out. why are americans quitting their jobs in record numbers the booster battle the states defying cdc guidance and expanding access to all adults could it happen nationwide the white house weighs in tonight. the city of kenosha bracing for the kyle rittenhouse verdict. the national guard at the ready. and the key decision the judge is about to make our journey to a remote corner of the world for a high tech treasure hunt. is a climate change solution buried here. and the nhl's new star on a mission to help veterans. this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. good evening we begin with the breaking news in the january 6th attack on the capitol. steve bannon, once one of donald trump's closest advisers, has been criminally indicted by a federal grand jury charged with two counts of contempt of congress for spurning subpoenas to answer questions and provide documents to the house select committee

investigating the deadly riot. the committee referred bannon's refusal to cooperate to the justice department which brought the case to a grand jury. bannon's indictment with the potential for jail time sending a strong message to other uncooperative trump loyalists in a stare down over the limits of executive privileges hallie jackson has late breaking details for us >> reporter: a trump insider indicted late tonight. steve bannon charged by a federal grand jury with two criminal counts of contempt of congress for defying a subpoena from lawmakers, investigating the january 6th riot. >> i think it's important. and i think it follows the rule of law. you know, bannon and now meadow appear to believe they're above the law. >> reporter: members of that select, congressional committee wanted to hear from former president trump's top adviser citing what he

said on his radio show the day before the capitol insurrection. >> all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. >> reporter: but bannon through an attorney told lawmakers mr. trump was choosing to assert executive privilege and encouraging his former aids not to reveal anything that might be covered by that privilege lawmakers voted to hold bannon in content last month, and the justice department decided to prosecute if convicted, bannon faces up to a year in prison the indictment unprecedented. no one has ever been charged for contempt of congress before after asserting executive privilege. remember, bannon was not a white house staffer on january 6th. he left that job in 2017 although, remained close with president trump. the new charges upping the pressure on other witnesses like former chief of staff mark meadows, who today defied his own subpoena by refusing to appear for a deposition like bannon he says he's not complying at mr. trump's direction.

>> a lot of people initially refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas. they always end up, normally at least, negotiating their way out of it, coming to a deal and getting something less than was originally sought. >> so, hallie, what is the next move for steve bannon >> it will come soon a law enforcement source tells us bannon is expected to turn himself in monday and appear in court that afternoon. lester >> hallie jackson, thank you. our other story breaking tonight, a judge late today ended the conservatorship over pop star britney spears, giving her the freedom to make her own decisions about her life for the first time in many years her case shined a spotlight on the controversial and restrictive legal arrangement. erin mclaughlin has late details for us. >> reporter: tonight after almost 14 years, superstar britney spears is finally free the judge declaring the conservatorship over her person and estate are no longer required effective today. spears was not present for the hearing but posted on instagram, best day ever. >> britney spears as of today is a free

woman and an independent woman and the rest, with her support system, will be up to britney. >> reporter: outside the courthouse, the sounds of victory. creators supported an entire movement to make this moment a reality. >> today is life changing today is the biggest deal in the world, and i can't imagine how britney is feeling >> reporter: on instagram, the pop star and her fiance calling #freebritney a human rights movement. a court ordered the conservatorship back in 2008 after the star was placed in two involuntary psychiatric holds following a public breakdown. since then, the 39-year-old mother of two hasn't been allowed to make any significant decisions about her career, finances or medical care without the oversight of her conservatorship. >> all of these things will be restored back to what they were prior to the conservatorship. >> reporter: while her supporters celebrate her newfound independence, the spears family feud is far from over. in september, a judge suspended her father jaime as conservator of her $16 million fortune. just days after he asked the court to end the conservatorship

