joining me now, john nichols, correspondent for "the nation" magazine. you recently wrote the electoral college, you called it, is an abomination. if you look at donald trump's margin of victory in three states, engaging it or considering recounts, it was pretty decisive. only michigan came close. so in our opinion, what does the electoral college go wrong? >> well, i think the electoral college goes wrong in an awfully lot of fronts. first and foremost, it doesn't reflect the national popular vote. at this point, if you look at the cook political reports estimates, it appears that hillary clinton is leading by more than 2,500,000 votes. that's a very, very substantial lead. and so right off the bat, the electoral college intervenes between the people and the choice they have made. and it's also significant that this is the second time that this appears likely to happen in the last 16 years. you saw it with bush v gore in 2000. we have to ask whether the electoral college is serving the function that most people anticipate, which is that it would reflect

. >> royal watcher and arthur katy nichol says the press may have been misled. >> i was at kensington palace when they were being briefed about, and would mrins harry might he be returning or going to see meghan markel and prince harry wouldn't be making a detour and minutes before the tour came to an official close i understand journalists were being told that prince harry was to come back to london. >> prince harry was back at work today and, yep, he is still wearing that same beaded bracelet idennical to the one meghan wears. harry turned trader, brokering deals at a charity event and then played a life-sized game of operati operation. >> my sources are telling me that another trip is imminent and they will be going away together before christmas. >> maybe meghan markle is really the one. >> yo, brad pitt is trying to keep the world out of his business. he was back in court as he tries to stop the leaks of his personal information in his custody battle of angelina jolie. that angelina is airing this out to get brad's reputation dirty. do you have a comment on that? >> i will not ma

hans nichols, thank you. >>> a crisis of conscience. why an elector does not want to vote for hillary clinton, but a judge says she better. >>> and next hour, lessons from the lost. democrats wonder what went wrong and how to make it right in 2020. ♪ ♪ see ya next year. this season, start a new tradition. experience the power of infiniti now, with leases starting at $319 a month. infiniti. empower the drive. >>> new trouble in the last-ditch effort by two colorado electors to stop donald trump from becoming president. their effort failed when a colorado supreme court declined to hear the case. poly vacca and robert said they shouldn't be forced to vote for hillary clinton. the presidential candidate who won their state. the electors hoped to vote for a republican alternative to donald trump. that move part of a plan to deny him the 270 electors needed to win the presidency. let's ask poly baca. thank you for talking to me this afternoon. >> great to be here. thank you for inviting me. >> the courts shut down your case in colorado an

and so goldwater/nichols was born. i don't think we're making that big a shift in what we're doing that causes us to have to reorganize the national security apparatus of the nation. are there places we can trim and tweak on the edges? yes. but last night i found myself describing the department as a diamond. it's already been cut, if you polish it you'll just make it brighter and what we're doing right now is polishing the diamond. >> okay, we have a question right back here. >> hthanks to csis for arrangin this outstanding discussion. where do allies and partners fit into this equation and how do we solve long-term interoperability without giving away the goodies to potential competitors? >> and i will free advertise to say we have a whole panel on allies and partners today. we welcome your guidance to that panel. >> we have many of our close allies here, norway, the united kingdom, japan. there are many others and this is what we would say. in addition -- the first advantage we believe we have, the competitive advan

let's get more reaction on this and i want to go to nbc's hans nichols at the white house. hans, this development with tillerson comes as the white house orders an investigation into russia's hacking of the presidential election, so how might this complicate the matters? >> well, when the new president comes in, when donald trump moves in the oval office waiting for him will be a report that will delineate if true what role russia or any other foreign national or state or nonstate actor played in trying to tip the election scales in his favor. remember, nbc has confirmed that the cia's assessment is that russia intervened on behalf of donald trump against hillary clinton. that report will be waiting for him, his national security adviser michael flynn sits in that corner office here at the, in the west wing and then potentially his secretary of state rex tillerson who has a lock history working in russia, as he does in other countries especially in the middle east, if you are an oilman you will have had relationships, contacts, conversations with folks in russia and the mid

