i think jennifer characterized the white house argument. intelligence is imparable, as we talked about before on this program and elsewhere. you take information you get, you test it, you bring it back, you test it again, and the earlier you do, this the more likely you are to get fresh, actionable intelligence. but, even beyond that eric holder, back in 2002, was asked about how likely it was to gain good information, good intelligence, interrogating someone, in this case it was john walker lind, the american tall band once he had a lawyer. and horld said, this is january 28th, 2002. it's hard to interrogate him at this point now that he has a lawyer and now that he is here to the united states to the extent that we can get information from him, we should. that totally contra dickets what holder said today in his letter to mitch mcconnell and contradicts the heart of the administration's argument that we didn't lose any intelligence by not interrogating him quickly. >> bret: iran can't seem to make up its mind whether to cooperate or confr

were for transparency down at the white house. but i didn't get an answer. december 16, this house was rapidly trying to wrap up its business. the weather channel was forecasting a huge snowstorm for that weekend. everyone in the house of representatives wanted to get out of here and home to their district. they didn't want to be stuck here in the nation's capital for a single day necessary -- more than necessary and we were rapidly wrapping up our work. and on december 16, i introduced a resolution, house resolution 983 for people who want to look it up at home, because it became clear to me that the white house had no intention of responding to my bill. i introduced a bill that was a resolution of inquiry. this is an uncommon parliamentary tool. we don't have many fools at our disposal -- many tools at our disposal, but realistically it was my only option. i had no place to go because i had been rebuffed by the white house and been rebuffed at the speaker's office. it was very important that the details of any negotiations made b

, that there's a lot of frustration that the white house is not being specific enough and you have the tensions between the house and senate democrats and between liberals and conservatives in the party. you were in that meeting. how challenging was it for the white house from members of your caucus? >> folks are frustrated. at the end of the day, as a new guy, i'm as frustrated just with the whole process up here. if there was ever a time when we ought to check our democratic and republican hats at the door and walk on to the floor of the senate, it ought to be now. some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, republican national committee, criticizing the fact that the unemployment level has dropped. that's crazy. let's find a way -- i'm glad the president is saying we've got to get good ideas from both sides. we should look at an idea, whether it has an r or d next to it. let's get the best ideas, see what we can do to help stimulate particularly the small business growth and small business lending. let's see if we can provide this first piece of a jobs bill may be arou

trade representative. >> savannah guthrie from the white house briefing room tonight. thanks. >>> in the capital of afghanistan, a coordinated attack by suicide bombers has killed at least 17 people. the first car bomb blast levelled a residential hotel favored by a lot of foreign visitors, then sparked gun battles that raged for two hours on the city streets. this is the second major attack in central kabul in the last five weeks. >>> on wall street in new york today, the dow managed to squeak out a gain of just over four points toned the week and the month, the blue chips finished with a 2.6% gain in february. >>> back here in vancouver, if you were watching nbc this afternoon, you know the u.s. men's hockey team is on its way to the gold medal round game. they crushed finland 6-1, pummeling finland's goalie in the opening minutes of the game. all six u.s. goals came in the first period. you don't see that very often. we find out tonight if the gold medal game is going to be the u.s. versus canada. >>> when "nightly news" continue once a friday night, remember that 1

al is down in washington. >> al is at the white house. he was outside. he's heading inside, into the kitchen, where the chef is actually getting a little help making breakfast. there we go. some very nice looking kids. we're going to check in with all of them in just a bit. >>> all right. also ahead, we're going to have more of our exclusive interview with the first lady, michelle obama. she talks about how sasha and malia are doing in washington. are they the same kids today that they were when they moved into the white house and what does the obama family do and share with each other around the dinner table each night? we'll talk about that. >> all right. >>> so, yesterday, a baby was born on the "today" show. >> yes. >> how do you top that? >> um, you know, it's like we'd have to perform brain surgery or something like that. >> you're right! you're right, mr. roker, you don't have a brain, it's amazing. >> i'm mr. lauer, by the way. >> oh, i'm sorry! >> speaking of who doesn't have a brain. >> oh, that's right. anyway, i'm going to get a brain or some

