. >> the white house terror adviser mr. john brennan. >> he's the guy sitting next to bin laden here. always trying to prove himself. he's been his second in command in al qaeda since 1998. by a bunch of different accounts, he's not a likable terrorist. he is from egypt. in al qaeda, that's not good. an fbi special agent who interviewed many wrote all though al qaeda recruits come from many countries, apparently, it's everybody who is not egyptian against everyone who is egyptian. sucker games put egyptians against arabs. soccer. they can't do shirts versus skins so it's everyone in shirts versus the egyptian guys in shirts. why is being an egyptian a strike against you in al qaeda? i do not know, but it is. it sounds like cause for disunity in al qaeda. it's great news for the rest of the world. also in a post 9/11 world of an already fragmented al qaeda, the work of power and authority the way bin laden did, there's never been another leader. it will fall to mr. not so charismatic, mr. egypt and being on the run. from on

. >> white house terrorism adviser john brennan. mr. not so charismatic zawahiri is a doctor, he's the guy on the -- sitting next to bin laden here, always trying to prove himself, see how close we are? zawahiri has been osama bin laden's second in command in al qaeda since at least 1998. by a bunch of different accounts he's not a very likable or inspiring terrorist. even if you are a hair on fire extremist, yourself. for one thing, zawahiri is from egypt and in al qaeda, appare apparently that's not good. an fbi special agent wrote in a "new york times" op-ped, though al qaeda recruits come from many country, within the organization apparently it's sort of everybody who's not egyptian against everyone who is egyptian. quote, even soccer games pit egyptians against persian gulf arabs. al qaeda soccer. they can't do shirts versus skins, modesty. so it's everyone in shirts versus all the egyptian guys in shirts. why is being an egyptian a strike against you in al qaeda? i do not know. apparently it is. with an egyptian guy as the apparen

. >> white house terrorism adviser john brennan. mr. not so charismatic zawahiri is a doctor, he's the guy on the -- sitting next to bin laden here, always trying to prove himself, see how close we are? zawahiri has been osama bin laden's second in command in al qaeda since at least 1998. by a bunch of different accounts he's not a very likable or inspiring terrorist. even if you are a hair on fire extremist, yourself. for one thing, zawahiri is from egypt and in al qaeda, apparently that's not good. an fbi special agent wrote in a "new york times" op-ped, though al qaeda recruits come from many country, within the organization apparently it's sort of everybody who's not egyptian against everyone who is egyptian. quote, even soccer games pit egyptians against persian gulf arabs. al qaeda soccer. they can't do shirts versus skins, modesty. so it's everyone in shirts versus all the egyptian guys in shirts. why is being an egyptian a strike against you in al qaeda? i do not know. apparently it is. with an egyptian guy as the apparent next

on monday, less than 12 hours after president obama announced the death of osama bin laden, mr. obama's former ambassador to china john huntsman very quietly filed paperwork to create a political action committee for himself. that's so he'll be able to travel and raise money in the lead-up to formally announcing his own run for president. he took that step right after the bin laden news was announced. knowing full well that bin laden would eclipse all other news coverage of anything else for days. why would you want to run for president without anyone noticing you were running for president? i do not know. mr. huntsman is not alone. former pennsylvania republican senator rick santorum also waited until the bin laden news dropped to announce his fec filing for his presidential race. thus guaranteeing about exactly this much coverage of him officially being in the running. for a long shot no-name recognition candidates like huntsman and santorum, what the bin laden news gave them this week was an opportunity for a soft launch of their presidential campaigns without too much pressu

mr. obama went on to say we don't trot out this stuff as trophies. we don't need to spike the football. the president making essentially an ethical point of why he chose not to release those photos in saying that's not who we are, but also making a couple of strategic points. one, what he described as -- as very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head. do not become an incitement to further violence against the united states or something to be used by propaganda by the followers of osama bin laden. but also to senator lindsay graham's criticism. that i mentioned earlier, that indisputable proof be provided of bin laden's death. mr. obama arguing today, quote, we don't think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference. there's going to be some folks who deny it. releasing a photograph, release any kind of factual evidence is not going to quell people who are invested in a conspiracy theory that serves their own purposes. this is something that we can intu

