i'm pete williams in for gwen ifill tonight on "washington week." time is running out to get a deal on the debt and deficit here at home. >> by august 2 we run out of tools to make sure that all our bills are paid. so that is a hard deadline. at a certain point they need to do their job. >> but republicans are pushing back hard. >> instead of going to phil tonight and raising money, why didn't he call senator mcconnell, speaker boehner, minority leader pelosi? and majority leader reid into his office and sit down and do his job? >> a game of chicken or a principaled standoff and where will it lead? while in greece protests over drastic measures to keep that country solvent. is there a ripple effect for the global economy? the republicans have a new candidate for president. >> together we can make a better america if we stick together. together we can bring the promise of the future. >> account tea party favorite run toe to toe with the other contenders? and the roberts court concludes its term with a major first amendment ruling. we wrap up the sess

i'm pete williams in for gwen ifill tonight on "washington week." time is running out to get a deal on the debt and deficit here at home. >> by august 2 we run out of tools to make sure that all our bills are paid. so that is a hard deadline. at a certain point they need to do their job. >> but republicans are pushing back hard. >> instead of going to phil tonight and raising money, why didn't he call senator mcconnell, speaker boehner, minority leader pelosi? and majority leader reid into his office and sit down and do his job? >> a game of chicken or a principaled standoff and where will it lead? while in greece protests over drastic measures to keep that country solvent. is there a ripple effect for the global economy? the republicans have a new candidate for president. >> together we can make a better america if we stick together. together we can bring the promise of the future. >> account tea party favorite run toe to toe with the other contenders? and the roberts court concludes its term with a major first amendment ruling. we wrap up the sess

pete williams outside the federal district court. pete, thanks. >>> to presidential politics tonight and while it's way early yet, michele bachmann has emerged as something of a rock star on the right. at the top of the polls in the state where she was born in iowa and she's gaining nationally as well. but as any front-runner will tell you, with that status comes closer scrutiny and that's exactly what's now happening to michele bachmann, the story tonight from nbc's kelley o'donnell. >> that's what we're trying to figure out. >> reporter: republican congresswoman michele bachmann's day job is wrapped up in the debt limit showdown. >> i know i'm raising the debt ceiling right now. >> reporter: the gop contender hammers the president, always a magnet for attention and criticism, like when she mispronounced the yiddish word chutzpah. >> because he has a lot of chutzpah. he spent a trillion dollars on the stimulus, it failed. >> reporter: last week bachmann signed an iowa conservative group's 14-point marriage vow in which she pledged v

nbc's pete williams has more tonight. >> reporter: this california college student remembers exactly where it was found, hidden under his car. >> right over here. >> reporter: at first yauser didn't know what it was, two parts, maybe an antenna, stuck it to his car with magnets, found by a mechanic when he took his car in for an oil change. when a friend blogged about the discovery, it became an internet sensation. two days later, afifi says he was stopped by an fbi agent. >> then he goes, did you find anything under your car? and i asked him, did you put anything under there? he answered, yeah. >> reporter: so he gave it back, but now he's suing the government. his lawyer calls it a frightening invasion of privacy and says the fbi should have to get a search warrant first, which it didn't do. >> that's really important because it ensures there are no civil rights abuses and they're not just searching individuals with very little suspicion or none at all. >> reporter: the fbi won't say why it was tracking afifi, but current informer agents say using a tracking device does not amount

pete williams starting us off from national and d.c. thanks. >>> new audio recordings are out tonight from a near disaster you may recall from the news just this past spring. happened just over three months ago on a southwest airlines 737 took off from phoenix bound for sacramento. suddenly at 34,000 feet, it situation. a small crack in the fuselage had grown large enough to blow a hole in the roof of the aircraft, which we later saw in photos from passengers. the pilot wanted to turn back to phoenix, but then realized he wouldn't make it. well, today the faa released the tapes of conversations between air traffic control and the crew. it's clear they knew they were in trouble. >> requesting emergency descent. we're starting down. >> we need the nearest airport. >> you want to land to blithe or do you want to go to palm springs? >> let's make a turn and go -- how far away is yuma from us right now? >> yuma is at your 3:00 position and 50 miles. >> we'll take yuma. >> we'll take yuma. the plane descended 20,000 feet in less than five min

