kristen welker.on his release and how it actually went down. this is according to a senior administration official who says that the handover was peaceful and happened in eastern afghanistan, along the border. u.s. special operations forces conducted the rescue, and they flew helicopters in the mission. here's a little bit of color for you, alex. this official saying that once bergdahl was on the helicopter, he rode on a paper place. he had to write because it was too loud on the helicopter. he wrote fs meaning special forces. the operator said yes, we are special forces, we've been looking for you for a long time. at that point, bergdahl broke down crying. really incredible to hear about those first moments of his release, his own reaction to realizing what was happening after being detained since 2009, alex. >> boy, that is a -- that's enough to bring tears to my eyes. general mccaffrey, your reaction to hearing that? >> well, indeed, you know, his family will be delighted. the community's rallied

kristen welker do we know quickly here president obama is he back tomorrow? stateside? >> craig, i think that the president will be back by tomorrow if my math is accurate i think that he is coming back at some point tomorrow, but look, before he leaves, he is going to visit the hospital, and visit the wounded warriors and he is also going to hand out awards to the troops for their service. so he is not finished with the visit yet, but he did give the speech which is certainly the centerpiece, craig. >> thank you, chriskristen welker at 1600 pennsylvania avenue and patrick murphy here in the studio, and again, president obama at bagram airfield and we will continue to watch this, and he has done, patrick murphy, 2,000 or so hands so far. >> yes, it is unbelievable, and those folks, thank god they are saying i brought these cell phone and even though they can't call home with them thank god i can take a picture. >> how did we record memories before. and now coming up here, new details of what the police are calling, quote, the work of a mad man in california. -mail every

>> kristen welker, thank you. >>> in ukraine tonight, exit polls show the front-runner, a pro western business tycoon has won the presidential election. but not everybody was able to vote today in the divided country where hopes for unity are uncertain at best. our report tonight from nbc's ayman mohyeldin in kiev. >> reporter: he's a billionaire, making his fortune from chocolate. but tonight petro poroshenko is poised to be ukraine's next president. with the challenges ahead, poroshenko's victory may not be as sweet as it seems. >> in the state the economy is not very good. but immediately when we establish the peace, we will do the absolutely unique transformation of the country. >> reporter: today millions turned out to vote for the country's first leader since a revolution toppled ukraine's former pro-russian president. many, like 31-year-old factory owner andre with one issue on their mind. >> what's most important is to fight corruption, only this way. >> reporter: on the outskirts of kiev, people here dream of a better future. but with a collapsing economy and growing violence

we get more on this tonight from nbc's kristen welker. >> let them go! let them go! free our sisters! bring them home! >> reporter: with protests this weekend in london, new york, and the nation's capital, global outrage is intensifying over more than 200 missing girls in nigeria. >> a girl, whether she is going to school in paris or in chicago or in nigeria, she matters. >> reporter: the girls were kidnapped from this school in the country's rural northeast nearly three weeks ago by a terror group called boko haram, which opposes western education, especially for women. there are reports many of the missing students may have been sold into marriage. secretary of state john kerry was in africa on a previously scheduled trip and promised u.s. help. >> the kidnapping of hundreds of children by boko haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the nigerian government to return these young women to their homes. >> reporter: u.s. officials say aid would come in the form of intelligence to help fight boko haram, but at this point america

postpolitics.com and susan page and "washington post" ann gearan and white house correspondent kristen welker. kristen, first to you, the president moved today but it seemed very reluctant. there was a personal connection there. and just quickly, why did this finally reach critical mass the boiling point, however you want to describe it today? >> that's a great question. you're vutly right. you you can hear the president's respect for secretary shinseki when he made those comments. i'm told that after he got that preliminary ig report that the situation just became untenable and president and other top officials were stunned by how widespread the misconduct is within the va. and the fact that secretary shinseki who had said he wasn't aware of how widespread it was, he said of course that he thought these were isolated incidents. you heard secretary shinseki himself said he was misled about that. that was one of the key factors and then you have this course of mounting voices from capitol hill, more than 100 lawmakers, including a fifth of senate democrats, calling for secretary shinseki to re