i want to bring in hans nichols now, hans is on duty for us at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. a little bit of a developing story there. president obama just 40 days or so left in office has decided to order this review, if you will. a lot of folks are claiming -- scratch that. some 17 agencies claiming there was hacking that went on before the election. president obama ordering a review. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: the review will attempt to shed clarity and take away doubt that some have been claiming, namely donald trump, the president-elect, that russia didn't have anything to do with the interference in election-related activities and the wikileaks hacks. we heard so clearly before -- and this was the 17 intelligence agencies coming together with their assessment. it was likely the hallmark, the fingerprints of russian state actors. it didn't make the direct nexus look for the next review potentially to go a little bit further. remember, politically, craig, this is different. if president obama on his way out of office, he has a fair amount of leeway to say thi

the state public defender's office says it has hired illinois assistant appellate defender erica nichols cook to lead the division. cook is expected to start in december. the division investigates cases where iowa inmates claim they are innocent. two schools came together to make sure students know someone cares. why some parents say this is a time for students to share positive messages. but right now, here's a look at today's opening farm markets. good morning! it's ---. like it.a stray flurry may be possible early this morning; otherwise we're dealing with cloudy skies once again today. temperatures will start off in the low 30s, but warm into the middle to upper 30s again today. winds will also be strong again today, blowing out of the west at 10 to 20 mph. the clouds will stick with us throughout the evening hours, but the winds will west at 5 to 10 mph. low temperatures will drop into the upper 20s. conditions won't change much for the rest of the week and into the weekend. the dreary skies will remain and high temperatures will stay in the middle to sunday where the chance for sno

. >> nbc's hans nichols is following developments from the white house. hans, this tillerson pick comes at time when the president called for an investigation into russia's hacking into the election. what can you tell us than? >> reporter: think of what the white house's policy in russia, in three baskets now. one, the syria issue. don't get into that now. two, the hacking issue. remember, all throughout the fall, there were questions why the u.s. hadn't publicly named, blamed and shamed russia. when the obama administration did that in early october, then the question became, well, what's the response going to be? now that president barack obama, and we kind of have a tip-off that the cia think it's clear russia not only intervened but influenced on behalf of donald trump against hillary clinton. there could be pressure on president obama to have some or the of response, if, indeed, this assessment, the next assessment, this other review, comes out and clearly points the finger at russia. another quick point on russia. president obama has been very firm

i don't think that's the case here. >> hans nichols, great to talk to you. let's go straight to msnbc's kelly o'donnell covering the trump transition team for us from west palm beach. kelly, great to have you with us this evening. this is hitting a new level tonight. i don't think anyone would have really predicted that cities on such a personal relationship now that we're hearing from both president-elect donald trump and vladimir putin. where is this relationship going and what do you think we might be hearing from donald trump in the days ahead about this particular issue? >> well, part of what's made this so fascinating and complicated ed to watch unfold, ayman, is it's difficult to interpret exactly what donald trump means. are we to infer there's some admiration there, some friendship there? is there an arm's length respect for one leader who's got a style that donald trump may like? at the same time, we have also been very clear that there are a number of people in the trump kind of sphere, the future administration, who are quite critical of the role

hans nichols, there was sort of a mix there. we got a mix of the defense of withdrawal of troops from iraq a few years ago, some clear shots there, some people might even say, at donald trump. >> reporter: well, steve, you're right. that was a clear rebuke to donald trump, especially on this issue of a religious test for muslims. a lot of strong language coming from the president. at the very end, we also heard a thank you from president obama to these troops who are here listening and cheering on their president. this was the first post presidential speech barack obama gave. he sounded like a historian, like a law professor, when he's laying out in six bullet points what we wants his counterterrorism strategy to be remembered for. and you're right in saying, it was remarkably defensive, not just to attacks on the right. napeltly was he responsible for the proliferation of isis during his presidency. but also drone attacks, and also guantanamo, saying, yes, he's transferred 175 troops, that base just a few hundred miles south of

hans nichols joins me now. when i first heard about this new number, i actually didn't believe it it's such a large number. explain why the new count. >> it is a conservative estimate, kate. 50,000 isis dead in iraq and syria in the last two years. this is since the hostilities have begun. this would include attacks by u.s. forces from the air, special forces as well as iraqi and kurdish allies fighting on the ground and as well as syria allies fighting on the ground in syria. you know, throughout the pentagon you get a great deal of confidence that bot mosul and raqqah will fall. the caliphate will be no more. you're starting to hear more, especially as we start preparing for a new president about what the force looks like holding it. they're fairly confident here at the pentagon that the tip of the spear is sharp enough. there's less confidence on how you hold these areas. will that include u.s. ground forces? will that include a multinational force? this is the start of contingency planning that's taking pla

