nbc's tracie potts joins us now from washington d.c. whatever the president does, he says he is willing to go it alone. >> reporter: we heard democrats and republicans coming out of

. >> let's get the latest from nbc's tracie potts in washington, d.c. tracie, good morning. what are we learning about that closed door meeting this morning? >> reporter: we're learning that some lawmakers were completely convinced by the evidence that the administration presented and some were not and they were most vocal. after this briefing that lawmakers say really should have happened before bergdahl was released. sergeant bowe bergdahl appeared fairly healthy and alert in this taliban video, but in another video shows the congress behind closed doors, lawmakers say he appeared tired and sick, barely responsive. perhaps drugged. some lawmakers agreed it was enough to justify president obama's quick order to get bergdahl out without consulting congress first. not everyone is convinced. >> proof of life is five months ago december, at that time he was impaired. >> there was no intelligence that indicated from a medical standpoint his life was in danger. >> reporter: senators briefed by the administration tuesday say they're also concerned about the five taliban leaders re

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> in the v.a. scandal, congress is helping those who endured long wait times. the senate passed a bill to make it possible to get paid treatment by civilian doctors. lawmakers are optimistic of a compromised bill to be sent to president obama for his signature. >>> the u.s. homeland secretary will talk about the children flowing into the u.s. we will outline the response. 50,000 unacomp anied children illegally moved into the u.s. since october with most of them from honduras, guatemala and el salvador. >>> benjamin rush state park has new signs, parking spaces and a comfort station. $2 million in state grants paid for the improvements. >>> tonight in new york city, philadelphia's own kenny gamble and leon huff are adding to the long list of musical honors. they will receive the johnny mercer award. they are credited with producing top artists with the philadelphia seoul sound of the 1960s and '70s. president george h.w. bush is celebrating his 90th birthday. the former president is known for his l

tracie potts is in washington with the latest. >> i'm so looking forward to seeing your face after these last five and a half years. >> reporter: a mother's reaction to news that her son is free after five years in captivity in afghanistan. >> i'm proud. of how much you wanted to help the afghan people. >> reporter: freed in exchange for five of the most dangerous taliban commanders at guantanamo bay. >> these are the hardest of the hard core. >> reporter: there are questions this morning whether this exchange put the u.s. at risk. >> the number one way that al qaeda raises money is by ransom. kidnapping and ransom. we have now set a price. >> we didn't negotiate with terrorists. that's a normal process. in getting your prisoners back. >> reporter: and lawmakers want to know why they didn't get 30 days notice of the exchange as required by law. >> we did not have 30 days to wait and had we waited and lost him, i don't think anybody would have forgiven the united states government. >> reporter: this morning, he's recovering in germany. the army says there's no word how long he'll be there

nbc's tracie potts is in washington d.c. tracie, what has the secretary gotten done so far today in iraq where it's already afternoon there? >> right. so far he sat down with the prime minister of iraq and the white house has some interesting input on whether or not he should stay in that position. publically not taking a position. privately saying that they need a new leader. he talked to maliki this morning and also plans to talk to, as you notice, sunni and kurdish leaders trying to deal with what the u.s. perceives as an underlying problem with this depos government. >> reporter: in iraq today john kerry spent an hour and 40 minutes with the prime minister. he is also meeting sunni and kurdish leaders. in egypt kerry hinted iraq needs a new leader. >> united states would like to see the iraqi people find leadership that is prepared to represent all of the people of iraq. >> the time may very well be arriving when he constituted step aside and allow someone else who can help unify the country to take hold. >> reporter: bac

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> a marine pilot lands a plane without something very important. front landing gear. look at the nose of this plane. no front wheel. what did he use instead? a futuristic high-tech handy dandy stool. he is flying a harrier jet, and they can land vertically. it hovers about 23 feet above the deck, and he puts the plane's nose down with such precision. by the way, the ships carry stools like that for this very reason. that is amazing. >>> and startling new statistics for heavy drurnkers. the studies by the center for disease control says that researchers found that binge drinking, drinking while underage or while pregnant was responsible for 88,000 deaths from 2006 and 2010 and that excessive drinking could reduce your life span by as much as 30 years. the study defines binge drinking as five or more drinks in one sitting for men and four or more forwomen. >>> firefighters are battling to contain a massive wildfire that is sweeping across eastern arizona. the blaze has spread across more than 2,000 acres of land. the san juan fire is burning on the

