was their lives. i mean, it's awesome in its scope. >> reporter: yeah, katy, our teams here have been doing incredible work to try to really share and present what we're seeing on the ground. having myself just arrived today, it really is breathtaking what these storms have done to these communities. and that's exactly what the president is himself doing today, seeing that firsthand. it's something that he has prioritized. it's obviously very tricky for a president, you know that the package that travels with him, he didn't want to be a disruption to the recovery efforts that are under way here, but the benefit of now a few days since the storms hit means that the needs of these communities are much more clear, at least initially those needs. that's what the president is here trying to get more information on. he's with the mayors, the governor, the county executives, to hear from them directly. he even invited himself to a future city council meeting in mayfield. he's on his way to dawson springs later this hour where we will expect to hear more extended remarks. but katy, some of the dribs and grabs and offhand comments from the president so far, he says the thing that's struck him the most is the way these communities are coming together. as he put it, there is no blue tornado, red tornado. these natural disasters are indiscriminate, affecting everyone equally. that's why it's important to have that partnership you're seeing from the local level all the way up to the president of the united states who is traveling here with his homeland security secretary, the fema director as well. this is also, katy, as you know, a moment for the president to be that consoler in chief as well. the stories we've been hearing from those in the community here, as they're trying to find their belongings, still tracking, looking for loved ones, are just really incredible. and the president is doing his best today to draw from that we will of empathy of course that he's known for and give that consolation that he can as well. >> when the president tours this area, what exactly is he going to see? >> reporter: well, katy, we're a little bit removed from where the president will ultimately be. he is going to be downtown. part of what the white house said is he'll be seeing it from the air. some of the best sense of the damage is from the air. we've been seeing that through our drone footage as well. he'll be doing a walkabout, talking to community leaders here. you can see behind me an example of the incredible damage that has been happening. we see people's belongings thrown all over the place, it's incredible. the president has been making multiple disaster visits this year, whether it be hurricanes, whether it be wildfires. but just i think the incredible destruction here is something that's unique and something that will inform i think the way he responds moving forward, trying to really amplify the message that we've heard from him already too about these extreme weather events. it's not just the frequency but the scale that is really requiring more urgent action to deal with things like climate change. >> and ellison, what about from where you're standing? you know, we're having some connection issues, i'm sorry. it's difficult circumstances down there. ellison is going to give us a tour, was going to give us a tour, and also an update on the dog that we saw yesterday. we heard the dog barking, the dog was rescued from that rubble, which is just a little bit of good news coming out of that area, although a whole lot of bad news as well. we're also following the fallout today after the house voted rate last night to refer mark meadows for federal criminal prosecution for contempt. joining me now is punchbowl news founder and msnbc political contributor shake sherman and "new york times" chief white house correspondent. peter baker. referring a former chief of staff to the doj for criminal contempt, it's incredible. >> it's very rare, we can't find an analogous situation. the interesting thing, katy, mark meadows, the house referred him for criminal prosecution for contempt of congress, yet he has turned over what can only be described as a massive amount of documents, text messages and the like. so, i mean, it's usually a pretty binary path, you're either going to cooperate with the committee or not and suffer the consequences. mark meadows is suffering the consequences after having turned over reams of documents, which is really awfully strange. and the question we all have to ask, and i think we talked about this the other day, katy, is what happened in the interim. was it that donald trump got upset with him over his book where he revealed the president might have had covid when he debated joe biden in the presidential debates? is it that the president was upset about his cooperation with the committee? but i've talked to people on the committee and we've seen, katy, in full view, liz cheney just running down the massive amounts of things that they have learned from the documents that mark meadows has already turned over. so outside of the stunning spectacle that the former chief of staff, a former member of this body, the house of representatives, has been referred to the justice department for criminal contempt, just the bizarre situation that he has turned over so many documents and has still put himself in such a precarious legal position. >> i'm wondering where this is heading. and on the subject of liz cheney, peter baker, she's seemingly tying the president to a crime, to obstruction, trying to obstruct the house or the congress from certifying the results of the election, which is a crime. is that where this is headed? or is that where liz cheney sees as this being headed? >> well, you're right, she made that point. she read these text messages received by mark meadows that day including don jr., including fox news personalities, including allies saying you have to get the president to step forward and stop this. her point is he didn't, that the messages he put out were at best equivocal. she calls it dereliction of duty, that he had a duty as president of the united