>> richard engel, thank you.ou can see more when "on assignment" with richard engel airs at 9:00 eastern on msnbc. >>> still ahead, bombing manhunt, the search for two suspects responsible for an explosion at a restaurant injuring more than a dozen people. stay with us. >>> back now with the manhunt and growing mystery. police in canada are searching for two men that entered a toronto area last night and set off a bomb. three people were seriously hurt and a dozen more injured but authorities aren't certain what was behind the attack. our justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> reporter: families were hosting two children's birthday parties at a popular indian restaurant. >> many people are screaming. they are trying to run out from the restaurant. >> reporter: it happened in mississauga west of toronto, canada. police say these two men entered the restaurant at about 10:30 last night wearing zip up hoodies concealing faces. one was carrying a bucket or paint can investigators say contained a bomb. it

including a live report from nbc's richard engel who's on the ground in jerusalem. also today, melania trump underwent a medical procedure for what the white house called a, quote, benign kidney condition. and we're told the procedure was successful and the president tweeted this afternoon that the first lady is in good spirits. we've been watching this week for the criminal trial of the republican governor of missouri. eric greitens. greitens was accused of felony invasion of privacy stemming from his allegedly taking a compromising photo of a woman he had an affair with back in 2015. out of the blue today the local prosecutor announced her office was dropping the invasion of privacy charge against the governor. they're asking the judge to appoint a special prosecutor and start the case again. governor greitens still faces a felony count of computer tampering related to campaign fund-raising. and he could end up being impeached by his own republican party in a special session that starts on friday. we'll keep an eye on that as well. but we're going to start tonight

>> richard engel in gaza, thank you. >>> now to the alleged house of horrors in northern california. tonight the father of ten children removed from the home is speaking out from behind bars. both he and his wife are facing several charges including felony child abuse. nbc's gadi schwartz has the latest. we want to warn you. some of the images are disturbing. >> reporter: tonight a man accused of torturing his children is defending himself from jail. >> they took my kids and they took my wife and now they took me. >> reporter: jonathan allen and his wife ina rogers accused of abusing and neglecting their ten children. >> i'm not perfect. no one is perfect. but i am not an animal. i am not a torturer and i am not a monster. >> reporter: police found squalor and the grandmother said the kids told her they were tortured every day. >> he'd put duct tape on our eyes, lay us on the floor. tell us we couldn't move and if we did he would just pounce us and beat us all in the stomach. he said the demons were making him do it. >> reporter: wanda rojers didn't want to speak on camera. >> a blac

richard engel has more from the west bank. >> reporter: defiance today in iran as the u.s. reimposed some sanctions as president trump walked away from the deal, burning american flags after friday prayers, shouting death to america and issuing a new threat that unspecified preparations have begun to restart iran's nuclear program on an industrial scale if negotiators can't salvage the deal. it comes after a rare and dangerous military confrontation between israel and iran, and that isn't the only flash point. jerusalem is now blanketed with posters thanking president trump for his decision to move the u.s. embassy to the city on monday. a controversial decision that drove palestinians onto the streets. palestinians say they will keep protesting right until and after the u.s. moves its embassy to jerusalem and that they will never give up on their dream of having the holy city as their capital, too. >> nothing can stop us from demanding freedom or oblige us to surrenders to injustice. >> reporter: but israel so far dismissed the protest as anger that will pass and says the

this is historic and there are lives at stake. >> richard engel, in jerusalem for us tonight, thank you. >>> back in this country now to a big decision that has big money ramifications. millions of people across the country bet with each other on the outcome of pro and college sports events but until today, that's been legal only in nevada but now, the u.s. supreme court has ended that state sports betting monopoly and our justice correspondent pete williams has details on the flood gates opened by today's ruling. >> he scores! >> reporter: the only place to legally bet on the hockey playoffs or any other sporting event has been nevada. but now sports betting won't stay in vegas. the supreme court today struck down a federal law that required most states to ban it. the 6-3 ruling declared the federal law unconstitutional, a violation on state's rights. new jersey brought the challenge, it wants to allow sports gambling at casinos and at racetracks there and collect taxes and spent millions getting ready. >> everyone is betting anyway, so what we're trying to do is legalize it, protect c