white house.s was sponsored by the lyndon b. johnson library and museum. >> good evening. i am mark updegrove, the director of the lbj library. on behalf of my friend don carleton, i want to welcome you to behind the lens -- white house photography from lbj to obama. he will be on stage later this evening to moderate a panel of discussion with our speakers. this will be the debut of an alliance we have struck up. in the spring, we will team up for some events and programming and a temporary exhibit around the life and legacy of walter cronkite. we hope you will come back for that. [applause] we hope you'll come back for that and some of the other wonderful things going on here. back in 1860, abraham lincoln chalked up his white house victory to two good things. the speech that he made at cooper union -- the famous "house divided" speech. since that time, the photography of our presidents as become no less powerful. tonight, on the anniversary of barack obama's historic inauguration, four chief whi

something the white house has been pushing lately.t will be a smaller package than the house passed jobs creation bill, shepard, which had a price tag of 155 billion. i don't have an exact figure for the senate bill but it will be smaller which means, here again, house and senate democrats are going to have to put their two different bills together. we will see how that works out. >> shepard: major garrett keeping watch for us. thanks. a.i.g. handing out multi-million-dollar bonuses to many of the same people who led the company to the brink of collapse. and tonight the obama administration is all out with it, describing it as an outrageous failure of policy. a.i.g., or american international group, is the insurance company that fell into trouble after making very risky investments. top economists warned that a.i.g. was so big and so tied in with other businesses that its failure would bring the entire economy down or could. so the feds threw the company a lifeline, a 180 billion-dollar bailout. but a.i.g. immediately ran into big pr

top white house aides are on the offensive.idterm elections but are also taking an early look at 2012. the spit hoping for a repeat of his 2008 victory and rally his team to secure a secretary term. does seem early to be talking about whether it will be in chicago, washington. what's the calculation going to go? >> my colleague had great store i don't this morning. they are looking at what the re-elected and you are right. it is early. but from the white house's perspective it is never too early to start thinking about 2012. one of the big issues is where is this going to be headquartered. the bush administration struggled with that a little bit. wanting the headquarters of the re-election campaign to be out in the real country somewhere. not inside the beltway. they ended up in suburban virginia just over the river from washington, d.c. the obama folks are saying as of now they would like to it to be in chicago where the last campaign was headquartered. it is a really symbolically important to be outside the beltway these days

our senior white house correspondent major garrett is live at the white house tonight. what are the reasons for the criticism, major? >> there is a couple of criticisms, shepard, some are coming from democrats. this senate bill is only $15 billion, pretty small when the consider the u.s. economy is $15 billion in size and the house passed 155 billion-dollar jobs bill. some house democrats complaining about the way the senate put together highway construction formula. but then republicans like john boehner, the house republican leader says the bigger problem is not what's going on on the jobs front but the other taxes the president is talking about for health care, financial regulation, and energy legislation. let's take a listen. >> all the uncertainty around the tax rates we are going to have at the end of this year are really causing employers to sit on their hands. and so i do believe that this issue is critically important. if we don't erase the uncertainty, we're not going to get the economy moving again and put the people back to work. >> republicans say the way t

but republicans have declared the white house proposal dead on arrival, and called on the white houseart over. >> we've now had an opportunity to look at the president's summary of where he would like to go on health care and i would say putting a new name on a whole lot more spending is clearly not reform. >> it's time to scrap this bill, to get back to common sense ideas that will help improve the cost of health care in america and widen access. >> realistically, they should stop crying about reconciliation as if it's never been done before. it's done almost every congress. >> pretty tough words. so the question is what happens if a bipartisan break through can't be reached? well, the democrats could, of course, still use a special senate procedure to push the bill through. in fact, 23 democratic senators have now signed off on the idea of reconciliation and getting health care done with a simple majority. still, as one republican pointed out to me yesterday, monica, they've got 23 democrats on board. that still leaves another 36. less than the majority of the democratic party to si

the white house is looking ahead to 2012.ould note a few minutes ago the presidential advisory denied the reports. wendell goler with the news life at the white house. >> politico says david plouffe is holding informal talks with others involved in that effort. some, like david axlerod, now here at the white house, others like plouffe himself are not. folks say the story's overwritten and valley jared says no significant planning has begun and they're not think being 2012. if president obama follows the lead of the past two administrations, he won't formally announce his reelection bid until sometime next year. by historians say earlier informal planning is the norm. one senior democrat calls the report disconcerting and notes there are a number of democrats up for reelection in 2010 and as he says, 2012 is a hull -- hell of a long way away. the president will get an answer to the call for bipartisanship at blair house. here's what steven his has to say. >> the president has spent a year in sort of a waltz or dance other bipa