i'm sorry, we now have nbc white house correspondent kristen welker there on pebble beach. kristen, quite a surprising announcement today from the president. >> jonathan, i'm literally picking my jaw up off of the ground. i was not expecting that and i have to tell you, the rest of the press core to my knowledge didn't get a heads up about this. this really was a surprise announcement. that is rare at this white house for the press corps to be surprised. but this is one of those rare occasions where probably the majority of the people sitting in that briefing room now are quite surprised. there had been some discussion about jay carney thinking about leaving the white house, but those discussions never went beyond sort of the thee hethe t level. he's been the press secretary for a good several years, a about chunk of the first term. he'll be replaced by josh earnest, president obama described him as a straight shooter, based on my interactions with josh earnest, that has been the case. of course, the job of press secretary is a big promotion for josh. so this is certainly a

nbc's kristen welker is live for us at the white house with more this afternoon. kristen, first of all, what are president obama's options here? >> well, he doesn't have a whole lot of options, craig. the president has been quite clear that a military option is off the table. so right now the u.s. and its european partners are focusing on sanctions. they have so far implemented several rounds of sanctions, which have largely been targeted at individuals. on friday, president obama met with german chancellor angela merkel here at the white house, and the two made a pretty big announcement, which is that they had agreed to move forward with sectorial sanctions, if the crisis in ukraine worsens after the may 25th election. so i don't anticipate that we'll see any new sanctions prior to that. then a final decision will be based on what is actually happening in ukraine. this is significant, craig, because the u.s. had wanted to enforce sectorial sanctions, sanctions against the larger sectors of russia's economy. but the u.s.'s european allies had been resistant to do s

kristen welker is at the white house with more tonight, kristen. >> reporter: he turned down a job as transportation secretary after the 2012 elections but a source tells nbc news he is being vetted for secretary of housing and urban development and if asked, he'll likely say yes. san antonio mayor castro became the first hispanic to keynote the democratic convention. >> america will prevail. >> reporter: and now he may be heading to washington. government sources tell nbc news president obama plans to tap castro to become the secretary of housing and urban development impressed with his record on urban revitalization and what he'll bring to the cabinet. >> this is one way for him to secure his legacy and be the equal opportunity president. >> reporter: the move not only catapults castro, but sends a strong message to a key voting block ahead of the midterm elections. >> president obama is sending a clear message to the latino community, he cares about them and wants to push immigration forward. >> reporter: him and his twin brother, a texas congress man are democratic darlings both p

nbc's kristen welker is in baltimore. kristen, there's homes across the street and we've seen them there in the live shots you're doing. are the people around this area safe? >> reporter: here's what we know. fire officials capped the gas lines in the area so there's no potential of a gas leak. the residents here are still evacuated and not being allowed back into their homes. we don't anticipate that the city will allow them to go back home until they feel as though there's absolutely no threats. here's what happened, last night this area got about 7 inches of rain causing that partial road collapse. it is believed. and what happened is a retaining wall, about 120 years old, ronan, it gave way, which allowed a dozen cars to fall 75 feet to the train tracks below. one of the things that is so disturbing about this, i've been talking to a number of residents today earn we also spoke to folks last night who have had a lot of concerns about this retaining wall that it didn't look sturdy and showed signs of cracking. >> we rep

kristen welker joins me now. we're starting to get some details about the nature of the negotiations, which only restarted just a little while ago. >> that's right. they have been going on in theory for a couple of years. but they started up a couple weeks ago. you're right about that. let me read you the latest i have from a senior official who says the opportunity that presented itself several weeks ago was the taliban indicating an interest in resuming indirect talks on bergdahl and their detainees at gaut know. the president called them on tuesday and gave each other asurnss about the transfers. the language is important here because, as you know, it has been a long held u.s. policy not to negotiate with terrorists. so when asked about that senior officials say there were no direct talks between the u.s. and taliban. they emphasized the fact that they were the mediators and they also emphasized that point that you said in president obama's statement which is that the u.s. doesn't leave a soldier on the battle

joining us from the white house, kristen welker. amongst the back drop of the violence we're seeing and a real spark as has been reported, president obama, german chancellor angela merkel, they met yesterday. they were watching that very carefully. what came of that meeting? >> reporter: well, there were some significant developments, richard. president obama, german chancellor angela merkel announcing that they had agreed to move forward with sectoral sanctions if it continues to worsen after the may 25th election. i don't anticipate that we will see any new sanctions prior to that, but that is the date that you want to be watching for. so essentially another stern warning to russia. now the reason why this is significant, richard, is because there had been deep divisions between the united states and its european partners about this issue of sectoral sanctions. the u.s. wanted to move forward with them. european partners were hesitant because of course their economies are so tightly linked to russia's economy, particularly when it

jeanne cummings and chris cillizza and kristen welker. is that does it for us a busy edition with the president and angela merkel. follow the show online and on facebook and twitter. "ronan farrow daily" is next. o. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. ♪ (woman) this place has got really good chocolate shakes. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new

