we're back to begin another hour of coverage of our breaking news story this evening. local time it was just after around 10:35 p.m. in manchester, uk where the manchester arena tonight housed an ariana grande concert. and so they had a capacity crowd. 21,000 fans, mostly given her fan base, young women and girls. a lot of them had family with them. but it was 21,000 happy people in the north of england. the house lights came up the

minute the last note of the encore had been played. ariana grande got safely off stage when there was -- hi, this is richard lui in new york city with breaking news coming out of manchester, england. this as we're getting a report directly from the law enforcement there. let's listen in. >> lost their lives. our thoughts are with those 22 victims that we knew know have died. the 59 people who have been injured and their loved ones. we continue to do all we can to support them, and they are being treated at eight hospitals across greater manchester. as you'll appreciate, this is a fast-moving investigation, and we have significant resources deployed to both the investigation and the visible patrols that people will see across greater manchester as they wake up to the news of the events of last night. this will include armed officers, as people would

expect, and more than 400 officers have been deployed on this operation throughout the night. to remind you, we were called at about 10:33 p.m. to reports of an explosion at the manchester arena. this was at the conclusion of the ariana grande concert. we then received more than 240 calls and emergency services responded very quickly to the scene. emergency numbers have been established for anyone who is concerned for their loved ones who may not have returned home. and these numbers are 0161-856-9400. or 0161-856-9900. we have been treating this as a terrorist incident, and we believe at this stage the attack last night was conducted by one man. the priority is to establish

whether he was acting alone or as part of a network. the attacker i can confirm died at the arena. we believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device, which he detonated, causing this atrocity. we would ask people not to speculate on his details or share names. this is a complex and wide ranging investigation. our priority is to work with the national counterterrorist policing nec network and uk intelligence services to establish more details about the individual who carried out this attack. we have received tremendous support from across the police service in england and wales and partner agencies throughout the night. we regularly carry out exercises to test our ability to respond to such incidents, and this has ensured a very swift response from local and national agencies. i want to thank all members of those emergency services and other agencies who have worked

tirelessly throughout the night in very difficult circumstances. their response has been quite outstanding. there remains a large cordon in place around manchester arena and the victoria train station which will be in place for some time. the station will remain closed while a detailed forensic search is under way. people should plan their route to work and follow transport for greater manchester for updates. terrorists will attempt to disrupt allies and create distress and fear in our communities. we have a long history here in greater manchester of our community standing together during difficult times. in the coming days, we will be working very closely with community leaders to address any concerns or issues that our communities may have. it is important that we all continue to remain vigilant, but that we go about our daily lives. we would ask members of the public to be alert and report

any suspicious activity to the police anti-terror hotline, the number of which is 0800-789-321, or of course ring 999. as people are waking up to the tragic news of what is a sad day for greater manchester, the officers and staff of greater manchester police, the other emergency services and our partners will continue to do all they can to help us get through the difficult days ahead. finally, i'd like to appeal to any members of the public that may have images or footage from last night that they believe can assist in our investigations. if they could upload them to ukpoliceimage appeal.uk. we would be very grateful. i have time for a couple questions. >> can you tell us the age range of the victims and whether or not they've all been identified? >> obviously, at this stage, i can't give that sort of level of detail. but what i can confirm is there are children among the deceased.

>> can you confirm whether or not there was shrapnel or nails in the ied? >> as i say, this is a very fast-moving investigation. we're saying it was an improvised explosive device. but i can't give any further details at this stage. >> can you confirm that it is a british national or not? >> at this stage i can't give any further details other than they are deceased at the arena. that's it now, ladies and gentlemen. thank you very much, thank you. >> all right, constable ian hopkins there of the greater manchester police department coming out and providing more information. but at the same time, really indicating that the investigation continues at this hour. it is 7:00 a.m. local time there. but only 8 1/2 hours after they got their first indication that something was wrong at the manchester arena. manchester about three hours north of london there.