. >>> white house exit. the obama friend and social secretary leaves three months after those salahi headlines. >>> scandal in the tomato sauce. a headline making investigation. what do bribes have to do with toy may toes? >>> new clues in that whale man who brought that killer e whale to florida. >>> and, changing the world. the secret of success, in the most important job on earth. our inspiring "persons of the week." >>> good evening. across the northeast tonight, a lot of people feel like those toys that bounce up only to be pushed back down again. everyone pummeled by the seventh big snowstorm of the winter, and travel is nearly impossible. hundreds of thousands without power, and even where there is no snow, tropical force winds turned lives upside down. we have complete team coverage tonight, sam champion in the weather center, john berman, showing us how they have been digging people out, and ron claiborne where the snow is the deepest. ron, lead us off. >> reporter: good evening, diane. well, the sn

that was my first time inside the white house. it was very special to me. >> reporter: the visit to the white house as a lesson to the students. >> it makes it tangible for them knowing president obama and his wife came from humble beginnings, they can be whatever they want to be in life. >> news 4. northeast. >> the minor elementary school glee club is becoming rather well known. they have sung for the nfl and secretary of state hillary clinton and many other agencies in the washington area. >>> another huge group recently hit town, the black eyed peas, "i've got a feeling" and you probably know front man will.i.am. he's trying to help those in need. here's an interview about his past struggles a newest idea for the future. >> reporter: the future is what will.iam is working on improving and not just for himself. >> the fusion between orphanage and charter school. >> reporter: that's his latest idea to help save the world. >> me and my mom just had this dream two months ago because. >> reporter: you're always dreaming of things.

the secret white house and the white house social office. is head of the social office. the notion that she has just picked this moment in time out of the air to go back to chicago and do things that she wants to do, it's not particularly credible. host: i'm going to put you on the spot. if she was forced out, who pushed her? guest: i think -- you know, i haven't even talked about this since all this happened. first, let's go back to the previous issue. it was about the fact that you had people come into the white house who could have endangered the lives of the prime minister of india and the president of the united states. president obama said on cbs that he was angry when he was asked. he said i'm angry with everyone involved. and it's not -- the issue is not necessarily about a personal personality. it is about, one, about the duty of that position and what that position entails. and then the first and foremost issue is the safety of an american president. the american president, the historic american president who has already had securi

an app. >> robert gibbs the white house spokesman.ook a few minutes to do a demo. >> the white house launched the iphone app, it's free and you can download it at itunes. here is how it works, you get two iphones and you just --. [ laughter ] voila, you have obama ears. [ applause ] i feel smarter already. >> here is one of the postings to the white house.gov i-pod app. another day, another disappointing ploy obstructing progress. fair and balance. that is a wrap on news watch this week. i want to thank, kirsten, catholic thomas and alice. i'm jon scott. we'll see you next week for another edition of

white house press secretary says sanctions are undeserved. i don't think either country can afford to walk away from the other. that is not what we would do. i don't think that's what anybody expects them to do. my reaction to that is i don't think those would be warranted. >> the administration's strategy to produce energy and fight climate changes revolves around nuclear power. the generation of nuclear power that was shunned by democrats and environmentalists for decades. and now what has changed and what remains the same. to create more of the clean energy jobs we need more production. more efficiency. more incentives. building a new generation of safe, clean, nuclear power plants in thisht country. >> held hostage to fears of another three-mile island a majority of members support nuclear power. >> members of both petitioners -- both parties recognize the reality of how difficult it is to produce enough electricity in this country without nuclear generation. >> construction is underway in two new plans in georgia going online in 2016, a

when she took the position, we asked her to help make sure the white house was the people's house, and she did so. from wounded warriors to local school children to nascar drivers, she organized hundreds of fun and creative events. we will miss her. we thank her again for her service and wish her the best. so why is she leaving now? i asked robert gibbs. >> many of you i think saw the interview that she did where she was asked to tim here and donnell many of the things i talked to jake about she told them that she thought it was that it's time to go bag to doing. >> she is now on her way back to chicago, and did communicate, and told me it has been incredible, setting a foundation ar and she said she's headed back to the private sector. >> suzanne has an exclusive interview with van jones, that -- we'll have that interview later here. dan, thanks very much. >>> jack cafferty is next. also coming up, what's next for swift most powerful members of congress? >>> and does george w. bush support the vocal -- host: did the waltons take way too long to say goodnight? mom: g'night john boy. g'