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> and this just in from south korea. principal of the school that lost hundreds of students and teachers in a ferry disaster has been removed from his position. the school district would not give details. but said it is related to the disaster this is the latest fallout from the deadly accident. you may remember the captain and three crew members are facing charges and the vice principal of the school who was on board the ferry committed suicide. >>> the parents of a 15-month-old girl who was found near the edge of a busy highway in georgia say they shouldn't be charged with neglect. a good samaritan rescued the toddler a few hundred yards from the family's home on friday. her dad faces neglect and other charges but the parents say they had just stepped outside of the home for a few minutes. they say they left the girl napping inside and her 12-year-old brother was supposed to be watching her. the dad does admit he pushed a police officer who wouldn't let him beç reunited with his daughter. >> my kids are my world. i co

nbc's tracie potts is in washington. tracie, good morning to you. and how far and wide do these whistleblower accounts go? >> reporter: well, it's certainly a first-person account of some of what we've heard already. good morning, richard. pauline dewinters says that she was forced to keep those names secret, but she decided to go public after a particularly disturbing case. >> i felt horrible for what i've done, and i cannot erase my role. >> reporter: pauline dewinters says a manager forced her to keep a secreting waiting list with more than 1,000 veterans. >> she came out and she did say, if you do not do it my way, i personally will buy you a bus pass to the seventh street bus. >> reporter: dewinter alleges it's still happening that her notes about seven patients who died waiting to see doctors were recently altered or erased. sally eliano believes her father-in-law's case forced dewinter to come forward. thomas breen died after waiting two months for an appointment. >> i cursed at her, screaming, crying that he was dead already. >> reporter: in

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> j some other stories, back track, actor gary oldman apologizesoy interview on mel gibson's 2006 anti-semitic remarks. mel gibson is in a town that's run by jews and he said the wrong thing because he's actually bitten the hand that i guess fed him and doesn't need to feed him because he has enough dough. yesterday he apologized. upon reading my comments in print i see how insensitive they may be and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. >>> the girl allegedly to leave kfc because of facial scars is insisting it's not a hoax. kfc says there's no evidence. >>> the eiffel tower celebrates its 125th anniversary with a 125th scale of itself. people had to stand to take photos because there was nowhere to sit. the 42-foot mini me made of 324 red garden chairs. >>> and time to get down to business with cnbc's courtney reagan. good morning, courtney. >> good morning, dara. the obama administration has opened the door to the first major exports of u.s. oil in more than four decades. "the wall street journal" says the gov

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> it looks like the saturday mail delivery is here to stay. the white house voted to keep six-day postal delivery. the decision goes against republican leaders who want to use the savings for federal highway repairs. the vote restores a congressional mandate for delivery that goes back decades. >>> a knewist resort in northeastern pennsylvania is getting a lot of attention for an annual event this weekend. a nude beer festival, what else, at a nude resort. it's happening at the sunny nude resort. media are talking about this nude beer bash. actually, people from all over the world are expected to show up. >> we heard that people in australia heard about this. so it's kind of worldwide. and we don't even know where all the people are going to be coming from. >> the nude beer bash is on saturday. owners of the resort say the event is in no way meant to be sexual. >>> just days after we told you about a great white shark sighting off the jersey shore, a group of fishermen in new york say they caught a baby great white. the friends caught the baby

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> this morning it appears that donald sterling is trying to dig up dirt on the nba in his lawsuit against the league. a report says that sterling's lawyers have hired private firms to investigate nba commissioner adam silver, former commissioner david stern and 29 team owners. the report says sterling wants to know about any past allegations of discriminatory conduct and other owners ever made racist or sexist remarks. sterling is being -- is suing the nba after the league banned him for life for making racist comments to a girlfriend. >> a texas home worth more than half a million dollars will go up in flames. the owner of a vacant luxury house teetering on the 75 foot cliff has decided to burn the house. and clear the lot. the home is on a cliff overlooking lake whitney. look at that. the house was condemned about two weeks ago. tax record shows it was built in 2007 and is worth more than $700,000. a woman in florida is facing robbery charges for allegedly stealing lobster tails. police say this security video shows the suspect grabbing seven lo

tracie potts reports from washington. >> reporter: up to 300 military advisers are heading to iraq tolp its military choose targets, not to fight. >> that does not foreshadow a larger commitment of troops to actually fight in iraq. that would not be effective. >> foreign military intervention, especially if led by the united states will only harden the resolve of the radicals and unite the less religiously çmotivated. >> reporter: the president's decision to hold off on air strikes for now got mixed reaction on capitol hill. >> once again he's announced step "a" without thinking through the consequences of step "b." >> there's the beginning of an outline what i hope will be a concrete plan. >> many have been except kalg about plan in the past, i think you'll be open to listening to the president's case. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry heads to the middle east this weekend, including iraq, to rally support. meantime, the fiercest battles continue at iraq's largest oil refinery, raising fears that this war half a world away could soon affect prices here at home. >> you will

as nbc 10 national correspondent tracie potts reports, u.s. the region. >> reporter: this morning, dozens of u.s. military personnel are helping secure our embassy in iraq, moving state department workers out of baghdad as islamic militants close in on the capital. >> we need to do something to stop their momentum. >> we need air power immediately to stop the advance toward baghdad. >> with iraqi soldiers abandoning their post, shiite militias are now taking up arms against isis, the al qaeda-linked group that seized part of northwestern iraq, a dozen people died in an explosion sunday. pictures unverified show iraqi soldiers and recruits being executed. lawmakers are urging president obama to get involved, fast, to send a message. >> you intend to do harm to america or americans, we're going to come after you, bring a ring of fire on you you hope that never happens. >> three u.s. ships have been sent to the persian gulf. secretary of state john kerry is calling our allies in the region, saudis, jordan, qatar for help. >> this administration h