medical records show that skip nichols had at least sen different drugs including oxycodone. in his system at the time of the balloon. he hit high tension wires. nichols has has been -- had been convicted of drunk driving at least four times. >>> and officials in oakland, california, have ruled out a faulty refrigerator as the cause of that massive warehouse fire that killed 36. people last week. investigators saying they are still focusing on the electrical systems at the warehouse as the possible cause of that fire. >>> and the governor of florida says mosquitoes are no longer infecting people with the zika virus in his state and he is declaring it free of locally transmitted zika for the first time since july. the south beach area of miami beach, the last-called zika zone has been cleared and the centers for disease control lifting its advisory urging pregnant women to stay away but still urging cause. >>> in houston a case of road rage caught on camera. two truck drivers stopping traffic and one driver attacked the other trying to pull from behind the four-wheeler. a thir

katie nichols is in london with the meaning behind the down to earth date night. >> prince harry wants to show meghan how nnrmal a couple they can be. >> the photos were snapped by a paparazzo last night. prince harry and meghan on one of london's busiest streets heading over to see a play. the most surprising detail. look closely. there was only one security guard with the couple. the prince is usually tailed by at least two. >> i expect prince harry proved to her that they could go out and enjoy a regular night out. >> meghan and harry were spotted earlier this week buying a christmas tree together. >> the queen's private residence in norfolk and don't forget kate middleton had to wait ten years until she got her place at the christmas table with the royals. i am told once they have this week together just before christmas she'll be going back to america and spending christmas with her family in l.a. and harry will be going as is required to be with the royal family. >> also today we're learning more about meghan's life in canada. e.t.'s news editor has been doing some digging. >> e.

last night, catholic leader cardinal vincent nichols spoke of similar issues. the american president—elect donald trump says he intends to close his charitable foundation, to avoid any conflict of interest with his presidency. the trump foundation is currently being investigated by new york's attorney general, to establish whether it supported a republican political campaign in florida in 2013. thousands of people are being urged to leave their homes in the philippines as a super typhoon roars towards the country's east coast. typhoon nok—ten is expected to hit today, bringing winds of nearly 160 mph. dozens of ports have been closed, as officials warn of potentially deadly two metre waves. you might think that father christmas's preferred mode of a transport is a sleigh pulled by dasher, dancer and prancer, but yesterday, in the american state of virginia, he took some time out to swap the skies for water—skis. the man in red was accompanied by his trusty elves and reindeer. some, though, weren't quite as successful as others, proving that four legs are

hans nichols, good morning. what is the white house saying about the president-elect's phone call with the leader of taiwan? >> reporter: last night they were saying they were unaware of the phone call. they only learned about it, the white house that is, after it was reported in the press. according to senior administration officials. you know, this does broker phone calls, believed to be the first direct conversation between a president and president-elect since 19789 and the president of the taiwan. the white house is trying to do on all of these calls in conjunction with the department of defense, in conjunction with the state department, is to make things easier and offer guidance for the trump team should they want it. so far there hasn't been a lot of evidence that trump has availed himself or his team of that opportunity, of that advice from career officials in the state department. what the trump campaign is saying is that this call was initiated by the taiwanese. he accepted it. from the taiwanese side

hans nichols, thank you for checking in with us. >>> joining me on the phone is msnbc's ali velshi. what do we know about tillerson's background and tenure as ceo at exxon mobil? >> he's been the ceo for a long time, ten years as ceo but he joined in the 1970s. what's most interesting about this development is that in 2010 andrea mitchell referred to this, exxon mobil made a deal with the russians to explore in the arctic. the russians do not possess the capability to drill for oil in the arctic. it's somewhere that they really want to do work. they were set to do it. they were within days possibly weeks of drilling in the arctic as part of a partnership with exxon mobil and the u.s. imposed those sanctions because of what russia had done at ukraine. rex tillerson and exxon mobil shareholders ended up suffering because of that, although that company has done very well and rex tillerson is on the record as saying he does not believe sanctions work. he doesn't believe they should be in place. he's made that statement very generally but he's made it specifically with respect to the san