and that is when they found out, as was just reported by the constable that they believed an ied went off on one single man having that device. it is unknown at this point as he is saying in terms of exactly what further details they can give out. they're being very careful at the moment. you heard the questions or asked by the reporter there's. 22 dead, though. 59 injured. that number has gone up since his last report, which was a very early in the morning when that number was 19 that were dead. now up to 22. 59 injured. the number before that was roughly around 50. we don't want to concentrate on the numbers as it is a very difficult time. not only for those in the manchester area, those in the uk, those in london, those around the world. and there have been an outpouring of responses. not only from the artist herself, ariana grande, who was having that concert when you saw all of those individuals running, but also leaders from around the world, from australia, from japan, from the

united states as we look forward now, again, only to what is hour nine since this incident started. again, the constable ian hopkins indicating they're looking for more leads. try to get more information. there was a hotline that was set up. but as a new day starts there as may 23rd gets going as the sun has only been up for about an hour and a half there, many of those trying to get to work, it may be more difficult today in manchester. they have also indicated via their twitter account to check the local sites, to find out whether the train services and/or the ways that they might get to work may be impeded or changed today. but what he was asks alluding to is something that the united kingdom, that london definitely holds to be one of their strengths. manchester of course being three hours north of london is that their closed circuit tv system, if not the largest in the world,

one of the largest in the world. so they're scouring through all of that data at the moment, as well as closed circuit tv cameras that might be there in the stadium itself. 21,000 is the capacity that you see here in these pictures on the left-hand side. it could have been up to that amount. it could have been a little bit more, perhaps. the explosion believed to have again out on the outer edges of it as well as in terms of timing toward the end of that concert. ariana grande tweeting recently absolutely devastated, she and her camp is of what had happened at the end of the concert there. what was supposed to be no doubt a festive occasion with many of those who are there being children. you can see her tweet. broken from the bottom of my heart. i am so sorry. i don't have words. and for ariana grande and her fans all around the world, it is no doubt very, very difficult.

we will have more on this story throughout the night. this is the very latest information coming from law enforcement there in manchester. the greater manchester police again giving us the update. you see at the bottom of the screen there, 22 killed. 59 injured. they're asking for more help from anybody that can provide details. and they're going to continue working. now it's only about eight and a half, nine hours since the incident started. of course right here on msnbc continue to follow the very latest, coming out of manchester, coming out of the united kingdom as they start a new day as the more than 400 officers as he was indicating continue to work throughout this morning. stay with us right here on msnbc as we continue to follow more updates on this story. for now, back to regular programing. >> goers going home. >> you know, thing is a couple of things for us to look at here, brian. the perimeters of these venues have been hardened over the years with the attacks we have seen throughout europe and the soft target.

>> it's hard to get in. >> transportation centers. it's hard to get. in if the adversaries, the terrorist organizations are changing their tactics to position themselves in an area where they do not risk being detect and they target and position themselves outside, the attacker did not haphazardly walk into this area. they knew who was playing in the concert. they targeted innocent children. these look like very young adult, teenagers. that's who they tarngd they positioned themselves in an area where they could cause the most amount of havoc, death and destruction. that improvised explosive device with the shrapnel, nails, nuts and bolts, ball embargoes, the type of device that is intended to wreak havoc and to really cut through people. similar to what we saw in the

boston bombing, where we saw so many loss of extremitieextremit. people who were so severely injured. it appears that's exactly what they did. i'll add one other report. when you talk about a lone bomber, it appear there's was one bomber, certainly one who detonated. that i'm certain that law enforcement in the uk, certainly in coordination with the fbi and the agency agencies in the u.s. are looking at a broader conspiracy whom. else may have been involved whom. funded this? who helped plan it? who helped build the device that was constructed to create this devastation. they will absolutely be looking at that. they'll be looking at identifying the totality of a conspiracy. the number one priority right now is preventing, deterring, disrupt anything attack tomorrow and the next week and the coming day. >> so questions as basic as where did it come up with the idea to do this. we're assuming it's a he.

