level in more than four years. on top of that, we saw significant revisions over the last two months, according to the labor department. employers added 332,000 jobs in february. and 138,000 in march. that is a lot more than last month's estimates of roughly 268,000 for february and just about 88,000 for the month of march. so, when you put it altogether, the revisions add up to an additional 114,000 jobs. we're going to check in with the folks at moody's analytics in just a moment. but also tell you about another story making headlines today and that is syria with al assad's regime killing in a large-scale massacre in a coastal village. this is according to a british human ri

. >> nbc's peter alexander is live at the white house for us. this is president obama's first trip to mexico to meet the new president. what is the administration hoping to accomplish on this trip? >> reporter: that's a good point that you make. the first conversation the two are going to have face to face. among the issues that will be spoken about in the course of their conversations this evening of course with mexican president enrique pena nieto. security has potential of overshadowing other topics because since pena nieto came into power in december, he's pressed to end the mexican access granted to u.s. agencies fighting drug trafficking and organized crime which is a shift from his predecessor. the issue of trade is important. one the white house wants to focus. one of the advisers to the president telling us yesterday that they hope specifically to focus on enormous commercial relationship between the two countries. >> real quick, an announcement today? >> announcement of a longtime friend of the president dating back to the 1990s was na

let's bring in nbc white house correspondent peter alexander and david k. johnson, columnist for taxanalyst.com. peter, you got your hands on the e-mails. there they are. you've read through them. what do we learn from them? >> first of all, chris, here are the 100 pages of e-mails, okay, and what they effectively do is lay out the jostling that took place between intelligence officials and diplomatic officials. these e-mails show exchanges between officials at the white house, the cia, and the state department over exactly what should be said in those talking points, the ones would be first provided to a house intelligence committee, but also provided to susan rice on that sunday following the benghazi attack. and i think the most significant lesson that we learn from reading these documents at this point is at least according to a senior administration official, that they say even though there was a lot of evidence that the state department, we reported, wanted changes, a senior intelligence official says specifically that they wanted the same changes inde

. >> nbc's peter alexander is at the white house for us. a big presence in washington, d.c., from past administrations and not for the mere fact that he's 6'8", but do we know whether or not he truly is the president's first choice and how republicans are reacting to that? >> reporter: it's a good question. we reached out to the white house a short time ago and they say at this point they have no comment on that. they will not confirm. but we do hear from sources close to this decision that it is the president's intent to nominate james comey as the next fbi director right now. you asked the question about what republicans think about this. the confirmation hearing would take place if it is to be comey in a senate judiciary committee. the top republican there is senator chuck grassley who didn't so much deride comey for his integrity but he did warn there could be some concerns about comey's past history where he served as general counsel on a connecticut hedge fund. grassley said among other things it raised questions about his willingness

>> let's go back to nbc's peter alexander. back in asbury park.s one and done and the president, not so much. >> yeah, that's exactly right. i think the image of the high five andrea, they may very well be the most lasting image of this day with the president visiting the jersey shore for the first time in seven months. obviously optically, politically there's so much to be read into everything we've witnessed there. chris christie has gubernatorial election before 2016. the thing that struck me, hearing the president's remarks which were abbreviated because of the not so desirable weather here was the fact that he sounded more like a candidate, candidate obama than we have heard pretty much at any other time since the election took place. if only in his cadence, more than the content. he really did sort of send out a postcard to america. the chamber of commerce has got to be thrilled. the president said remind people that we are back open for business, we need their business to succeed. so ultimately this isn't just our issue, it's america's issu

. >> nbc's peter alexander is live at the white house.know the president has already reached out to the governor of oklahoma, and as i learned earlier today, he's also spoken with the mayor of moore. >> yeah, that's right, thomas. he spoke to the mayor of moore. mayor lewis, a short time ago. just before he came out and spoke here at the white house. he spoke with governor mary fallin as well. also spoke to one of the representatives, tom cole, from the state of oklahoma as well. i wanted to try to give you a better understanding of what it means with the president approves a major disaster declaration. it breaks down in two simple forms. one is what they call ia, individual assistance, which means once you sign up for this, you are eligible for money, up to $30,000 per household to pay for immediate needs like housing, which as you witnessed there, is so critical at this time. the other is what they call p.a., or public assistance. it helps pay the state, the city, and the county bills to cover things like one of the most important, and

nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander, white house reporter for politico and richard wolf, executive editor of msnb contract.com. we're going to get to everything. i think the irs is the big story. peter, i'm dismayed by the white house continuing to say a few bad apples out there in cincinnati when we're learning that it was washington, the irs itself, that ordered this review of these right-wing organizations. my question is can they isolate this to a few civil servants in cincinnati? or is this an irs-wide issue o an administration-wise issue? >> it appears the president's position is they want this inspector general's report, the watch dog group, to complete its report due out this week. the challenge for them is to try to isolate it as best they can. we heard from you a second ago saying we had heard this targeting began as early as 2011. nbc news has obtained a draft copy with redactions of that report and it indicates that the targeting of those tea party and patriot-type groups goes back as far as march of 2010, that is now three years ago. it was 2012 when douglas

nbc white house correspondent peter alexander joins me.re really probably in the building behind you. in the west wing specifically in damage control mode trying to stay ahead of all of these -- all of these fast and furious punches. >> reporter: yeah. yesterday, certainly, it was the effort to try to neutralize at least the issue of the irs and the benghazi issue with that press briefing where the president addressed both of those issues directly. eric holder as you noted has a briefing of his own. a press conference where the focus is intended to be on medicare fraud. he'll surely receive questions from reporters about what exactly the justice department knew and about his actions regarding misconduct in terms of what's being alleged as misconduct in terms of going after the associated press's records from last spring. another one of the questions i think jay carney's going to be hit about today, thomas, is the way the president handled the issue of the irs. and if people are satisfied that he went far enough. the president said if it is

joining us now from the white house to help sort it out, nbc's peter alexander.peatedly asked if the white house was feeling under siege. it was pretty hot in that briefing robrief ing room, wasn't it? >> reporter: this is one we'd been expecting was going to be like that. jay carney made clear today the president is committed to the unfettered scrutiny that the media provides, and today the media provided a lot of that scrutiny of jay carney, himself, and this administration. about an hour's worth. another former press secretary, ari fleischer, as we sat down, tweeted out some of his thoughts on what jay carney needed to do. he said he needs to duck, dodge, dance and defer. that's pretty much what carney had to do today. he said on each of these investigations that the white house was in no position to really say anything as they wait for those investigations to be completed. he also added the fact that he had to deflect a lot of these questions until there are further evidence that he could respond to more specifically. you know, this white house has had really

peter alexander standing by with us. with a good sunday to you. this topic was burning up the air wave. what else are we hearing about it. >> you heard from senator john mccain a moment ago. we heard from darrell issa, the representative from california who heads up the house oversight committee. he said basically the revisions to the e-mails are what we described as a manipulation of the cia to get the truth that you want. he referred to it saying it was clear from the get-go that terrorist activity was involved in the attacks in benghazi, those that left four americans, including the u.s. ambassador there dead. today we heard from mccain as well as senator kellie ayotte, saying they want further testimony from hillary clinton, then secretary of state. here was representative issa earlier today, explaining the priorities to his committee. >> was the response correct? could it have been better? why weren't things at least tried or revved up to be tried. afterwards, how could you change talking points 12 times from what seems to be relatively right

nbc's peter alexander has the latest. >> obama, obama! >> reporter: with the president addressing graduates at the historically black morehouse college in atlanta today, no mention of the convergence of controversies still brewing in washington. still, the white house is aggressively responding, calling accusations of mismanagement offensive and absurd. on the irs issue -- >> there is no question that republicans are trying to make political hay here. >> reporter: a senior advisor speaking out on all five sunday morning talk shows. >> when they want to do when lacking a positive agenda is try to drag washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions trumped up hearings and false allegations. we're not going to let that happen. >> reporter: president obama's team promising accountability at the irs. still, republicans aren't satisfied. >> there is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration. it is no wonder that the agents and the irs sort of get the message. the president demonizes his opponents. >> reporter: but gop lea

nbc's peter alexander has the latest. >> bomb! bomb! >> reporter: with the president addressing graduates at the historically black morehouse college in atlanta today, no mention of the convergence of trofrz sti controversies still brewing in washington. the washington is aggressively responding calling this aggressive and absurd. on the irs issue -- >> no question republicans are trying to make political hay. >> reporter: a senior advisor speak out. >> when they want to do when lacking a positive agenda is try to drag washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions and trumped up allegations. >> reporter: president obama's agency promising a top-down review. >> there is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration. it is no wonder that the agents and the irs sort of get the message. the president demonizes his opponents. >> reporter: but gop leaders concede there is no evidence the white house ordering the targeting of conservatives. >> we don't have anything to say that the president knew about this. >> the investig