but, you mr. trump recognized the real problem was lack of leadership. ultimately, you didn't blame little john or meat loaf, you fired gary. these are the kind of decisions that keep me up at night. >> we did a radio town hall down in ashville, north carolina today. every time i talk about donald trump, it brought the house down. if you do run for president, you have to win north carolina. you might want to get down and start smooching those people. right now, they think you are a joke. the president had you right where you belong. >>> republicans would like you to believe they are tough on national security. the facts tell us something different. that is next. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best netw

trump, recognized the real problem was a lack of leadership, and so ultimately you did not blame little john or meat loaf, you fired gary busing. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. well handled, sir. well handled. say what you will about mr. trump. he certainly would bring some change to the white house. let's see what we have up there. >> the night was huge. we will show you more of it throughout the morning. >>> many say beauty comes with a price. new information about the cost of kate middleton's wedding dress right here on "msnbc sunday" 37 [ male announcer ] 100 crisps in every can. ♪ 100 ways to enjoy pringles. ♪ ♪ and they're the same price as the leading bag chips. 100 crisps... 100 ways. ♪ everything pops with pringles. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do.

. >> you, mr. trump, recognize that the real problem was a lack of leadership, and so ultimately you didn't blame little john or meatloaf h you fir meatloaf, you fired gary busey. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. >> i mean -- >> talk about a poker face. >> and in retrospect these are the kinds of decision that is would keep me up at night when the president of the united states was considering what the commando team in action were going through. >> and the irony of the fact that 24 hours late er the covere of barack obama, at least the run up to him announcing the death of osama bin laden broke into what show on network television? "celebrity apprentice." this is not someone who can stand up to a withering skrcruty of his finances, personal life. >> and 56 million people watched the president sunday night. that's a super sized audience. >> stunning. >> and thank you. >> thank you. >> speaking of stunning, good to see you in person. >> that does it for us. for a ve

. >> you, mr. trump, recognize that the real problem was lack of leadership, and so ultimately you didn't blame lille john or meatloaf. you fired gary busey. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. [ laughter ] >> wow. i think we knew what kept the president up that night. anyway, up next, what a story. >>> up next -- the death of osama bin laden may prove to be a defining moment for the 2012 republican field. their argument that president obama is weak to foreign policy lost its bite the other day, and they don't seem to have a candidate that can match up to be commander in chief like this one. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. this was me, best ribs in nelson county, but i wasn't winning any ribbons managing my diabetes. it was so complicated. there was a lot of information out there. but it was frustrating trying to get the answers i needed. then my company partnered with unitedhealthcare. they provided onsite screenings, healthy cooking tips. th

. >> you, mr. trump, recognize that the real problem was lack of leadership. and so ultimately, you didn't blame l'il john or meatloaf. you fired gary busey. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. [ laughter ] >> wow. i think we knew what kept the president up that night. anyway, up next, what a story. up next, the death of osama bin laden may prove to be a defining moment for the 2012 republican field. their argument that president obama is weak on foreign policy lost its bite the other day, and they don't seem to have a candidate that can match up to be commander in chief like this one. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ♪ [ male announcer ] an everyday moment can turn romantic anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. ♪ cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medication

. >> you, mr. trump, recognize that the real problem was lack of leadership, and so ultimately you didn't blame l'il john or meatloaf. you fired gary busey. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. [ laughter ] >> wow. i think we knew what kept the president up that night. anyway, up next, what a story. >>> up next -- the death of osama bin laden may prove to be a defining moment for the 2012 republican field. their argument that president obama is weak to foreign policy lost its bite the other day, and they don't seem to have a candidate that can match up to be commander in chief like this one. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. tempur-pedic i >>> i'm going to love this segment. welcome back to "hardball." since september 11, republicans have taken hold of national security as one of their signature issues. but over the past few months, the gop descended into a party that questions things like the president's birth certificate and his college grades.