where did you learn how to build a bomb. where did you get your ingredients. >> the investigation is focusing on determining the totality of the circumstances as you just described with the ultimate goal to identify and protect the citizens of the united kingdom. and maybe even more broadly throughout europe. understand that the intelligence services now are working so collaboratively. because the threat is a threat globally to all of us. the radical extremists are looking to target innocent vivians to promote their cause that spreads throughout europe, to the united states and elsewhere. so these intelligence services are working so closely. anything that any allied service is finding, they're all working together. they've got their people on the telephone. their computer networks. they're searching for any information that might help the brits solve. this and ultimately, help to make the world a safer place. >> one more security question. and then we're going to go to one of our correspondents. and i'll let you knock off for

the evening. and that is this. how much of life can we police? what was it, where was the bombing in europe where it was the departure lounge where it's not secured. >> right. >> brussels i think. >> yes. >> if this tonight was a public area where the public is invited, where there is no magnetometers, it's a tough question. >> you know, we live in an open society. could we make the country safer? could we make our cities safer? potentially. but at the risk of limiting our civil liberties, limiting our ability to enjoy our lives tlchls is always a balance between privacy, civil liberties and security. and we have to determine what the right balance. so we're not going to completely secure our entire society. what yes doing in law enforcement, with the intelligence agencies is using intelligence to try and see what is coming around the corner to

develop enough information to allow law enforcement to take actions to disrupt these attacks before they occur. that's the most effective way to make society safer and help to keep that balance between civil liberties and security. >> we also all need situational awareness. the last thing i'm thinking of coming out of a giants game is are we safe right here. usually you're talking about the game. >> i'll tell you, brian, i want people to be aware. i used the term -- i heard commissioner bratton earlier, be alert, be aware, don't be afraid. i want citizens to have that awareness, but to have confidence in law enforcement and the intelligence agencies. there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of brave men and women in the united states deployed domestically as well as globally who are working 24 by 7, 365 to keep us safe. they have thwarted dozens and dozens of attacks like what we just saw happen in manchester. it's because of the commitment, the sacrifice of those individuals. it allows us to live our lives

in a relatively free way. we need to have confidence, support those folks. they're making a commitment to keep us out of harm's way. >> shawn henry is now with crowd strike. he has gone electric. but he is a veteran of the fbi of many years. thank you very much for being part of our coverage. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is en route to manchester after receiving word of this tonight. richard? >> we are on the road. we are still just under an hour outside of manchester. it's about 5:00 in the morning here. and this country is very much in shock. it is very angry. there is a so-called cobra meeting taking place later this morning. that is their meeting of effectively their security cabinet to try and figure out how to respond to this, if there is a way to respond to this. and we're hearing more about what happened at the venue.

the concert had just ended. the house lights had come up. and people were starting to leave the concert hall, 21,000 capacity. it was a crowded concert. and as people started to stream out and make their way toward their family members, their rides, their friends, their loved ones, they heard this very large explosion that shook the area. it happened as right where people were supposed to meet their pickups. some people started to run back into the venue. others who were inside the venue didn't know where the exact explosion had taken place, so they were still trying to run outside. people described running into each other, climbing over fences inside the venue. people getting pushed over, toppled. then there is the major issue of

families getting separated. and there have been several hotels in manchester where people have been told to gather, where they can try and reunite with their families. taxi drivers were coming by, volunteering, offering people free rides to get away from the area. there has also been online a campaign to house people, because people couldn't necessarily get to their hotel, didn't want to leave the area if they were still looking for their loved ones. but as of now, the death toll -- haven't heard a lot from the police. one brief statement. and the death toll has remained consistent at 19. >> richard, sadly, so much of your trip upon arrival will be so familiar because we cover way too much of this sort of thing. especially the notices on social media tonight, which are just heartbreaking of family members

who have yet to account for a loved one who was just an ariana grande fan at that concert tonight in manchester. richard, safe travels, and we'll be watching for your coverage starting when you get there. richard engel on the road, on the motorway to manchester. he is about an hour out from arrival. a break for us. we're going to come back. we're continuing to cover two prongs of news tonight between the ongoing political story and this terrible tragedy in manchester, england.