. >> reporter: this is richard engel, instant reaction to president trump's announcement in iran, where president rouhani says he will stick with the deal even without the u.s. but threatening what could happen if the now wounded agreement crumbles entirely. if iranian benefits in the deal aren't provided, he said, iran is ready to resume nuclear activity. across europe, there's a chill tonight that the u.s. under president trump may not be a reliable partner any more. an unusual joint statement read, it is with regret and concern that we, the leaders of france, germany and the united kingdom take note of president trump's decision. just last month, french president emmanuel macron made a personal plea to keep the deal at the white house. >> we should not abandon it, without having something substantial. >> reporter: but at least two countries loved president trump's move, saudi arabia and israel. where last week, benjamin netanyahu made a dramatic case to drop the deal, citing intelligence that iran made the deal in bad faith. tonight praising president trump. >> israel fully supports

nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel with the story. >> reporter: gasps of disbelief. and applause as russian journalist arkady babchenko, who police said yesterday was murdered, shot three times in his apartment dying in an ambulance and even putting out a sketch of a suspect, today was back from the dead walking into a press conference with police announcing it was all staged. "i apologize to my wife for all the hell she had to go through," babchenko said. news of his murder yesterday sparked an outcry. supporters laying flowers at memorials and blaming russia for ordering the hit. babchenko is a critic of vladimir putin. while russia denied involvement, many of putin's critics have been shot or poisoned over the years, including boris nemsov, shot right next to the kremlin. he was shot in the back at least five times right in front of his girlfriend. this time ukraine security forces says it was a sting operation, which they said led to the arrest of a man allegedly paid $40,000 by moscow to organize babchenko's murder. "there was no other wa way," babchenko said. b

richard engel learned it had a political aim. 's a clip from richard's report. >> it's creepy to know that someone was trying to dig up your profile and the names of your kids and in-laws and your wife and where your live. that's pretty sleazy. >> i don't have much to hide, but it's not okay with us that some firm is trying to gain access to us. >> who wanted this done? >> joining me now for more about his investigation, richard engel. it's fascinating, it's disturbing to say the least. >> it certainly is. you mentioned harvey weinstein. that source was someone with direct knowledge of this operation, and he was hiding his identity because he was concerned about repercussions and his own safety. black cube did an operation for harvey weinstein. that's been well documented a t this stage. and harvweinstein hired this coy based in israel to find out information about his accusers and to manipulate his accusers, to throw them off of their goal, which was to expos harvey weinstein. obviously it didn't work out the way he planned. then

richard engel, nbc news. >>> more than seven months after the ambush in niger. the pentagon has released its most detailed account yet of the surprise attack that claimed the lives of four american soldiers. while the report cites a series of failures, ultimately it does not assign any blame. we get more from hans nichols with reaction from the widow of one of those fallen soldiers. >> reporter: the pentagon admitting individual, organizational, and institutional failures caused the death of four american soejz in niger last october. an unclassified report faulted a lack of training and bad command oversight at every level. but in the end, isis simply surprised a 12-man green beret team and over 30 nigerien partners. >> the direct cause is that the enemy achieved tactical surprise there and our forces were outnumbered three to one. >> who's to blame? >> i have responsibilities as a combatant commander. the service has responsibilities. >> reporter: the pentagon laid out the heroics of the outnumbered soldiers including la david johnson. he unloaded mounted machi

here's nbc's richard engel. >> reporter: gasps of disbelief.ause as russian journalist arkady babchenko who ukrainian police said was murdered, shot three times in his apartment, dying in an ambulance. even putting out a sketch of a suspect. back from the dead, walking into a press conference with police announcing it was all staged. >>> i apologize to my wife for all the hell she had to go through, babchenko said. news of his murder sparked an outcry. supporters laying flowers at memorials. and blaming russia for ordering the hit. babchenko is a critic of vladimir putin. while russia denied involvement, many of putin's critics have been shot or poisoned over the years, including opposition leader boris nemstof next to the kremlin. he was shot in the back at least five times right in front of his girlfriend. but this time, ukraine security forces said the faked killing was a sting operation which they said led to the arrest of a man allegedly paid $40,000 by moscow to organize babchenko's murder. >>> there was no other way, babchenko said. many

. >>> joining me now, richard engel from jerusalem. ard, thanks for being with us today, first of all, this expanding conflict you've been tracking from both sides between israel and iran seems almost with a green light from the administration after its withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal. >> it certainly did appear very coordinated. israeli officials say this didn't catch them by surprise, that they knew it was coming so to speak. so to paint the scene of what happened, president trump, although he always said he would do it did come out and say he was not going to keep the united states in the deal. there was a lot of rhetoric, there was a lot of concerns and then short time after that we see this very rare exchange of fire between israeli forces and the golan heights and iranian forces but not iranian forces in iran, iranian forces in syria. for a long time there has been this shadow war going on between israel and iran in syria, it's been hidden by the civil for what that country. yesterday was the first time iranian forces inside

