>> tammy leitner, thank you. >>> after a day of being thankful for what we more american than heading out to buy the stuff we don't have? black friday has already begun in many places and as jo ling kent reports, the race is on to steal those deals. >> reporter: thousands of americans rushing into stores before the thanksgiving dishes are done. >> little bit off you get, always helps a little bit. >> reporter: grabbing hot deals and deep discounts, some camping out overnight before thanksgiving. >> probably you save about $300 on it. christmas. >> happy thanksgiving. >> reporter: 137 million americans are expected to shop this holiday weekend. but this year, retail stores are under extra pressure to perform. black friday foot traffic was down last year, and is expected to sink again this year by 3.5%. more people going on the internet than anything into stores. consumers forecast to spend more than 50% of their holiday budget online this year. that's why malls are rolling out the red carpet to get you to shop. ri like valet parking and a personal concierge, even champagne. >> you feel

we're told there were no problems, but the show of force could become the new normal. >> tammy leitner, thank you. > being thankful for heading out to buy the stuff we don't have? black friday has already begun in many places and as jo ling kent reports, the race is on to steal those deals.?z >> reporter: thousands of americans rushing into stores before the thanksgiving dishes are done. >> little bit off you get, always helps a little bit. >> reporter: grabbing hot deals and deep discounts, some camping out overnight before thanksgiving. >> probably you save about $300 on it. >> save that money for >> happy thanksgiving. >> reporter: 137 million americans are expected to shop this holiday weekend.@p but this year, retail storesre under extra presre t black friday foot traffic was down last year, and is expected to sink again this year by 3.5%. more people going on the internet than going into stores. consumers forecast to spend more than 50% of their holiday budget online this year. that's why malls are rolling out the red carpet to get you to shop. like valet parking and a personal c

tammy leitner is joining me this morning. you could not cross town this morning, there were police in places that are not normally police today. once again, isis promised an attack and did not live through. what did you see today? what stood out? >> reporter: you know, ali, it was remarkable. there were police officers, nypd officers on every single corner, 15 to 20 on every street that was blocked off. it was quite a show of force. 3,000 of them and 500 of them have been specially trained to deal with any type of terrorist attacks that could happen. there were dogs out here and cops with long guns and and it was an amazing show for us. three and a half million people out here watching it. my first time seeing it up close like that. 24 floats and 50 blalloons and couple of new ones. if you can take a live look back to where i am here on sixth avenue, typical new york fashion, the streets are opened and it is clean. the parade just ended les than two hours ago. that's remarkable, ali. >> tammy leitner, great coverage and enjoy

tammy leitner has us covered on all of today's festivities. million packed the streets to take part in a new york city parade that's become an american tradition. security was at an all-time high this holiday. from eyes in the sky to canines on the ground. but it was all just good fun for these little ones. arkansas? did you come here just for this? >> yes. >> you are kidding me. >> reporter: performers from all over. >> thank you. >> reporter: spectators straining to catch a glimpse of their favorite over the two and a half mile parade route. some new faces, diary of a wimpy kid and trolls, along with a comeback for felix the cat. >> we wanted to experience something new and experience new york on thanksgiving. and it's been a great experience. >> reporter: for this lit girl, a chance to see her hero, olympic gold medalist, laurie hernandez. >> i cried. >> reporter: in southern california, some celebrated their first thanksgiving. volunteers delivering meals to syrian refugees. >> it really means a lot that we're delivering these meals immigr

tammy leitner outside trump tower. we begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell in bridge water, new jersey, a short distance from trump's home. give us a preview of the romney meeting. and we hear there could be another announcement today, is that right? >> we know now the meeting will happen at 1:00 between governor mitt romney, intensely critical of trump during the campaign phase. this is at the invitation of the president-elect. aides tell us this is in part a chance for these two men who have at times been allies, like when trump endorsed romney, who was the nominee in 2012, and at times they have really been at least rhetorically at each other's throats. this is a chance for them to talk about ideas in common. some have hinted there could be discussion of a cabinet post, but we don't want to get too far ahead on that. but an announcement, you say. well, advisers say it is possible that there could be an announcement, i'm told, at an agency level in the national security area today, if, in fact, the president-elect gets t