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> okay. so you have to take a look at this. a marine pilot lands a plane without something very important. we're talking about front landing gear. look at the nose of the plane. no front wheels. my, oh my. what does it do? you saw it there. he used a stool to land on. he's flying a harier jet. and he puts the plane's nose down with such precision. by the way, ships carry stools like that for this very reason. >>> we have startling new statistics for heavy drinkers. the center of disease control found a staggering 1 in 10 deaths among adults may be linked to excessive drinking. researchers found that binge drinking, drinking underage or while pregnant was responsible for roughly 88,000 deaths between 2006 and 2010 and it could reduce your life span by as much as 30 years. the study defined binge drinking as five or more drinks in one sitting for men and four or more for women. >>> shift gears now for sports. we want to start with the nba draft. >> with the first pick in the 2014 nba draft, the cleveland cavaliers select andrew w

nbc's tracie potts joins us now from washington d.c. whatever the president does, he says he is willing to go it alone. >> reporter: we heard democrats and republicans coming out of the leadership meeting with him saying the president does not think that he needs to go back to congress to get approval if he decides to take military action in iraq. >> reporter: u.s. navy planes and drones are flying over iraq this morning gathering surveillance. >> it's not as easy as looking at an iphone video of a convoy and then immediately striking it. >> reporter: the white house says president obama is still considering whether to order air strikes. >> we are very intensely vetting each of the possibilities. >> the president has not ruled out anything except for sending u.s. combat troops into iraq. >> reporter: top democrats and republicans who met with the president wednesday said afterward whatever he is considering will not need congressional approval first. the president is taking some heat from republicans who questioned whether he is taking

tracie potts joins us from washington, d.c. as we talk about the president, his meetings today, air strikes still in the mix here? >> well, we're hearing that the president is concerned that there are no clear targets and that's raising concern about whether or not air strikes would be effective. we're watching that situation as he meets with people in washington today, congressional leaders, to talk about what is the next step as these militants close in on baghdad. >> the majority leader. >> reporter: top democrats and republicans are coming to the white house today to hear how president obama plans to deal with sunni militants trying to take over iraq. >> the president can most quickly provide us with a strategy and a plan that address the threat posed by the insurgency. >> the challenge is what is in our interests? what are the consequences to us? >> reporter: as of today the militant group isis is believed to control six cities in iraq and they're fighting for six more. >> they have a billion dollars, they have heavies wea

nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. everybody still talking about it. the question is, if there is an identity crisis in the gop, will this slow progress yet more in washington? >> reporter: it could. remember, immigration was the issue for cantor. and a lot of republicans now looking at this less likely to want to compromise on anything. budgets, immigration or anything between now and the elections next fall because they don't want it to happen to them what happened to eric cantor. after losing his seat in congress, eric cantor says he'll step down as majority leader at the end of next month, backing the party's number three california's kevin mccarthy to replace him. >> i think he would make an outstanding majority leader. >> reporter: two texans are also in the running, jeb hensarling and pete sessions. >> we'll see what happens. i think we work very well together. >> reporter: the party votes june 19th, next thursday. if mccarthy wins, republicans will also need a new whip. members are already throwing their name in the hat for that. cantor's annou

nbc's tracie potts is in washington. what can we expect to see from secretary kerry's diplomatic tour this week? >> reporter: a lot of meetings in baghdad today, frances. we just got word early this morning that he hit the ground in baghdad. he is due to meet with several leaders there today. his goal is twofold. not only to deal with the violence and the u.s. response to that but also underline problems as the u.s. sees it with iraq's government. >> reporter: in iraq today, secretary of state john kerry meets with the prime minister, sunni and kurdish leaders. while he was in jordan, isis militants launched a new attack near the iraqi/jourdardanian bo. >> he's going to meet with the qatar, with saudi arabia, with other sunni nations and say, look, we need your help. >> reporter: in egypt, secretary kerry hinted iraq needs a new leader. >> the united states would like to see the iraqi people find leadership that is prepared to represent all of the people of iraq. >> the time may very well be arriving when he should step

thank you very much tracie potts live from washington. >>> the unrest in iraq is giving congress pausebout the president's plan to withdrawal troops from afghanistan next year. violence tips. this morning three heavily armed suicide bombers attacked a nato convoy near the afghan-pakistan border. it was along a key route for nato. the attack triggered a gun battle with police guards. police killed two attackers, but one blew himself up. 37 fuel trucks exploded, as well. the taliban has claimed responsibility. the obama administration insists afghanistan is not iraq. the white house plans to withdrawal u.s. forces from afghanistan by the end of 2016. >>> today house republicans will elect a replacement for eric cantor. cantor stepped down after he was unexpectedly defeated in a historic virginia primary. it was the first time that a majority leader has lost in a primary election. republican whip and californian kevin in being car any mccarthye frontrunner. >>> spain welcomed a new king earlier today. there he is felipe vi will take over the throne at his father and former king juan carlo