pete williams is at national airport in d.c. pete, good evening. >> brian, officials stress tonight there's no indication of any plot under way to actually do this, but they say al qaeda operatives have talked about trying to find doctors to help them do it, and the u.s. is taking that talk seriously. it's renewed interest in an idea for evading airport security. american officials say recently intercepted intelligence indicates al qaeda terrorists in yemen may attempt to surgically implant explosives, or explosive components in passengers to carry out suicide attacks. >> we see this as the evolution of how they can try to defeat us, to get around those layers of security that we have now. >> reporter: under one scenario, the terrorists onboard a plane would inject a chemical detonator into the part of the body where the device was planted. or it could be a radio controlled detonator, set off by a sell phone. intelligence suggests it would be tried on a flight to the u.s. from overseas. more physical patdowns have been suggested

pete williams nbc news at the supreme court. >>> at wimbledon, an upset in the women's finals. spoiler alert. 21-year-old we tre kvitor sa won her first grand slam title, beating maria sharapova in straight sets. you can watch the men's final, nadal versus djokovic tomorrow morning. and when we come back, here comes the bride walking in the footsteps of none other than grace kelly. >>> he was one of the world's most eligible bachelors for a while, but no longer. tonight, prince albert of monaco is a married man. his bride, a south african olympic swimmer at one time. it was a multi-million dollar affair in true riviera style, but was there something missing? nbc's michelle kosinski is there. >> reporter: it could be described as supremely beautiful. in the heart of the palace, 3,500 guests, crowned heads of europe, fashion king carl lagerfeld, fashion kings, supermodels, even james bond, roger moore, and charlene wittstock wowed them all, walking slowly in her sleek armain gown that took 2,500 hours to make. she was simply, simply radiant beside her groom, prince albert. with o

more of what they have now, but probably nothing brand new. >> pete williams. more sort of scary thoughts for travelers and inconvenience for travelers as well. >> right. >> thank you. >> you bet. >> pete williams of course from wyoming. >>> what do the latest fundraising numbers and a new poll tell us about the republican field? >>> plus, which candidate did white house senior advisor just call a world class contortionist? >>> take a look at these pictures from arizona. a mass i have 50-mile wide 10,000 foot high dust storm envol ed phoenix last night, the towering dust cloud known as a hab bs oob downed trees, delayed hab bs oob downed trees, delayed flights and cut off power to at remax.com, you can find the experts you need, thousands of people. visit remax.com today. you get nothing for driving safely. truth: at allstate, you get a check in the mail twice a year, every year you don't have an accident. the safe driving bonus check. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. >>> looking at the republican race for president, it could be a tough roa

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is following the latest details from our washington, d.c., bureau. hi, pete. >> reporter: disgust is the keyward here. they stla is no indication of any specific plot, no operational details that they were actually trying to do this. rather, they were talking about it. although, it must be emphasized that this sort of chatter about all the kind of things that terrorists could do is out there all the time. so this is of such a level that it rose above that. and they decided that it was important to get the word out. so they have advised airlines that fly into the united states u.s., this he have advised airports from which those planes take off. and what that means for the traveling public is that passengers coming into the u.s., and this would include american who's were returning home, can expect to see more use of the already existing security procedures at airports overseas. now that may mean more patdowns, more use of the full body scanners which the experts say some of these full body scanners can detect things that are surgically impl

supreme court does. >> pete williams in washington. thank you, pete. >>> courtney hazlett will join me next with the scoop. also, some things that you should know. former congressman mark foley revealed today he has prostate cancer, and he will undergo surgery tomorrow. the 66-year-old republican said that his doctors gave him an excellent chance to recover from the cancer. he resigned after explicit e-mails to congressional pages were made public. >>> and an appeals court in san francisco has ordered the government to immediately stop enforcing the military's ban on gays serving openly, and congress says the don't ask/don't tell policy is saying that the change would not interfere with military readiness and recruitment and that was expected by the end of the year. those are things that we thought you should know. ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. >> ( rooster crows ) >> by 2020, 50 billion network devices will roam the earth. that's seven devices per person. this will change how we work in ways we'