here's what congressman john mica had to say about the strategy with my colleague peter alexand alexander take a listen. >> our president doesn't seem to get the message that all wars must come to an end, but he obviously fails to understand that the other side hasn't gotten that message. i think we should be using more drones. >> also just for context, republican senators mccain and graham have voiced their opinion on the president and this is what they had to say after that speech. >> what would i have the united states of america do? lead, l-e-a-d. the president does not lead. >> i support the context that the president does in many ways, but if he doesn't change his policies, the middle east is going to blow up and we're going to get hit here at home. >> and reaction from your democratic congressman barbara lee, she released a statement saying i continue to have grave concerns over the use of drone strikes and i will continue to fight for a full and public debate on the issue. where do you stand? >> i think there's no denying that the development of the drones has given our military m

. >> joining me now from the white house, our nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander.t's the white house's reaction to the latest developments in syria and this new claim the administration is backing off the president's red line claim? >> yeah, craig, good afternoon, good sir. we saw the south lawn, the president getting back from a visit to the ohio state university where he was delivering the commencement address there. and a white house official told reporters on the flight out that the white house will have no specific comment about the israeli air strikes, although they did, again, reiterate the need for assad to leave power among other things noting that they were, quote, horrified by reports of more than 100 syrians who had been killed, apparently executed late last week. the white house also using the language justified in its concerns. saying that israel was justified in its concern that those weapons, the weapons apparently hit by israeli war planes were headed toward hezbollah. saying that israel has the right to defend itself. as for the latter part of you

peter alexander is at the white house with details on that. peter, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning to you. this is the first counterterrorism speech of the second term. and the white house says mr. obama will make a strong case for the continued use of drone strikes. really this administration's tool of choice in the war on terror. also highlighting new efforts to bring about transparency and even new restriction in the so-called hidden war. president obama today will shine a spotlight on an issue that's been shrouded in secrecy. drones. senior administration officials tell nbc news the president's expected to outline plans to begin shifting authority over drone operations from the cia to the military. >> the significance is the pentagon will now control the drone program, which increases transparency both for congress and the american people. >> reporter: evidence of that renewed focus on transparency, this letter on wednesday where the obama administration for the first time formally acknowledged the u.s. targeted and killed

peter alexander from the white house. thank you, peter.r the "new york times," john harwood. i'll begin with you, john, as you contributed to this article in the "new york times" which says "the president's aides have been ordered the white house staff not to be distracted by approaching hearings on the capitol hill. today white house adviser dan pfeiffer making the sunday talk show rounds and trying to get the message back on track. is this all going to work? can the white house successfully divert attention from the irs and the other controversies? >> people can do more than one thing at the same time. and even as democrats and republicans fight and fend off and attack and all that on the controversies we're talking about, you still do have an immigration bill that's been moving or being marked up in the senate. that is likely to go forward. republicans have an incentive to cooperate with the administration with democrats on that. you still have the potential for a budget deal later in the year. and i interviewed dave camp and max baucus

so let's go live now to the white house and nbc's peter alexander. good morning, peter. what else is the obama administration saying about all of this? >> yeah, betty. recognize that this has now been exactly eight months to the day since that deadly assault on the u.s. diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. and it's obviously still stirring up anger and sharp division. a very big partisan divide on this. the blame game over the white house's initial account of what happen has really put white house officials on the defensive. this is all about leaked e-mails that show that the white house was much more deeply involved, as you noted, in revising those now widely discredited talking points about the attack that they had publicly acknowledged. there were, as you noted, 12 separate drafts. the e-mails from the days immediately after the attack show that the white house coordinated with the state department, and the cia, and other agencies to prepare the talking points, the ones that were used by u.n. ambassador susan rice on tv just days later. in particular the state depa

steve, as peter alexander was mentioning that red line, there are two attacks within the last two days coming from israel. the red lines are different for israel than that of the president's. when you look at what has happened here, does this put more or less pressure on the president to take action now? >> i think you have to look at it from two fronts. domestically here in the united states, the political pressure is mixed. american people are not eager to go into military action particularly after 10, 11 years in iraq and afghanistan. however, air strikes only as we did -- or air support only in libya was accepted pretty easily by the american people. right now it's mix the about 40 to 30 with about 25% of the american people saying they haven't made up their mind. it's possible the israeli air strikes would ease the pressure on the president. a lot of americans could say they're taking care of it. but internationally, i think it increases the pressure the on the president of the united states to follow through, to show solidarity with israel. on the president's recent trip to israe