states to protect the constitutional process going on in the capitol that day, counting the electoral college votes that were going to ratify the election of joe biden. and by failing to take action, her argument is that the president of the united states may have in fact subverted the constitution because that process was going on. now, that's a variation of a theme we've already heard, of course, that he was actually impeached by the house for inciting the insurrection. her point is he failed to stop it, itself a violation of his oath. >> jake sherman, who else are we expected to hear from in front of this committee? >> katy, most people are trying to dodge the committee, using the president's claim of executive privilege which the biden administration has rejected, to not cooperate and not go in front of this committee. i would underline the point, katy, this is going to go deep into next year, i would have to imagine, at least it's definitely going to have to go into next year as we sit here 15 or 16 days until the end of the year. courts are in the midst of deciding on that claim of executive privilege. and i have to imagine it will end up at the supreme court at some point. you have just a huge number of former aides, current people in politics who have been expected and subpoenaed to get in front of this committee, people like max miller, brian jacques, who are being asked to come in front of the committee. the more interesting thing to me is the people who have not been subpoenaed, who are cooperating on their own volition. >> the amount of information they've already been able to gather. just one more question, though, on the note of this winding its way through the courts. courts take a long time, we've learned this now. any indication, peter, that this is on an expedited track? could we get a ruling on any of this stuff before the midterms next year when it could be a change in control of congress, who knows, and maybe a change in priorities, this being one of them? >> some of the litigation does seem to be moving relatively quickly. the appeals court has already moved on president trump's effort to try to stop the documents from being released by the archives. that does look like that could be wrapped up sooner rather than later. but these contempt claims are different, because they're criminal charges rather than civil charges, if the justice department goes forward with mark meadows the way it has with steve bannon, that means there's a whole trial that has to happen before you get to the point where you might see some of the concession by the person charged. for instance, they have decided they're not having a trial for steve bannon until the middle of next year. that means that if he has any incentive to change his mind, we're many months off from that. mark meadows has filed a suit of his own against nancy pelosi saying they shouldn't be allowed to subpoena me in the first place. it's possible that gets adjudicated faster than a criminal complaint by the justice department would, if it were to proceed. but we've seen again and again how long these things can take, and how congressional oversight and even impeachment proceedings have been frustrated by the lack of expeditious of resolution of these legal questions by the courts. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. we were able to reconnect with ellison barber in dawson springs, kentucky. ellison, i'm glad you can hear me now. just give us an update on all you've been seeing. >> reporter: hey, katy. so this is someone's bedroom. if you look up, you can see kind of the scope of what things are like here. most homes, many of them, hundreds of them that were hit by this storm, they no longer exist at all. this is one of the few homes in this area that the walls still stand, but you can see they have no roof. this is uninhabitable. this community, dawson springs, they have lost 14 people because of these storms. the oldest, 86 years old. the youngest, 2 months old. when the president comes here, he will see a town, a community that has been battered and bruised, their structures really destroyed. over 75% of this community is gone. but he will meet people who are determined not to lose hope. we constantly see people like little dots when we fly in the air to look, trying to help each other and pick up what's left of their lives and maybe start the process of rebuilding. but katy, they have a very, very long way to go. everywhere you look, it seems, there are people who are part of this community just trying to help each other even if they themselves have lost everything. >> you know, we've been covering tornadoes now for, i mean, gosh, decades, on television. and the way that we're able to see it with this new technology, with the drones, to see this aerial version, to watch you and then go up in the sky and see the rubble around you, look at you through the window into what was a bedroom, it is just remarkable. and it helps to hammer home the devastation that these people are experiencing. one other update, ellison, yesterday you were in the rubble where a dog was barking, our viewers are curious to know what happened to that dog. we know the dog was rescued, here is a picture of the dog. where is the dog now? >> reporter: i have been so excited to hopefully tell you about this little chihuahua. it was in a home, actually just down the street from here, in a closet, not unlike this one. and we saw just regular people, neighbors, running in, trying to get this dog, because its owner, we're told, she was hurt in the storm and she is in the hospital. at some point the dog got out, it ran away. we talked to animal control, we saw them just a couple of hours ago with the dog. the dog is in good condition. they said they're going to hold on to it until they track down that owner and make sure that she is doing well and out of the hospital. they have rescued over 20 cats, just the hopkins county animal control alone, and some 18 dogs. they are still going, and it was a little bit of really great news amidst all of the rubble. not only did they find that dog but we're told it is doing really well, it's eaten, it was getting treats, it's doing wonderful. >> that's really great to hear. one of our producers pulled a cat from the rubble and that cat is at the vet and doing well. >> reporter: he ate this morning for the first time. >> ellison, thanks so much for bringing us a little bit of good news. a court tells former president trump to give congress his taxes. and cornell university shuts down its ithaca campus online after a rapid surge in covid cases that could be tied to the omicron variant. and a recent string of smash and grabs has highlighted the growing problem of organized retail crime. nbc's new reporting on an undercover team tasked with stopping it. as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? 