but the white house didn't want to spend that and add to their bottom line. it wasn't the right time to do that. >> it does sort of feed into this whole idea of lack of trust between parties, and when you have the president coming out like he did last friday night, meeting with house republicans and saying, you know, let's put all that behind us. let's work together going forward, but from what we witnessed today, did he forget to walk the walk a little bit? >> well, i think everyone is for getting to walk the walk a little bit. maybe they need to learn to walk again, campbell. i think this is a very difficult situation for them, and i think, look, take a look at the budget commission here. they were supposed to have a bipartisan commission on the budget, right? the president says, i'm going to support this, let's do it, and there is a vote on it, and seven republicans who were with him decided to back out on him. why? because lots of conservatives are saying it's a trap, you're going to end up raising taxes. so it's a bit of the same old, same old, and they

the white house health care summit. right now you're looking at live pictures inside the blair house, that's across the street from the white house, where this event will take place. here's the cast. the president of the united states and his democratic allies up on capitol hill. and republicans led by the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and the house minority leader john boehner. the democrats' goal, convince americans, many of whom want health care reform, that the democrats' plan works and is good. the republicans' goal, make sure any plan includes their ideas. this historic back and forth on live tv will happen in this event that's going to continue for at least, at least six hours. who knows how long it will go. it's happening over at blair house. as you know, that's the presidential guest quarters on pennsylvania avenue right across from the north lawn of the white house. both sides say they want to work together, but will they really stand on common ground? cnn is covering this summit from multiple angles.

why would the white house want to say something like that. it may be prelude to push through health care reform with 51 votes. the white house would say we didn't do it but republicans through lack of cooperation forced us down that road. >> shepard: the white house says it's come around to some republican ideas. are democrats warming to any republican ideas along the way? >> well, it just takes the one you talked about a moment ago in the introduction, shepard. selling insurance across state lines. here's the senate majority leader harry reid on that very concept. >> they want health care reform. not some band-aid buying insurance across state lines everybody knows the problems with that drive to the lowest common denominator. that is something we will take a look at. that's not a salvation to the problems that we have. >> and there you have it, shepard. even on something republicans tout as a means to achieve lower cost and better coverage, democrats do not appear very open to it. >> shepard: a lot of opinions about how this summit as they

i hope the vice president enjoys the rest of his white house vacation. think i would rather have him doing nothing than putting liberal ideals and ideas he has into practice. biden's hot mic wasn't the only problem the democrats ran into yesterday. facts also seemed to pose difficulty for them. particularly evident in the president's exchange with tennessee senator lamar alexander. >> the president: so, lamar when you mentioned earlier you said premiums go up that's not the case according to the congressional budget office. >> if you going to contradict me i ought to have a chance to -- the congressional budget office report says that premiums will rise in the individual market, as a result of the senate bill. >> the president: no, this is an example of where we got to get our facts straight. >> sean: a look back at that cbo report commissioned by indiana democrat evan bayh shows it is the president who needs to get his facts straight. the report concludes, the average premium per person covered would be about 10 to 13% higher in 2016 than the average pr

christina bell toni is with talking points memo, covers the white house and also blogs for that website also joining us, susan ferrechio of "the washington examiner" and covers congress. to both of you, congress comes back next week. there's relations within the senate and the house that are a question of point and also relations within both of those bodies and the white house. how would you characterize all those relationships going on and what it means for an agenda as far as this president is concerned? guest: well, i personally think congress is, you know, more partisan than it's ever been in years. and i don't think this bodes well for them getting a lot done in the next year, especially because we're coming up on the 2010 elections, the mid-term elections, the critical elections for obama. and i think republicans want to make sure that, you know, they are in the best position possible to pick up seats, and they're not going to be wanting to help democrats get anything done, because that's not going help their cause of wanting to pick up sexeets perhaps even take back the majority

we can get you the votes but the house democrats have been frustrated because they felt the white house is not lighting a fire under the senate. that seemed to change today. >> reporter: i think it changed today and in the state of the union. lots of references to the house having done something, waiting for the senate to do something and not just on health care. what was topic "a" today was about jobs and small businesses. this is the jobs package, the second stimulus, if you will, the house voted on earlier late last year and the senate is supposed to be picking up now. that's the priority here is to get the senate to do something on the economy, to find a path on health care and find this different tone. politics in spite of what the president said about everyone tuning out politics, politics is important. this white house is pivoting to a more reasonable, open handed approach to republicans because that's clearly what independent voters want to see. >> karen? >> adding to that, part of what we're seeing the politics matter, also, among democrats. when you have pelosi and reid saying