after years claiming it was necessary. >> one reason why he may have had that reversal was because britney's lawyer filed to depose him and wants to do a full investigation of jaime and where britney's money went during the conservatorship. >> reporter: in previous court filings, jaime spears says he's done nothing wrong and encouraging a full and transparent examination. >> erin, i know there is some fine points here the conservatorship ends, but there is someone staying on to help with her finances. >> reporter: that's right, lester. an accountant will retain administrative privileges to help britney retake control of her multi-million fortune. the next hearing is set for january. lester >> thank you. back to washington now and another major story we're following. president biden holding his first cabinet meeting in months today as he faces mounting criticism over surging inflation. kristin welker is at the white house. >> reporter: tonight in the midst of spiking inflation, president biden aiming to get his economic agenda back on track, insisting that while more spending generally drives

prices up, his trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill will bring prices down long-term. >> we'll see ease. and i say, yes, ease lower inflationary pressures on our economy. >> reporter: inflation hitting a 31-year high in october. prices surging on virtually everything. >> i don't have enough money to pay for gas every day, so this is crazy. >> reporter: gas prices soaring 50% beef prices up 20% americans hourly wages declining 1.2% since last year. moderate democrat joe manchin suggesting the president's spending bills could raise prices even more republicans blasting the president's policies >> everything costs more because they have the dumbest economic plan in history. their plan is basically lock down the economy, spend like crazy, pay people not to work. >> reporter: the economy added half a million jobs last month. a record 4.4 americans also quit their jobs in september, in the middle of a worker shortage, including christine, who left her job as a teacher.

>> the pandemic was big. i had gotten covid in the beginning of the school year and did not feel supported by my district. >> reporter: we pressed labor secretary marty walsh. how would you characterize the strength of the recovery given that you have 4.4 million people that quit their jobs. >> we're living, really, in unprecedented times. we're definitely seeing more people involved in the job market we have a really strong few months here moving forward. >> kristin, is president biden still on track to sign that infrastructure bill monday >> reporter: that's right, lester. he is. then he will turn his attention to that much bigger social and climate spending bill, which given senator manchin's comments is looking much more difficult to pass. >> thank you. tonight, growing pressure on the cdc to approve covid booster shots for all adults as infections rise in the northeast, upper midwest and mountain states colorado's governor

saying he decided to act on his own to save lives. with more, here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: on the front lines of the booster debate tonight, colorado after the governor jumped ahead of the cdc and issued his own executive order to provide booster shots to everyone. >> for those that have been fully vaccinated, i would encourage every coloradan to get their booster shot as i did. >> reporter: with 20% not yet vaccinated, infection rates are surging. hospitals again overwhelmed. the senior medical director for infection prevention at uc health thinks upping the boost rate is critical. >> at the end of the day, it is hedging our bets and saying, okay, if we can even get our hospitalization rates down by 10% to do this, it is a win. >> reporter: but the colorado decision is at odds with the cdc guidance which so far only calls for boosters for those 65 and older or with underlying risk factors. though, the cdc is studying a broader booster approval as vaccine effectiveness wanes over time.

>> we would certainly continue to advise leaders across the country to abide by public health guidelines coming from the federal government >> reporter: researchers also want to better understand the very rare cases of heart inflammation of older teenage boys and young men. >> at the end of the day, i think we're all going to come to the same conclusion, that we really do need boosters for everyone. >> reporter: going into the colder months, 69% of u.s. counties now have high covid transmission rates. in the month since the cdc approved boosters, one group is overwhelmingly switching vaccines of those who received the j&j shot originally, 76% have chosen a moderna or pfizer booster both thought to offer stronger immunity. while most of those who received moderna or pfizer originally are sticking with those boosters, too. >> tom, meantime the white house nominated a new fda commissioner, but it looks like that nomination could be in trouble. what can you tell us >> reporter: yeah. dr. robert califf ran the fda at one point but senator joe manchin says he will

not support the nomination because of his connections with the pharmaceutical industry and the opoid epidemic. >> tom, thank you. in just 60 seconds, the key decision before the judge in the kyle rittenhouse trial. will the jury be allowed to consider lesser charges and new details about crowd problems before that deadly texas concert even started