good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i'm ian hopkins, the chief consulate of greater manchester police. i can confirm the details as we currently know them. around 10:33 p.m., we received reports of an explosion at manchester arena in the city center. this was at the conclusion of the ariana grande concert. currently, we have 19 people confirmed to have lost their lives in the explosion, and around 50 casualties that have been treated at six hospitals across greater manchester. my thoughts are very much with

those that have been injured and lost their lives and their loved ones at this terrible time. we are doing all that we can to support them. officers from greater manchester police and emergency services are working at the scene and are supporting those affected. we are coordinating the operation here at greater manchester police headquarters. an emergency number is available for all those concerned about their loved ones or anyone who may have been in the area. the number is 0161-856-9400. we are currently treating this as a terrorist incident until we have further information. we are working closely with national counterterrorism policing network and uk intelligence partners. this is clearly a very concerning time for everyone.

we're doing all that we can, working with local and national agencies to support those affected. as we gather information about what happened last night. as you'll understand, we are still receiving information and updates so we can provide further detail when we have a clearer picture. i want to thank people for their support and ask them to remain vigilant, and if they have any concerns at all, to report them to the national anti-terrorist hotline. the number is 0800-789-321. it is important also that people here in manchester avoid the area around manchester arena so that emergency services can continue to effectively deal with the incident at that location. thank you very much. >> that was the only on the record statement we received all evening or will be receiving, as

kelly cobiella mentioned, dawn has broken over manchester. and now we will have a couple hours where we'll probably before americans wake up tomorrow morning learn a lot more about what has happened. this puts us at the nexus of kind of geopolitics and suspected terrorism. we want to bring in our guests who can talk about both. jeremy bash is with us. again, former chief of staff to the head of the cia. former chief of staff to the secretary of defense. eli stokols of "the wall street journal" has been kind enough to join us again this evening. jeremy, first to you. i tried this question with juan zarate with limited success. you're part of this trip. you are tasked with briefing the president tomorrow morning, israel time. what do you tell him to say,

what do you tell him to avoid saying? >> first of all, we are all britons tonight. and for our citizens, that's a feeling, brian. but for the professionals in the intelligence community, who the commander in chief will oversee, it's a business model. what i mean by that, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of our friends, our allies, our cousins in the uk intelligence and law enforcement services. the mi-5, the mi-6, the police forces and the other elements that are responsible for protecting the public and working with international partners to stop terrorism. what would they want us to do? i think fundamentally what i would say is mr. president, number one, they want us to reach out to the people of the uk, express condolences and sorrow and also express resolve in the face of this and other attacks. second is, i wouldn't want to speculate publicly, privately or to anybody else about who conducted this attack until we know the facts. and third, i think a general

message about standing shoulder to shoulder with allies against the forces of terrorism is appropriate. beyond that, we don't want to hype the threat too much. it's most important for the president to continue his discussions with israeli counterparts today. not cut his trip short, alter his trip in too many ways, go forward, go to europe, stand with our allies there, talk about the range of challenges that we confront including the challenge from terrorism and other threats we face around the world and carry on the business. i think the motto of keep calm and carry on is something we should adopt more in our own government in our own country. >> eli stokols, this question cis not underpinned with any knowledge of who might have carried out the attack, but the phrase radical islamic terrorism. the president, then candidate trump, used it to mock, to goad

his opponent, to criticize his opponent. did he use it on this trip himself? >> no. in fact, he made a point of toning down the rhetoric and taking a much more moderate approach on this subject, which was really featured in the speech that he gave in saudi arabia where he opened -- helped open a terrorism -- anti-terrorism center there. we saw all the pictures on the front page of the paper this morning. this is a focus now for this president who perhaps is better understanding how rhetoric can enflame some already enflamed and complex situations worldwide and how it is best to tone that down and stick to a script. but this was just one speech. we'll see what the president says if he gets back to tweeting about this over the next couple of days as more is learned about who carried out this attack. i think you have to view the speech in the context of the larger message the president was sending to the arab world, picking a side, siding with some sunni arab regimes and really targeting iran and muslim shiite