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. >>> joining me now, nbc's kristen welker. i was speaking with the reporter from the "arizona republic" that made the point that you had individual veterans for years who have been reaching out to their members of congress, to senator john mccain's office, making the complaints over the course of years, and in some cases not feeling like they've gotten that much response. do you detect on capitol hill, looking in the mirror on the members of congress, or is this 100% being focused on the white house? >> reporter: i think there is some of that, joy, certainly. but right now, this is being focused squarely on the white house and the department of veterans affairs. and i think that interim ig report was so problematic for secretary shinseki, because it outlined what appears to be systematic misconduct, and failures at va hospitals. so that is why you are hearing the white house officials say things like secretary shinseki's on probation, he's on thin ice. certainly the president was concerned. he expressed that publicly yesterday

. >> general shinseki according to our own kristen welker has been on probation with the president andis team since this all broke. there's a meeting this afternoon. are you getting the sense that anything is imminent? >> we're not sure. i'm hopeful we'll be hearing some action coming out of the va this afternoon in washington. what we really have to focus on is not necessarily making heads roll but how we're going to fix the problem. is -- is an announcement out of the white house part of fixing the problem? i'm not sure about that. we're talking to our membership about it. but what is absolutely important is we don't let that distract from the actual problem, whatever solution comes out of this, we have to make sure it is comprehensive and it actually fixes the problems in the va health care system. the worst thing that can happen if we take our eye off the ball and once again ignore this health care system and have veterans again start not getting care they deserve. >> now, there were five senators and five democratic senators calling for him to be ousted and john warner -- mark war

kristen welker takes a look for us. >> reporter: the hashtag bring back our girls has gone viral. with more than a million retweets, it's now an international rallying cry for helping the missing girls in my jeer ya. but critics like conservative radio host rush limbaugh say it won't accomplish a thing. >> the sad thing here is the low information crowd that's puddling around out there on twitter is going to think we're actually doing something about it. >> reporter: nigerian-american writer teju cole is equally skeptical. tweeting your new interest simplifies nothing. solves nothing. but journalist and author sally armstrong disagrees. armstrong points to the fact that in the days after bring back our girls began trending, nigeria accepted offers for help from the international community. >> this is working. bring back our girls. you have now equipment in nigeria that they never had before. they didn't have drones. they didn't have the kind of strategies that the uk are bringing in. >> reporter: this isn't the first social media campaign for justice. #kony 2012 was tweeted more t

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kristen welker at the white house this morning. thanks. >>> david gregory is moderator of "meet the press." david, good morning. >> hey, lester, good morning. >> you've been to more than a couple of these things. the president really didn't bite his tongue yesterday. is there something liberating about being a second-term president attending that dinner? >> yeah. i think there is. but i think actually the more vulnerable you are, the bigger hit you can be. if you're really self-deprecating. most -- you know, it's a very tough room, but the room is always with the president. because, you know, you're hammering him. you're in the press all that time, republican or democrat. and you see the president giving a little. i think that's always pretty winning. i thought the president was pretty good. he showed some signs he might be fatiguing of the entire event here by now. but he's still got in some good jokes. maybe tipped his hand as we'll talk about on "meet the press" with his views on 2016. >> i want to talk about it now. you're refe

and ordered immediate action to treat those waiting veterans, and from the white house, nbc's kristen welker reports the president now considers secretary shinseki to be on probation. brian? >> kelly o'donnell on capitol hill with all of it tonight for us, thanks. >>> president obama addressed the issue of american involvement in future wars today and the changing threat to this country. he spoke to the graduating cadets at the u.s. military academy west point. as one writer put it, he called for a muscular, if not militaristic foreign policy for the near future. our report from nbc's peter alexander. >> reporter: they are the first class to graduate since the 9/11 attacks that may not be sent to iraq and afghanistan. at west point today, president obama argued for restraints before the u.s. commits to any future military action. >> just because we have the best hammer, does not mean that every problem is a nail. >> reporter: but today's speech also marked a public acknowledgement that syria now offers a haven for extremists so dangerous it's drawing comparisons to the threat posed by afghan