. >> nbc's pentagon correspondent hans nichols joins me from the white house. tell us about james "mad dog" mattis and where he got that name from. >> there's the persona of mad dog mattis and the policy. on the persona, he prefers warrior monk. he travels with a volume, a library of some 6,000 volumes. he served in iraq and afghanistan. doesn't really like the mad dog moniker. on the policy, which i think could be more important. he's very hawkish on iran. that's where he clashed with the obama administration. he's also shown his ability to bend trump's opinion, at least on torture. convincing trump he can get more done with a couple packs of cigarettes and beers than he can through water boarding. ali, i'm going to give you a quote. so many choices of quotes. do you want the athenian quote or the spartan quote? the war quote or the knowledge one? >> let's take the knowledge one since we have his nickname as mad dog. let's hear the knowledge. >> the most important six inches in a battlefield is the space between your ears. >> very interesting. he's been out of

also here, our pentagon correspondent hans nichols as well. let's start with you, peter. campaign trump seems to be back, no? >> reporter: yeah, craig, i think you're exactly right. it turns out the new donald trump sure sounds a whole lot like the old donald trump. apparently winning the white house has done very little to change him. any sense that he may erase his past tone? well that quickly disappeared obviously he didn't temper his tone, he certainly didn't moderate his sort of positions through the course of this speech. when he was on teleprompter at times he focussed on issues like the american worker and more broadly on unity, but it was when he went off prompter that was really vintage donald trump. as you noted, taunting the media, boasting about his defeat of hillary clinton. it was at that moment that the crowd sort of came up with that famous campaign refrain chanting "lock her up." the circumstances are different now, more than three weeks after donald trump defeated hillary clinton, the fact that he was still focussing on her some people found to be a lit

i want to get to hans nichols joining us live from berlin. this is happening in the last 45 minutes or so. what can you tell us? >> according to local reports it happened in the san giovanni neighborhood. amri was pulled over during a routine police stop. he pulled a gun and was shot and killed. here's what german authorities are saying. we've just heard from the federal prosecutor's office, they are in touch with their italian counterparts but we need to stress these are still unconfirmed reports. and just to give you a little logistics hallie, milan is about 11 hours south of berlin. that would be by car. that would give you a sense of just how long it took from him to travel here where we know he was on monday. again this confrontation with police happening at 3:00 in the morning and amri allegedly unconfirmed, shot dead. hallie? >> hans, had there been any suspicion that anis amri had travelled to italy or is that a surprise to investigators, perhaps? do we know? >> well, it's not necessarily a surprise. because remember we he came here f

hans nichols, thanks for that update. part of the russian response involved mockery of the outgoing obama administration, one russian political leader comparing the administration to, "political corpses." the russian embassy in the uk tweeting out a picture of a duck with the word, "lame" in all caps written across it. msnbc, meanwhile, gop congressman trent franks suggested if the russian did successfully commit political theft and sabotage, it was a public service for americans. >> the bottom line, if they succeeded, if russia succeeded in giving the american people information that was accurate, then they merely did what the media should have done. >> top congressional republicans are signaling support for today's actions, while also simultaneously attacking the obama administration. house speaker paul ryan describing today's steps as, "overdue" same words used by senators john mccain, lindsey graham, who skrvowed to leave t new effort in the new congress to propose stronger sanctions. during his impromptu press availa

hans nichols has been covering the story from berlin. hans? >> reporter: life is returning to normal here in berlin. the christmas market behind me has opened up. they are having stalls selling sausages. you can actual lly walk along makeshift memorials about where the truck jumped the curb and brought violence to this peaceful christmas market. markets are now open. the conversation is shifting toward recriminations and second-guessing. the front page says deportation fail. others are less critical. i suspect we'll see this conversation playing out here in the next couple days of just what authorities missed and how they missed it and why they decided -- >> all right. now president-elect donald trump took a couple quick questions from reporters yesterday about the terror threat. take a listen. >> in the wake of the san bernardino terror attack one year ago, then candidate trump called for a total and shutdown of muslims entering the united states. later in the campaign, he stopped talking about a muslim ban saying he preferred the term extrem