terrorists. and really picking a side here, something that we certainly didn't see during the obama administration. it's a new sort of move for this white house, and it's much too early to know anything about what precipitated the attacks in manchester tonight. but the terrorists we know are very aware of and attuned to propaganda and messaging, and so what trump says does not exist in a vacuum, and a lot of when they do carry out these attacks, they are doing it knowing they are going to generate a lot of reactions from world leaders, and motivate people to their cause and harden the resolve of people fighting them, as well. >> eli, i heard somebody on cable earlier today say, man, if we just hadn't been talking about this thing for ten days, this would be a huge story. they were saying it jokingly. "the washington post" is outlayed with a huge story. how would you summarize its central holding? >> the lead of the story is back

in march, president trump asked two senior intelligence officials basically if they would end the investigation, the russia investigation, just as he reportedly ask former fbi director james comey to do. and again, today when the story came out late this evening, about the witching hour, there was no denial from this white house, just like there was no denial from the white house that he said the things he said to comey. and so i think what you see is, as the sort of -- the talk of obstruction of justice and an investigation, now there's a special counsel appointed here, the talk is rising, and the evidence is trickling out too through the press. whether or not these investigations, people testify publicly or not, the information is getting out. and there were a lot of people tonight talking about the fact that comey himself has decided for now not to testify publicly. some people may be disappointed

wanting to hear more of what he has to say. but more seasoned observers have noticed that and said that is a sign to them that perhaps special council robert mueller is very serious about following this towards sort of an obstruction of justice charge, if one is there to be made. and he doesn't want comey's information on the record just yet. so were comey to testify publicly, not good for the white house. but the fact that he may be pulling back and waiting, that could be more ominous for this president and this administration. >> we just passed the half hour mark and i want to widen our conversation by one and bring in ken dilanian of nbc news, who was on this story before he had to start reporting the terrorism story tonight. ken, so many veteran washington hands who have been hired by presidents have said to presidents in one form or another about the kind of standing government in washington, the career folks.

they were here when you got here, and they'll be here after you're gone. this president had a higher learning curve than anyone before, especially in areas like the intelligence community. he went to war with them. he went to war with them over twitter. the relationship has been fraught. so there's no other class of people about whom it can more accurately be said they were here when he got here, they'll be here when he's gone. >> and they are fighting, brian. we have seen an unprecedented level of leaks from the oval office, from the national security council, from intelligence agencies presumably about very sensitive matter, whether it's the president's conversation with the australian prime minister or now these conversations with senior intelligence officials. i was able to confirm this great "washington post" story for nbc news by calling a former senior intelligence official who i knew would know. his take was not quite as nefarious. he said look, this wasn't necessarily obstruction of justice.

this was more public relations. donald trump was asking these men to confirm what he knew to be true, that there is no collusion between donald trump and russia. he just didn't understand how inappropriate that would seem to intelligence officials. of course, one wrote a memo about it. they told others. they said they were disturbed by it. and then it leaked. by the way, both will be on the hill tomorrow testifying, so the story is not going to go away. >> jeremy bash, because you're out of government i can ask, i guess the philosophy of the leakers will be much debated. i heard one of "the new york times" reporters last friday say that the people who have been leaking to them are both appointed and career, but they have done so, he thought, uniformly because they had seen things they didn't think were right. it would take a lot, would it not, given the people that you know in the intelligence community to leak secrets because they're seeing something

so bad, so potentially harmful and so alarming to them? >> let's be precise here, brian. i think telling a reporter something like the president tried to convince the dni or the nsa director to talk about the president's innocence, that's not a leak. that's not a disclosure of classified information. we're lumping everything together as leaks. if you did an anatomy of the leak, you would find a lot of different varieties. you would find some of them are bank shots. some he told somebody and he told somebody. i think you would find some close by of people who work in the white house. i think there is a mythology that it's intelligence officer, deep state and they pick up the phone and call. i didn't see that when i was in government. i would bet my bottom dollar that's not what is going on here. but brian, let's kind of zoom back the lens here for a moment. when an american president travels, the world does not stop. we saw a terrorist attack