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♪ the snow's comin' down ♪ -mommy? ♪ i'm watching it fall ♪ watch the full story at www.xfinity.com/sing2 if you could give me some dance lessons you would be saving my life. how do i know that you're legit? ♪ ♪ yeah, that's more like it. former president donald trump lost another battle to blockhouse democrats from getting his tax returns. a federal judge rejected his latest lawsuit. trump's lawyers now have 14 days to appeal. joining me now is nbc news justice correspondent pete williams and former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade, she's also an msnbc legal analyst. tell me about this ruling, pete. >> well, the trump lawyers have already filed notice that they will appeal. their next stop is the federal appeals court here in washington. if they lose there, they can try the supreme court. but this involved a request from richard neal, chairman of the house ways and means committee. he wanted copies of mr. trump's tax returns for all four years he was in the white house plus the year before and the year after. the committee said it wanted to see how the irs was carrying out a policy that requires automatic audits of a president's taxes. neal invoked a federal law that requires the treasury and the irs to turn over any person's tax returns when demanded by congress. mr. trump's lawyers said the real reason congress wanted his returns was to look for something embarrassing, that this was a strictly political exercise and the committee had no legitimate legislative purpose. but the ruling by the judge who was appointed by president trump, by the way, said it's undoubtedly true for many in congress, the desire to see the returns was politics, but he said there's a long line of supreme court cases that as long as congress has at least a legitimate reason, it doesn't matter what the other motives were, so he dismissed mr. trump's lawsuit. >> what does it mean for appeal, barbara? >> well, i think it's almost certain, as pete says, that donald trump will appeal this ruling. but i don't see it changing. we went through the whole mazars litigation and the supreme court said the president is not immune from the subpoena power of congress but there should be a tightened inquiry whether there is some proper purpose for seeking it and not simply a political purpose. and the judge found that there is a legislative purpose here. courts have consistently held over decades that congress has the power to legislate over many things, confined only by the constitution. if there's anything they want to find out, it's permissible for them to get the information they need. so i think ultimately they will get the records, it's just a matter of waiting for donald trump to exhaust his appeals. >> will this go to the supreme court? >> if it goes to the supreme court, i think they will get it and say, we're already decided this question when we decided the mazars case a couple of years ago. i think ultimately this is a matter that the institutional power of congress is too important here. it doesn't whether it's donald trump or donald duck for tax purposes. >> he's got things going on with the manhattan d.a. and taxes. how does this differ in terms of how a judge might rule? >> it's totally different, because in the tax case, the supreme court has long said that whatever -- and by the way, it's different for donald trump now because he's no longer president. so the mazars rule that barbara set out doesn't even apply as strongly now because he's not president. but even then, the courts said he needed to turn it over. it's like the nixon tape case, the supreme court says yes, you have executive privilege but it has to yield when there's a criminal investigation. so it was sort of a similar thing here. but this is entirely different. this is a federal law that says congress shall get any individual's tax returns, and as long as there's a legitimate purpose, the judge said, they're entitled to have it, that's what the law says. that's one thing that makes this different. >> sounds like it could only be a matter of time. pete williams, barbara mcquade, thank you for joining us. later, new year, new variant. omicron is already spreading rapidly in the u.s. with health officials warning a massive wave of infections could come in just two weeks, so watch out. and the last money from a covid era benefit goes out today unless the senate can pat president biden's build back better bill into law before the end of the year. this is something that has a lot to do with ending child poverty. the child tax credit. nbc's stephanie ruhle will be with us, next. stephanie ruhle w with us, next. 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[daughter] slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. earn about covid-19, the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. the today's is warning you to protect yourself as omicron quickly spreads throughout the population. >> the message remains clear. if you are unvaccinated, get vaccinated, and particularly in the arena of omicron, if you are fully vaccinated, get your booster shot. >> omicron appears to be highly transmissible. but preliminary studies show it might not be as severe as the delta variant. cornell university shut down its ithaca, new york campus in the middle of finals. 