nbc's tammy leitner is there at the moment for us. this is the east side, tammy.namic between the two sides? >> reporter: yeah, you know, this is something we have not seen before. if you remember i was out here yesterday, there were several hundred anti-trump protesters but this is very different today. >> chris christie just coming out. let's listen in and see if they say anything. >> are you going to qualify mr. christie for a job? >> very good. it went very good. thank you. >> that's all we got was "very good, very good." chris christie again initially heading the transition process and that was then changed to mike pence who is vice president elect. we'll continue to watch the door as you can see lots of people coming and going there. back to tammy leitner on this same process that we're looking at here as donald trump is moving forward, you're seeing calm in front of that door, not so much calm where you're at. >> reporter: no. as i mentioned, there's been hundreds of protesters. as we've seen since he's been elected out here protesting against him. today we

tammy leitner is over there this afternoon. tell us what's going on in preparations. >> reporter: president elect trump is no stranger to this town. she's been a lot of time here. his daughter, ivanka, is married there. just a short while ago, the motorcade left the country club. some unmarked vehicle as well as an ambulance. we past them into the interstate and they were heading to the state line to escort mr. trump to the resort. we know he had a busy weekend as peter alexander mentioned the most notable with romney which is taking place on sunday. >> tammy leitner, they are getting ready for all the action there. thank you very much. >> lets talk about michael flynn, i want to bring in kevin barron. nbc news and msnbc and military analy analyst, it is nice to see you. >> i am well, kate. >> what are you hearing of general flynn being tapped as national security adviser, how does that play in the community? >> it is no surprise. flynn was really kind of a general out on his own in a lot of sense. a lot of people came out and

let's check with tammy leitner along the parade route. good to see you. how massive of an operation are we talking about here? >> reporter: craig, it's enormous. on every single street corner are nypd officers. maybe 15 to 20 on every corner and keep in mind, 3,000 total and these are the officers that we can see. there's a lot of plain clothes officers that we can't. and 500 specially trained new york police officers that are trained to deal with any type of terrorist threat that might arise. the police presence is enormous. hopefully they won't need it but all out here. >> roughly 3.5 million people lining the parade route not including the tens of millions who watch this thing every year. what are the folks telling you on this thanksgiving? >> reporter: the folks here, they have been here since 4:00 a.m., some of them, craig. the folks behind me here got here at 4:15 this morning. crowds, at least 100 deep. every corner that you look on. a lot of excitement. they're interacting with the people in the parade. about 8,000 people in this parade. a lot of

joining us from here in new york city, nbc news correspondent tammy leitner. hey, tammy. not a bad day out there this morning. preparing for this -- >> not too bad. >> as i was coming in and it was still dark, you saw the police who were mobilizing, as people were lining up along the street. this is no small feat. it also involves volunteers that trained for this all year round. what can you tell us? >> reporter: you know, chris, this parade would not happen without the volunteers. there are about 8,000 people who participate in this parade, and many of those people, they have not slept. they worked through the night to make this happen today. we were there yesterday when they were inflating the giant helium balloons. and this has really become the parade before the parade. this used to be something only new yorkers knew about. now, about a million people show up to see this process. i can tell you, there were thousands of little kids hanging on the metal railings, waiting for these giant balloons to take shape. there's about 150 volunteers out there, a lot of them from s

let's go live to tammy leitner. what are things looking like on the ground? >> reporter: you know, kate, everyone is calm. take a look at these lines of faces, the little kids waiting for these balloons to be blown up. i want to i have go you a look at what is going on over here. it takes about an hour to inflate these. they are holding the floats down with a net and with sandbags. all of these people in jump suits out here, they are from steven's university. they are volunteers. they train four times a year to work on the floats here, on the balloons, and tomorrow there will be about 3,000 police officers on the route. heavy, heavy security. all of the streets on the 2.5 mile route are going to be blocked off for the very first time, 47th and 57th street will be completely closed down. it's just going to be a big presence. and so hopefully will go off without a hitch tomorrow. >> tammy leitner where they do the big blow-ups of the balloons, thank you so much a big concern ahead of that parade, as we mentioned, is a possibility of terror attacks. remember, it

