You can see the smoke still billowing out of the building. The attack is being felt around the world. They are resilient people and they will need the worlds support in the coming difficult days. This tragedy is a terrible reminder to all of us that we all share a stake in one another. High stakes diplomacy. More leaders head to the United Nations here in new york. President obama is said to address the General Assembly tomorrow and will attempt the diplomatic dance dealing with prices in syria and russias role in both and wrestling with iran, why hillarys will she or wont she. The developing story inside that west gate mall. Our crew has been in place throughout the day as Kenyan Police and military forces make a tactical push to find the terrorists responsible. Ron allen is live in nairobi for us. What is the latest . Reporter andrea its a volatile situation. The situation is under control but there are still a lot of questions. We understood at the start of the day and were going to get back to ron and fix the microphone. The audio problems obviously disturbing that but we will get back to him in a moment. Nbc justice correspondent pete williams. Both former top officials in the field. Pete what do you know as far as your sources the fbi and elsewhere are telling you right now . The question that they have been checking out is the allegation that there are americans among the gunmen who were involved in this attack. And the bottom line is that nobody knows whether thats true or not. Several problems with it. The allegation comes from two lists that were sent from what proported to be an alshabab internet posting, tweet if you will. But there is a question at the very beginning about whether that is legitimate or not. In any event, the names have been checked against a list of known terrorists or people known to have gone from the u. S. To join up with alshabab and they find no match ups. The u. S. Is checking these names against passport holders, immigration lists and so forth to see if anyone with those names at least had a passport or has traveled outside of the country and i dont know what the results of that is yet. Even if you assume that they are passport holders and did travel, that does not by itself mean they were involved in this attack. There is never we wont have a definitive answer until the attack is over and the kenyan authorities have positively identified the people who were involved. Now, michael and margaret, you have both been involved in government when we were dealing with the problems with terrorism in the area with somalia. Lets set the stage here, roger. Obviously somalia states the nation. In recent years, the kenyans have been part of an African Union to go in and try to quell the violence and this is apparently what alshabab is retaliating against. Yes. You have seen a number of regional governments both the kenyans and eiththe ethiopians. All have suffered inside of somal somalia, you have seen many people believed that alshabab was on its heels. What they have demonstrated now is at least in this one case the capability to project power inside kenya aware of a spectacular attack that is going to draw a lot of focus back on them. This attack against a fivestar Shopping Mall midday saturday filled with people, filled with europeans, americans, and other foreign nationals. This was a very high end place. They were targeting western interests as well. There is probably some religious aspect to everything that alshabab does. Thats why there was some security, obviously insufficient security. Combined with the western aspect of this mall which made it an attractive target. This is the very western very a fluent elements of society. What we really dont know is what this says yet about the broader strength. It has shown some stability to launch a relative ly it does hae broader transnational inclination or let alone ability as some have jumped too quickly to point to. I am. Its not that a radicalized element of the Somalia Community have gone. This has been an area that the u. S. Infell jens community has been intensely focused on and this is an area that people have to remain focused on what we saw in kenya, i think is very unlikely. Do we still run the risk of lone wolves. Could there be somebody with somolian background . It is possible. But i think it is far more possible than what we saw in nairobi. The mall itself was not that well defended but in general in kenya, since the horrific 1998 bombings of the u. S. Embassy there in nairobi which has since been rebuilt, what about soft targets . Let me second what mike said. We have got be careful not to take two and two and conclude 200. Anybody who believes there is now a threat is way overreacting. The kenyans have done what we and everyone else who have suffered terror attacks have done. They have hardened targets. There is is a wide variety of soft targets that unless youre going to fundamentally change how the targets operate, you simply cant get the layers of security in there. So, the kenyans have always tried to strike that balance like the rest of us. Their police are uneven. Their Intelligence Services is certainly much better. There is going to be another wave of questioning which is where did this cell come from . Was it already in kenya . Did it come over the border . And were there signs missed leading up to this attack . Thank you all very much. Want to get back to ron allen. Ron, i know we have cleared up the microphone issue. Tell us the situation now. Are there still hostages inside that mall . We honestly dont know. The government is claiming that they are in control. There has been no sometimes gunfire spilling out into the neighborhoods beyond the malls. There is a heavy troop presence down there. We have seen troops and armored personnel carriers coming in throughout the day. The fire is burning throughout the mall. Its dark out here at night. I can still see a plume of smoke. Perhaps its not safe enough for the firefighter brigades to get down there and try to do that both sides have blamed the other. What sounded like a sequence to me leading to some speculation that the government may have set off some kind of booby trap. It has been long discussed that they perhaps brought explosives into the mall. The other reason being the hostages. We believe that at the beginning of the day there were as many as ten people still being held capti captive. The president yet indicated there were 10 to 15 gunmen still heavily armed and still holed up. They said earlier that they had confined the gunman to a certain area of the mall. If they are talking about being in control, they have presented no evidence of that and we dont know what is going on with these hostages. The militants have tweeted that some of the hostages were killed. And others were concerned about some of the messages being sent out. We believe the power has been shut down in the area. There is a lot of concern by the kenyan government to be careful and leary of what youre putting out there in social media which is a very interesting twist in our 2013 world as to how this whole sequence of events has unfolded. The militants also use social media to, for example, last night when the government assault began to tweet a message that said paraphrasing now, Government Forces moving in, failing miserably. So again, using it as part of their propaganda but providing us to some extent with a window to what is going on in that mall. There has been very Little Information from the kenyan government and again they are maintaining that its under control but presenting no evidence of that. There are reports that the gunmen have escaped. There is an armored personnel trying to get in there trying to gain control or essentially end this situation. Doesnt seem to me that he would be driving them up if they were in control. And at the prime time emmys, some upsets in the world of politics, political news and fake news and its a surprise even to jeff daniels. He was chewing gum. Well crap. Didnt expect this. I usually dont win anything. The last thing i have won was a few years ago. Won the best actor over 50 from the aarp. He said that got him a barka lounger. Wow. The emmys are so good this year. D against obamacare, just to prove their allegiance to their partys right wing. Okay theyve said their piece. But now theyve gone even further. Threatening to shut down the government if obamacare isnt dismantled. 