kristen welker at the white house. kristen, thank you. we'll come back to you later in the broadcast. david row joins me now. he's with reuters, also with "the atlantic." for the purposes of this conversation, we should note he was also captured and held by the taliban for roughly seven months back in 2008. just first of all, your reaction when you heard the news this afternoon. >> well, i'm just overjoyed for bowe and for his family. five years. it's an incredibly long time. it's a testament to his strength he survived this long in taliban captivity. >> what was your mindset when you were freed? we know the road for him -- the road to recovery is going to be a long one. it was good to hear that he's able to walk and that he seems to be in reasonable -- reasonably good health. what was for you the mindset like? >> it's hard to believe. this anecdote where he's riding on this helicopter, people have been reporting where he doesn't believe he's with american troops and he writes on a plate, you know, "sf" as in special forces. they tell him

kristen welker is at the white house with more on that. good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. on one level, kerry's decision to testify is an attempt to confuse republicans who have been calling on him to answer questions about benghazi. he has made it very clear he is not going to testify again or appear before that new select committee. since kerry came into his position six months after the attack, he is expected to get questions about the state department's cooperation in providing documents but he really can't speak to the state department's handling of that night. now, kerry has rejected two earlier requests to testify. the state department said in both cases he had other responsibilities. democrats have accused republicans of playing politics with this issue. it is a hot-button issue. no doubt republicans see benghazi as a politically viable issue for them in 2014. you can expect to hear a lot more about this since we head toward the mid-terms and in 2016 if hillary clinton decides to run. >> i know this game of cabinet m

cannot penetrate. >> let me go back to kristen welker, and talk about the political implications of this, and the president's approval rating is a problem for the candidates running in november, and what is the level of concern at the white house how this might bleed over into the campaign? >> well, there is a fair amount of concern here, chris, because prior to this, remember, that the big issue was health care. and another issue that republicans have signaled is a big issue in the midterm election year is benghazi, and this is now really moving to the forefront and you can sense the level of concern here behind the scenes, and they acknowledge that this is a big problem, and it also speaks to and raises the questions of the president's management style. that is something that is his critics have seized upon and he is too slow or methodical to the ask and express ainnger and outrage in the instances, and the flipside is that there is an ongoing investigation, and the white house is arguing that the president is not going to take action and not going to take any next steps until he under

kristen welker is at the white house this morning. >> reporter: erica, good morning to you. that's right, for the first time ever, in fact, the first lady is delivering the weekly address alone, adding fresh urgency to the crisis in nigeria, only the second first lady in recent history to deliver a solo address, laura bush being the first in 2001. >> in these girls, barack and i see our own daughters. >> reporter: first lady michelle obama usually stays away from foreign policy. but the missing nigerian girls are sparking international outrage and today she is also speaking out, delivering the weekly address solo, for the first time. >> these girls embody the best hope for the future of our world. and we are committed to standing up for them, not just in times of tragedy or crisis, but for the long haul. >> reporter: the powerful plea comes against the backdrop of new criticism of the obama administration. in 2011, then secretary of state hillary clinton resisted calls from the cia and fbi to designate boko haram, the group behind the

i'm sorry, we now have nbc white house correspondent kristen welker there on pebble beach. nouncement today from the president. >> jonathan, i'm literally picking my jaw up off of the ground. i was not expecting that and i have to tell you, the rest of the press core to my knowledge didn't get a heads up about this. this really was a surprise announcement. that is rare at this white house for

. >> and nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker is going to join us live. kristen, give us more details on what this assistance means. our colleague chuck todd was on earlier, and saying that it is not a situation where the navy s.e.a.l.s will swoop in and try to regs cue the girls, and if that is not the case, what are we waiting to see happen here? >> and secretary of state john kerry saying it is going to be coming and you can expect days and not weeks. this is some of the specifics, it will include military intelligence, and fbi forensics investigators and hostage negotiators and satellite imagining, and electronic eavesdropping and the drone bases could be a part of this as well. the question surrounding this assistance of the united states is offering is how well will they work with the nigerian officials once they arrive and how smoothly is that process and the that transition going to take place? tamron, this is all happening as the international outrage is mounting for something to be done. there have been protests for the past several days both abr

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. kristen, with a good saturday morning to you, what does this cabinet shuffle suggest? >> reporter: hey, alex. good morning. with this nomination president obama is doing a couple of things. he's elevating a rising star and giving a nod to the latino community when they are pressuring him to get more done to get immigration reform done. latinos are a crucial voting block as democrats fight to hold on. they say castro was a good choice because of his success in revitalizing san antonio. he rose to national promise when he delivered the keynote speech to the democratic national convention in 2012. we've continued to see his star power rise. there's buzz that he may be a potential vice presidential pick. this certainly helps him get there if that is his goal. still, others argue that the position of hud secretary is not one of incredibly high prominence. shaun donovan will go to omb to replace sylvia bureau and she will replace kathleen sebelius. both castro and donovan are expected to be