pete williams put this in perspective. >> tsa has advised the operators that fly into the u.s. they found intelligence of surgically implanting fully made explosive devices or components in to passengers that are flying into the u.s.. they stress they haven't detected actual plots, no imminent threat. but they say it's intelligence they've developed. they are not further elaborating. if this were to be carried out a further refinemen of trying to conceal explosives much more so than the underwear bomber and to be more explicit we're not talking about body cavities, we're talking about surgical insertion of these device. so presumably a suicide attempt and the material would function inside the body. there's some way of detonating it without opening the person back up. what passengers can expect to see and by the way this is folks overseas coming in to the u.s. and americans returning home is more security at the airport, more pat downs, more use of these explosive trace devices where they schwab your hands with those fabric samples. you may be questioned more about airport pers

nbc's pete williams is in washington, d.c. what's the judge saying about this trial, pete? >> reporter: well, the judge has said he'll decide at a hearing on september 2nd, almost two months from now, where we go from here. this trial had just started yesterday with opening statements from both sides and the prosecutors had begun calling witnesses, but the judge had told the prosecutors in advance that certain evidence was off-limits and one of the things that was off-limits was related to testimony by a friend and former teammate of roger clemens named andy pettitte who had played with him on two major league teams. andy pettitte has said that roger clemens told him he used human growth hormone. clemens says that pettitte is mistaken. what's at issue here is a legal document, sort of sworn statement by the wife of andy pettitte, who says yeah, i heard my husband tell me that roger told him that he used steroids. now, the judge said that the wife's testimony, the wife's statement, was off-limits. nonetheless, this morning, the prosecution played an excerpt from what you're

nbc's pete williams has more for us from washington. what can you tell us, pete? >> chris, right now this is an army -- private first class who is in custody by local police in texas. what we're told is that he was actually assigned to ft. campbell, kentucky, he had been charged by the army there with possessing child pornography, and after his initial hearing, he went awol, then showed up in texas where he was overheard making statements about wanting to attack ft. hood, texas, which was the scene of that deadly shooting by major nidal hasan, a search of his hotel room, we're told, turned up explosives. right now he's in the custody of local police in killeen, texas, where he's being questioned. one official said he continued to make statements about wanting to attack ft. hood even after he was arrested, so this case is very much under investigation right now. the local charges now, but that may change as the day goes along. he may face more serious federal charges. we're told that by military officials that he'd never been deployed to either iraq or afghanistan,

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more from the newsroom. pete, this is pretty extraordinary. it's early on but they're not going to get back to business on this until september. >> they may not at all, andrea. that is the question here. this trial is off. now the question is will there be another one at all. roger clemens left the courthouse today and as he did so, people who wanted to come see him crowded around him. he got requests for autographs, people came up and hugged him. so obviously, they are quite pleased by this development. here's what happened. the judge had early on said it was all right for the prosecution to call a teammate named andy pettitte, who would testify that clemens told him he used human growth hormone. but the judge said you couldn't call andy pettitte's wife, who would say that andy pettitte told her about this conversation, too. nonetheless, this morning on only the second day of testimony, the government played an excerpt from the house hearing at which clemens was accused of lying, and one of the members of c

pete williams has our report. >> reporter: the embarrassing saga began last friday when a u.s. citizen of nigerian background managed to board a plane and fly to los angeles without ever buying a ticket. 24-year-old used an i.d. from the university of michigan where he was a student five years ago and a day-old boarding pass belonging to somebody else to get past the u.s. checkpoint at jfk airport where tsa agents examine boarding passes and i.d.s. at the gate, they allowed him to board their flight even though his name was never on their passenger list and he had an outdated boarding pass listed to someone else. >> $80 billion spent on exactly this facet of our security, for it not to work raises huge questions. >> reporter: passengers complained about his personal hygiene, and attendants wondered who was in a high-class seat that was supposed to be empty. the boarding pass belonged to a new york city who lost it after taking the subway to jfk airport the day before. they then kept a close eye on him while they delved into his background. just yesterday, he tried it again. he