. >> nbc's hans nichols is at the pentagon and joins us now live from ere. hans, let's talk a little bit about theignificance of these sanctions. walk us through them aittle bit. >> well, there are really three parts, ayman. one, the sanctions against the four individuals and five institutions. that gives you a sense that the white house and intelligence agencies here in the states thinks this goes to the highest levels of russia's intelligence agencies. these were gru officials that they have sanctioned. and you have the second part, the expulsion, persona non grata, declaring these officials that are working in embassies in consular ways, but not really. they're basically spies, and they're now being expelled. they have 72 hours to get out of town. and then there's a defensive aspect to this, ayman. and that is that the white house is giving a clear indication, almost guidebooks, to cyberdefense firms that here's what they can potentially do to guard against future attacks. and then there's one final point on this. and that is that this isn't the last we'v

let's start with nbc pentagon correspondent hans nichols. the russian foreign minister recommends these measures to retaliate for the new u.s. sanctions and vladimir putin comes out and says no, we're going to step back. i'm the good guy here. what do you make of what we have seen over the last hour or so? >> the benevolent putin full of charity. look, administration officials were clearly expecting a tit for tat. that was true as of yesterday afternoon. so now we have putin deciding not to escalate. donald trump clearly wants to put this in his rear-view mirror. about the only group can think of that wants to continue with hostilities, that might be too strong, but to continue to make an issue out of this is congressional republicans. you have to look at the setup that vladimir putin had on this, the lead-up, the walk-up, the stage craft was remarkable. you had the foreign minister, mr. lavrov, suggesting expelling 35 u.s. diplomats/spies, talk of closing the school, and yet as putin comes in at the last second, big surprise, he gets to pla

investigators believe the pilot alfred nicholls suffered from medical and psychiatric condition. they say he had several drugs in his system at the time of that july 30th crash. investigators say nicholls had a history of arrests involving dwi's and possession of drugs. >>> jurors in the death penalty trial of dylann roof heard his taped confession for the first time today. in the tape, roof admits to killing nine people at a charleston south carolina church in june of 2015. the tape comes just one day after the jury was shown dramatic video of roof the day of the shooting. now the clips show roof walking into the church and then leaving that building with a gun in his hand and blood on his shirt. >> for the first time since deadly wildfires swept through tennessee, areas impacted by the fires are now opened to the public and stores are back in business. the great smoky mountains national park and the resort town of gatlinburg have been reopened. last week's wildfires caused 14 deaths and damaged more than 2,000 buildings. prosecutors have charged two juveniles with starting thos

last night cardinal nichols spoke of similar issues. the american president—elect donald trump says he intends to close his charitable foundation to avoid any conflict of interest with his presidency. the trump foundation is currently being investigated by new york's attorney general, to establish whether it supported a republican political campaign in florida in 2013. the us journalist lynn sweet says it's a complicated situation. at the bottom line here is that donald trump does not give any of his own money to the foundation. he has not given any of his own money between 2009 and 2014, so at the heart of this is a foundation that goes to other people to ask for money. then there is another set of controversies, and this is what the attorney general in new york is looking at, is whether or not there is self dealing. you're not supposed to use a non—profit foundation in the united states to make political contributions, or to help your business. that's at the heart of it. let's speak now to our reporter emilia papadopoulos who is a

we get more from nbc's hans nichols. >> reporter: anis amri's four-day run from the law came to an end here in italy around 3:00 a.m., when he was stopped by two officers conducting routine i.d. checks. they asked him to empty his backpack. he pulled out a gun, yelling police bastards, and began shooting. police returning fire. one officer was wounded. the bullet going through his uniform. amri was killed by a rookie officer just nine months on the job. police say amri was carrying several hundred euros, but no cell phone. he arrived here in the dead of the night, was confronted by police, responded in italian, and about 40 yards down there, met his end. now questions growing over how europe's most wanted terrorist was able to cross multiple borders undetected. it was around 8:00 p.m. monday when authorities say amri was behind the wheel of the tractor trailer that plowed through a crowded berlin christmas market. he then got a jump on german police who took 24 hours to discover his i.d. card in the truck's cab. amri was able to make his way from germany to france, ending up in the fre

the ntsb says that pilot, alfred skip nichols, had at least a half dozen prescription drugs including oxycodone in his nichols also had at least four convictions for drunk driving and served time in prison twice. >>> high drama playing out in a florida courtroom in the retrial of a woman accused of hiring a hit man to kill her husband. at the center of it all, this hidden camera video of an undercover officer trying to catch her setting up the hit. but was she the victim of a police department looking to make a big splash on tv? nbc's scott coen has more. >> reporter: a case that's testing it the line between reality and reality tv. >> i could do it wednesday morning. wednesday morning at the house. >> reporter: police have dahlia dippolito on video seemingly casually taking out a hit on her new husband with an undercover cop. >> i'll get $3,000 from you today. >> right. >> reporter: so juicy, boynton beach, florida, police shared staing this scene to make dippolito think her husband was killed. her lawyers say the police department's quest for publicity including posting the videos o