peter alexander is at the white house this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning you to. today marks exactly eight months to the day since the deadly assault on the american diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. obviously it is still stirring up anger and sharp questions and divisions here. the blame game over the white house's initial account of what happened has put white house officials on the defensive. the leaked e-mails now show that the white house was much more deeply involved in revising the now widely discredited talking points about the attack than they had publicly acknowledged. the e-mails from the days immediately after the attack show that the white house had coordinated with both the state department and the cia and other agencies to prepare those talking points used by u.n. ambassador susan rice on tv days later. >>> in particular the state department tried to push to drop references to al qaeda and cia warnings about other possible terrorist attacks. again on friday white house officials pushed back insisting its involvement in the talking points was i

first, the president today and for that we go to nbc's peter alexander at the white house. peter, the white house is trying to stop the bleeding on the irs scandal. but it is more than just the irs. what's going on there? >> it is a three-front war as we described it. there was an image that happened in that rose garden. the president and the prime of turkey came out. they brought out the marines to hold umbrellas over the president's head. maybe the clear skies are signs of good things to come for them. the president today really tried to surgically remove some of the objects, some of the obstacles in front of him right now. i think it was most notable on the issue of benghazi that he has referred to those talking points as a side show in recent days. today white house tried to get back on offense, referring more to the real issue. the issue of security at american embassies around the region. the president before even being asked questions by reporters, calling on congress to provide more money in order to fund security at u.s. embassies around the globe saying he wants th

i'm peter alexander in for chuck todd. we hope you have a good and safe holiday weekend.oing to begin with the president's speech on counter-terrorism. the policy speech, he said we need to redefine what's been known for a decade on the global war on terror. >> our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. but this war, like all wars, must end. >> while the president revealed more narrow guidelines for deadly drone strikes, he also defended targeted strikes as legal and effective, to use his language, arguing that congress already puts a check on his hour as president. >> america does not take strikes to punish individuals. we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the american people. conventional air power or missiles are far less precise than drones and are likely to cause more civilian casualties and more local outrage. not only did congress authorize the use of force, it is briefed on every strike that america takes. >> the president renewed his first term pledge to shut down the prison at guantanamo bay cuba a

. >> so nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander joins us now from asbury park.he governor once again praising the president. the man that he may try to replace in the white house come 2016. how will that play out for chris christie? >> reporter: well, i think chris christie thinks it looks good for him happening out with the president. he has a gubernatorial election to worry about before whatever he may pursue in 2016. it is notable today, when the two of them why wr in point pleasant, that chris christie drilled it. the first shot he took with the football. he was one for one. saxby chambliss had a hole in one with the president. the next one should probably buy a powerball ticket. you're looking pretty good hanging out with the president these days. for people here, i think the message that struck for the mayor, ed johnson, was the fact that this president was in many ways like a one-man new jersey tourism board. he used the word we in describing it. we've got great arcades, great boardwalks. they hope this sends a message to the rest of the country about the

. >> peter alexander for us from the white house. thanks. all of this coming weeks after that suspect was arrested for allegedly mailing ricin-laced letters to president obama and members of congress as well. the other big story that we are following today, the weather. another afternoon and evening of severe weather is expected to bear down on a large part of this country. the midwest, the tornado threat continues from north texas all the way north into iowa. besides the potential tornadoes expected today and tomorrow, we're also at the chance for some damaging winds and hail. 19 tornadoes. over five states were record yesterday including this massive twister in york, nebraska, that was caught on tape. heavy rains from the storms are causing some dangerous flooding like this surge in illinois yesterday. four inches of rain in less than an hour created a huge wave that burst through the doors of a small community college, destroying thousands of dollars in property there. take a look at that. fortunately, no students were at the school at th

we'll get into it much more coming one a presidential historian but first let's start with peter alexander at the white house. it was not supposed to be the sub but the irs dominated. >> reporter: if syria dominated the conversation behind closed doors, it didn't dominate in front of the cameras today. obviously benghazi and irs clearly the focus of this. we're learning new information even within the last several minutes right now. jay carney, the press secretary, gaggled as we would like to refer to it. the president was aboard air force one trying clarify details about the timetable about when the white house specifically learned about the misconduct at the irs. carney that it was april 22nd when the white house council's office first learn about the irs situation. that the president didn't specifically learn about it, nor did jay carney, until this past friday. here's what the president specifically said as we wait for the inspector general's report to come out of treasury department about the irs situation. >> this is something that i think people are properly concerned about. i can t