100 students tested positive for covid, many of them with the omicron variant. princeton university announced starting tomorrow their finals will also move online. joining me now is nbc news medical contributor dr. natalie azar, a rheumatologist at nyulan nyulang -- nyu langone medical center. is this the best policy, almost two years into the pandemic? >> you know, that is exactly the question that i was asking myself, right? because in fact we discussed this maybe two days ago on news now, do you think the schools will want to go backwards and shut down and go online, and i said no, i don't think schools will want to do that, and now we see schools doing that. what we're balancing, the fundamental question is, we are already at the point where covid is going to be endemic. and so the expectation that we're not going to have infections is completely unrealistic. and we know that two shots -- the protection wanes, right? it certainly wanes with omicron, but it wanes with delta as well, for protection against symptomatic infection. i think where we're going as a country is that we are going to have to get comfortable with this idea that we're going to have infections and that everyone individually has to think about their risk tolerance and what they're willing to accept. the schools are doing the right thing because it's not just the school community, it's the community at large, it's the professors and the kids who are going home to potentially vulnerable parents. that's why i think they're doing what they're doing now. >> i wonder if, as you were saying, individuals will have to take responsibility and decide their own risk. i mean, we're two years in, and schools are necessary, college is necessary, but when we're talking about elementary and high school, the kids need to be in school, so the parents can work, so society continues to function. is there going to be come a point where it's about, if you feel you're at risk, you're going to take yourself out but not everybody is going to be forced to go home? >> you know, today at the white house briefing, a reporter asked this of the group. and they answer things very indirectly, right? zients said we're not going to close things down anymore but walensky and fauci answered it as, we know what to do, we know masking works, and i think they didn't really want to have to commit to this concept that we might need to close something down again. but, you know, at least according to the data and the news that we have, the infections really were acquired offcampus, which is really no surprise. schools have been trying to do the right thing. they have 50% of the capacity and they're ventilated and they're masked, and that we know works. college is college, we've all been there, it's hard to tell a group of 20-somethings not to party off-campus on the weekends. so i think we'll continue to see this. scholastically, for school, we have a little more control over younger children than we do college students but i think this is sort of a little bit of a warning to all of us. if we do see these outbreaks, businesses may have to shutter for two weeks at a time and we don't want to see that happen. >> can you define, what is a mild version of covid? what is not considered overly serious? >> you know, and that is the distinction that always we really want to communicate to people, the distinction between infection versus disease. so basically a mild infection, mild or moderate, upper respiratory symptoms. something that doesn't mean you go to the hospital. anything that really can be managed -- >> is it like having the flu? >> yes. the symptoms, especially with omicron, are sore throat, nasal congestion, achiness, low grade fever, headache. it sounds like a cold, because coronavirus is a kind of cold. >> this might be a dumb question, but why not let it go to try to overtake delta, because delta is more serious? >> and epidemiologically, there is certainly a rationale for that. but the problem is, katy, even though for the vast majority of people it would be a mild illness, it won't be for many, not to mention the usual group that we always talk about, over age 65. younger people, my patients who are on medicines that suppress their immune system, if they don't mount a good vaccine response, there's a lot of vulnerable people in the country. if it is two to three times less contagious as delta, even -- even if it is two to three times more contagious than delta, it may be less severe, but people would still end up in the hospital. it's not just the common cold, in an unlucky person it can still have serious, serious consequences. >> dr. nate ali azar, thank you so much for helping us understand the complexity of this and the questions we all have in our mind which is how do we move past this moving forward. doctor, good to see you, thank you very much. for the first time ever, the nation's largest police force will be led by a black woman. new york mayor-elect eric adams chose the new nypd commissioner. sewell is a 22-year police veteran and currently serves as nassau county chiefof detectives. she's the first woman. >> in this moment, i have come full circle. and it is with clear eyes about the task and challenges ahead that i accept the position of new york city police commissioner. [ applause ] >> a big moment for new york city, a big moment for us as well, incoming commissioner keechant sewell will join us on this show tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. coming up, a team of detectives responding to a huge rise in organized retail crime. swarms of people charging into stores and making off with a ton of stuff. the build back better bill. if it's delayed, millions of parents could lose important benefits this week. i'll talk in a moment about how it will impact one mother, in just a matter of days. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day. cough cough sneeze sneeze... 