and taking back the white house in 2012. take a listen to congressman steve king of iowa, a republican, here's what he had to say yesterday. >> he was elected and inaugurated with about as much political capital as any president in history, and i had a ring side seat to watch that happen. he had more mojo than any president. i remember when he was inaugurated a year and a month ago. but now, the master mesmerizer has lost his mojo. and if we stand our ground as constitutional conservatives, he's not going to get it back. >> just a little taste there of some of the rhetoric you're hearing all week by the speakers. this is one reason. the tea party groups are here. that's a big difference from last year. the tea party didn't exist last year. it's a year old movement. these are pictures last night of the tea party express. they're having another cost cross-country caravan. they had a rally here to generate buzz for that event which sarah palin is going to kick off in nevada. and betty, that's really one of the big differences f

what was the answer from the white house? the white house's answer was no. we will not do that.e to accept our plan. we're going to start there. we'll talk about our plan and well see where we go from there. we're not going to start over. we're not going to try to find some common ground. you have to accept things that you do not like. that was the answer from the white house. our leadership said, at least do this, let's take the ram rod out. the ram rod is -- has to do with the rule on the senate side called budget reconciliation and it's a way to try to ram things through the senate. the white house said no. we won't do that. we're going to ram it down the throats of the american people whether they like it or not and we'll do it without your help. and we'll do it solely with democrats doing this and we don't care what you say or believe. we don't care what you bring to the table. we're not going to consider your proposals. we're not going to consider anything that you're offering. we're going to do it our way, like it or lump it. that's what the white house told our leadershi

. >>> three months after the bombshell that put the white house security in the spotlight, the white al secretary is stepping down. flash back to november 24. desiree rogers organized the state dinner that michaele and tareq salahi crashed without an invitation. roz plater is live with the story. >> reporter: she's a long-time obama friend and political insider but tonight she's out. she may have violated a cardinal washington rule. 14 months on the job, more than 300 events later, white house social secretary desiree rogers is throwing in the towel. her former husband says, she's accomplished what she set out to do. >> desiree has had a chance to get -- had -- had done a great job really opening up the white hose, making it a place that is engaming all types of new events and new people. she's gotten the job done and now it's time for her to move on and go back to the corporate sector. >> reporter: but rogers had been under fire since last november after now infamous security breach. the secret service took the blame but rogers was heavily criticized for acting more like a guest than

and the white house has now invited them to the white house today. >> what other issues?> financial reform, stimulus. >> we were working together on a bipartisan package for financial reform. >> that they haven't been brought in to the process and now they are being brought in now and going to be brought in on the 25 again. is this something that the white house is saying we should have involved republicans? >> we are paving the road again to bipartisanship. but you have -- >> there seems to be a more aggressive effort to involve republicans. >> i don't think that's true. i will go back and try to figure out the number of times that the president talked to republican senators in trying to get the finance committee to come to an agreement. it was many, many times. we hosted meetings down here. the notion -- it's quite revisionist to think that somehow -- remember in the summer all these questions about, when are you going to get through this and get to the floor? we spent hours and hours and hours, many conversations trying to bring republicans in the finance committee alo

] >> there is a reason, the white house is critical of fox news and what so far the white house officialsay they are not a news organization. which i have to say i don't buy into that as they say, some of my best friends were crops. but you have to draw the line between the opinions and strenuous and sometimes there is a blind. now, i think, my theory based on just watching the way back to languages used in these kinds of debates is that one park's newest and me, the white house wasn't attacking fox news, they were attacking us to service an echo for the kinds of stories they might do. for instance of and ask me today don't you think acorn is a big deal and i said bigger than what, afghanistan, bigger than health care reform? sure, it is a story but it wasn't the biggest error committed becomes the big story when the mainstream media becomes a megaphone for what is in the end cable news which is not that many people watching but we spend a lot of time writing about it, echoing what they do. for better and worse. so i think that that's really what that shot across the bout was about. it wa