joining me now from a very busy white house is a very busy peter alexander. you got release of the e-mails on benghazi, the ouster of the acting irs commissioner and today's news conference all in the span of 24 hours. how are you keeping up with all this? >> reporter: we're doing just fine. the white house had bigger problems over the course of the last week or so. they're trying to get out in front of a lot of those. yesterday in a 90-minute period the president defended against the irs issue he was taking fire on and the benghazi talking points issue that he was referring to as a sideshow. they try to move the issues forward to get back on the offensive, surgically remove some of these items used to target them lately specifically on the issue of benghazi. he focused on what the white house thinks is the real issue here which is security at u.s. diplomatic sites around the world. calling on congress to provide more money to help create bolstered security at those locations. he said among others things he wants the military response time, martin, to be ligh

. >> nbc's peter alexander is at the white house.ught that syria would dominate that press conference. nevertheless, the president and cameron addressing this ongoing issue of what to do about syria. >> while syria may not have dominated the press conference, it was most significant topic these two men were speaking about in private given their shared desire to have the transitional government. to do what they can to help produce better outcome for the opposition in that country. the two men pledging their continued support for the syrian opposition today. i think he used some powerful language syrian's history has been written in the blood of her people. cameron appeared to be willing to go a little further than the president was in the outset of his remarks, referring to 80,000 dead, 5 million people displaced. he also earlier today made reference to the fact that secretary of state john kerry who just returned several days ago from a meeting with president putin of russia made in the words of david cameron, a real breakthrough the

nbc white house correspondent peter alexander is at the white house.ted with a phone call the president had with the governor of oklahoma last night and his updates have continued. we don't know if the president will be visiting that region as the recovery effort continues there, right? >> that's a good question. i walked out of the press briefing with jay carney only a short time ago. the first question out of the gates is whether or not the president would travel to oklahoma. and as it is clear from the white house at this point, that decision has not yet been made. in situation s like this, it's always their top priority not to drain resources away from the relief efforts taking place, but precedent would suggest he would travel. i was checking back in our archives, and in 1999 when moore, oklahoma, was hit, it was five days before then-president bill clinton traveled to oklahoma. it remains to be seen what will happen. we use the language major disaster declaration which president obama has approved. i want to explain what that means. it includes i

. >> peter alexander in the rose garden. i hope not in too much rain. you were part of the group brought in to get the dump, a classic washington dump of 100 pages of those emails that they had resisted putting out last week when they were selective leaks from the hill. of sometimes not quite accurate emails from those exchange as they were writing those talking points in response to a request from the ranking democratic member from the house democratic committee. do they think they've gotten ahead of the curve or is it going to be lingering? >> i thought what was interesting, when the president made his remarks, he connected the attacks in benghazi to the national security leaks indicating the challenge that that poses for his administration. saying he has no apologies for what has been done. at least to this point and acknowledging that there's a need to find that balance, i think the metaphor for how the president came into this day was the shot of him standing alongside the prime minister of turkey. with the two umbrellas being held by the marines o

. >> peter alexander traveled with the president today. he joins us from asbury park. what was the biggest message president obama delivered to residents there today? >> reporter: i think the mention wasn't just to the residents but actually to anybody who was watching this heavily covered, well choreographed event together with president obama and chris christie. sometime he almost sounded like a one-man jersey shore board of tourism. saying we've got the arcades going. we've got the boardwalk going. come on down and join us. this is the stuff that chambers of commerce dream of situations. like today. in many ways, if you allow me to mix sports, we saw them throw in the football alongside chris christie. please note he was one for one. a pretty good quarterback rating. if we can mention basketball for a moment. it was sort of like a three-point play for the president and frankly, for christie. he got to focus on the things they want to be focusing on. the best use of government. effective government. bipartisanship. the two side by side and at the same time, focusing

nbc's peter alexander is in asburry park with what the president saw today. peter?isit with you. the president already en route back to the white house after really was lake a three-hour trip here to the jersey shore, as the mayor of asburry park told me, we survived sandy, we can handle rain like this. it's just a nuisance. and with that rain coming after them, both chris christie and the president strolled down the boardwalk, not far from here, in point pleasant. optically, it was as striking to see the two of them together. republican and democrat rivals in some ways walking side by side, as it was to see the optics of the recovery that's been taking place here. the president tried to deliver a very clear message, not just to the people of this community, to whom he said, you are not alone, but also, to all americans, speaking in some sense, as if he was a one-man new jersey tourism board, saying we are open for business, we need you to come on down. new jersey is ready to welcome you back. already, there are 22 of 23 boardwalks open in this area. the memorial da