last night, catholic leader cardinal vincent nichols spoke of similar issues. the american president—elect donald trump says he intends to close his charitable foundation, to avoid any conflict of interest with his presidency. the trump foundation is currently being investigated by new york's attorney general, to establish whether it supported a republican political campaign in florida in 2013. lynn sweet is a journalist for the chicago sun times. at the bottom line here is that donald trump does not give any of his own money to the foundation. he has not given any of his own money between 2009 and 2014, so at the heart of this is a foundation that goes to other people to ask for money. then there is another set of controversies and this is what the attorney general in new york is looking at, is whether or not there is self dealing. you're not supposed to use a non—profit foundation in the united states to make political contributions, or to help your business. thousands of people are being urged to leave their homes in the philippines as a super typhoon ro

television distribution 21-year-old reza sadeghzadeh is suing his suing his former friend, 20-year-old nichole porter, for the value of a cadillac that she damaged and subsequently had towed. >> byrd: order! all rise!

[applause] that was john nichols suite with christine lagarde, managing director of the imf. bloomberg world headquarters in new york. now, the event was enterprising women, any discussion of women's issues in the u.s. and around the world. does makeys it sense to have quotas. she spoke about the italian economy, saying it needs a lot of reform, a routing within the banking sector. the french labor market, making it a faster, deeper labor market let's have a look at what the markets are doing on this friday as we head towards the middle of the afternoon session. you can see the dow jones industrial average is down about 2/10 of 1%. loweronly about 32 points and has made nine record high since the election. is unchanged2190, on the nasdaq composite index just holding onto a three-point gain. the vix has been moving around and is currently above 14. this was discussed by john nichols suite and christine lagarde traded us below 101 again. 12694. stronger british pound today. it is worth mentioning the south african rand -- rand. outlook.he negative stronger by 2.2% on the day. c

one is postcards from the edge that she wrote and mike nichols directed, with meryl streep playing her and shirley maclaine playing her mother. she put that out there. it was about her story of addiction and trying to get better. for a lot of us, seeing a hollywood celebrity, somebody who was so constant in our lives and everywhere, but she could be so honest about something like that was really refreshing. did you get the feeling there was much more to come from her? well, i recently saw her in catastrophe, where she featured. she was an acerbic and hysterical and i think she was kind of going into those kinds of roles. she has played them her whole life. she has played them her whole life. she would just take over the scene that she was in. i think she had a lot more in her to do. theyjust finished the third season of catastrophe. they had finished filming for the next star wars movie, so she will appear in that movie. i'm sure she had lots of other great things on the horizon. and give very much indeed. thank you very much. 29 turkish police officers have gone on trial in istanbul c

hans nichols, nbc news. >>> now to the other shocking attack we're following tonight in turkey where russia's ambassador was assassinated as cameras rolled. there are questions tonight about how vladimir putin will respond. our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel is in turkey. we want to warn you, the images in this story are disturbing. >> reporter: the russian ambassador was speaking at a photography exhibit and never saw his killer. that's him standing calmly behind the ambassador moments before he shot him in the back. with the ambassador down, the killer shouted in arabic and then turkish. we are those who swore loyalty to muhammad and the jihad, he said, as journalists tried to hide, including hassam. >> first he shot two or three times up, and then she shot directly to ambassador. i hide myself behind a table. >> reporter: the assassin was an off-duty turkish policeman. witnesses say he used his badge to get into the russian-sponsored event. the gunman said this was revenge for russia's participation in attacks on aleppo, where evacuations of civilians continue tonight.

the film was written and directed by jeff nichols, golden globe nominee, ruth nedprks a, plays mildred loving and nick control plays the couple's attorney. >> you want to try to find their essence and you want to try to represent that truthfully. and i do not think they had an agenda. i think it's very important to the way the story plays out in the film, and i think it's really important to their story overall, which is the act of them getting married was not an act of defiance. it wasn't a symbol or a statement that they were trying to make. they just truly loved one another. and that's important because i think that sincerity, it can craw more people into their story. this isn't propaganda. this isn't-- this isn't two people trying to make you think one way or another. they just loved one another. and i think that's-- that's an important thing on focus on. >> so richard loving was not all that talkative. mildred wasn't necessarily, either. but a little bit more. >> yes. she was, i suppose, the mouthpiece of the couple. i think that it landed on her to-- to be the one to be the commu