pete williams has the latest from washington now. pete, what do you know about this arrest of the private? >> reporter: right. well, good afternoon. you saw killeen, texas on that map. that's where he was arrested. he's a private first class assigned to fort campbell, but arrested in texas yesterday and according to law enforcement officials, what happened is he went into a gun store in killeen, texas and was asking questions that the gun store owner thought was suspicious. he was also buying smokeless powder which can be used for a variety of legal purposes, but it can also be used to make explosives. in any event, the store owner became concerned, called the police. they found out that the private had taken a cab to the gun store, found the cab, who directed them to a motel room where they questioned him. according to officials, he made statements then to the police in texas that he wanted to stage attacks on army soldiers outside fort hood, texas. they searched his room, found explosives in the room and in a backpack so he's now u

that offense was on the post, so the military is handling that one. >> pete williams in washington. thank you. >>> a string of sexual assaults at the university of michigan are topping the news today. there are six attacks ranging from forced groping to rape. police say it is unclear if one or two men are responsible for this. the campus police department spokeswoman says that u of m students accounted for two of the assaults and police have increased security measures for the fall semester. >>> atlanta public school employees linked to a widespread cheating scandal have been put on paid administrative leave. the superintendent reaffirmed his plans for termination as soon as possible, a nd they say that 41 of the 44 accused educators have quit or retired from the school system. >>> an 18-year-old finnish man has been arrested for having 22 pounds of explosives. they say that the fertilizer can be used to make explosives and the media said that the man was trying to make his own fireworks, but however, the police say it is not related to the attacks last week in norway. >>> more hear

we get details tonight from our justice correspondent pete williams in washington. pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, law enforcement officials say an army private, who wanted out of the service because he's a muslim, plotted this attack, saying he wanted to get even with the military for the fighting in iraq and afghanistan. investigators say his targets were fellow soldiers at the army's sprawling ft. hood. texas police revealed today they arrested naser jason abdo yesterday at a motel near ft. hood. in his room, atf agents found enough explosives to make at least two timebombs. the police chief called abdo very dangerous. >> i can tell you that we would probably be here today giving you a different briefing had he not been stopped. >> reporter: in fact, federal officials say abdo planned to set off bombs today, just outside the army post. it was a tip from the owner of this gun store that led to his arrest. they believe abdo was acting suspiciously, asking too many questions. it's the same store where investigators say army major hassan bought the gun used i

nbc's pete williams. thanks. >> you bet. >>> the debate over what to do next with the debt ceiling comes down to the wire on capitol hill, there are some that say president obama should step in more decisively. according to some he could invoke section four of the 14th amendment. now, that states that the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned. in practical terms what it means, some interpret that to mean, that he could raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval. joining me in the studio to discuss this msnbc contributor melissa harris perry, who is a columnist for "the nation" as well as a breaking news magnet what she does from time to time on msnbc. it's nice to see you this morning. i know you are keeping late-night hours. let's get right to it. steny hoyer speaking about losing the 14th amendment on "the ed show." take a listen and we'll talk to it on the other side. >> quite frankly if it came down to looking default in the eye on tuesday or taking this action, as president c

pete williams has more. >> reporter: this california college student remembers where it was found, hidden under his car. at first, he didn't know what it was. two parts, maybe an antenna, stuck to his car with magnets found by a mechanic. when a friend blogged about the discovery, it became an internet discussion. two days later, he was stopped by an fbi agent. >> he goes, did you find anything under your car. i said, did you put anything there, he said yes. >> reporter: so he gave it back, but is suing the government. his lawyer calls it a private invasion of privacy. >> it's really important because it ensures there are no civil right abuses and they're not just searching individuals with little suspicious or none at all. >> reporter: the fbi won't say why it was tracking him, but current ablgts say using a tracking device does not amount to a search because a car is driven on a public street because there's no expectation of privacy. >> i believe this gps tracker device is no more intrusive than a physical survey va lens. >> reporter: some judges say when the devices are used for a lon