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thank you, richard engel. much more of you fellas when we come back. we will be talking about this unfortunately for a long time. >>> by the way, in west virginia, the republicans are nervous. don blankenship could pull off a win, giving a big boost to democratic senator joe manchin. we will give you the latest on where that race stands in a minute. stick with us. this is requested hardball" where the action is. stormy daniels welcome back to "s just closed in west virginia, where we are covering a primary. zon bla don blankenship is looking for a big win. it's too early to call. let's go to steve kornacki. he's on the big board tonight. >> polls closed. we will take you through what we can expect very quickly in the next 90 minutes if the past is prolonged, probably a third of the vote in west virginia will come in, in the next 90 minutes, we will know is blankenship for real? are the reports, the idea of him surging is based on internal polls. there is not a public poll out there showing. but republican internal polls that have set off panic in walk.

richard engel. nice to meet you.. >> reporter: even after he agreed to sit down with us for an interview. he wouldn't allow us to show his face or use his voice. >> why are you disguising your identity? >> because this is an incredibly toxic story that spans the globe. there are so many actors in the story who might react badly to someone who speaks out and exposes what's been going on here. >> what do you mean? >> without trying to sound too paranoid, it could be anything, from going after you personally, making things difficult for your family, or just putting you in the glare of the spotlight. >> reporter: this is the first time for anyone with direct knowledge of black cube's operations to go on camera and talk about them without permission. so we went to great lengths to cross-reference his information with other sources. >> how does black cube work? what do they do? >> ultimately it depends on what the client wants. so if a client comes to them and says i just need information on my business rival, they'll set

that's nbc's richard engel from jerusalem.the full report tonight when the special series on assignment with richard engel continues at 9:00 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. >>> that wraps up this hour. i'm david gura. thank you for watching. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts now. >> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. the expression used to go like this. when america sneezes, the world catches a cold. a planned summit with north korea that even our closest allies are left out of the loop and scrambling to keep up with trump's shifting pronouncements. one senior white house official telling me today that the decision to pull out of the summit was kept close, explaining we had to be sure we had the exact decision bor

. >> for more i'm joined by richard engel, chief foreign correspondent for nbc news. s the mood there in terms of the reality today in the entire mideast? >> well the mood here in jerusalem is that they're taking a victory lap. they feel they won, that they have taken this city and now the united states has recognized it as theirs, or recognized it as theirs, as the homeland of the jewish people for the last 3,000 years as the capital of israel the state for the last 70 years. if you look on the old city wall behind me, and i know it might be hard to see on the monitor, this is the wall to the ancient part of jerusalem, the part that contains the most holy sites for muslims, christians and jews, the most disputed part of this entire disputed land. and on that wall tonight, there are projections of israeli and american flags, and it says thank you, president trump. so they are declaring that this city is theirs, is israel's, and they are thanking in part president trump for making that happen. >> what happens to the -- from the israeli point of view to the arabs that li

>> thank you for that reporting and that detail, richard engel in jerusalem for us tonight.ere to talk about it, jeanine zakaria, former jerusalem bureau chief for "the washington post," who is teaching journalism at stanford university and was recently the author of a piece i'm holding in my hand from the san francisco chronicle, don't move u.s. embassy to jerusalem. i'm going to ask you a question. i fear the answer. is this what a new ant fa da looks like. >> it very well may be, brian. we've seen these pictures before, and along the gaza border in particular, we had very serious wars between israel and hamas in 2008, 2012, 2014. so we're looking at a definite uptick, the most bloody day of clashes along that border since that 2014 war. >> you've been to gaza many times. i've been to gaza several times. how do you describe it beyond the hopelessness that's evident even in television pictures? how do you describe it to your friends in the u.s.? >> you know, i generally try to talk about the people that are there because i think what we get in the united states is a very mo

that's nbc's richard engel from jerusalem. you can see the full report tonight when the special series on assignment with richard engel continues at 9:00 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. >>> that wraps up this hour. i'm david gura. thank you for watching. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts now. >> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. the expression used to go like this. when america sneezes, the world catches a cold. a planned summit with north korea that even our closest allies are left out of the loop and scrambling to keep up with trump's shifting pronouncements. one senior white house official telling me today that the decision to pull out of the summit was kept close, explaining we had to be sure we had the exact decision before we could notify everyone so it didn't leak. the source added, it's not like donald trump hadn't foreshadowed the possibility. fair enough, but it's unclear exactly what the president was trying to foreshadow in these remarks this morning. >> mr. president, is the summit still