hans nichols at the white house. thank you. >>> what do the russians think about president obama's tough talk? our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, is in moscow. what's the reaction there? >> reporter: they seem to be brushing it off, frankly. there have been no comments from any top officials let alone vladimir putin since the president spoke. it is barely in the newscast here. it is the fifth or sixth item. and when it is brought up at all, it is only described as more of the same, more hysteria from the intelligence agencies, more hysteria from the united states who are still upset that hillary clinton lost the election. one somewhat angry note by a commentator on a state broadcast here in which he said that there was a contradiction in what the president said. on one hand he said that russia is poor, weak, it doesn't produce anything that anyone wants to buy. yet, russia is also accused of using high-tech hacking weaponry to impact the u.s. election. so at this stage, russians are trying at least at an

efrain nichols and 15 other site theaters died in the crash. -- sightseers took -- died in the crash. the accident was the worst fatal aviation accident in the us since 2009.>>> racism and hate directed at an nfl player. the anonymous letter he received and what he had to say about it.>>> the band for sanford -- band for sanford university is suspended. the reason why coming up. >>> a bomb threat called in today for a plane carrying the boston celtics turned out to be a hoax. the plane was not diverted and landed safety in oklahoma -- safely in oklahoma city. the celtics are scheduled to play the thunder tomorrow.>>> a frightening a disgusting display of racism and hate directed at brandon marshall. he received an anonymous letter filled with racist ramblings and threats to is live. he believes the mail is a response to him taking any during the national anthem today he called the letter concerning.>> it exposes what everybody thought was put to bed or rest. that stuff is still live in still exists. >>> stanford officials have suspended members of the marching band through next spring

nichols also had at least four convictions for drunk driving and served time in prison twice. >>> high drama is playing out in a florida courtroom in the retrial of a woman who was accused of hiring a hit man to kill her husband. at the center of it all, this hidden camera video of an undercover officer trying to catch her settling up the himpt was she the victim of a police department looking to make a big splash on tv? we have more. >>> counsel, you may be seated. >> reporter: it's a case that's testing the line between reality and reality tv. >> how soon could you kill him? >> i could do it wednesday morning. wednesday morning at the house. >> reporter: police have dahlia dippolito on video seemingly casually taking out a hit on her new husband with an undercover cop. >> i was going to get $3,000 from you today and $3,000 when it's done. >> reporter: so juicy, boynton beach, florida, police shared the story with the show "cops" and staged this crime scene to make dippolito think her husband was killed. >> he's been killed -- >> reporter: her lawyers say the police department's quest

the state public defender's office says it has hired illinois assistant appellate defender erica nichols cook to lead the division. cook is expected to start in december. the division investigates cases where iowa ia some dakota access pipeline protesters moved their demonstratio n indoors. their protests inside the iowa utilities board office brought the iowa state patrol to the building. up next... this morning's meteorologist britley ritz joins us now. welcome to the first day of like it.a stray flurry may be possible early this morning; otherwise we're dealing with cloudy skies once again today. temperatures but warm into the middle to upper 30s again today. winds will also be strong again today, blowing out of the west at 10 to 20 mph. the clouds will stick with us throughout the evening hours, but the winds will start to die down out of the west at 5 to 10 mph. low temperatures will drop into the upper 20s. conditions won't change much for the rest will remain and high temperatures will stay in the middle to upper 30s. it won't be until sunday where the chance for snow arrives back

nbc's hans nichols is in milan this morning. >> reporter: sheinelle, german and italian authorities are determining why anis amri decided to come here, a section of milan after slipping through germany's security net. behind me he was killed after exchanging gunfire with two police trainees. the bullets that fell amri ended a european wide manhunt, but they did not close the investigation. fingerprints from his corpse matching those from the truck at the christmas forensics not answering how the 24-year-old tunisian was radicalized and returning to italy and why milan. his brother offering no answers telling nbc news says quote he was ashamed of what he did. in milan, italian officials proud of the rookies' police work. recriminations mixed with relief. questions on why police stopped the surveillance of amri months ago and floundered. amri from germany to france and italy all with authorities on high alert. by 9:00 p.m. on thursday, turin and then in milan here on friday morning. confronted by would police officers outside the station. first words. police basterds. then gun play. men n