. >> tracie potts is in washington with the latest developments. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. new this morning, there is word that the u.s. is considering -- hasn't done it yet, but it's considering touching base with iran to try to help out in this situation. also, brand new this morning, a travel warning from the state department telling americans don't go to iraq if you don't have to. it is a fluid situation, one they describe as high risk. >> reporter: this morning dozens of u.s. military personnel are helping secure our embassy in iraq moving state department workers out of baghdad as islamic militants close in on the capitol. >> we need to do something to stop the momentum. we need airpower immediately to stop the advance towards baghdad. >> reporter: with iraqi soldiers abandoning their posts, militias are armed against isis, the laid-linked group that seized part of iraq. a dozen people died in explosions sunday. pictures unverified show iraqi soldiers and recruits being executed. lawmakers are urging president obama to g

nbc 10 national correspondent tracie potts reports from washington. >> reporter: after losing his seatin congress, eric cantor says he'll step down as majority leader at the end of next month leaving kevin mccarthy to replace him. >> i think he'd make an outstanding majority leader. >> reporter: two texans are also in the running, jeb hence ehens and -- >> reporter: the party votes june 19th. members are throwing their names in the hat for a new whip. house speaker john boehner called for unity. >> he's doing the right thing for the conference. he wants to keep us all united. >> he was held in high regard as a leader, so we're feeling the pain. >> reporter: still up in the air, whether there's any chance for immigration reform. that's the issue that propelled candor's opponekand cantor's op victory. >> any degree of even modest support for immigration can be effectively cast as pro-amnesty. >> reporter: a shocking defeat leading to a big political shake-up and perhaps more gridlock. one thing we don't expect to change, john boehner, house speaker, says he's not going anywhere. in fact,

. >>> nbc's tracie potts is in washington. tracie, good morning. what can we expect to see this week? >> reporter: what we're already seeing is president obama focusing and he made this clear when he hit the ground in poland this morning, focusing on security in eastern europe with our allies there, trying to reassure them. right now he's holding a news conference with the president of poland, and one of the things that they focused on is trying to maintain relations with russia in that region, while condemning their actions in ukraine. president obama arrived in warsaw this morning to commemorate the 25th anniversary of free elections in poland. but the focus of this trip is urging our eastern european allies to keep the pressure on russia, to back off in ukraine. >> we have begun rotating additional ground troops and f-16 aircraft into poland and this is going to help our forces train together. >> reporter: mr. obama and russian president vladimir putin will both attend events commemorating the 70th anniversary of d-day, but there is no one on on

tracy potts live on capitol hill this morning where lawmakers say they are frustrated the hope for immigration reform appears to be dead, tracy. >> reporter: yeah, after a year scott looks like this is knot going to get done in the next six months. they've only got six months left until the congress, and within that six months, take out all the breaks and only have a few workweeks. dmts and republicans privately and publicly now acknowledging it's probably not going to happen. so where do we go from here? the administration, the white house says they're looking at other options. yes, the president's already under fire for using executive orders, but they're asking homeland zourt take a look at what they can do, administratively to change and adjust how we're dealing with immigration in this country. like two year work leases, can they be expanded or slowing down deportation. this weekend, nancy pelosi is leading a group of lawmakers down to texas, southern texas to check out the detention center that's holding children who come across the border without their parents to get a birds eye view of

nbc's tracie potts is in washington, d.c. the debate now where you're at is this surge. is it the result of the president's dreamer policy? >> reporter: or the result of the lack of a policy at this point in terms of enforcement. the challenge that the administration seems to be facing is people who think they can send their kids over the border and those kids will be allowed to stay in the united states and now they have got sort of a pr campaign going on to let them know that is not the case. most of these kids are going to be sent back home. they're going to be deported. with children, the process takes a little bit longerment they try to find the family here, which means we have to house and feed and take care of them in the process. and now there are concerns about that. customs and border patrol checking out allegations from the aclu and some activist groups, ingrant groups that a quarter of the kids reported physical abuse, 100 allegations of punching, kicking, children who were raped while in u.s. custody, strip searches, shackles, not enough food, not enough wat

"today in the bay's" tracy potts joins us live from capitol hill. acy, will this plan aply no matter where the couple lives? >> reporter: that's exactly the point, sam, if you live in a state that does not recognize same-sex marriage, the federal law, according to this, would trump what's going on in your state when it comes to the family medical leave act. in other words, if you had a partner and you wanted to take off the job to take care of that partner for a medical reason, you'd be able to do so and hold on to your job for that 12 weeks without fear of losing your job. it's a proposal, and it's a proposal that we expect to hear more about today. the details just came out overnight. also today, the justice department is announcing that they are ending their review of federal benefits for same-sex couples. that was after the supreme court's decision this time last year. that review expected to extend benefits pretty much to all same-sex couples. they want congress to make changes so that those benefits could be extended as well. >> tracy potts fro

nbc's tracie potts joins us live. tracie, what is this going to mean for washington? >> reporter: certainly a shuffle, dara, in the republican leadership. and we're already this morning starting to see names of people popping up who are interested in that position. speaking of leadership, cantor was actually here starting today in a leadership meeting and not back in his district when those votes started. >> this is a miracle of god that just happened. >> reporter: it's certainly unprecedented, never has a house majority leader lost his seat in a primary. >> and it's disappointing, sure. >> reporter: and this was a crushing defeat, with most precincts in, cantor was behind 10 percentage points. >> obviously, we came up short. >> what do we want? when do we want it? now! >> reporter: cantor was hammered for supporting the dream act, like these activists at his victory party last night, cantor fought back, reminding voters that he led the fight against amnesty, but it wasn't enough. >> eric cantor's defeat here is going to scare more and more republicans from touching t