tonight in manchester, the worst terrorist attack in that city's history, the deadliest terrorist attack in england since the 2005 bombings. the president has with him on air force one as part of that traveling package a cia analyst, maybe more than one, who is prepared to walk into his suite in the king david hotel tomorrow morning or maybee'llake the short ride over to the american consulate in jerusalem into the western part of the city and sit down and provide him an intelligence briefing. he needs those people. he needs those analysts. he needs those counterterrorism professionals. he needs them to do the job of protecting the american people and protecting our country. i think the quicker he can get back to the place of trusting them, the safer we'll all be. >> what a great point to end this discussion on. jeremy, eli, thank you guys for staying up with us tonight in some kind of extraordinary circumstances. ken dilanian, he works here. he's got to be here in the studio for a while. thank you, ken. another break in our coverage. we're back with more right after this.

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we were in the arena. we heard a bomb. i run for me life. >> who told you it was a balloon? >> staff. they stopped us from running. >> how did you manage to get out? >> they told us to be calm, and

a few minutes later they let us out. then the ambulances came. >> did you see people who were injured? >> no, but i saw someone outside that was covered in blood. and a 5-year-old. >> interesting interview. they always are. a woman obviously in duress after witnessing what she witnessed, but it reminds me early on in the coverage before we knew what we had here, before the word terrorism was being thrown around, when we just knew there had been a loud bang, maybe more than one, people were theorizing it had been those large, pink balloons that are visible in some of the shots of the audience just after the house lights went up. they were part of the show, kind of bounced out in the pit area. of floor seating over the audience, those pink balloons. it's i guess not surprising to hear that an usher or a guard said, i think a balloon popped,

when quite obviously it was something so much greater and so much more evil. our own ken dilanian remains here with us in the studio. ken, you covered the 7/7 bombing. i always said i don't think -- well, 9/11 was known the world over, i don't think americans quite understood at the time or since what a colossal event 7/7 was, a punch to the british gut. >> shattering. it was july 7th, 2005. 52 people killed, 700 wounded. it was a bombing of the transportation system, both the tube and a double decker bus. and what remains with me to this day is i was running around london as a newspaper reporter for the philadelphia enquirer. by day's end, londoners were commuting back home from their jobs on that same tube. the tube was up and running. it was a story of resilience. when you talk to u.s. officials

here, they will say privately these sorts of terrorist attacks against soft targets cannot be defended against 100%. some are going to get through. they'll stop a lot, but some will get through. the important thing is for western democracies to learn to be resilient, to learn to go on, to not be terrorized. i think we'll wake up tomorrow to some horrible stories, very tragic, heart rending stories of children dead and wounded. but i'm hopeful we'll see a resilient britain tomorrow, defiant in the face of terrorism. >> i think the brits helped to write the book of resilience. you think about manchester. if memory serves new year's eve 1940, several tons worth of bombs were dropped by the germans onto manchester as part of a multiday blitz of just manchester. that city, that whole country, it's as i think someone said earlier, born into heavy industry, but it has modernized with the times.

it's changed with the times. always a place where you'll find great people. >> these are tough people. they've been through terrorist campaigns before and they will show us the way, i think, brian. >> let's hope so. juan zarate remains with us, our senior national security analyst and former deputy national security adviser to president george w. bush in the area of terrorism. juan, if you were in charge of the investigation, if you swooped in, gathered the evidence they have there tomorrow morning, where do you think you would order them to go? is it as our friend jim pointed out, kind of concentric circles starting with the crater of the blast, the seat of the blast, and what's the chance that these reports that they already know who did this are correct? >> i think that's exactly right. i think you start with the blast site itself. you start with the perpetrator. you try to gather as much

forensics as you can from the -- from that point of the attack on out. and once you have the identity, and it could be that the british have the identity either through a fingerprint, dna samples or some other identifier, that you then -- you're then able to expand those concentric circles and then able to identify social tworks, faly networks, work history, travel history, communication patterns all the digital dust that surrounds an individual then becomes part of the investigation. and so i would say let's gather as much information as we can from the site. let's work from that site out. let's try to gather as much bits of data as we can about him and his social networks and try to identify if there is anything else to this plot, to the support network.