they have most of the face cards in this deck with the white house, the senate, and the house.ve an obligation to try and lead this country over the next several months until the next election. >> and then i assume you think the republicans will lead the country. they don't have any plan to leave the country. they don't have any idea where to take the country. you say, well, the democrats have to govern now. the people trying to stop the democrats from governing are the republicans. it's a conscious strategy. they own up to it. what democrats ought to be is pass that senate health care bill in the house, fix it in reconciliation and achieve that historic change and make republicans vote on a whole series of jobs bill and financial regulation. "wall street journal" had a marvelous story this morning saying they trvled up to new york to tell the leaders of the financial industry we'll stand with you against pay caps and stand against repaying all that t.a.r.p. money. it's great to see these populists be reborn as what they really are. >> i want to at least for fun show you the ne

we are going to begin with breaking news out of the white house. white house social secretary desiree rogers will have more room in her calendar. she's decided to step down. lawmakers criticized her after salahi's crashed the state dinner. they testified, rogers refused. president obama defended her and called it an error. she says it's a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world. desiree rogers, social level to the president and vice president. she will step down at the end of the month. you are looking at a live picture from new york. new york governor, david paterson is about to drop his bid six days after kicking off his re-election campaign. we expect him to step up to the podium any minute now. mike, tell us about the events that led to this. >> the events began two years ago on march 18th. the day after the inauguration of david paterson. he was elevated to that position after a prostitution scandal took down eliot spitzer. now, he admits his own marital indiscorrections, one with a former state employee. from there, i

and the white house was divided.think the white house on tuesday night after the massachusetts election was divided. but i will tell you my view is éhere is no division in the white house at this moment about passing health reform. you know, things in the white house, when staff gets together, they may have their own internal vote. but there's only one vote that counts. and that's the president. and he really is determined to get this done. i don't think -- whatever ambiguity there was tuesday night, and wednesday, and maybe even running into thursday, and rahm was looking at small ball options to be sure, i don't think there's any ambiguity in the white house today. so i'm going to ask one last question and keep on lining up and then we'll open it up. so the health reform process in congress comes to an end. we pass the legislation. what is our main job looking forward and i'm going to ask you that, both from a political perspective and from a substantive perspective, what is it that all of us should be thinking abo

the program is "white house chronicles." i am joined by andy and darren. >> you are talking about our economy being broken. if you look at our economy, we are having problems but we but wegreece -- talked about greece. look at what is going on with me euro. they are looking -- they are an example of how one country can tell. it is not out of the realm -- how a country can fail. >> the euro is a transnational currency. [unintelligible] move very correctly -- who very correctly. greece needs reflation, and only one currency to deal with that which makes it very difficult. nobody wants to listen to the conservative economist and there are huge emotional desires to have this currency. >> you have one currency but not one the government. that disparity creates all sorts of problems. >> here is why it matters to people listening. there is concern about whether the dollar will stay the preeminent currency. it matters to americans because whate are doing now is people are creating goods and services and selling them to us. they are

obama began this year's music series at the white house.first up, a concert in honor of black history month with some well known performers. it was held in the east room. here is a sample. ♪ ain't gonna let nobody turn me round, turn me round ♪ turn me round ♪ ain't gonna let nobody turn me round, i'm gonna keep on walking ♪ keep on talking marching up to freedom land ♪ ♪ come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens ♪ keep your eyes wide but don't speak too soon ♪ and there's no telling who is speaking for the loser now will delay to win ♪ for the times they are a-changing ♪ ♪ keep on walk ing, hold your head up high ♪ lay your dreams right up to the sky ♪ sing your greatest song and you'll keep growing, growing on ♪ take it from me someday you know, hey, it won't be long ♪ take it, take it from me someday we'll all be free ♪ i'm gonna say it again, just wait and see ♪ someday we'll all be free just wait and see ♪ we'll all be free ♪ ♪ free at last ♪ one day one daily work along ♪ thank god almighty i'm free at lost, i heard voice

holder and the administration started to feel the heat the white house leaked to the world that all of a sudden the christmas day bomber is once again cooperating with the fbi. how convenient. deputy white house press secretary bill burton was asked about this coincidence earlier today. >> ideally this information would not have necessarily come out. but in order for the american people to know that we are doing everything possible to keep them safe and in order for our continued success in this effort we made a determination that it was a good idea to make sure that people knew that our sources and our methods here were working. >> sean: politics and public opinion trump national security for this administration. this concern appeared to have been voiced by senator mccain yesterday. he noted that the decisions relating to the war on terror are being made by law enforcement officials, the attorney general, eric holder not the department of defense. here's what senator mccain had to say to secretary of defense robert gates. >> i hope you will come to a conclusion, as to how enemy combat