our thanks to richard engel for that report. a lot of interesting questions in that methodology there by the ukrainian secret service and authorities. >>> the kid who brought that white house press secretary to tears, plus the latest on the kim summit. >>> and the president's meeting with kim kardashian. what came of that. we're back in a moment. stay with us. powerful potential... signature toughness... and one more thing... the world comes with it. the new, reimagined 2019 jeep cherokee. i needthat's whenvice foi remembered that my ex-ex- ex-boyfriend actually went to law school, so i called him. he didn't call me back! if your ex-ex- ex-boyfriend isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal. another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. picking the right style takes time. ♪ one picky customer shouldn't take all your time

richard engel, nbc news. >>> back here at home tonight, the fcc has just levelled the largest fine ever, $120 million against a guy whose been called a robocall kingpin. it's a label he denies but the feds are fighting back as the number of robocalls surge. chances are you or someone you know has been flooded with the kinds of calls. nbc's gabe gutierrez has the details. >> reporter: the national nuisance is getting worse. 30 billion robocalls last year alone. >> you have been selected to receive 2,600 travel dollars toward your next trip. >> reporter: today, the fcc fought back slapping this miami man with the largest fine ever, $120 million. the agency says companies he controlled were behind 100 million robocalls in three months. >> he was engaged in the single largest malicious illegal spoofed robocall campaign that the fcc has ever investigated. >> reporter: he has denied engaging in fraudulent activities. >> i'm not the kingpin of robocalling that is alleged. >> reporter: in new jersey tony novak is frustrated with multiple robocalls a day, many appearing to come from his area cod

as my colleague richard engel pointed out, there were a lot of people here who were saying they no longer see the united states as a neutral arbiter in these negotiations. the fact is that here in the gaza strip and among a lot of palestinians, they never really considered the united states to be all that neutral anyway. but this just really solidified that. so when we're talking about this disconnect between what nikki haley was saying yesterday and the security council laying blame on hamas here and saying that israel showed restraint, it's not surprising that so many people throughout the international community would disagree with her because so many countries have disagreed with the u.s. decision to move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem to begin with. now we're seeing the result of that decision here in the gaza strip and throughout the palestinian territories. philip? >> matt bradley for us in gaza, thank you. >>> did the cia spy on the president of the united states? that's what one senate intelligence committee member would like to know. senator rand paul sent a letter to th

nbc chief correspondent richard engel is in the thick of it. hey, richard. >> reporter: good morning. this is one of the main conflict areas here in the gaza strip. what's been happening here is palestinian protesters have been crossing this open stretch of land. they're heading toward the israeli fence which is right behind me. and when they've reached that fence, they've been shot at. and today is another day of rage. there are many funerals in the gaza strip today, and they are angry. 60 palestinian protesters, hospital officials say, were killed. nearly all shot dead by israeli forces. among the victims, seven under the age of 18. 2,700 others were injured when palestinians rushed toward the closed and heavily fortified border. the gaza strip run by hamas is sealed off. palestinians have been protesting here against their lack of freedom for weeks. but their fury boiled over on monday when the u.s. embassy was officially moved to jerusalem with president trump's blessing. the palestinians saying it negates their claim to the city. the goal o

. >> nbc news richard engel sat down with black hughes.he source alleged that the person behind the disaccreditation campaign was ultimately donald trump or someone close to him. the white house did not respond to nbc's request for comment and black cube says they had no relations to trump's aid or to the iran deal. >> joining me is author of "losing an enemy," trita parsi, someone hiring and in the weinstein's case and they get hired to try to discredit ben rhodes, trying to discredit people who put the deal together. they came at you. i want to play a little bit of richard engel's report regarding a phone call that you rereceice from the black cube operative. >> i don't quite follow. what exactly that happened? >> what was this person and who were they? what were they trying to get out of you? >> so i was just contacted by someone who says they were a journalist and my book just came out so i did a lot of media interviews. the conversation takes a strange term which he wants to go after ben and colin cowel and getting me to say that ther