one element of this, brian, that we haven't commented on is unlike what we saw in paris and even brussels and maybe some of the other attacks, the silver lining here is that it could have been worse. this attack happened not inside the venue. it didn't happen with multiple perpetrators. there weren't a sequence of attacks. and so we'll want to understand more about this. but certainly the fact that this was a singular attacker was helpful to keeping the death toll down. but we'll want to know more about the support network and anything else that's tied to this attack. >> wishful thinking, if it's wishful thinking that this is a singular attacker. god forbid, there's someone else whose next action is timed for a couple of hours after this detonation. that's the question for guys in your line of work.

how much can we tighten down on security? how much more ability do you have to, let's say there's a couple dozen known figures in the uk, to lurch back into their lives in a big way? >> i think british authorities are very good, some of the best in terms of not just intelligence gathering, but security activities. so you're going to see a series of actions, no doubt around potential suspect actors. whether or not they were involved in this attack or not, as we talked about earlier in the evening, brian, there have been a number of arrests made by british authorities in recent weeks, especially in the wake of the westminster parliament attack. so you'll see british d actors. you'll see further arrests as a means of both disrupting and creating more information. and you're going to see an attempt to try to understand if this attack was tied to anything else that the british are concerned about.

u.s. authorities no doubt are worried about not just this attack, but the pace of these attacks happening in europe. the fact that it's manifested again here in the uk. and given my conversations with u.s. and british authorities, the concern that this isn't the end of the story, of course. that there are others out there willing to perpetrate these kind of attacks. and there's only so much you can do in an open society to secure open venues. we don't want to live in a security state, certainly the british don't want to. and so that entails trying to gather as much intelligence on the front end as possible to try to prevent attacks and to try to divine who may be trying to attack fellow citizens as perhaps we saw this evening. >> juan zarate, thank you for your time and expertise. we'll fit in another break in our hive coverage. but when we come back, the man we always find ourselves talking to whenever explosives sadly are involved in an event like what we've witnessed in manchester, england. ♪

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welcome back to breaking news coverage. we've just been handed two covers from tomorrow, front pages. "manchester evening news" and the new york daily news, separated by the atlantic ocean. both of them have the same still photo on their covers. manchester evening news, subheadlines are, and this is how it's being covered as a local news story, a tragedy. at least 19 killed in blasts. teenagers flee in panic from gig. police treat explosion as terrorism. they call it manchester's night of agony. and truly it was. ariana grande has a very young, mostly female fan base. it's clear watching the pictures, they were all there. 21,000 ariana grande fans. and a lot of them with their parents. and what was an absolutely fantastic night, as someone just reminded me.

for a lot of them, the biggest problem leaving that venue was it's a school night, got to rush home, get to bed, how are you going to get to sleep after such an emotional high at a concert? that's what resulted, parts parents coming together, missing people. from ariana grande tonight, this tweet. to all her kind of traveling family, all of her fans, all over the world, she has so many of them. hugely popular guest host of "saturday night live" this last season in this building. jim cavanaugh is a retired atf special agent in charge for over three decades. jim, the part of your occupation that i don't know how you did was arrive at something like this, 19 souls are gone. a happy occasion. your job is to examine what's left.

examine all the clues and signatures you can to figure out who did this. >> right, brian. we trained police worldwide, atf did, on how to do these bombing investigations. we've trained the uk police. we've trained police all over because we did so many bombings. you know, people don't realize, we used to have a lot of bombings in america. we had bombings of union strikes, criminal bombings, klu klux klan attacks, boyfriend/girlfriend murders. they've subsided to be mostly terrorist related, but for many years, we had many large bombs all over the country for different reasons. but we talk about satellite spinning and the great work of our intelligence officials and the president being briefed. that's so important to understand the global connections, but really at the granular scene, we go in there and we get the guy's wallet from