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back in 1993 and 1994, president clinton was in the white house and he had a democratic majority in theey were going to change health care in this country and it did not get done. you hear a lot of references to that time in washington but i certainly was not here. i was just a regular guy practicing medicine. what occurred after that -- of course, the republicans took over the house of our present of it is for the first time in 40 years but in 1996 you got welfare reform, in 1996 he got the state children's health insurance program set up, in 1997 you got medical savings accounts created which then evolves into today's health savings account, which is what i have -- the kind of insurance i have, by the way, because i want the ability to control how the dollars are spent for my health care. i did not want my employer to control them. i did not want my insurance companies toç control it and certainly not to -- the government. i want to control it myself. setting it up with theç kenned- castle bomb act in 1997. in 2002-2003, prescription drug benefit for seniors were added to medicare,

a beautiful snowy white house in the morning.e savannah guthrie spends most of her time. but today she is in new york with little old us. >> it's warmer here. after the groundhog saw his shadow yesterday. i'm sick of the. >> that means six more weeks? >> it's not complicated. mika and joe on their way to l.a. so you're stuck with me tina brown, here lashing out at politicians, jonathan capehart of "the washington post." and also joining us, our friend, krista freeland. >> taking a pro philandering position this morning. >> she was defending john edwards and others like him. >> not john edwards exactly. and i would like to say that i thought tina's piece about john edwards was one of the most beautifully written thing i have ever read in a long time. absolutely fabulous. having said that, i would like to disagree with the basic thesis. the point that you were just making is this notion ofhypocri and journalists and others should note this personal hypocrisy. maybe it's okay for them to be hypocrites and for there to be a distance

then the white house says he started talking again.s taking the administration to task for this week's admission. arguing this sensitive information about what abdulmutallab is doing this week in terms of speak towtion will help our even -- speaking to us will help our enemies. take a listen. >> the political dimension of what ought to be a national security issue has been quite high. i don't think it's been good from the inside in terms of us trying to get the right job done to protect the united states. megyn: bret baier, anchor of special report *. this is a big deal. >> it's not surprising politics is factoring in in washington. however, this letter from kit b around, m is interesting. he says the senate intelligence committee was briefed on the fact that abdulmutallab started talking again last thursday. but they were told by the fbi according to bond that stressed the importance of not disclosing the fact of his cooperation to protect ongoing operations, to neutralize additionallal threats to the american people. he says bob muel

ed henry is at the white house. ed, you've got the new information about a target date for the final deal? >> that's right. advisers are telling us that the new target date is to get all of this done by march. the reason is, they start the easter recess right there at the end of march, beginning of april. and if they don't get it done by then, once democratic leaders come back from that recess from early to mid-april, they've got to move on to things. the spending that's piled up, climate change. and the jobs. president obama tried to reframe that by putting health care on the back burner and jobs on the front you burner. if he didn't get it done by next month, a lot of telling us that they'll not get it done. >> what does he have to do to reach this target date? >> what they're really looking for today is momentum. as dana laid out it's unlikely there's going to be a eureka moment. that we have a deal today. instead, what the president wants is some momentum. they believe right now inside of the white house that th

i'm going to be speaking with assistant white house chef sam cass. we're going to be talking about some of the healthy ways to eat that mrs. obama has been talking about in trying to help push this childhood obesity initiative. great stuff. we'll be inside in the next hour. but as we talk about right now, we've got this low pressure system, storm system moving out of the northeast. snow for boston, eastern end of long island. that's getting out. good news coastal new jersey. another storm, though. this is the next big weathermaker, bringing heavy rain to texas and it's going to be a soaker. we're talking anywhere from brownsville to corpus christi up to eht to ten inches of rain, and this storm is going to be the next big weather-maker through the south and for the >>> a storm moved quickly through overnight, it's been gone now for about four or five hours, it stopped about 2:00 or 3:00 this morning. temperatures in the upper 20s to near 30. tonight freezing back up again, watch out for patchy ice, tomorrow highs in the low 40s. a major winter storm