tammy leitner is in new york city. tammy, are police saying there's any specific threat here?reporter: good morning, steph. no specific threats that we've been told about, but they're not taking any chances. take a look at some of these precautions. all the mailboxes on every street corner, they've been locked so nothing can be put in them. these cement blocks, they will be moved out overnight into the middle of the street to block them. also, they're filling up sanitation trucks with sand, and i'm told once they're filled they'll weigh about 30 tons and they'll park those on the corner of each closed off street so nobody can get through. keep in mind, they're expecting 3.5 million people to turn out to watch this parade. the parade route is about 2 1/2 miles long, 8,000 people participati participating, and this is the 90th anniversary. about a year ago they formed the critical response unit, nypd did, that was in response to the international terrorism attacks. this will be the first time they will have all 500 members out on the street so they really are taking no chances t

msnbc's tammy leitner in new york city along the parade route. looks like folks have emptied out of the city pretty quickly. >> yeah, we're some of the few left. i can tell you, craig, people were very pleased to see the police presence. it was obvious that there was a huge presence out here. 3,000 police officers. i'm not sure if you can still see some of them down the street from me. 500 specially trained to deal with mass events like this. and let's talk the parade for a minute. 8,000 people in the parade. it started raining just a few minutes ago. 24 floats, 50 ba lons. just a fantastic day. kids hanging alongside the fence waiting to see their favorite float go by. it was a fantastic moment. if we can come back here live, sixth avenue is almost cleaned up here and getting back to normal. one little tidbit, they are expecting to clean up around 32 tons of trash. an amazing feat. >> tammy leitner in new york city. thank you. >>> heartbreak in tennessee. a community coming together to remember the six very young lives lost in monday's school bu

nbc's tammy leitner, thank you, tammy.d trump's promises of ripping up trade deals could overshadow the discussion today as world leaders gather in peru for the annual asia-pacific summit. president obama is trying to reassure leaders of a smooth transition when trump suck sece him next year. nbc's ron allen is live from peru. ron, we're talking about this uncertainty that leaders are expressing individuals and analysts that you've spoken to as well. what was the president's message today to try to calm that question? >> reporter: his message was the same here as it was in greece and germany before. don't assume the worst, give the new president-elect some time, don't make immediate judgments about what he's going to do. the president taking a very philosophical view. he said in the past how history doesn't always move forward in a straight line, it zigs and zags. he was asked about the american election at a town hall he's holding with a number of leaders here in peru. here is what he had to say about that. >> i think it

and obviously went on to land the role that has made her a household name on the brady bunch. >> tammy leitner, great reporting. >> thank you. >>> black friday madness across the country and sales records are already being shattered. how do we know this? retails offering pretty incredible discounts to lure in customers. jolene kent is braving the crowds at the malls in jersey city, new jersey. good morning, jolene. >> reporter: good morning. we see record breaking numbers already. target and amazon over the past 24 hours have already shattered their own records. a lot of shoppers out today. rasheem is here. why are you out shopping? >> looking for a suitcase, sheets for my bed, watches. >> reporter: what is it about the deal that gets you out from brooklyn to jersey city to make a purchase? why? >> people more friendlier, cheaper, no tax. >> reporter: that bottom line that counts. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: i want to show you this busy register here and we're inside sears where the black friday deals are flowing. we've got a bunch of shoppers here and what we're findin

nbc's tammy leitner has more on this.ow does he separate businesses under his name and run by his children? >> reporter: he's not here today and he's in new jersey at a country club he owns and the trump brand, it's everywhere and the big question is what will happen to that brand once he takes office. a trump about-face. on friday the president-elect agreed to settle the $25 million lawsuit against trump university alleging fraud, after insisting all along he was not going to give in. >> i don't settle lawsuits. very rare. because once you settle lawsuits everybody sues you. >> the trump organization admitted no wrong doing, and we have no doubt trump university would have prevailed at trial, and the victims of trump university have waited years for today's result. >> trump university was a business to give out business advice that literally went out of business. >> on fox news last night, an inside look into mr. trump's lavish lifestyle and a guided tour by the man himself before he was elected. >> i had parents who spo