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>> reporter: the reality is, katy, schumer doesn't have the votes to pass the build back better plan just yet. senator joe manchin remains noncommitted to voting for the legislation. and he needs all 50 democrats to support it in order for it to pass. they're also running out of time here. there are still negotiations going on between members on the state and local tax deduction. they still have to go through the process with the senate parliamentarian to make sure every line of the bill complies with senate rules. and these things still need to be done before they can even bring it to the floor. the reality is until they get senator joe manchin to commit to voting for this legislation, they don't have the votes. so they're going to punt until most -- most likely, anyway, until next year, and i'm hearing perhaps not until march or april, katy. >> that's a long time off. what about voting rights, do they expect to have any better chances on that? >> reporter: i'm hearing more optimism from senate democrats on voting rights than they are on build back better at this point. in order to do something on voting rights is they have to change the senate rules to enable it to pass with just a simple majority vote. i just caught up with senator jon tester who is part of the negotiations with senator joe manchin and leadership on how to change those rules. he said they're moving towards a talking filibuster so he says not one person can veto every piece of legislation. and they are having meetings today, they had meetings yesterday, the day before. and hear hoping to do something on voting rights before they adjourn for the year. and so we'll see. it's very difficult to get it done. it's very difficult to believe that senator manchin and others will support changing senate rules. but they're continuing those talks, katy. >> leigh ann caldwell, thank you very much. the last expanded child tax benefits go out today, potentially the last check like this, period. 61 million kids have benefitted from this money since july, money economists said would have the greatest impact on pulling american children out of poverty. of the $93 billion that went out, families spent much of it on school supplies, childcare, and debt payments. one steady found that families in new mexico used nearly half of that money on food. consider that. half of that money on food. but that money will stop unless congress acts. with me now is nbc news senior business correspondent and msnbc anchor stephanie ruhle. i mean, that just hits you. you're using the money on food. congress doesn't seem like they are in a rush to pass this, even though it's helping millions of children. >> well, the expanded child tax credit is actually one of the more popular parts of build back better. unfortunately there's a lot of other parts in there that are less popular which is why we're not so excited about it either. and he has not said he's not completely against it. what he wants is to revisit it, potentially look at the parameters around it, possibly narrow it. but bottom line, last checks go out today. and remember, over the last six months, what if people had to spend more money on? everything. everything costs more money. clothing, food, gasoline. now, at the coldest time of year, when you know it costs more to heat your house, those checks are done, finito, finished. those families are getting $430 a month. that is a cushion, a lifeline that people are depending on. >> there's a lot of debate whether build back better and the child tax credit will make inflation worse. jared bernstein of the white house went on a long twitter screed about it today, saying no, this stuff is already in place, it's not going to make inflation works. make sense of it for me. >> listen, there are so many factors that go into inflation, right? someone can say paying people more doesn't cause more inflation. when there's more money in the system, which there is, that can cause demand to go up and prices to go up, that is true. however you cannot say giving people a lifeline is the sole reason why inflation is through the roof. the fed is trying to take on inflation. jay powell, the fed, met earlier today and we're likely to see an accommodative monetary policy ending soon, that's going to take on inflation. but this issue around the child tax credit, everyone knew it would end at the end of the year. yet now that those families are having to face it, it's serious business. >> i guess if you're a family right now, where do you look, steph, and you need this money? is there anywhere to go? >> listen, there is still government support. it's not that there isn't at all. the money didn't exist before last june, so it's not like this is something people have been depending on year after year. but remember, joe biden's approval ratings are going down. one of the main reasons it's happening is because of inflation. so families who are struggling now, while they're getting that money, are going to be struggling a whole heck of a lot more come january and february. >> stephanie, thank you so much, good to see you. the last expanded child tax credit checks go out -- you know what, this is the wrong script. we're actually going to go to a mom who is -- >> didn't i just tell you we're having script problems? >> i apologize. but we're going to get back on track. stephanie just gave us the overview. here is what it means to individual families. our next guest is jania gorman, a single mom of five from pennsylvania. her kids have been in foster care since 2013 because she's been unable to support them. she says the $750 child payments have helped tremendously. she now has three of her children living back under her roof. janina, thank you so much for being here. let's talk about this. what does it many to you to get this money, what does it mean to your kids that you have this money? >> well, i mean, i am, like so many of the 40 million other people in america who live paycheck to paycheck, this $750 a month meant for the very first time ever i was able to pay all of my utilities and my rent and still make sure that my kids had glasses and clothes to wear to school. it meant i could still have food on the table and pay all of our utilities. it meant i didn't have to choose between paying one bill or the other or waiting until i got a shutoff notice. and it meant that i could