peter alexander is nbc's white house correspondent.morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. these days the white house would like to focus on immigration reform and improving the economy but again today, driving the day, the issue of benghazi tragedy and misconduct by the irs. with the top republican on the house oversight committee saying that today he will request sworn depositions from the two men who oversaw that report on u.s. security failures in libya. a pair of growing controversies now dominating the discussion in washington. first the administration's handling of the deadly tragedy in benghazi, with republicans complaining of a coverup, demanding more hearings and accusing the obama administration of manipulating the facts. >> the american people were effectively lied to for a period of about a month. >> reporter: the white house says it's been forthcoming and says republicans are trying to politicize the issue. also raising red flags, news that irs agents targeted tea party groups for extra scrutiny. with an inspect

we're going to go now to peter alexander. he's been inside the white house where he got a look at those e-mails on the benghazi talking points. peter, all yours. >> reporter: good to visit with you right now. i have about ten of those pages. there were a total of 100 documents of the benghazi e-mails. all of which were initially provided several months ago to congress according to senior administration officials. the same ones that you have seen in pieces over the last several days. i only have about ten of them here because the remaining 90 are now being faxed up to you so we can try to examine them in further detail. senior administration officials in conversations with us say very clearly in an effort to put this controversy to rest, echoing what the president has said, that there is no there there. that the cia, the leaders at the cia, very much agreed with the assessment of the state department and the white house that they were content that the final talking points were not scrubbed down in any way. that they believe tha

. >> with us is peter alexander at the white house.he president's numbers look slid but, at the same time, hounded all weekend over at least three big stories. >> if it's 6:00, it's also the leaf blower so excuse us if he rolls in behind me a matter of moments behind me now. the gist on this issue is one of the headlines making news today is what is giving this story some legs and exactly what the white house lawyer, the council kathy rumler knew on april 22nd, a few weeks before the president was informed on this. reporter from "the new york times" and "wall street journal" we have confirmed she had been informed at that time that conclusions were now basically almost done on the audit of the irs and a small number of irs employees at the time, i don't think they knew where were targeting conservatives. what we initial understood the white house alerted to the audit and not to the specific details and raising in the eyes of some some questions about why the white house would not have been notified specifically the president would have

peter alexander at the white house, thank you. we should mention, president obama just announced he will visit the jersey shore on tuesday with chris christie. with. >> we will ask the governor about that visit as he continues to sign t-shirts here at seaside heights. >>> and a story here at one of the busiest airports. we have a look at the headlines with andrea. >>> good morning. we will get to that in just a moment. but first break news. a british military fighter jet was scrambled this morning to escort a passenger jet flying from pakistan to manchester, england. british officials say air traffic controllers received an emergency radar signal from the plane which had 297 passengers on board. the plane was diverted and landed at stansted airport, east of london. two men were arrested. this after an emergency landing which forced heathrow airport in london to shut down both of its runways. the engine was streaming smoke while in flight. all crew and passengers were safely evacuated and the runways have since reopened. >>> the ir

nbc's white house correspondent peter alexander has more on that story. peter good morning. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. this white house has been facing days of intense scrutiny. and this morning, they're hoping they stopped the bleeding. the president has been accused by his critics of being too slow, too passive, even too disengaged in terms of his response to these swirling storms, and now launched what you might describe as a three-front war hoping to try to halt the political damage. >> the white house trying to neutralize three spreading controversies at once. late wednesday, president obama himself announcing the resignation of irs' acting commissioner steven miller, his departure early next month. >> americans have the right to be angry about it, and i am angry about it. >> reporter: miller acknowledged an immediate need to restore trust in the nation's tax agency. but the president's critics aren't satisfied. one top house republican insisting there are still far too many unanswered questions. questions surrounding the deadly attack on

nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander joins us with more on this. peter, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, you're exactly right. this does come as a major surprise. bachmann that tea party firebrand, former presidential candidate, announcing on her website that she will not seek re-election in 2014. >> after a great deal of thought and deliberation i have decided next year i will not seek a fifth congressional term. >> reporter: in this eight-minute video minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann explains her decision not to run. >> the law limits anyone from serving as president of the united states for more than eight years, and in my opinion, well, eight years is also long enough for an individual to serve as a representative for a specific congressional district. >> reporter: bachmann said her decision was not influenced by concerns she wouldn't win re-election after a close race last november and had nothing to do with complaints about former campaign aides about campaign finances. >> this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inq