. >>> president-elect donald trump is holed up this weekend and tammy leitner is at trump tower todayaid he will hand off his businesses to his children, but is that enough? >> reporter: that's the question of the hour. he is talking about creating a blind trust and then letting his children run his business, and the real issue is the trump brand is everywhere. i am outside the crown jewel of the trump empire and he's not here today but he is in new jersey at a country club he owns and he created a global business empire and i don't think we have been in a situation with a president before where there's a possible conflict of interest. >> could we see more lawsuits like this after he takes office? >> reporter: they settled the lawsuit yesterday for $25 million alleging broad, and just this morning trump got on social media and tweeted out -- the first tweet was i settled the trump university lawsuit for a small fraction of the award because as president i have to focus on our country, and then minutes later he got back on social media and tweeted the only bad thing about winning the p

tammy leitner is live in nashua. tammy. >> hey, stephanie.tion has been open since 6:00 a.m. constant lines of people, as you can see, a lot of people here. i'm told 1,370 people have already voted today. they're expecting about 7,000 people here, just at this location. typically, new hampshire voters, they wait until the last minute to make up their minds in these elections, which is why boat candidates have been campaigning hard here in the state in the last 24 hours. and really, this has been the first time in this election that both candidates have been neck and neck, which is why new hampshire is turning out to be such an important state. stephanie. >> another important state, north carolina, where the polls have been open for nearly three hours. nbc's morgan radford is live in charlotte. morgan. >> that's right, stephanie. this is the place to vote. you vote here, right here outside the polling station in charlot charlotte, north carolina. come inside. there have been lines that were outside for the first voters this morning. they're wa

tammy leitner has more. what do visitors need to know?rter: the entire stretch of the parade route, two and a half miles, will be closed. there will be heavy security. 3,000 new york police officers. many are specially trained to deal with terrorist situations. 3.5 million people will show up tomorrow. this is the big reveal. to see balloons like this one. this is a new one. charlie brown. there are about 50 balloons out there. they could take an hour to inflate. there are 150 volunteers here. they actually trained four times a year on how to inflate the balloons. they will be driving the cars that the balloons are attached to tomorrow. >> they are not expecting high winds, right? remember when they were trying to hold on and they were afraid they would get away? >> yes, yes. well, they will actually be there making sure the winds don't get much. otherwise they have to bring them in a little bit. >> thank you so much. msnbc's bonnie schneider has a check on the holiday weather including whether folks who are marching with the balloons wil

we have a report now from tammy leitner who is in new hampshire. tammy, talk to us.location. this is the quietest it's been all day. people have been lined up here since before 6:00 a.m. when it opened. as of a couple minutes ago, 2800 people had voted here. we're expecting about 7,000 today. now, one of the reasons new hampshire is such an important state is 40% of the residents here are undeclared. which means both candidates have to work extremely hard to get those votes which is probably the reason donald trump has been here nine times, including last night. candidate was here on sunday. obama was here campaigning for her. and one other tidbit, the local newspaper for the last 100 years has endorsed the republican presidential candidate. this time for the first time in 100 years, they did not do that. i spoke with the editor just a short while ago and he said in good conscious, he felt they could not endorse donald trump. >> and now over to kelly cobiella. obviously the world is watching this presidential race. what is the reaction you're seeing in london? it's h

that's where we find tammy leitner live in new york city.where are you and walk us through the security that will be in place tomorrow. >> reporter: ali, this is where the magic happens. you can see they are inflating one of the balloons here. i'll let you figure out what this one is. all of the people in the red jump suits are from steven's institute. they train four times a year on how to inflate these balloons. it takes about an hour to inflate each of them. i don't know if you can see here, but they have to hand-hold the hose to inflate these. it's very cold out here. a lot of them don't have gloves. as far as security goes along the parade route, it's about 2 1/2 miles. every single road will be closed. this is the first time they are closing down 42nd and 57th. a lot of security presence. 3,000 nypd officers will be out here. 5,000 specially trained to deal with any type of terrorist incident can occur. they formed this unit about a year ago and, as i mentioned, they'll be out there along the entire parade route, ali. >> the informatio