spend more time with my kids, as a gig worker and so many other tip workers in the u.s., i very much can't miss any work or we can't pay the bills. >> what is your message to lawmakers who say, you know what, this costs too much money. >> i feel like a lot of times people simply look at the numbers. they forget they're dealing with real people. right now, because i have three special needs children in my home, all with various needs, i am constantly going to appointments and specialists and pittsburgh children's hospital, which prevents me from having a normal 9:00 to 5:00 job. where are my kids and i going to be if i have to miss work to go to their appointments and i get fired and we don't have that cushion? what happens when i have to go see a state case worker? already i've had 28 days of missed work that i would not have been able to do if we didn't have the child tax credit to fall back on. >> forgive me for asking this but what do you say to those out there who say, listen, the world is tough, you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you're not working hard enough. >> i would say there are millions of others like me who are doing work. it's unpaid work. it's care giving work. it's what this country needs to survive. all of us are care giving for children. i'm care giving for children with multiple disabilities and special needs. on average, every day we have at least three to five points, every single day. how am i supposed to get another job and still make sure they're getting the adequate care they need? how am i supposed to choose between my kids getting quality care and not paying the bills? that's not a choice any family should have to make. >> you've said to us you have to do uber eats because it's the only job you can do on the hours that you can do it and that you can take your kids with you to do. >> yeah, it's the only job that i can get right now. i tried doing phone work, but some of my kids have vocal problems so that doesn't work in the background. so the only job i can do now is local delivery driving which is like $5 an hour and tips. it's not a lot. but that's the only thing i can get. that way i can take my kids with me, make sure they're safe, make sure they're taken care of, and i kind of make my own hours so that i'm not seeing any problems with their appointments and specialists they need to have a good quality of life. >> i know you've reached out to your lawmakers in your state. have you heard back from them? >> i have personally not heard from them. >> oh, well. janina gorman, thank you very much, we wish you all the best. we wish you luck. i know it's super hard being a mom, it's super hard being a mom with young kids. it's even harder, i can imagine, being a mom of kids with special needs. you're doing your best, and god bless. >> thank you very much for having me. >> thank you for being here. next, inside the undercover group tasked with stopping a wave of retail robberies. this... is the planning effect. this is how it feels to have a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture. this is what it's like to have a comprehensive wealth plan with tax-smart investing strategies designed to help you keep more of what you earn. and set aside more for things like healthcare, or whatever comes down the road. this is "the planning effect" from fidelity. or whatever comes down the road. when our daughter and her kids moved in with us... our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. [daughter] slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. police across the u.s. are on high alert amid a wave of smash and grab robberies this holiday season. mobs are ransacking stores and taking thousands of dollars worth of goods. vicki nguyen got an inside look at an uncover operation trying to take down this organized retail crime. >> sores hit by organized retail crime, theft rings that scout and plan and execute high value heists from drug stores to brand name merchandise. theft cost the retail industry $70 billion a year. to show what you is at stake, i'm in perry'sberg township, ohio, with a small suburb of toledo and joining me now is detective sergeant john curtis. tell us why this town is such a hot spot for organized crime. >> we're located in the area that is the cross roads of america. thieves could jump off the interstate and hit the stores, steal the product and be back on the interstate. >> he leads a team of three detectives to respond daily and track stolen goods online, kurt said they end up on facebook market place. that is where offers found this power tool set for $350. $200 less than retail at home depot. our cameras were there for the undercover buy. >> this is unopened? >> yeah, yes. >> but police arrest him saying he's a fugitive wanted for aggravated robbery and buying this with a stolen credit card. >> kyle is senior manager of investigations for home depot. they've locked up high theft products and now they're testing new technology. >> bluetooth activation, the tool is useless until it is paid for. >> he said online resale makes it easy for criminals to hide and profit. >> can the online market place do more to thwart these crimes, should they do more? >> i think so. we would like to see that go back to the online market places to do a better job of vetting the people that are selling on their platform. >> in a statement a spokesperson for facebook said we prohibit the sale of stolen goods on our platform and use a number of tools to prevent this kind of fraud. we encourage people to report suspicious listings. kurt said these crimes cost all of us. >> we're all paying more. it is affectk all of the consumers that are honest. >> they are now requiring online markets to confirm the identity of sellers. >> that would be a really big deal. thank you to vicki nguyen for that reporting. and that is going to do it for me today. chris jansing picks up our coverage next. is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... when our daughter and her kids moved in with us... our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. 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