his burned out and blown up pants and his burned out and blown up wallet. we pull out his driver's license and see if it's there. more often than not, even with terrorists, they have an i.d. on them. and that's where we start. if it's not there, finger prints are gathers, photographs of the remains, of the head, of the face, what's left what you can gath of the clothing. and you are quickly going to pass that on to your intel professionals, your analysts. and they're going to start all that process that we've discussed a lot tonight. but you're then going to go to that scene, brian, the flat where this guy lives with the crucial question for the commander is, you know, is there another plot afoot? is there other people involved? and is this the bombmaker? is this the bombmaker? he delivered the parcel. it was on his back, and the other question is, did he know it was there? you have to know these things. did he detonate it with a

switch? was he told to carry the parcel and someone else could have detonated it. all these questions are there. but in that apartment where he lives, is there bombmaking material or is it clean? was it made at another place or made by another actor? >> all right, welcome to msnbc live, everyone. we come to you this morning following several breaking news stories with president donald trump on the fourth day of his foreign trip overseas, expected to arrive at the presidential palace there in bethlehem. you can actually see live pictures right now of president donald trump being greeted by palestinian authority mahmoud abbas. he just made the short trip leaving the king david hotel, about an eight-minute ride into bethlehem. that is where you see he is being greeted by palestinian official, including two young children. they're dressed in traditional palestinian clothes, giving the president some flowers alongside the palestinian authority president. >> well, the meeting between the two world leaders comes as this

apparent attack rocks the uk at the end of an ariana grande concert in manchester, killing at least 22 and injuring 59 others. of course, we will delve into that this morning in our special coverage. but back here to the presidential palace here, the palestinian presidential palace where we have the president's arrival here. and there will be a welcome ceremony with president trump and president abbas as the president of the united states is expected to meet with abbas later on, sharing those remarks that we will be able to share with you as well. that as we can see from these live pictures, the ceremony there taking place in welcoming president trump. of course, we know earlier this morning their local time, 9:57 a.m. that the president left jerusalem there, israel's 1967 boundaries for that meeting with the palestinian president. there and also expected to be in the west bank. on the way, he did pass several of the jewish settlements. his presence will underscore the

challenge here that trump is seeking when it comes to what he calls sealing the ultimate deal, which is ultimately piece between israelis and palestinians. >> yeah, and you're seeing right now on your screen the palestinian honor guard welcoming president trump, playing the u.s. national anthem. this meeting should last i understand for about an hour before he returns to jerusalem. and obviously president trump making a statement with making this his first overseas trip, first toaudirabia and then ultimately to the holy land visiting both israel and palestinian officials. and you're saying to try and jump-start the palestinian peace process. it is significant to note that his first overseas trip was to the middle east. and that is certainly something that he is using as momentum to try to get the israelis and palestinians engaged in this process. he is trying the show that he is going to be committed under this administration. certainly something that they want to try and bring back to life after so many years of it being stalled.

over the last couple of days, president trump has been trying to nudge the israelis on the eve of his arrival to try and ease some of the restrictions on the palestinian side by trying to reduce checkpoints, perhaps increase some of the economic opportunity that may exist for the palestinians living under israeli occupation. that's certainly something he is going to cite as an example of a good will gesture to try to get the palestinians back to the negotiating table. the palestinians have consistently insist they'd won't return to the negotiating table until israel stops building settlements in the occupied sterret. >> and that is the crucial question on what this deal will entail, what we will see tangibly as far coming together and meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu yesterday. and interestingly enough, referring to him as his good friend when greeting him. and then now in this meeting with palestinian president mahmoud abbas.

also the role of the president administration and his family. the role jared kushner and who he is the president has placed as the ambassador to israel and how and how he hopes that that -- they will become instrumental in this, what he calls the ultimate deal of peace. >> you are seeing there the two leaders engaging in the kind of customary inspection of the guard, if you will, before they head inside for their first meeting. this is not their first in-person meeting. in fact, president abass was invited by president trump to the white house that in itself was historic. it was the first time in nearly 24 years, i believe since the sign of the peace accords back in 1993 that mahmoud abass have been invited back to the white house. so everyone remembers that historic day. it's been a long time for him. but this is obviously significant for president trump, first step in trying to jump stt