. >>> joining us from new hampshire, nbc correspondent tammy leitner. good early morning to you. i don't know about it being a predictor. dicesville notch has been split since 1960. >> right, good morning. the polls don't open for 30 minutes but we've already got about a dozen people that have showed up here to vote. new hampshire voters notoriously decide late in the game who they're going to vote for and there is no early voting in the state which is why both candidates have been making a huge push here in new hampshire. trump was here, thousands showed up to hear him speak. president obama was here yesterday campaigning for hillary clinton. she was here on her own on sunday. now there are only four electoral votes in this state. but neither candidate can afford to lose those votes. trump really needs new hampshire to clinch a win and hillary clinton would like new hampshire, obviously, to win comfortably. this is a battleground state. it is still very much up for grabs. and alex, one other important race in this state is the senate race. two very pop

nbc's tammy leitner is along the parade route and has more. what can you tell us? are the people having fun despite the extra show of force? >> reporter: absolutely, of course, katy. this is unprecedented. 3,000 nypd officers, 500 of them specially trained to deal with any type of incident that could be terrorist related and everybody out here are just having a great time. they're cheering for the cops that are walking along the parade route which is something you don't always see. sop of these people i've been talking to got out here at 4:00 a.m. a lot of them are parents. their kids are in the parade today. they traveled from all over the country. so just an amazing experience for a lot of people. >> tammy, thank you so much. if you were at 30 rock working at nbc, one of the perks is we get to be on the fourth floor and see the parades, the floats go by and it's amazing and awesome and makes you not mind working on a holiday. >>> coming up, our terrorism expert joins us about the efforts to secure the parade route and will get his insight on the recent terrorism

. >> tammy leitner on the streets of new york after the parade wrapped up. appreciate it. >>> donald trump celebrating thanksgiving wh his family at -- in florida at march-a-lag. trump asking people to put their emotions behind them as they spend time with their families. >> we just finished a long and bruising political campaign. emotions are raw and tensions don't heal overnight. it doesn't go quickly, unfortunately. but we have before us the chance now to make history together. to bring real change to washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities. so important to me and so important to our country. >> the president-elect ushered in the holiday weekend with two new nominations, former michigan governor betsy da voss and nikki haley as united nations ambassador. trump aides say there is more to come as soon as tomorrow. kristen welker, one nomination we're eagerly awaiting is secretary of state. it's one of the biggies. we hear mitt romney is at the top of the list, but this morning an interesting t

let's start with tammy leitner in nashua, new hampshire. ballots coast just after midnight and the tradition continuing in dixville notch. how did dixville notch go? >> reporter: craig, we've got our first results here in new hampshire. four votes for clinton. two for trump. one for mitt romney and one for gary johnson. that goes to speak to the independent thinking of new hampshire voters. take a look. it's a packed room. it's been packed all day and started showing up around 6:00 a.m. as of five minutes ago, 1,651 people have voted here and they're expecting about 7,000 and if you go take a look over here, all of these people sitting over here are signed up to register to vote today. a little factoid here, craig, new hampshire is one of only seven states to register to vote on the day that you vote. craig? >> someone voted for mitt romney there, huh? >> reporter: that's right. that's right. and you know, this is not only the only important race we have here in new hampshire, a senate race that is extremely important, craig. we have two wo

tammy leitner, florence henderson in her heart, was her passing unexpected? >> she died of heart failure in los angeles. she was surrounded by her friends and family. she continued working all the way up until her death. she was hosting a talk show called "the florence henderson show" and a cooking show. this shows her diversities. she made her broadway debut at the age of 18 in a musical callcal called "wish you were here." she was best known for playing the role carol brady. everybody heard of "the brady brunch." yeah, she's an icon of our time. she's be missed. she has say before that her tv kid, carol brady, they are her family. maureen mccormick tweeted out, she was my dear friends and i will miss you dearly and barry williams who played her tv son, he tweeted deeply sad, florence was one of the gracious people i ever known and proud to call her mom. he's not the only person considered her a mom. we grew up watching her and she was a mom to many. >> i grew up with carol brady and it was not just back in the '80s. her career, you had just said, she had a

