ayman, thank you so much. people need to be reminded and clarified. why did we get involved in the whole gadhafi overthrow? >> well, in the libyan revolution began or the uprising began back in february, the gadhafi regime had seen what happened in tunisia and egypt and decided it was not going out like that. it unleashed its forces on the people there and it became very bloody. thousands had died by that point. they asked the arab league to get involved. the arab league asked for international involvement, which came by the way of u.n., so the conflict internationalized. they asked for involvement asking the western countries to get involved and present this one lopsided military force from wiping out all these people. >> this is a rare phenomenon, whereby a third world group of people, the arab league, the arab nations said, come in and intervene in the internal affairs of one of our countries. and that's unique in the african experience, up and down africa, the country. >> absolutely. it's a very unique opportunity in which the arab street is askin

and that he would specifically work to target ayman zawahiri. his mission was to go to afghanistan, try and infiltrate the top leadership of al qaeda, and locate ayman zawahiri. initially, it all seemed to be going quite well. they sent him back to afghanistan. they sent him to afghanistan, sorry. he got back with contacts, some people he already knew through the internet and was something of a rising star within al qaeda. a good operative, a good agent. everyone was fairly pleased with him. then just before new year's, it became apparent this plot started to hatch. he called his agents, who didn't suspect him, because he had been passing information, he called his handlers, the cia, and said i have to come in. i have urgent information, i have to see you. they accepted him. he met with his handlers. they even brought in more senior people because they thought -- the cia thought this informant had such good information that it was really going to be important. so they had a meeting. when he showed up for that meeting, he blew up some sort of exp

he claims he's now rendered medical services to ayman al zawahiri. correct? >> how clever he was, weaving in between two worlds, the cia and al qaeda and convincing everyone he's on their side. but ultimately, as we discover later, he's actually on al qaeda's side in this elaborate plot, an incredible lure was set up by al qaeda using their own video equipment and knowledge it was set up by al qaeda, using their own video equipment and their own knowledge of how the cia works to create something so attractive that the cia could not possibly say no to it. >> the reason that the cia found him credible, although through the jordanians, and he knew the medical history of zawahiri, and it matched the information we from his egyptian files. and now the objective becomes, let's bring him in. we americans need to set eyes on him and allow him to lead us to the al qaeda leadership. and that's where things got lax. >> exactly. remarkably, and if you think about this, we are getting this incredible evidence. this is the most exciting thing that's happened in the search

announced it, i think they were stunned or -- the other story going around pakistan right now is that ayman al zawahri set him up to be killed so there's an alternate story going around. >> why. >> so that he could take over. >> honor among terrorists. here's the prime minister on monday, let's listen to him. >> no other country in the world and no other group has done so much to interdict al qaeda than the u.s. and the armed forces. >> i notice it sort of skirts the question of whether they tried to pick up osama bin laden. it simply said they're working hard against al qaeda generally. i didn't like that. i didn't think that was a very clear answer to the challenge put to them. >> the remarkable thing about the isi over the years is they have been aligned with the u.s. in the hunt for al qaeda on mondays, wednesday and fridays, but tuesdays and thursdays, they've been off on their own agenda, particularly in alliances with the taliban or at least impolice sent ones. obviously he never answered the question of how osama bin laden could live in a garrisson town this close to the capital for

he claims he's now rendered medical services to ayman al zawahiri. correct? >> how clever he was, weaving in between two worlds, the cia and al qaeda and convincing everyone he's on their side. but ultimately, as we discover later, he's actually on al qaeda's side in this elaborate plot, an incredible lure was set up by al qaeda using theirqaeda their own video equipment, their own knowledge of how it works, to create something so attractive that the cia couldn't say no to. >> the reason the cia found it credible through the jordanians is that he knew the medical history of zawahari and now the objective becomes, well, let's bring him in. we americans need to set eyes on him and allow him to lead us to the al qaeda leadership. that's why things got lax. >> remarkably, if you think about it, this is the most exciting thing that happened in the search for bin laden and his deputies since 9/11 and yet it occurs to everyone we've never even met this guy. he could be a con artist. there are doubts and questions raised. but it becomes imperative to meet him. they n

is current threats, what is in there about current plots, second is other high-value targets, like ayman al zawahiri, kashmiri, some of the potential successes. will there be any links. if i'm those people, i am moving. i am not staying where i was. >> okay. thank you. got to go. roger thank you. >>> thank you very much, mark, as always. >>> when we return, let me finish with a frightening thought. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. your advertising mail campaign is paying off! business is good! it must be if you're doing all that overnight shipping. that must cost a fortune. it sure does. well, if it doesn't have to get there overnight, you can save a lot with priority m