. >> nbc's luke russert and kristen welker both join me now. luke on the hill and kristen at the white house. luke, there was a lot of anger on the committee today and it was bipartisan? >> reporter: not only was it bipartisan, andrea, for covering capitol hill sometimes you see things and it usually -- there was genuine outrage there. i just came from house speaker john boehner's press conference, speaker of the house -- >> luke, we've got a problem with your mike. i'm going to cut to kristen while we try to fix the capitol hill connection. kristen at the white house. do they realize just how unsuccessful the president was at stemming the anger yesterday? >> hello, hello? >> while luke -- >> reporter: the chief criticisms is that the president had a lot of strong words yesterday but hasn't taken any action yet as you pointed out at the top of the show. he has dispatched his deputy chief of staff rob neighbors to go to the phoenix va to assess the problem to get to the bottom of the problem and issue a series of recommendations by the end of the

. >> msnbc's kristen welker. how does this fit into the president's agenda?> the president and white house are seizing on this jobs report to argue the president's policies are working, president obama saying they would be working better, that the economy would be showing more strength. there's no doubt that this is a strong jobs report. economists feel good about this jobs report. 288,000 jobs were added last month. the unemployment rate ticked down, the lowest its been about in about five years. embedded in that number is the fact that 800,000 people left the job force, stopped looking for work. so that's the troubling part of this jobs report. and that is what president obama is holding on to to make his argument that republicans should do things like increase the minimum wage, pass unemployment insurance benefits. but, t.j., really, the issue is that those are keys to the democrats talking points as they head into the 2014 midterm elections. this issue of income inequality helped obama win re-election in 2012. while he and the democrats are hoping that sa

we'll have more on that story in a moment, but we start this morning with nbc's kristen welker who is in baltimore, maryland with this road collapse there. kristen, as i understand, some neighbors indicate they have been complaining about issues there for a while. >> reporter: that's right. a few neighbors complaining that they had serious concerns about the retaining wall behind me that gave way last night, causing about eight to ten cars that fell 75 feet on to train tracks. one resident telling me she complained multiple times to the company that is responsible for the tracks, also to city officials. she says she got no response so there was a lot of deep concern throughout this neighborhood. here's what one resident had to say. take a listen. >> we've reported this a couple of times over the past several years and was told it was structurally sound. they actually patched it up and left it at that. so we've been expecting it. >> reporter: we have reached out to city officials still waiting to hear back from them. the good news here, tamron, is incredibly, there were no injuries so

. >> kristen welker, thank you. we're learning this morning that the santa barbara sheriff's department launched an internal investigation into the way deputies handled last week's shooting spree by elliott rodger. the the news comes a day after the department said deputies knew about disturbing youtube videos that he posted three weeks before the rampage but they did not watch them. the probe will also look into now authorities handled a welfare check back in april, rodger fatally stabbed three roommates, shot and killed three others before turning the gun on himself. >>> some high schoolers in california are rallying behind a school security guard who was caught on surveillance video hitting a student in a wheelchair. the high schooler started a petition at oakland high in support of the security guard mitchell who was accused of punching and dumping a student out of his wheelchair. the student supporting him believed mitchell's claim that he was provoked when the student in the wheelchair spit in his face. the sc

. >> and nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker is going to join us live. more details on what this assistance means. our colleague chuck todd was on earlier, and saying that it is not a situation where the navy s.e.a.l.s will swoop in and try to regs cue the girls, and if that is not the case, what are we waiting to see happen

. >>> and very good friday to you, i'm kristen welker in washington. vladimir putin is making his first visit to crimea since his country annexed the region from ukraine arriving by boat. the visit comes hours after the russian president presided over a military parade through red square as they mark victory day and defeat of nazi germany. there are reports of fresh violence today and multiple deaths in the southeastern ukraine where forces clashed with pro-russian troops trying to take control of a government building. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins me now from donetsk, ukraine. thanks for joining me. i want to start with the reports of violence. what's the latest and talk about putin and the show of force he's exhibiting? >> first on the violence it is mostly centered in the city in southern ukraine, not far from crimea. this violence began yesterday when russian separatists and militias took over the main government building in the center of the city. they were driven out by ukrainian government forces this morning and there's