"today in the bay's" tracy potts joins us live in washington, d.c. with new details about that visit, good morning, tracy. >> reporter: hey laura, good morning, let's start with kerry's visit and the meetings he's been having since he touched down in baghdad early this morning. three meetings with political leaders including prime minister al maul i can who privately many here in washington say is not the man top lead this government. could have been a tense meeting there. kerry also meeting with the kurd and sunni leaders as well as shiite leaders trying to pull this government together. and speaking of that enemy, isis, the sunni militant group that's invaded this country, as of of this morning looks like they've taken over at least part of the syrian border. a couple of towns there. and new this morning, we learned that there were also reports that they had taken over a main route from jordan into baghdad where it looks like the border patrol agent, the iraqis who were there fled early this morning. we're watching that one for you too, laura. >> t

"today in the bay's" tracy potts live outside the supreme court where the ruling is expected to come own in just a little more than an hour. good morning, tracy. >> reporter: hey laura, good morning everyone. what we are watching for is to see whether or not the court makes a heed decision on entities, companies, corporations, and whether they have the same religious freedom that you and i have. is this an individual right or can it balls applied to companies. that's the argument from hobby lobby, a company, an arts and crafts chain that's owned by a family of southern baptists. they say knave always run their company based on their religious principles and this is not different. that's where they're certain types of contraceptives, but those that can prevent pregnancy that they say violates religious rights. you have the women who work for these companies who argue they don't necessarily have the same religious believes as their employers and as a result they should be covered with the same contraceptives like everyone else among the affordable care act. those are the issues we're wa

tracy potts joins us live.despite part sin bill could be dead altogether. >> reporter: that's what we're hearing laura. a year ago there was a lot of hope, a year later here's where we are, congress that's binding down, they have six months, really just a few weeks to work and not the will or the passion here that we saw a year ago. democrats and republicans privately and publicly are now saying it just doesn't look like it's going to happen. the key seemed to be for some eric cantor's loss. when eric cantor agreed to compromise to some degree on immigration then his challengers used that against him and a challenger that many didn't know ended up beating the majority leader. that scared off a lot of republicans from dealing with immigration. sop with the little time they have left, it looks like this is not going to happen. so where do we go from here? the obama administration is asking homeland zourt look into what they can do administratively. yes, president east taking a lot of heat for those executive orde

i'm joined by nbc's tracie potts in washington, d.c. tracie, what can we expect? >> reporter: today we'll hear from a white house attorney connected to all of this at the time. remember the investigation started with questions about whether or not the irs had unfairly targeted conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. now it's taken a bit of a turn, and lawmakers want a special prosecutor to look into why some of the evidence disappeared. two years worth of e-mails that congress wants to see have been destroyed, and some republicans think that was no accident. >> you possibly had people at the irs who were committing crimes, and they're not being held accountable. >> reporter: the e-mails were to and from lois lerner who headed the office that determined whether groups seeking tax-exempt status are too political. some conservative groups faced extra scrutiny. lawmakers believe the e-mails could explain why. but the irs says he first learned in april that her hard drive was destroyed after her computer crashed and backup tapes were recycled. >> why di

. >> thank you for that report, tracy potts. >>> could a late night phone call lead to a peaceful resolution in the ukraine? vladimir putin spoke with petro por shen skoe on the phone on tuesday. they spoke about a possible cease fire in european ukraine. the ukrainian government battled months of attacks from pro-russian forces across the southeast of the country. >>> three executions in 24 hours. convicted georgia killer given a lethal injection, and apologized to the family of the teenager he murdered. his execution was the first since the lethal injection of an oklahoma inmate went wrong in november. and john winfield was executed. and a third prisoner will be put to death in florida tonight despite claims he is mentally ill and intellectually disabled. >>> a new poll has the latest approval ratings for president obama and hillary clinton. just 37% of americans approve of the president's handling the foreign policy issues. that is an all-time low in the survey. meanwhile, the poll also shows americans are split over whether they want to see hillary clinton in the white house. 38% of regi

tracie potts joins e me live from washington with more on this. this is a multilayered issue. how do you even begin to tackle this? >> the administration would argue you stem the flow of children coming into the country without their participant parents and the numbers are staggering. six times as many in a year as just two years ago. the administration trying to get a tough message out to parents in that region warning them that just because their kids make it here safely does not mean they will be able to stay. most of them will be deported. first the housing and health and human services unit has to house them and feed them and that has become a controversy. border control is investigating that some of those children have been mistreated. they have more than 100 reports of children who were punched, kicked, even raped while in custody. and that many of them have not been given adequate food and water. >> thank you for that report. >>> we want to get the latest in sports from my friend richard lui. good morning. >> you got us both in the same hit. good morning to you upon th