ayman, is this a recruiting tool? does this turn on to be blunt about it young people in the slums around paris oar the slums here in the united states or wherever? does this make people excited to join them? >> it's very lard for me to answer that question. i think they are using those tactic to instill fear around anybody who, the message to the remains in iraq where these 45 people were killed is that if you dare to raise your voice, if you dare to ally yourself with anyone other than isis, this is the fate you will their. the message to the christian world is similar -- for those who ally themselves against isis you will be beheaded wherever we can get to you. not because i think they want to recruit people in the west and in europe. that's certainly an objective of theirs. we have heard that very explicitly when their leaders have called on people but with these specific type of brutal murders, gruesome grotesque, the message is different. the message is if anyone dares to challenge us this is the fate you will h

nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin. may endorse rebels we know little about when it's comprised of extremists and terrorists. those were exacerbated. it shows in the process of executing seven prisoners. you're to be see a clip from the full video. i should warn you. i will not actually show the video themselves. the video is quite graphic. >> what happens next leaves little to the imagination. multiple gunshots ring out in rapid succession on the tape, followed by an unceremonious burial in an unmarked grave. this may be war, but it's the kind of brutality depict heard that raises questions about the kinds of opposition groups we may soon be supporting in this conflict. ayman, what do you think when you see seven men being executed after they have been obviously beaten quite well, standing there with their backs bare with all those welts, perhaps praying in this long, slow execution prosecution process we're see hearing by these so-called opposition leaders? >> well, there is definitely a lot of cop text behind looking

aym ayman, what do you think when you see seven men being executed after they have been obviously beaten quite well, standing there with their backs bare with all those welts, perhaps praying in this long, slow execution prosecution process we're see hearing by these so-called opposition leaders? >> well, there is definitely a lot of cop text behind looking at images like that there is no doubt about it. they are very disturbing. but the underlying issue in all of this is the fact that the syrian opposition by no means is respective of museum human rights or even necessarily a practitioner of universal human rights. what i would say is when you look at the opposition movement in general, and that is a very loose term, i don't have you to look at the political movement which is represented by the syrian national council. you to look at the free syrian army which is a group of various defectors and others who have joined the ranks, and you have to look at those who are looking at this as an ideological struggle to advance islam, and more importantly to be part of a larger jihadist movement

ayman mohyeldin is with us in the studio. you have been gathering as well. >> yeah. one of the things obviously in this digital age is how quickly images have come out. the french police have actually put on their verified twitter account asking people to stop distributing, stop recirculating, disseminating videos. the social media videos we are seeing. we are not putting them on the air but it's giving you a sense of given the fact this was such a tourist destination and so many people were out there, and that it was such a day of celebration, you can imagine how much social media now has been inundated with images of what has happened there. so much so, to the point that the national police in france are asking people to stop circulating those videos out of respect for the families and their victims and it's an indication that this is a very dire situation, not just for the country but for the family members who are still learning about this and people still trying to get ahold as we heard cal report earlier, officials asking people to stay off the phones as they w

i'm frances rivera joined by ayman mohyeldin at msnbc headquarters in new york. here's a timeline for you. at approximately 8:40 p.m. eastern time, two u.s. warships in the mediterranean fired 59 tomahawk cruise missiles at a single target in syria. this video you see here are those exact missiles shared with us by the u.s. defense department. well, those department. the missiles rained down on the shayrat airfield in western syria where military officials tell nbc news the united states believes syrian president bashar al assad fired chemical weapons into the rebel-held syrian territory of idlib. >> the pinpoint missile strike ordered by president trump was targeting aircraft shelters, fuel, and ammunition supplies as well as air defense systems. now the strikes were a response to tuesday's horrific chemical weapons attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. this according to the white house. many of those women and children as seen in these disturbing images. images that moved the president to change his years-long stance against intervention in syria.

nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin is in cairo. ayman, thankfully, a quieter day today in cairo than yesterday. what, if any, was the reaction to what the american president had to say? >> reporter: well, reaction from the egyptian government has been somewhat muted. in fact, no official comments coming out from either the interim government or the egyptian military. you can rest assured that egyptian government is in probably some serious discussions amongst itself as to how it wants to respond whether or not it is going to change its course of action as a result of this new announcement. but many people here outside of the framework of government don't see the u.s. rebuke as being that severe. they are not necessarily that concerned with how the u.s. has canceled this largely symbolic and for the most part a photo-op of a military exercise between the two countries. so it is not the kind of strong condemnation who those in this country that are concerned with the way the military has been behaving. now, keep in mind the military

it's insulting to everyone. >> let's go to ayman. your views on this? i think you all have personal experiences, maybe family experiences, and the whole question of moving from the east to the west and becoming assimilated and then realizing there's a guy there at the door saying, we dona't believe in assimilation or loyalty to america. i was sitting on an airplane with a guy who said, i was born in indiana, i love my country, this stuff drives me crazy, this trump stuff. >> listen, as an immigrant myself, as the son of immigrants, my parents made the choice to move to the united states in pursuit of the american dream as millions of muslims do. we know that 63% of the american muslim community here are immigrants to this country. they come to this country in pursuit of the american dream and in pursuit of a better life. but it's not just about what they come with. it's also what they do when they come to the united states. they become productive members of this community, of this society. they serve, they do everything that they are asked. they are law

ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much for this report on site. joining me, tara mahler, a military analyst at the cia. let me ask you about this. how do you put the motives together just on what you heard. apparently regular people in the neighborhood were hassling -- although it's always struck me, if you're going to run a restaurant, you've got to be somewhat social. but they say this family didn't talk to anybody. i don't even know how you do that. i guess it's a takeout kind of place. the other thing is, how do you put together these misfit operations. somebody in the army, somebody out in san bernardino, in a government office out there. these people seem to be fitting into the category of people up in connecticut. it's a combination of, i don't like the people around him. i'm going to blow out against them or i'm going to send a message internationally. and this guy didn't even have an escape plan. >> you're exactly right. and in a lot of cases, we look to cling to one maufgs. he could have been problems at home. having problems psychologic

nbc's ayman mohyeldin joins us now from cairo. the question to ayman, thank you for joining us. you're over there. the thought of, for years, i was growing up russia and cairo had close relations until saddam came along and broke those relations under nixon. so are the russians coming to do this war against isis? are they really going to do it? >> well, they're certainly dropping the bombs for it. but there's still a lot of questions as to how much russia is behind this to really fight terrorism or to try to prop up be shar al assad of syria. there's no doubt about it, that russia has been trying to warm up some of its relationships, those historic relationships that you talked about, chris, that in the past, it had with arab countries. it's lost a lot of those other the last couple of days, when america filled that void. there are some that are speculating that russia is trying to get a foothold back in the region. it's trying to exploit the weak relationship there. the takeover of power here, there has been an attempt by russia to try to start cozying up to the regime in cairo

the man who succeeded osama bin laden, ayman mohyeldin -- ayman zawahiri. the two men reportedly agreed that they wanted to do something big. timed to the end of the muslim holy month of ramadan which is right now. and that's what led the united states to close 19 embassies. there they are on the map and consulates in the mideast and africa. there's still a lot that remains unknown including which target. over the weekend, one thing clear from every lawmaker and official with knowledge of the attack, nobody's crying wolf here. this is one of the most serious threats in years. >> been an awful lot of hatter chatter out there. chatter means conversation among terrorists about the planning that's going on. very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11. this is the most serious threat that i've seen in the last several years. >> we need to know and realize we're living in an increasingly dangerous world and this many specific threat that we've been briefed on over and over again has reached a new level. >> i must say this is probably one of the most specific and inc

nbc's ayman mohyeldin has been covering that attack from brussels. he joins us now. what happened there? just give us the facts on what happened today in mali. >> reporter: yeah, we're still learning a little bit more about what happened in the early hours of the morning, chris, but what we do know is that a group of armed gunmen entered the hotel, launching grenades with armed weapons, and took the hotel hostage, according to the radisson hotel company. they took about 170 people hostage in the early hours of the morning. and as this day unfolded, we saw that malian security forces backed by a few u.s. special forces that were in the area at the time, by chance, just providing some support, as well as french special forces that arrived on the scene later, all of them entered the hotel throughout the course of the day and began to clear that hotel out floor by floor, room by room. by the end of the day, we got a clearer picture of exactly what happened. according to the united nations, at least 20 people were killed. that includes 19 hostages, 3 of the gunmen and 1 m

joining me now, foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin. what's the very latest from the cairo? >> well, a government imposed curfew has gone into effect this evening prohibiting anyone from going into the streets. they have warned anyone caught on streets will be imprisoned. this in addition to emergency law that was declared a few hours ago, putting the country under emergency law. effectively putting the country under emergency law. and that would probably limit civil process or due process for civilians arrested over the course of the next several days. this is expected to last for a month. meanwhile, the ministry of interior says 43 people, members of its security forces, were killed. the ministry of health says the number of those killed that are civilians stands at 240 or more. you can expect that number to rise in the coming hours as more and more bodies are recovered from some of these flash points where clashes happen between members of the police forces and supporters of the ousted president. the muslim brotherhood is describing today's event as a massacre. they've pu