tammy leitner is live outside trump tower in midtown manhattan.e you hearing about an official announcement coming from the trump team today? sean spicer says don't believe anything until it comes out of donald trump's own mouth. we have heard the same thing from kellyanne conway. >> good morning, stephanie. you know, we're expecting those announcements that talked about to be official today. anyone who wants to be in trump's administration at some point usually comes through the trump tower. yesterday was a resolving door of who's who. there's a lot of anticipation as to who will show up today. we know at some point today, trump will be leaving here and heading to bedmanster, new jersey, he'll be spending the weekend at his golf resort. sources tell us he also will be meeting with mitt romney, possibly some time this weekend. possibly for a consideration of secretary of state. now, it's very unusual that this meeting is taking place, considering the relationship these two men have had over the last year. very, very contentious. so it's unclear re

>> nbc's tammy leitner, thank you for checking in this afternoon. >>> more now on the breaking news.mney arriving at the bedminster golf course owned by donald trump for a meeting. let's bring in molly hooper, political reporter for the "los angeles times." good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: i'll start with you. let's talk about the expectations for the meeting between trump and romney. they looked awfully warm, greeting each other and walking in there. >> right. i mean, i would obviously kill to be a fly on the wall in that room. obviously, donald trump endorsed mitt romney in 2012. mitt romney sought that endorsement in vegas when it happened. ann romney was there. everyone was gracious and got along. ask and then in the 2016 election, he was one of the loudest critics, called him a fraud and char less than ton and donald trump called him a stone called loser, said he would have gone on his knees for his endorsement. so i cannot even imagine the conversation they're having today. but mitt romney did, after donald trump won the presidency, mitt romney did call him to co

. >>> we want to go to battleground new hampshire, where tammy leitner is at a polling location in nassauhere voters notoriously vote late. we know hillary clinton has already won one county, right? >> reporter: that's right. new hampshire is one of only states that have same-day registration voting which is what all of these people are doing along here. second reason, there are 40% of the voters here in new hampshire that are undeclared, which means they can change their mind up until the last minute. last reason, there are 130,000 voters that have turned 18 since 2008. that is 10% of the population here in new hampshire that are voting that are a very young part of the segment. >> thank you so much. you're looking live at nbc's decision sdedesk. it's coming up in just a second. they're trapped in there all day long, until this election is decided. the vote tally later tonight. state by state, county by county, precinct by precinct as the returns come in, we'll announce them live. brian williams, rachel maddow kick it off on msnbc, the place for politics. surprise!!!!! we heard you got a

tammy leitner is live along the parade route. this is an extraordinary not just new york but american tradition. this is macy's gift, they say, to new york city and to america. their way to show thanks. we're seeing security as a really big priority today. as you're out there in the crowds, what's it like? >> absolutely, stephanie. i mean, where i am, you can see about 15 to 20 police officers on every single corner. and this is every single block. as you mentioned, there's 3,000 total. 500 of them are specially trained, part of the critical response command unit. they have long guns out here, thick vests and also vapor dogs, as you mentioned. those are specially trained to sniff any type of explosives in the area. stephanie. >> all right, don't just tell me about vapor dogs. talk to me about snoopy the dog. garfield the cat, you have been very lucky with this assignment today. what is it like? i have gotten a sneak peek of the trolls, the newest balloons out there, and they're pretty awesome. >> well, we have got an excited crow

we have tammy leitner, and morgan radford. ? >> reporter: well they opened about 30 minutes ago here, and as you can see, there's already a lot of people here ready to vote. they are expecting 7,000 people at this location here today, and if you can pan over here to the right, you can see there's a table with people registering to vote today. new hampshire is only one of seven states you can sign up on the day of to register and vote that same day. there is no early voting, and new hampshire voters typically decide late in the game, which is why both candidates could make such a push, and trump was here last night and obama was here for clinton on sunday. and there are only four electoral points, and they are extremely important and this state will play an important part in this election. back to you, mika. >> let's turn to morgan in north carolina. >> reporter: today is today and now is the time. these polls are opening right now at 6:30, so you are staring at some of the first voters about to go in and cast their ballots. the