in kenosha, wisconsin, a tense court battle today away from the jury as the homicide trial of kyle rittenhouse nears the conclusion prosecutors asking the judge to allow jurors to consider lesser charges. nbc's gabe gutierrez is there. >> reporter: tonight after eight days of testimony from 31 witnesses in the kyle rittenhouse trial, the prosecution and defense are preparing their closing arguments now set for monday. >> that would be nuts. why in the world would they concede an element like that? >> reporter: today a contentious battle

over jury instructions the prosecution asking the judge to allow jurors to consider some lesser charges. >> you're asking me to give an instruction. i want to see the best picture. >> reporter: the judge snapping as both sides debate what a specific picture showed rittenhouse is charged with six counts, including intentional homicide for shooting and killing two men and wounding a third during unrest in kenosha earlier last summer the now 18-year-old insists he acted in self-defense the prosecution's defense to ask for the lesser charges lets me know they have not met their burden of proof. they realize this case is in trouble. >> reporter: the judge says he's inclined to allow some lesser charges but not all. he'll issue final rulings tomorrow overnight rittenhouse's mother spoke publically for the first time since her son broke down on the stand. >> when i look at the video with that guy pointing a gun to my son's head, i thought

he was going to die. >> reporter: she also praised judge schroeder. >> he doesn't allow no nonsense in his courtroom. >> reporter: the judge has repeatedly made headlines. first for prohibited prosecutors from calling the men rittenhouse shot victims while allowing the defense to use the term "rioters" and "arsonists" if they provided evidence. then - >> don't get brazen with me. >> reporter: then for admonishing the prosecutor over lines of questions the governor has just authorized 500 wisconsin national guard troops to help keep the peace here in kenosha ahead of a possible verdict here. >> gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: there are new developments into the investigation into the concert chaos in houston that left nine people dead. newly obtained firefighter records giving us a minute-by-minute account of the tragedy. morgan chesky with what they reveal. >> reporter: tonight new evidence suggesting serious issues at travis scott's astroworld festival before his performance even began. fire department logs

obtained by nbc news noting at 9:20 the morning of the event fans were already breaching barriers to get inside the houston firefighters union saying organizers only offered cell phone numbers instead of radios because it was not a city venue, they were forced to wait outside. >> not being allowed inside not being given radio, not able to go in when the crisis began. >> i think it puts you behind the eight ball. i don't think in the emergency response world ever being behind the eight ball is a place you want to be >> reporter: by 9:28 that night, one firefighter writing, this is when it all got real nine people died from the crush of the crowd. more than 90 concert goers today joining a new lawsuit. >> it is like a war zone and at one point i'm about to lose consciousness. >> reporter: in houston dailymail.com capturing this image of travis scott outside his home scott kept performing

for 40 minutes after a mass casualty event was declared his attorney saying even though he paused the show three times, scott had no idea how serious the situ nobody told w when finally somebody communicated something to his crew that this was the last song, that was about 10:10, travis said, okay, last song and he stopped when he was told to stop it. >> reporter: and regarding those communication issues, houston's fire chief has said the union does not speak for the department and his department has lines of communication open with agencies inside that venue lester >> morgan, thank you. a tragedy involving one of william shatner's crew mates. on last month's blue origin space flight. glen de vries was killed yesterday when the small plane he was flying crashed in a wooded area of northern new jersey. the 49-year-old entrepreneur was one of four people on the blue origin flight. another man was also killed in yesterday's plane crash.