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For a store near you go to benjaminmoore. Com bayarea. For a store near you go to benjaminmoore. Com bayarea. We all know that the government is going to be funded. The question is whether it will be funded with obama care or without. I people that people of good will will come together. Were not about to shut the government down. But no one is explaining how or what to do about senator ted cruz. Joining me now for our daily fix, the cruz watch. You did make him the worst player of the week. I did. Tell me why. What is it that ted cruz has done to alienate just about everybody in his party. Not everybody. Here is what i would say. I made him worse in washington for a specific reason. As soon as the house passed this bill that went to defund obama care, cruz issued a statement saying look, dont expect too much, i cant do all that much, which led to some very public grousing that said this is exactly what you asked for and now youre getting it. Very few slip ups. Its not just talk that he can be convincing and purr swasive that he is willing to kind of stand on principle on this because he has made defunding obama care the signature issue of his time in the senate and all eyes are going to be on him as the senate opens debate on this measure tomorrow. He is sort of the dog who caught the car. This is what happened with Chris Wallace was telling his panel yesterday on Fox News Sunday how the first time that he got the call, republicans were giving him Opposition Research in order to prepare him to interview ted cruz. This has been one of if strangest weeks i have ever had in washington and i say that because as soon as we listed ted cruz as our featured guest this week, i got Unsolicited Research and questions not from democrats but from Top Republicans who, to hammer cruz. Here is cruz explaining why he wants to filibuster his own bill. It should be an easy decision for Senate Republicans to stand united and support House Republicans. Any vote to allow harry reed to add funding for obama care with just 51 vote threshold, a vote for that is a vote for obama care. So, how does he now disentangled himself from the web he has woven . Whats fascinating is ted cruz being unpopular among republicans, thats not new. Whats new is they have been a little bit more public about it. I think that ted cruz is not interested in rising up the leadership ranks. I think he is interested in running for president one day. This week offers him the opportunity to bolster outside credentials. He does not have to show that he could round up 41 votes to keep a final vote on what we expect to be a bill stripped of defending obama care language. I see that as virtually impossible. He will do everything within his mower to insure that he makes his point. He is likely to emerge from an outsider. If you are hated by many people within your own party. I think he has to show that he is more than just talk here. Thank you very much. Thank you. And more on those prime time emmys where modern family and breaking bad were big winners. The shortest speech was the best supporting actress. Thank you so much. I got to go, bye. And she did. Stealing the show at the start, Fan Favorites tina fey and amy poehler who heckled host Neil Patrick Harris at the beginning of the ceremony. Take your pants off take your pants off. Twerk it. Yeah. Work that twerk. I come to award shows for the twerking. No, stop. Twork it. I am not twerking. I am not going to do that. That would be degrading. It might be degrading but we would be degrateful. The job jugglers. The up allnighters. And the ones who turn ideas into action. Weve made our passions our lifes work. We strive for the moments where we can say, i did it we are entrepreneurs who started it all. With a signature. Legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. And were here to help start yours. 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Rsh the democratic nominee is going to have to find a balance between hugging the president and distances themselves. Within the democratic party, barack obama is going to be hugely popular in 2016. Even if Hillary Clinton does not anticipate a very big she still needs to be on the obama team. And while they did have some disputes. In the end, she is going to have to do what every president ial candidate does which is find a balance which says i like some things but i am distancing from others. It is complicated with her because she ran against him in 2008 and they spent all of that time making up, if you will. Its a complicated relationship. It is a downside for the base. The risk of resurrected all of the talk from 2008. Many people are now clinton people. Even the obama people at the senior levels of 2008, some of whom continue to advise him, many of them if you ask them now and some pubically will say shes our candidate. I dont think she has much of a problem from the 2008 residue. The bigger problem again or any democratic nominee is how do you take a guy after eight years in office and has been a di visive figure, more than he would like to be, how do you balance embracing them with distancing themselves somewhat . Of all the people who know how to do stuff like that, bill and Hillary Clinton are probably head and shoulders above that for whom it would be much more complicated. The president himself was at the memorial. I am told the white house is all but conceding defeat on. People think in the white houses favor, a shut down and or a debt ceiling crisis could tank the economic just when the president needs a lift. The president needs some. But a victory that is enough to stave off a bad reaction in the market, to stave off anything that would cause the economy to start contracting would be victory not to let the president live to fight ood day. Finding solutions at a time when he is weak with both parties. Popularity is down but certainly not at an all time high. He lost his preferred pick back down right away. He had a place for her so she ends up in a tweet spot indeed. So he is operating without a strong hand politically. Rr i wont be now based on the reporting out there. The president needs to rebuild his popularity nationally. His aides can say we dont care. I think maybe giving in on that is the right thing to do but he needs some victories and shows of strength. He is n