pete williams has more from washington, and pete, how could this mistake have been made, and what happens next for roger clenlbes? >> well, a lot of people are wondering why the government did this when they have been so clearly warned not the play this evidence for the jury. now, the -- remember what this trial is about. clemens is accused of lying about his steroid use when he denied it in a 2008 congressional hearing and one of the witnesses that the government will call is a teammate andy pettitte who will claim that he heard clemens say he used human growth hormone and today, the government played de excerpt from that hearing where a member of congress read out a affidavit statement from the wife of the teammate. and the jury should not hear what the wife had to say because she never talked to clemens. it was played today and the judge heard it, and then stopped the trial and decided to declare a mistrial. tamron, the decision is where to go from here. and the trial is over and the jury is not coming back, so will there be another trial? the judge will make that decision in two month

. >> nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has that story. >> reporter: it's renewed interest in an idea for evading security. recently intercepted intelligence indicates al qaeda terrorists in yemen may attempt to surgically implant explosives or explosive components in passengers to carry out suicide attacks. >> we see this as the evolution of how they can try to defeat us to get around those layers of security we have now. >> reporter: under one scenario, the terrorists on board a plane would inject a chemical detonator into the part of the body where the device was implanted or a radio controlled detonator set off by a cell phone. the intelligence suggests it would be tried on a flight to the u.s. from overseas. airlines that fly here have been advised and airports where those flights take off have been urged to increase security. with more physical pattowns, checks for traces of explosive chemicals. more questioning of passengers about their reasons for travel and more use of the full-body scanners in airports that have them. a former homeland security official says while th

>>> pete williams in washington for us this morning, thank you, pete. >>> now a look at what's trending today. a quick roundup of what has you talking on-line. we now know that facebook's promise of something awesome is a new relationship with skype that will let facebook users make video calls on the site. >>> natalie portman's baby name has fans searching yahoo!. the boy born last month is named alef after the first letter in the hebrew alphabet and represents the oneness with god. it's called a haboob, but the phoenix residents may call it the massive dust storm that roared through town on tuesday. twitter users are trading pictures and time-lapsed video of the wall of dust and sharing amusement over the word, haboob. it's 8:04. back outside to david and ann. >> amazing. >> i don't know what the storm is called. in arizona, there's weird weather but that was an incredible thing to see. >> how long did you live in arizona? >> never seen that, seen wild thunderstorms and 100 degree temperatures but -- >> what's going on with the weather. maria is in for al this morning. >> a dry heat.

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more. pete, good morning? >>> natalie, police here in fairfax county, virginia say they're looking for a man who has struck five times in the past five months, slashing at young women with a knife or a razor blade while they shop. the latest in a bizarre series of attacks came just this week. police say an 18-year-old woman was shopping at this mall in northern virginia on monday when she felt a sharp pain. >> hshe realized there was bleeding. someone snatched her, and caused about an inch and a half wound in her rearend. >> investigators say they believe the man seen in these surveillance photos is responsible for monday's attack and at least four others in the same area of northern virginia since february, all at popular retail stores. he's described as a heavy set latino man in his late 20s. >> the gentleman who has been trying to take advantage of them when he has an opportunity. and it's certainly very, very unique situation and someone is out there doing that. >> reporter: so far, the attacks have produc

roy williams the cowboy wide receiver who said the engagement ring. my apologies to the florida basketball coach. >> hot and humid weather. 91 tomorrow. muggy on friday. lingering into saturday morning. temperatures thing in the low 90s early next week. the dog days of summer are here for sure. >> thank you very much for joining us. nbc nightly news coming up next. >> we will see right back here tonight at 11:00. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group]