as more americans shift to electric vehicles, the hunt for the elements that power them is going deep underground our anne thompson traveled to canada to show us how one company is driving the future >> reporter: here among nature's vivid hues in remote northern canada is a modern day treasure hunt so when you look down here, do you see the future of clean energy >> oh, for sure. >> reporter: kirk house is ceo of cobalt metals and what he sees are the essential elements for electric

vehicle batteries. >> the key elements that we're looking for are nickel, cobalt and copper. >> reporter: to find them, cobalt uses this 1,700 pound metal detector, collecting data from nearly a third of a mile below the surface and sending it to the company's california's offices. there it is transformed into a google map of the earth's crust. >> we're using advanced data science, machine learning and to make predictions about where underground we might find high concentrations of the key battery metals we're trying to find. >> reporter: by marrying old school field work with big tech, house believes they can increase the odds of finding mineable deposits from 1 in 100 to 1 in 5 >> if we increase the success rates, we spend less and find more. >> reporter: how much do we need to take from the earth cobalt estimates we need $10 trillion of new discoveries of copper, nickel, cobalt

and lithium. today most of the world's cobalt comes from the democratic republican of congo. some mined in unsafe conditions and by children in part, why companies like general motors, which plans to be all electric by 2035 have reduced their cobalt use. >> this is the old team battery. >> reporter: leads gm battery cell development team. what needs to happen to make evs more affordable >> we have to get the lowest cost elements out of the ground. how do we use them in the vehicle and how do we have secondary use in recycling to have it all come back. >> reporter: innovating half of the distance and one day drive down the price the new gmc hummer ev pickup will go 300 miles on a single charge, but has a nearly 80,000 price tag. currently the chevy track is $22,000 can you get an electric vehicle to that price point >> i think so. >> reporter: are we talking five years, ten years, by 2035 >> i bet you for sure 5 or 10 years it will

get there. >> reporter: but the road to a cleaner future will take an environmental toll mining still disturbs the earth. so how is this different than taking fossil fuels from the earth? >> we only have to do it once. with fossil fuels, you bring it out once, and then you burn it and you never get it back. mining, we'll take the metal out of the ground, we'll pull it into cars and we'll recycle that metal again and again and again. >> reporter: reduce, reuse, recycle mining the earth to save it. anne thompson, nbc news, sony rapids, canada. a modern day treasure hunt. up next for us tonight, they're teaming up a trained service dog for those who serve.

finally, a different kind of team spirit for one hockey franchise, all to help veterans who need a hand kevin tibbles with those who serve. >> reporter: there is a new teammate on the nhl's washington capitol's bench. just a little guy, but three-month-old biscuit is a real winner just ask caps right winger garnet hathaway. >> when you enter the room and you see him, there is a smile on your face immediately. >> reporter: biscuit, named after a hockey puck, is in training, too, to become a service dog helping a veteran in need. the capitols teamed up with america's vet dogs which pairs about

100 dogs annually with veterans, some suffering with ptsd. the first dog the team sponsored was named captain. >> i think i am the luckiest person alive. >> reporter: he helps marine veteran mark wazney overcome the many traumas that follows him home from the battlefield. >> a dog will always give you unconditional love regardless of anything you have that done they won't judge you. >> reporter: the dog is not going to ask you any questions. >> no. it will just give you the undyeing love. >> reporter: tina stone is a puppy raiser. preparing biscuit for his next step. >> there is a joy within me that allows me to do a little bit of something to make somebody's life a little bit better. and as a veteran myself, i have seen what they go through, what many of them have gone through. >> reporter: biscuit is already an all star with the players' kids after all, with puppies, there is more than enough love to go around

soon, he'll be lending a struggling veteran a helping hand or paw. kevin tibbles, nbc news washington. >> what a face that's "nightly news" for this friday. thank you for watching, everyone i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ ♪♪ hearts break too fast when they're sentimental ♪ ♪ won't stay won't last when it's love at first sight ♪

♪ so why are my convictions blinded by your spotlight ♪ ♪ can't breathe can't sleep need some medication ♪ ♪ i've kissed goodbye to my reservations ♪ ♪ i know there's other fish out in the sea ♪ ♪ not for me ♪ ♪ i want you ♪ ♪ if i can't have you ♪ ♪ then i don't want anyone ♪ ♪ think of all the love that you will lose ♪ ♪ if i can't have you ♪ ♪ i haven't seen the best that love has had to offer ♪ ♪ they say perfection's always right around the corner ♪ ♪ could be true ♪ ♪ but if i can't have you ♪