joining us, for more, is ayman mohyeldin. tell us what you know about this gunman? >> we've learned a little more about his identity. he's been identified by turkish authorities, saying he was a 22-year-old policeman. he was part of ankara's riot police, kind of like their -- not like their internal security force, but they're involved in like protests and riot protests and stuff like that. what we don't know yet is motivation. we know that the police have searched his family home. they've also spoken to his roommate, which is also a police officer, to try to establish if there are any links there. they've gone to his family home and detained his family possibly for questioning. no clear identification yet if he has any links to terrorist organizations or whether or not he was just an individual who was disgruntled by what he was saying in his neighboring country, particularly in aleppo, and decided to act out on that. >> and you can see in the video before the shooting, you can see him standing sort of behind the ambassador. do we know, was he working security at t

i'm ayman mohyeldin. "hardball" starts right now. >>> hillary tried rescuing ambassador stevens, so why didn't we know it? let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. in an all-out counterattack, hillary blames republicans for pushing benghazi to beat her, which a top republican now admits. we have evidence that a gop-run committee has been withholding testimony from that she pushed for a military rescue the night of the attack on ambassador stevens and the other americans in benghazi. the hillary camp has begun running a tv ad, blasting the about-to-be republican speaker of the house for admitting the entire benghazi investigation so far has been a strategic move to drive down hillary clinton's support in the opinion polls. u.s. congressman elijah cummings is a democrat from maryland and the ranking member of the house select benghazi committee. democrats on the benghazi committee have gone public with the explosive charge now that republicans on the committee are selective

. >>> kier simmons is in ayman, jordan. what do we really know, except the parents got a picture that she is deceased. what do we know besides that? >> really we don't know very much. u.s. officials say that she appears, and we're talking about them trying to study just a picture, just a photograph. but they say that she appears to have suffered trauma wounds that would not be inconsistent with her being in the vicinity of a bomb, but of course we're talking about syria, and syria is a place where bombs are dropped by numbers of different parties, including by the syrian government itself, and we're talking about isis, isil, as the white house calls them, where they are constantly making bombs, building bombs. so mueller would have been around the kinds of munitions that could have caused these injuries, not falling from the sky. that's really where it is, chris, to be honest. isis made these claims, the jordanians are repeating those same points being made by the white house, that you can't believe a single thing that isis

well, the intelligence that sparked all this was a communication from osama bin ladin's replacement, ayman al zawahiri to the head of the al qaeda arm in yemen. the terrorist leaders discussed plotting an attack to coincide with a in muslim holy day this week. this afternoon nbc news is reporting that one reason the u.s. reacted so aggressively is because al qaeda operatives said they wanted an attack that, quote, would change the balance of power in the region. well, as american counterterrorist officials are dealing with this threat, some on the right are using it to hit the president as weak on national security. big surprise there. take a look what bill kristol and former senator jim demint said this weekend on fox. >> four years ago, president obama gave a much heralded speech, his outreach to the muslim world. now four years later we're closing embassies throughout the arab world. a year ago he said al qaeda is on the run. now we seem to be on the run. i'm not criticizing the decision to close the embassies. that's probably the right thing to do for the sake of trying to save america

earlier ayman mohyeldin talked about the opposition and the sort of tableau that was created by the military leaders when he this he announced the change in government. they had leaders from youth movements, from secular and religious movements and also had mohamed elbaradei who most people remember from the united nations during the run up to the war in iraq and his pronouncements whether or not the government saddam hussein had weapons ef mass destruction. he's a known international figure. is he somebody that you could anticipate may actually have a leadership role in a future egyptian government? >> he could, but the problem is that this oppositioning in elbaradei himself is not overwhelmingly popular. there is a large contingent of egyptian society that supports the mut lim brotherhood. in the short term it might stabilize the situation but in the long-term this could lead to more violence and the radicalization of muslim brotherhood entiresupporters. on the side of the break, richard engel will give us an update. yes, please. of course. a rich, never bitter taste cup after cup. 340 gra

what we saw in this case was perhaps the world's most dangerous man, the leader of al qaeda, ayman al zawahiri who replaced osama bin laden to lead the world's most dangerous terrorist organization, it's most aggressive terrorist group calling his most capable assassin the leader of the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula branch, his name is nasser al bohishi. when you have the leader of a big organization, al qaeda central, calling his most dangerous assassin and telling him to do something big, not only is it a big problem for the united states and one that should be taken seriously but it also shows the linkages that still doll exist between the al qaeda organization in pakistan, bin laden's old organization and some of the key players that are spread across the organization across the regional affiliates if you will. nasser al wahishi who was ordered to carry out this big attack at one stage was considered a possible successor to bin laden. he fought himself in tora bora. he considered himself an equal to bin laden, not just someone who was sub servant to him. they have a long histo