nbc's tracie potts is in washington with more on what this could mean. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: betty, good morning. well, this could certainly lead to a scramble for leadership positions for republicans here on capitol hill. eric cantor earlier in the day wasn't even in his district. he was here on capitol hill as those votes started to come in. >> this is a miracle from god that just happened. >> reporter: it's certainly unprecedented. never has a house majority leader lost his seat in a primary. >> and it's disappointing, sure. >> reporter: and this was a crushing defeat with most precincts in, cantor was behind 10 percentage points. >> look, obviously, we came up short. >> what do we want? >> reporter: cantor was hammered for supporting the dream act, part of president obama's immigration reform. like these activists at his victory party last night, cantor fought back, reminding voters that he led the fight against amnesty, but it wasn't enough. >> eric cantor's defeat here is going to scare more and more republicans from touching this. >> r

tracie potts is live in washington with more on this. good morning to you. what can we expect to see this week? >> reporter: just beginning this morning you can expect to see president obama focusing on security in eastern europe as he landed in warsaw this morning. we saw him reviewing those fighter jets he sent over there with 150 troops to reassure our allies that the u.s. will protect them if russia goes too far. president obama arrives in warsaw this morning to come rate the free elections in poland. today he'll focus on trade. >> u.s. and foreign companies are investing billions of dollars to strengthen our economy and directly support high quality jobs for millions of u.s. workers. >> reporter: but the focus of this trip is urging our allies to keep the pressure on russia to back off in ukraine. mr. obama and vladimir putin will both attend events commemorating the 70th anniversary of d-day. but there's no one-on-one planned between them. the state department calls russia hypocritical calling for peace in ukraine while sending in weapons and troops. >

i'm joined by nbc's tracie potts in washington d.c. what can we expect today? >> well, dara, you can expect to hear from a white house attorney who used to be at the irs. this is a back and fort forth about whether or not she would testify. she is scheduled to be here on capitol hill in about two and a half hours. meantime, the committee that started out investigating whether the irs unfairly targeted conservative groups, now some of the committee members want a special prosecutor to look into why evidence disappeared. >> reporter: two years worth of emails that congress wants to see have been destroyed, and some republicans think that was no accident. >> you possibly have people at the irs who are committing crimes, and they're not being held accountable. >> they were to and from lois lerner, the now retired employee, who headed the office that determines whether groups seeking tax exempt status are too political. lawmakers believed the emails could explain why. the irs, she tells congress, he first learned in april that lerner's hard drive was destroyed after

nbc's tracie potts joins me now live from washington with more on this. tracie, so, where do you see things headed? >> reporter: well, it looks like this may not wrap up very quickly. there are two different positions that we expect will be voted on today. majority leader, that's to replace cantor. the number one person up for that is kevin mccarthy, currently the number three in the republican party, looking to move up to that second in command. and while he's the favorite, he's not uncontested. a tea party republican, raul labrador of idaho, is also vying for that spot. so, they'll make nominations, they'll give speeches, speeches in support, and then the voting, by paper ballot, by the way, will begin. now, because mccarthy is already the number three, the majority whip, if he wins, then his position has to be filled, and there are three republicans vying for that. if neither gets 117 votes, then there will be a runoff. and so, this could actually take a while. it's set to start at 2:00 eastern this afternoon. >> sounds like a lot of musical chairs. oka

nbc national correspondent tracie potts explains. >> reporter: hobby lobby and con stog ga wood argue affordable care act should not force them to provide contraceptives. what about employees, women, whose beliefs are different? >> the owner has a right to his or her religious beliefs but that doesn't mean you get to discriminate against women if women have different beliefs than what the owner has. >> reporter: the government can fine companies with more than 50 employees that violate the health law. c cones there are exceptions for churches and nonprofits. the court is expected to decide if for-profit companies have those same protections. the other case, whether union can collect dues from nonmembers for collective bargaining. >>> a cruise ship is back at sea after fire forced it to return to port. fire broke out on the holland american westerdam shortly after it left seattle wednesday night. repairs were made, the ship was okayed to sail. it left port sunday morning. >>> a wedding went off without a hitch in california days after the bride to be and her maid of honor barely escape

i'm joined by tracie potts in washington. there's mixed reaction by the president's decision to send in more troops. >> some here think it's a good start. others are willing to listen to where the president wants to go with this. others think he is not being aggressive enough. not there for combat. their goal is to help out the iraqi military. >> reporter: up to 300 military advisors are headed to iraq to help its military choose targets. not to fight. >> there's not foreshadowing a larger commitment of troops to actually fight in iraq. that would not be effective. >> military intervention, especially if led by the wraits, only part of the response of the radicals. >> the president's decision to hold off on air strikes for now got mixed reaction on capitol hill. >> once again, he has announced step a without thinking lou the consequences of step b. >> there's the beginning of an outlying -- what i hope will be a concrete plan we can rally around. >> many of us that have been skeptical of that plan to intervene in the past wil