>> on that night that the weather caused a delay in the mission, president obama did this -- >> you mr. trump recognize that the real problem was a lack of leadership and so ultimately you didn't blame little john or meatloaf. you fired garr busy. these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. well handled, sir. well handled. >> if you didn't know it already, you know now that whenever you watch the president of the united states doing something, saying something, you don't ever, ever know what the president miergt really be thinking about. what may be weighing on him most heavily. barack obama is too calming too steady, yes, too cool to let you see a hint of the weight he bears every minute of the day and night. republicans have been using osama bin laden for political profit for almost ten years now. they have been insisting that only republicans know how to protect you from osama bin laden. only republicans are strong on the defense of this country. that of course has never been true. it was a democratic president who won world war ii. sunday night on the third floo

> on that night that the weather caused a delay in the mission, president obama did this -- >> you, mr. trump, recognize that the real problem was a lack of leadership and so ultimately you didn't blame little john or meatloaf. you fired gary busy. these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. well handled, sir. well handled. >> if you didn't know it already, you know now that whenever you watch the president of the united states doing something, saying something, you don't ever, ever know what the president might really be thinking about. what may be weighing on him most heavily. barack obama is too calm, too steady, yes, too cool to let you see a hint of the weight he bears every minute of the day and night. republicans have been using osama bin laden for political profit for almost ten years now. they have been insisting that only republicans know how to protect you from osama bin laden. only republicans are strong on the defense of this country. that of course has never been true. it was a democratic president who won world war ii. sunday night on the third floor

and so, ultimately, you didn't blame little john or meatloaf. you fired gary busey. [ laughter ] and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at the night. >> oh, damn! that joke was made so much more harsh by what happened next. just hours after mocking donald trump at the white house correspondents' dinner, president obama made a decision that actually did keep him up at night, going forward with the operation to take out bin laden. even the timing of the president's announcement ended up showcasing the difference between what trump does and what a commander in chief is expected to do. >> let me ask you this question. who, going forward, do you want on your team, because you're facing a very tough men's team plus la toya. >> i definitely -- >> this is an nbc news special report. >> good evening from washington, i'm david gregory. we will hear from the president of the united states, he will address the country in mere moments now to announce major develop, we are told, by government officials concerning the most wanted terrorist i

repeat, we obviously are interested in finding out detail of the support network that obviously helped mr. bin laden hide in abbottabad. we don't know the members of that support network. we also note that the pakistani government has launched an investigation of its own and we think that's a good thing. we will work to find out as much as we can about how that happened. i would then further state, that our relationship with pakistan, while complicated is very important and it's very important precisely because of our need to continue the fight against al qaeda, to continue the fight against terrorists, the fight is not done. and we look forward to cooperating with pakistan in the future. as others have said, more terrorists have been killed on pakistani soil than probably any other country. and the cooperation we've received from pakistan has been very useful in that regard. >> second, if i may -- >> i think that's third. >> thank you. what president said sunday, war is not against islam or the muslimings my question is in or to bring muslim community, including the u.s., because they ar

those events, and then if you have any questions on other subjects, i'll do about ten minutes after mr. brennan is finished to take those questions. i just want to make a point before john comes up that as many of you know that the president, even before he was president, when he was a candidate, has a very clear idea about the approach he would take as president towards osama bin laden. in august of 2007, he said, if we have actionable intelligence about high value terrorist targets and president musharraf won't act, we will. in july of 2008 he said, we must make it clear if pakistan cannot or will not act we will take out high level terrorist targets like bin laden if we have them in our sights. he repeated statements like that again. i want to be clear that this is an approach that he always felt that he would take when he was president and then as john will elaborate once he took office, he made sure we would revitalize our focus on osama bin laden and the hunt for him. so with that i'd like to invite john up to take your questions, and i will be standing here if you have questions