. >>> good day to you, i'm kristen welker in washington in for andrea mitchell, eric shinseki is facing tough questions by a senate panel today on the state of veterans health care in the united states. the secretary vowed to act on any allegations proven by the inspector general's report. it's the very first time the secretary has spoken in public after calls for his resignation amid the va scandal in phoenix. joining me now, capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell live in phoenix. thanks for joining me. i want to start off with the announcement we got from the white house last night. president obama announcing that deputy chief of staff rob neighbors is going to launch a review of the va. given that there's already an ig investigation going on. what's the goal here? >> i think really the secretary of veterans affairs needed some white house backup and support because of the scope. this is the largest health care organization in the country. the allegations have spread not only from phoenix and the hospital behind me but to a number of centers around the country where allegations ha

joining me for our big journalist panel, chris sill list saturd cillizza and kristen welker and bob shrumtalk about at the white house. there's been a big divide despite what the white house says between merkel and rest of europe on how tough to be against vladimir putin. there's talk the incremental sanctions have not been working and the other issues, the confusion and disagreements over intelligence and eavesdropping that still have yet to be resolved. kristen? >> reporter: right, a lot to talk about today, andrea, but certainly the key issue we'll be talking about is ukraine and

kristen welker in baltimore. thank you so much. now to the latest on the florida panhandle as if the massive flooding was not enough. officials are now dealing with the aftermath of an explosion at the county jail that may have been triggered by a flooded-out laundry room. two inmates were killed. 184 other people were hurt. most of them have been released from the hospital at this point. three inmates do remain unaccounted for. we're expecting an update on the confusion surrounding that. chip is in pensacola for us. what's the latest there? >> reporter: this is the latest here. basically as you said, five inmates are missing. two are confirmed dead and still in that jail building. as far as where the other three are, we just don't know. those three inmates could be in there buried under some debris. that's what fire officials are trying to figure out at this time. or they could be on the run at this hour. the explosion happened right around 11:00 last night central time. it ripped through central booking where inmates are brought

i'm kristen welker in for andrea mitchell. we begin with breaking news on the gm ignition switch recall with an announcement on a record setting penalty for the powerful car company. take a look. >> what we cannot tolerate, what we will never accept is a person or a company that knows danger exists and says nothing. literally, silence can kill. >> tom costello joins me now live. you were at the announcement the. what's the very latest? >> reporter: this is a $35 million fine, a penalty that gm has agreed to pay for failing to notify the government in a timely manner, we're talking about years of a serious defect involving the ignition switch. when it went into the off position or neutral position, the air bags failed to e deploy. it is now going to pay a $35 million fine. the d.o.t. would like to see that increased to $300 million for future cases, but that would be up to congress. $35 million is a drop in the bucket for a company the size of gm. but in addition it is agreeing to oversight as it relates to its safety processes

nbc kristen welker is at the white house with us.e had eric shinseki giving the audit to the president before submitting his resignation yesterday. what more does this audit reveal and what happens next? >> good question, alex. >> reporter: one of the other troubling findings of that audit is that 78% of scheduling staffers used alternative methods than the electronic scheduling system and that occurred in about 64% of v.a. facilities nationwide so that just gives you a snapshot of how widespread this misconduct was. now you'll recall that president obama continued to express confidence in secretary shinseki really up until this week when, on wednesday, we got that preliminary ig report which also showed that there had been widespread misconduct and my sources here tell me that was really the key question for president obama. he wanted to know whether what we were seeing in the phoenix, the misconduct there, whether that was isolated or indicative of a more systemic problem. the preliminary reports showed it was indicative of a more

. >> and nbc white house reporter kristen welker has the latest for us.ll us about the meeting? >> well, in an earlier interview, president obama said that it is going to be a difficult discussion about secretary shinseki's capacity to fix the problems at the veteran affairs, and one person tells me that he is on thin ice today and that is backdrop as the meeting is under way, chris. of course, we heard from secretary shinseki earlier today when he addressed a a group of veterans about veterans homelessness and a previously scheduled event we should point o out, and secretary the shinseki apologized for the widespread con duck at the v.a. and announced the changes including the fact that he has removed top staff at the phoenix v.a. where so much of the misconduct occurred and the fact that he is not going to be granting bonuses to the senior level staff members at the v.a., and now a couple of key points that he made earlier today, chris. one is that he was misled about exactly how widespread and systemic this misconduct is. he said that he, himself, wasn