. >> let's get more facts from nbc's tracie potts in washington. good morning to you. what are we learning about this closed door meeting? >> reporter: we're learning after that meeting some lawmakers were convinced that the administration did the right thing and the others, the most vocal, were not convinced. they spoke out after this briefing, a briefing that they expected before all this happened. sergeant bowe bergdahl appears fairly healthy and alert in this taliban video. in another video shown to congress behind closed doors, lawmakers said he appeared tired, impaired sick barely responsive, perhaps drugged. some lawmakers agreed it was enough to justify president obama's quick order to get bergdahl out without consulting congress first. not everyone is convinced. >> that did not sell me at all. the proof of life is five month ago, december. at that time he was impaired. >> there is no intelligence that indicated from a medical standpoint his life was in danger. >> reporter: senators briefed by the administration tuesday say they're also concerned about the five

nbc's tracie potts reports from washington. >> reporter: this is new amateur video not yet authenticated by nbc. it's the iraqi/jordanian border. this is the main highway from aman jordan to baghdad. in baghdad john kerry spend 1:40 with prime minister maliki after ds a leader. esqi peoplpare t p tg houldde aden>> a h aorheht s w e than' capon w es iraough igut gednd r150t to p unghe r ht >> i a rll.p deimne >>stalef enr t'ot an s tl sek d l bmota tom ao hsete inound s reoafsik le n uppe s. s samagthouanevy'highoing g ct othe sl glear.ngeltil nighor he pur, no indnyfmost, fsure soc feor durthe te a thur m hy s aturiththitdast ellpehu ahooikasthesdci datatern gl bch 's h cle by dehe son ress a yo tt le up thtar lahance ownl for jm mas ae hon ars ec nbtes. f rol >>epte iki d l rce.ryw d mclinices as tul gone onth t rhve eris his ine sa fiou dheut f mlding ts ngth and a tay. ts le win nyour byighoo. kimion cngnstamedhatng le ette'sresponio be tinot fut t h. etausfo yriaexth ter thpaker. or s s. >>> d s bliceutdbu hica whatloyoaro.ng aye ewsoneegotheai yy sg nowte t t.lohisinld tonsv asior a

tracie potts has the details. 's hard to believe 70 years now, tracie. >> some of them were just only 16 years old when they hit the beaches and now they are in their 80s. let's start with president obama who toured the cemetery today. some 4700 americans died that day. he spoke to a crowd of over 14,000 at omaha beach remembering some of the details of that invasion that led to the end of world war ii. it was at omaha beach that really turned the tide for what happened in world war ii. back then, the u.s. and russia were on the same side against nazi germany. today, not necessarily so, especially when it comes to ukraine. we've seen vladimir putin and president obama sitting together at lunch but no one-on-one interaction. not sure that's going to happen. >> we'll be watching for that. thank you so much, tracie. >>> listen to this. 70 years after his last jump over normandy, a 93-year-old man jumped again. yesterday, jim martin joined parachuters from another court to reenact that jump on the beach in france. the

tracie potts is joining us. we just learned that president obama and vladimir putin did talk face-to-face for about 15 minutes? >> they did. no word whether they spoke about ukraine. it's certainly a possibility. we're seeing some of the leaders arrive now for the international ceremony. this comes after a luncheon and we saw president obama and putin together, if not talking but together for the first time since the intervention in crimea in ukraine. the president and putin were sitting four seats apart at that lun luncheon and now we're learning that they had a conversation on the sidelines. this commemorates the americans who served and who were killed on d-day 70 years ago. some of those veterans, by the way, were there. the president sat with them before the ceremony, spent some time with them and talked with some of them afterwards. two things that we're watching here, of course, the commemoration of that historic day 70 years ago and also waiting to get more detail on what this conversation between presid

"today in the bay" tracie potts is live joining us from washington, d.c. more than just a civil war in iraq. >> it is. a lot of people are saying, why would we want to send our troops back to iraq. by the way, we're not talking about ground troops, possibly some sort of air assistance. take a look at the pictures that we have, militants marching through the streets of mogul, the second largest city in iraq and taken over that city and another one and this morning 40 miles away from the capital of baghdad. these are militants that have close ties to syria, to al qaeda. the u.s. is concerned that if they take over major parts of iraq, some lawmakers here on capitol hill have put it, a pipeline to the next 9/11. president obama has gotten some contingency plans from the pentagon and sat down with his national security team and looking at what, if any, air assistance whether drones or man aircraft we may be willing to give. vice president biden told the prime minister that while the u.s. plans to help, they also have to make sure the factions are working togeth

"today in the bay's" tracie potts joins us live in washington, d.c. the suspect was hiding in plain sight, even giving interviews on several media outlets while the u.s. was looking for him. >> that was shortly after the attack, and ten he went under the radar. officials have suggested that's why it took so long after they identified him to find him after he had literally been talking to u.s. media outlets for some time, right after the benghazi attack. now, he's in u.s. custody, the fbi director confirmed that he's on board "uss new york," headed for the united states. he's believed to be responsible for the 2012 september 11, 2012 attack at consulate in benghazi that killed chris stevens with three other americans, the ambassador and three others there. from stevens' family, as a result of this latest arrest, they say we have no comment, there's nothing for us to add or say about it. there's nothing that can be done to undo this tragedy. now, he's headed to washington, d.c., to meet a federal judge. we're told by the justice department that he is go