♪ if i can't have you ♪ ♪ then i don't want anyone ♪ ♪ if i can't have you ♪ ♪ then all the damage has been done baby ♪ ♪ we can break these rules ♪ ♪ if you wanna have some fun ♪ ♪ think of all the love that you will lose ♪ ♪ if i can't have you ♪♪ [cheers and applause] >> kelly: all right, everybody, welcome to "the kelly clarkson show"! to give it up for my band y'all! [cheers and applause] there is another kelly-aoke classic, i always say this, but i always feel veins starting out with their own song, it was not my idea, but we have a lot of requests from fans of singing my

own stuff, i thought we could do one set hard-core fans would want to hear. so wanted to hear "if i can't have you" which is one of my favorites are performed, what's your connection to the song? >> hi, kelly. i remember your album "all i ever wanted" came out when i was in high school. >> kelly: me too, so weird, were so similar. >> and that something you have to belch and scream in the car, it's a requirement, its law. >> kelly: i yelled while writing it, so i get it. >> i felt it. but your music has really inspired me to become a singer myself, but not only that, your music was something that me and my mom used to connect with that was like our way of bonding, we used to watch you on "idol" as well and we watch your show even to this day, even though we are from different hosts, she is from philly and i am here in l.a.

so this month she will be coming down and this will be her first time in l.a. >> kelly: wow, are you going to take her around? >> yeah, and hopefully take her here too, so it will be like a cool full circle moment getting a bond again over kelly clarkson. >> kelly: [laughs] if you come back it, you have to sing, you just said you are a singer. >> if you need a background singer i'm with it. >> kelly: are you doing shows out here? can i promote you? you have to be prepared next time. >> my name is jalil the artist on instagram. i just released a single called "going nowhere" so please! >> kelly: think you! and i hope your mama has a good time. you just remind me that my son asked me to go on a date and he is five. i think it was just to get sugar because he was like wouldn't it be great if we got ice cream

together? and he was like maybe on a wednesday? i was like you're clever. but it is really cute, she will love it. we have so much goodness this hour to get to, she is starting opposite michael c hall in the highly anticipated return of "dexter" we have julia jones here. then the claim chef marcus samuelsson is joining us. i can't wait to eat that, and giving us a >> kelly: the traditional thanksgiving turkey which means just making turkey,t done a traditional one let alone a different one. i did it one year and i was like why do people do this every year, i did everything and i was like this is the worst idea ever. you hate your holiday unless you love it, you do you, but before all of that may be a part of our first guest unless you have been living under a rock, maybe you own one or two are a dozen of

the over 250 million records he sold worldwide, that's crazy, maybe you are about to buy the new album entitled "the tears of hercules" i don't know what you're going to do, but that's a good idea. it give it up for two time rock & roll hall of fame inductee rod stewart! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> kelly: i can't hug! i was going to give you an elbow! you can sit wherever you would like! >> rod: thank you very much! [cheers and applause] >> kelly: i was trying to give you the elbow, to do this instead you kissed me, so i'm never going to wash my arm, that was a good moment for me, rod. it's like we call each other and i was like you wear your black and white, we look like we are about to do a show or breakout.

>> rod: you called me last night and you say make sure you wear black and white. >> kelly: i was the person in your bushes outside your house. it wasn't weird. i hear that you kick balls into your crowd, i've never had the pleasure of seeing your full show which i'm super jealous about right now, do you kick people? i love it. now i want to go to play dodgeball. >> rod: come out to vegas and i will pick you up in my private plane. >> kelly: i've been kissed, there is a private plane, i love our relationship. >> rod: i used to kick the football's out in the crowd and it was before your time. it's me when do they catch them and keep them? >> rod: that's the trouble, they are all signed, i've signed every single one, the get stolen by people. and the people wait outside, because usually you stick them on their tummy like that and for something else to come and make it, so it has been fighting celebrity so i