>> nbc's kristen welker, thank you so much. only one thing this morning, why didn't i think of that? pet patients, yes, dogs and cats, moms and dads increasingly don't just want to open a bag or can at meal time so some companies are capitalizing on people who, yes, want to cook for their pets. it's my must read. you've got to see this. let us know what you think. head to facebook/jansingco. try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. thoughtful combinations, artfully prepared. fancy feast elegant medleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. teacher layoffs. and a 60 billion dollar budget deficit. that's what john perez faced when he became speaker of the california assembly. so he partnered with governor brown to pass three balanced budgets, on time. for the first time in thirty years. today, the deficits are go

and quickly, we want to go to kristen welker, and jay carnal carney stumbled through the answer when asked if he had confidence in general shinseki, and what are you hearing here? >> well, that is of course, the big question, and does president obama continue to have confidence in president obagene and that is true, i have been told that by an official that going into the meeting general shinseki was on thin ice and probation, and one official telling me that one of the big problems with this report from the perspective of the president is that it highlighted the fact that there is systemic widespread misconduct throughout the v.a. and you will recall that secretary shinseki had initially said that these issues of the misconduct were isolated, that they were weren't widespread and secretary shinseki earlier himself today said that he now admits that he was mistake n about that. that is one of the issues that -- here is the president. >> okay. i ha i have to interrupt you. >> and general shinseki and rob nabors who i have temporarily assigned to work the v.a. have presented me with th

willie, back to you. >> kristen welker at the white house. thank you.aul rieckhoff, an iraq war veteran, is the founder and executive director of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. paul, good to see you. >> good to see you, willie. >> so the president goes to afghanistan yesterday, reaffirms that this war by and large will be over by the end of the year with some residual forces remaining. 13 years on now, paul, some 2,300 americans dead, did the united states achieve its objectives as they were set out in 2001 in afghanistan? >> i don't think we know yet. we'll find out over the next few years and next few decades. i think for our troops and veterans, they've done everything they've been asked to do. they've stepped up and they've sacrificed and especially on memorial day it's about reflecting on those we've lost and spending time with our families and trying to reconnect after very long years of war. >> the president did talk obliquely about the veterans affairs scandal. he said it's a sacred obligation that we take care of our veterans when th

but first, here's nbc's kristen welker. >> f-e-u-i-l-l-e-t-o-n?porter: and with that, 13-year-old ansun sujoe and 14-year-old sriram hathwar claimed a rare dual victory at the nation's largest spelling bee. the face-off ended in a tie, after judges exhausted the word list. the last time there were co-champions, 1962. now, these present day winners are making their own history. >> it's a dream come true. >> i was pretty happy when i made the finals and now i'm even happier that i'm a co-champion. >> reporter: to get here, these whiz kids beat out hundreds of worthy competitors and ten other finalists, each bringing years of preparation and determination. agoraphobia, francophone, melismatic. just a few of the words this year's contestants had to spell to get to the final round. can you spell s-m-a-r-t? just making it into the finals felt like winning for 15-year-old jacob williamson. who captured everyone's heart, even in defeat. >> c-a-b-a-r-a-g-o-y-a. kabaragoya. what? >> reporter: but in the end, the night belonged to these two teens. >> you eac

for "today," kristen welker, nbc news, washington. >> tamron is here for carson.ig reaction online as kristen mentioned. >> it is. a lot of people are reflecting on why it took three weeks, to be honest with you. i've been interviewing a reporter from the associated press, michelle fallen. she has been in close contact with the mothers. a rally in nigeria last week. the social media impact to your point has helped this move forward, after all of these weeks. #bringbackourgirls is the hash tag. this is video from washington, d.c. there were rallies in new york city. around the united states, people are awakening to this. in fact, this was tweeted out by mary j. blige, #bringbackourgirls. this is from the european students union. they joined in as well with their sign. so, you can do the very same. #bringbackourgirls. go online, learn more about what's happening there. it is absolutely a tragedy there. >> all right, tamron, thank you very much. >>> coming up, michelle knight, one of the cleveland kidnapping survivors joins us exclusively on the eve of the first anni

kristen welker has been watching the developments and joins us with that part of the story from 1600 pennsylvania. hey, kristen. >> hey, craig. # bring back our girls is trending from the first lady to malala yousafzai. some critics say it's not really accomplishing anything. it's a form of slacker activism. they say the social media campaign is having real world kwentss. the hashtag # bring back our girls is viral. it is now an international rallying cry to help the missing girls in nigeria. critics like rush limbaugh say it won't accomplish a thing. >> the sad thing here is the low information crowd on twitter will think we are doing something. >> reporter: a nigerian writer is skeptical tweeting your new interest simplifies nothing, solves nothing. but sally armstrong disagrees. >> this is a turning point for the rights of women and girls around the world. >> reporter: armstrong points to the fact that in the days of # are bring back our girls began trending nigeria accepted help. >> this is working. you have equipment now in nigeria they never had before. they didn't have drones,