. >>> i'm ayman mohyeldin with your top stories this hour. army sergeant bowe bergdahl appeared before a military judge at ft. bragg. he was arraigned on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. he did not enter a plea. fbi director james comey met with police officers and officers who responded to the attacks in san bernardino. >>> and it will not be a white christmas in much of the u.s. in fact, it will feel more like springtime, as temperatures are expected to be more than 30 degrees above normal. >>> now back to "citizen trump." >> the '80s were very good years for trump. in 1982, he bough a prized piece of real estate along the new jersey boardwalk. he brought executives to the site and made it look like construction was well underway. >> i had every truck available in the area moving on that site. we had trucks going back and forth and working all over the place. they saw that action, they were immediately impressed and we made a deal like right then on the spot. >> in 1984, the same year hara's trump plaza opened, donald

ayman, thanks for your reporting. >>> thanks to all of you for watching. "hardball" starts right now. \s. >>> political football. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm cris matthews on a night when the word super bowl isn't a break from political intrigue but an invitation to more intrigue. someone deflated the footballs in the big win over indianapolis on sunday. whoever did it made the footballs just the way tom brady likes them. we no that because he said that late this afternoon at a press conference. if he didn't deflate the footballs, who did? i realize there are four stages of getting a football onto the field. stage 1, nfl checks the pressure to make sure it's up to regulation. stage 2, equipment managers engage in some sort of process with the ball. stage 3, brady himself engaged in a process with the balls. stage 4, the equipment managers get the footballs finally out onto the field. the question is at what stage of custody did they get dropped below the regulation level? and why hasn't the envelope that says it's investigating the mat

it's not going to come from riyad, ayman or the arab capitals. >> the air force now are the good guys but we are not leading. thank you. what a terrible situation we are in. >> thank you. >> after a quiet night in ferguson, missouri, the governor orders the national guard to leave town. while there is calm on the streets now, tensions continue over the investigation into michael brown's death. it will continue obviously. plus, the corruption trial of former virginia governor bob mcdonnell on the stand offering what he calls an anger-ravaged marriage. sounds like divorce court. to enjoy that, stick around. it's embarrassing but something to watch. and a defiant rick perry in washington, d.c. today fighting back against his indictment. this weekend he's off to new hampshire, by the way. could his legal troubles back home in texas which are partisan when it comes to investigation is helping him politically. finally, a reminder tonight that we have a tough election coming up this fall. you've got to get registered, get planning and vote. nobody watch the show unless you are going to vote.

i'm ayman mohyeldin. "hardball" starts right now. >>> trumping the media. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. on what has been a very busy day up in the capitol. president obama and vice president-elect mike pence were both on the hill today meeting with members of their respective parties. mike pence held what is described as a pep talk, focusing on killing obamacare. the president huddled with democrats strategizing to save the health care law. meanwhile, president-elect donald trump continued his assault on the u.s. intelligence committee. overnight he tweeted "the intelligence briefing on so-called russian hacking was delayed until friday. perhaps more time needed to build a case. very strange." senior intelligence official told nbc the tweet was disturbing and adversarial. trump also continued to bash the media, of course, he did so even as he promised to hold a press conference next week. his first since last july. well, trump tweeted, "somebody hacked the dnc, but why did they not have hacking defense like the r

i'm ayman mohyeldin. "hardball" is next with a special look back at some of the hardest-hitting moments from the presidential campgn. >> the best of "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. we'll call it a political earthquake, an unraveling of the system or even a revolution. 2016 changed the fac of american politics forever. there was the nationalist and populist ascension of our next president, donald trump, the collapse of the clinton dynasty, the revolutionary fervor that reshaped the democratic party with the socialist senator from vermont, bernie sanders. even a growing call for a third party solution represented most effectively by libertarian, gary johnson. and all of these elements will rewrite the american political narrative for years to come. over the past months, all four of these leaders, trump, clinton, sanders, and johnson appeared at "hardball" town halls and college tours. here's a sampling. >> you and i look at the world differently. you look at it inside the bel