i want to bring in our correspondent richard engel live in gaza. and here with me in new york bobby gauche. richard, you first. give us a status update where you are. >> reporter: so there's been a lot of tear gas that's come into this area. we're in the gaza trip on the israeli border fence. they've been using drones, quad copter style drones that fly overhead, over the protesters, over the press. open what look like little bomb doors and drop these bombs of tear gas sending the crowds running. also there have been israeli armored vehicles that come up and fire tear gas cannon style at the protesters when they approach the fence. you can see it happen right now. those are those little bomblets coming out and hitting the ground and bouncing off the ground. can i tell you if you get them close up into your face, it is a very unpleasant experience. it's driving people back. that is the status on the ground here. it's been going like this with these back and forth approaches and retreats for the last several hours now. >> amen, you're in the west bank

we'll start with chief correspondent richard engel in gaza. richard, you've been on the ground for 24, 48 hours. you can walk us through what you're seeing at this moment some what's changed? what you're expecting? >> reporter: well, i can tell you what's happening right behind me right now. if you'll notice, there's some white clouds dropping. that's tear gas and was just dropped by an israeli zone. it's very bright against the sky so you probably can't see the drone. we can with our naked eye. it is -- that's why you're also seeing a lot of people running. the ambulances are here. the israelis are trying to disperse these crowds because they don't want to repeat what happened yesterday. this area is right on the israeli border. behind me there where the people are moving away from is the actual israeli border fence. and what has been happening is as people go toward that fence, they have been shot. and more than 50 people were shot yesterday, according to the palestinian health ministry. and about 2,700 people injured. so this is still an act

we'll start with chief correspondent richard engel in gaza. on the ground for 24, 48 h

richard engel.to meet you. >> even after he agreed to sit down with us for an interview, he wouldn't allow us to show his face or use his voice. >> why are you disguising your identity? >> because this is an incredibly toxic story that spans the globe. there are so many actors in this story who might react badly to someone who speaks out and exposes what's been going on here. >> what do you mean? >> without trying to sound too paranoid, it could be anything from going after you personally, making things difficult for your family or just putting you in the glare of the spotlight. >> this is the first time for anyone with direct knowledge of the black cube's operation s to go on camera and talk about them without permission. so, we went to great lengths to cross-reference his information with other sources. >>> how does black cube work? what do they do? >> ultimately, it depends on what the client wants. so, if a client comes to them and says, i just need information on my business rival, they'll set

"on assignment" with richard engel starts now. ♪ >>> good evening.el is off tonight, and we're on assignment in jerusalem. today we all watched harvey weinstein led off in handcuffs. obviously, that's not how he wanted things to end. and he took steps to prevent it. he hired a company based here in israel called black cube. it's a private intelligence firm, and its operatives try to track and manipulate weinstein's accusers. unsuccessfully, as he found out today. well, it turns out black cube doesn't only try to protect the rich and powerful. the company had a political contract too,

it's a controversial move that has caused some tension in israel richard engel is live in jerusalem andout to begin. the vips are already assembled, the media is in place. the ceremony should be taking place in about 45 minutes from now. and at that stage, the -- what was the u.s. consulate here in jerusalem will become the official american embassy. this is sometimes dismissed as a symbolic move. i can tell you for both israelis and palestinian moves, it is far from symbolic. for israelis this is a historic recognition of their claim that israel -- that jerusalem, all of jerusalem east and west is their eternal undivided capital and the capital of the jewish people now the u.s. in stone, in concrete with this ceremony is recognizing that for the palestinians, it is a devastating move there are about 40,000 palestinians right now protesting in the gaza strip there are thousands more protesting in the west bank. but just in gaza, there in multiple locations of the gaza strip, palestinians have been approaching the israeli border when they get too close or throw stones or mall kolotov coc

we have richard engel in jerusalem. richard, good morning. what you can tell us?ation here. this was until moments ago the u.s. consulate in jerusalem. it is now just become the u.s. official embassy in jerusalem. the embassy of the united states in israel. the assembled guests here, vips, u.s. congressman, senators, most of the leadership of the israeli government have been giving speeches saying that this was an important event not just for the nation of israel, the state, but also for the jewish people across the world. they say that jews have had a capital in israel for 3,000 years, that israel has had a presence here as a political entity for the last 70 years, and that president trump has recognized that and they've been coming out to thank him for this what they describe, what everyone here describes as a historic move. palestinians, however, are outraged. they are furious. they say that this stops their dream, not only of statehood, but of having a state that would have east jerusalem as its capital. and today in the gaza strip, at least 40 people have bee