. >> kristen welker is at the white house for us.ef of staff responding as well. what's he saying? >> reporter: alex, he was in damage control mode this morning. chief of staff dennis mcdonough saying that president obama is, quote, mad as hell about the revelations at the va, that he's determined to get to the bottom of how all of this could have happened. what mcdonough wouldn't comment on, secretary shinseki's testimony this past week, which a number of critics said was tepid, and they were frustrated that he didn't show more anger. mcdonough said that he, the president, is not going to judge testimony. rather, they're interested in judging the results. mcdonough also saying that the white house is dispatching extra staffers to try to get to the bottom of exactly what went wrong at the va, and to try to determine whether or not these problems are systemwide, or if they are just isolated incidents. here's a little bit more of what dennis mcdonough had to say in his own words. >> the president is madder than hell. and i've got the s

. >> kristen welker, thank you very much from the white house. >>> secretary of veterans affairs ericify on thursday in the va hospital scandal. in a new interview this morning, defense secretary chuck hagel weighed in on the fact that the va manipulated records. >> i do support general shinseki. there's no margin here. if this thing in fact, or any variation of this occurred, all along the chain, accountability is going to have to be upheld here. this is something that should have been looked at years and years ago. so yes, we missed it. >> joining me now from phoenix, with the story first blowing open, jennifer. what's expected in thursday's hearing? >> reporter: what's expected from thursday's hearing is hopefully some answers, alex. what we can tell you about tomorrow here in this va in phoenix where it all started, they will have a new interim director, steve young, from the salt lake city va. which by the way, we checked, is not one of the vas that have reported any problems. in fact, if we look into his history, steve young has put together some small clinics outside of salt la

what a print magazine actually looks like. [ laughter ] >> despite her late night antics, nbc's kristen welker fun to see you. >> it was a fun event and great to see you. that is great tradition that dates back a long time. back to 1920. it's a chance for journalists to have outside of work to talk to celebrities but this year was a bit different because it was the 100th anniversary of the white house correspondents' association. a time-honored washington tradition. oscar winner lupita nyong'o, olympian lindsay vaughn just a few of the big names turnsing up for dinner. >> this is an opportunity for media to meet hollywood to meet politics. >> and his storally a chance for the commander-in-chief to give back some of the heat he's taken. >> let's face it, fox, you'll miss me when i'm gone. [ laughter ] it will be harder to convince the american people that hillary was born in kenya. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: a little self-depprication as well. >> in 2008, my slogan was idea yes, we can." in 2013 my slogan was "control, alt, delete." [ laughter ] >> reporter: headliner nbc

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. good morning. >> tamron, good morning.n her op-ed, the first lady has accused members of congress to, quote, undo fighting childhood obesity. it's from the first lady and it comes as we get an exclusive first look at her latest "let's move!" video. >> mrs. obama, i know how important it is for everybody to eat right. >> reporter: the first lady enlisting the seattle seahawks in her promote motion of healthy eating. >> richard take us through it. >> reporter: it comes in a "the new york times" op-ed out this morning where she intensifies her recent attacks against the republican-led house of representatives for trying to scale back the new federal nutritional standards, writing some members are now threatening to roll back these new standards and lower the quality of food our kids get in school. our children deserve so much better than this she argues. her comments come after a house bill that would exempt more whole grains, more vegetables. >> it's not working. >> reporter: proponents say the legislation is aimed to give t

welker is at the white house with us. with a beautiful saturday morning to you. it looks beautiful behind you. kristen, i know there was some controversy ahead of the first lady's trip to kansas. how did it all turn out? >> reporter: she got a warm welcome, alex. i'll give you some background. the first lady was originally scheduled to speak today, the actual anniversary of brown versus board of education. students, family members complained there wouldn't be enough seats. it would be limited if she was to speak today. she moved her speech to last night and ultimately everyone was happy with that resolution. the first lady's main message last night is that brown versus board of education is still being decided every day. she called on the students, the next generation, to continue to fight for diversity and to continue to fight against discrimination. now her comments come as we're just getting this new study from ucla which shows that in some states, new york, michigan, illinois, schools are bmging more segregated and have become more segregated in recent years. the first lady made a call to action y