"today in the bay" tracie potts joins us live on capitol hill with the very latest. od morning, tracie. >> laura, good morning. one of those employees is the lead engineer who designed that faulty ignition switch. he's beenen paid leave until this investigation was over one of two engineers waiting for the result. in just about 15 or 20 minutes, the ceo of gm mary barra is expected to address employees and then later hold a news conference about what the results are of their internal investigation. we are hearing from sources, the detroit news heard from some of their sources that a number of people may not be named but how many people are leaving the company today, some have already retired and less for other positions and the report will be painful and have a detailed chronology of the last 10 to 12 years and why gm did not act sooner before millions of cars had to be recalled and 13 people were killed. but critics, they're not satisfied by this internal investigation done, by the way, by gm's own attorney, an attorney that represented the company before. there are

"today in the bay's" tracie potts joins us live. the suspect held on a ship in the mid terrain yan sea. >> reporter: exactly. headed to the united states where he will some point be in a federal courtroom, u.s. district court, according to the fbi direer who confirms in custody, questioned by a special fbi team. the question is, might he be considered an enemy combatant? not at this point. in fact, they were specific to say the justice department was specific to say, when he gets here, comes to court, he'll get a lawyer. that is not what lawmakers here on capitol hill wanted to see. many, republicans especially, complaining that this man should be held as enemy combatant, he should be at guantanamo bay, interrogated thoroughly to make sure there are not others involved that we have not captured already or to find out who the others are who were involved so they can be captured. they don't want to see him in a federal courtroom with an attorney lawyered up and not giving up information. we believe he's on the "uss new york." >> inter

that is where we find tracie potts. is the president still considering air strikes? >> reporter: yes, according to the white house, it's still on the table, but there are concerns about what the u.s. would strike. what we do know is that planes and drones are already flying over iraq as of this morning. they are trying to gather more surveillance, who are these militants, where are they, what might they strike next. the white house has said that the president is reluctant to order air strikes up they have more information. t turkey's leader said there is concern civilians could get hit if the u.s. goes ahead with the air strikes certainly with the lack of intelligence that they have now. thus the surveillance that we're seeing going on. and there is growing concern here on capitol hill about iraq's prime minister nuri al maliki not the most popular person on this side of the atlantic. president obama, the white house, not officially saying that they want him gone. we are hearing that here on capitol hill. the white house has said that is a decision for the iraqi peop

"today in the bay's" tracie potts live on capitol hill this morning with the latest on the hearing. good morning to you. >> good morning. jay johnson, secretary of homeland security headed down to nogales, arizona, to check out the border station to see firsthand on the ground what the situation is with all of the kids coming over the border from central america without their parents. it's become a human crisis he told congress yesterday. something that he's willing to look at in many different ways. he says that all options are open including possibly sending the national guard down to the border. but the white house isn't too kean on that idea. they've put a lot of resources at the border. so far this year, 52,000 since october, 52,000 kids have come across the border without parents. they expect that to swell to 65,000 by the end of the year. back to you. >> tracy pots in washington, thank you. >>> new this morning, four small bomb blasts wounded eight people in several subway stations in egypt causing panic among commuters. the blast took place in central and northern cairo caus

with more details on this landmark proposal, let's go live to tracy potts who joins us on capitol hill tracy, this is an impact on thousands of families. >> reporter: it is, and it's not the situation in california, but in many other states where these marriages are not legal the federal government says families will be able to take advantage of the family and medical leave act which basically says if you need to take time off work to take care of of a partner or a loved one, you can do so without fear of losing your job for the first 12 weeks. that has not been the case for same-sex couples, but the labor department is extending that benefitted. they are the latest in a series of federal agency and departments that are changing their benefits after last year's supreme court decision that struck down a key part of the defense of marriage act. so that is one thing happening today. also, the justice department is expected to announce that they're wrapping up their review of federal benefits and almost all benefits can be extended to same-sex couples except for a few, and for those few, t

"today in the bay's" tracy potts joins us now from washington, d.c., good morning, tracy. >> reporter laura, good morning, boehner says the president is supposed to carry out the laws that congress passes, not change them. remember back in january, the state of the union, president obama said to get around the dysfunction here on capitol hill, there were some things he could do by executive order, and he did that. boehner now says it was unconstitutional and wants to take the president and his administration to court. democrats on capitol hill led by nancy pelosi of the bay area says it's nothing much more than a tantrum she says from see do-nothing congress. the white house says they're not worried and they're not going to sfend a lot of time on it. that the president was doing his job and they don't think the tax payers will support this. now going forward, what we don't know is what particular order will this lawsuit target? health care, the president had to change the dates there after they were written into the law, immigration, same-sex marriage, family leave has been extended t