none of them are from the white house press corps. they are mostly from a new york. >> the only person who could avoid the west -- he is the only person to avoid the white house prescorps. >> the only one has not been back. >> i think the low as a result of the week has been the house and senate to vote to increase the debt ceiling as if they don't have enough problems with that already. >> should we cut the governor -- shut the government down. ? >> mya high node was that as of monday -- my high note was that as of monday, many countries had signed themselves to the copenhagen accord. it is not a binding treaty but it gets to where we should have started the copenhagen talks. it is pointing us to a new treaty that is not the dysfunctional kyoto protocol. i think that is an important accomplishment of this administration. >> our two favorite citizens are being deported to china, the pandas. we need to start -- stand up for something important. we will see you next week. thank you for stopping by. this program abc and pbs stations and

we begin with senior white house correspondent, ed henry, at the white house who has new information on the man suspected of trying to blow up a jetliner on christmas day. ed, what do you know? >> reporter: anderson, really remarkable. late tonight, some senior officials called us back to the white house, extremely rare for them to do. all because they wanted to reveal some new information that they've been secretly working behind the scene with abdulmutallab's family to get his cooperation. that basically, last week, he started talking to them again and it's all because these senior officials say back on january 1st, a couple of fbi agents secretly flew to nigeria, worked for a couple of weeks to gain the trust of a couple of relatives of abdulmutallab, and then on january 17th, they're revealing for the first time two relatives of the suspect flew back to the united states, again, all in secret, so that they could convince the suspect, look, you can trust the u.s. government. nothing to be afraid of. they're trying to get information, they're trying to get your cooperation. why is

he has been a standing example of what you don't want to be ever since he left the white house. just a few weeks ago when a the sans or running out on the second george bush presidency, if he was asked was he afraid that heat would go down in the history books as another herbert hoover. and yet for all of this denunciation i don't know of anyone who has ever suggested that if the hoover violated the oath of office. or was anything but a man of integrity, of property. the main unconstitutional matter that developed in of the hoover presidency was that unlike what jerry was saying about john tyler involving tyler's own performance because hoover was never involved in that kind of thing, but rather that there were three vacancies on the supreme court. two -- for two of them a he named charles evans hughes who became chief justice of the united states and one robertson. the most dramatic vacancy that developed was the decision of their revered, mitchell homes to step down and who was there in of the united states who could possibly with phil homes shoes? the legal community was almo

as of now i am in control here in the white house. >>eporter: he said i am in control, but clearly he was not, and he misstated the constitution. the secretary of state is not third in line for the presidency. that misstep and other conflicts with the reagan staff cut short haig's tenure at the state department. he crafted stronger relations with china, but was replaced after only a year and a half. a decade earlier after the watergate scanl, haig had run the white house and some said the country during richard nixon's chaotic final days. >> there wasn't anybody there when i he got to the white house. the two key men were gone. the other men were all indicted or indictable or under grand jury investigation. >> reporter: during that crisis haig tried to orchestrate a pardon for nixon. then vice president gerald ford refused the deal, and in august 1974 nixon quit anyway. a month later ford did pardon nixon, causing a storm of controversy. in 1988 haig briefly ran for president. throughout his career, alexander haig fought many battles,

-china relations keyed to the president's white house chat today with the dalai lama. >> brown: spencer michels reports from san francisco on one man's mission to send specially-designed wheelchairs around the world. >> not only do they need a wheelchair, but they need the best of wheelchairs because they have the worst of terrain. >> lehrer: a newsmaker interview with john holmes, the united nations chief aid coordinator, on the state of the relief efforts in haiti. >> brown: and paul solman continues his series on banking tonight with a former head of the federal deposit insurance corporation. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> every business day, bank of america lends nearly $3 billion to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses in every corner of the economy. america-- growing stronger everyday. >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year

apparently the white house wanted to put a podium up and republicans said no. that would make it look like the president was giving them a lecture. so the white house wanted a table shaped more like this with the president at the center. republicans said no to that. they said the table should look like this, making every more equal, and the white house apparently has said okay. should be interesting. >> all right. tara mergener in washington. thanks. >>> seaworld says it hasn't decide what had to do with a giant killer whale that killed one of its trainers in orlando. seaworld has suspended its kaler what i will shows at all of its parks. on wednesday, an experienced trainer was grabbed by the park's largest whale and drowned. kelly cobiella reports. >> reporter: the popular shamu show at orlando seaworld hasn't yet begun when the park's laernlg kirl whale, a 12,300 pound male or came named tilikum swam toward the female trainer dawn brancheau and according to one witness pulled her understand water. >> she was standing on the racks right above the viewing area