Did it. You know what i like even less . Somebody leaking this stuff out. Ill ask jeh johnson about all that and russias m. D. Lerus. Silent no more. Stormy daniels says she is not going anywhereas two more women chime in, including a former playmate whose lawyer is speaking out. Karen mcdougle had a sexual relationship with donald trump for ten months. It was a romantic relationship. They were together very often. Good day on a snowy day in washington, d. C. Im Andrea Mitchell. Austin police are telling residents there that their nightmare may be over. The critical moment coming earlier this morning when 24yearold suspect Mark Anthony Conditt rigged a fourth package bomb explosion, set off another bomb allegedly inside a vehicle as s. W. A. T. Officers moved in to make an arrest. Federal investigators working with local Police Believe the suspect built all the bombs but has not officially ruled ut him having some assistance. The key concern right now whether the suspect sent any additional packages before being located. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez has been tracking the story from texas. Gabe, what are they now saying whether or not this was a lone wolf or someone might have been helping him . Reporter good afternoon, andrea. Investigators are checking to see if he might have had any accomplices. This is very fast in the investigation right now. Investigators are at the nearby home of Mark Anthony Conditts parents trying to find out if he did have any contact or left any packages behind. We understand his home is not far from his parents home, just a few blocks away, we understand. According to governor greg abbott, they are cooperating with investigators at this point. We have new exclusive reporting from the nbc Investigative Unit. We can report according to senior multiple senior Law Enforcement officials that one of the ways that Law Enforcement was able to connect all of these bombs the five explosions in the last several weeks is that the bomber used a foreign exotic battery in each of these bombs and one senior Law Enforcement official says that they apparently came from asia and that they were bought online. It is extremely critical to understand how police were not only able to tie all these bombs together but also how they were able to track the suspect. We also understand the suspects biggest mistake was going to a med fedex facility here in the austin area and mailing two packages. Agents were able to use Surveillance Video to zero in on the suspect. Also according to senior multiple Law Enforcement officials the suspect in the hours before the final confrontation actually turned his cell phone on and Law Enforcement officials were able to use cell phone towers to ping his location to here, round rock, texas and this Hotel Parking lot not far from where im standing where theres been an active investigation going on all morning. They were able to find him in a Hotel Parking lot, police say. Then they were waiting for tactical vehicles when he decided to drive away. Police say they chased him and he pulled over into a ditch just off i35 here just north of austin. Thats when police say he detonated one last bomb. One officer was injured in that explosion. He is expected to be okay. Another officer did fire his weapon. So right now not clear what killed the suspect. But the big concern right now is whether there could be other bombs out there. Authorities are working right now to find out if that is the case. Back to you. Gabe, thanks so much. Amazing work by the fbi. Here in washington, sharp criticism from republicans, as well as democrats, for these comments from President Trump about a congratulatory call he made to Vladimir Putin yesterday. I had a call with president putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future. Those congratulations were a shock to the president s only National Security team. The Washington Post reporting today the president ignored clear warnings from his own advisors, including the message, do not congratulate, written in all capital letters. It also addressing condemning putin for the poisoning of a russian spy on british soil. Nbc correspondent brinkristen wr joins me now. His actions are inexplicable. Ignoring his own National Security advisors advice. Reporter thats right, andrea. This highlights this discrepancy here at the white house. On the one hand several days ago they announced they were enacting thoeenact ing those sanctions against russia for meddling in the election. Yet critics say the president is being nonconfrontational, as you pointed out, going against stern warnings of his National Security team not to congratulate president putin, not raising the issue of russian meddling. Senator john mccain had some very stern words about this saying an american president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. Senator marco rubio earlier today had some very strong words as well about this, but he said what bothers him more are the leaks. The fact that this was leaked out. We now this was roiling a number of people in the west wing. Our own Peter Alexander got this statement if that statement is accurate that means someone around the president is leaking papers and a fireable offense and likely illegal. Sara sanders was pressed yesterday on why the president didnt raise the issue of russias meddle. She said, look, it is not the job of the u. S. Kristen, lets just play that because it is so striking. It is really extraordinary. Does the white house believe that the election in russia was free and fair . Look, in terms of the election, there were focused on our elections. We dont get to dictate how other countries operate. What we do know is that putin has been elected in their country and thats not something that we can dictate to them how they operate. Why doesnt the president and white house believe thats something they should be discussing with the russian leader . I didnt say we couldnt discuss it with the russian leader. I said it didnt come up on todays call. Only today Vice President presence was scheduled to speak today here in washington against venezuelas rigged election. Right. We always have a history if the United States of president s speaking out against unfair elections. And last year, andrea, the white house was very firm on that point that you raised, venezuela, calling for free and fair elections. So a lot of people were saying, well, why not russia . So it is coming under a lot of scrutiny. Worth noting that former president obama did congratulate putin when he won back in 2011 but a lot of people say, look, the circumstances were so different then. It wasnt coming in the wake of russias meddling in the u. S. Election. This continues to be a real focus here at the white house. Now we dont have a briefing because it is a snow day. So essentially the federal government is closed but well ask her about that tomorrow when things resume here, andrea. Kristen, get inside. Warm up. Jeh johnson, former head of Homeland Security under president obama who joins me now on prevention of future meddling this year, 2020 and going forward. First of all, thank you, welcome and good to have you here on the set. Straight from capitol hill. Straight from a snowy capitol hill. The comparison of president obama, ill let you respond to that. But this is before the ukraine invasion. It is before our sanctions against them for ukraine. Obviously before the elections meddling and before everything is known about what they are doing and did last year. Correct. One thing i have to point out, weve got some real tension spots with russia right now, and as i just said before the Senate Intelligence committee, super powers respond to deterrence. They respond and refrain if they know that the behavior is cost prohibitive. That message really does have to come from the top. The Treasury Department issued sanctions last week, but leaders of governments like russia take their message they take their cues from the counterpart, their person at the top. And if theyre not hearing that from the president of the United States, then a lot of the things that his administration is doing to try to send a message is undermined, frankly. In your testimony today, you were questioned by Dianne Feinstein and others about how openly you warned before. Let you a play you a little bit of that exchange. The American People were never told. Why . Well, senator, the American People were told. Not sufficiently in any way, shape or form to know that there was a major active measure going on, perhaps by a foreign power. On october 7, 2016, the director of National Intelligence and i issued a pretty blunt statement saying that the russian government was interfering in our political process directed by the highest levels of the russian government. That was a pretty blunt statement. It was belowthefold news the next day because of the release of the access hollywood video. Do you think it would have been above the fold if the president and Vice President had said something . With all due respect, you were a cabinet secretary. If it had come from the oval office would it have gotten more attention . A lot of people have asked that question. I continue to believe that in that particular campaign, as heated as it was, with one of the candidates saying the outcome is going to be rigged, and all the things we were wrestling with at the time, if president obama had himself gotten into this and made that statement, in many respects we would have been playing right into candidate trumps rhetoric. So the judgment was made that it should come from the Intelligence Community and the Homeland Security community, and thats what we did. The statement was very blunt. It was very plain spoken. But as i pointed out, and i pointed out a number of times, it was overwhelmed, frankly, by access hollywood, by the video, by the debate two days later, the speculation over the weekend, hes going to drop out, he cant possibly withstand this. There was very little followup from journalists. Not until december. On what we have said. What we know now about facebook, what it did not do in terms of making sure Cambridge Analytica had deleted those files that were out there in full view from people who may have of whose data they had acquired. All of this now, what does that tell you also about the russian connection since Cambridge Analytica also was in business with lukoil and other of the oligarchs . Andrea, this aspect of the russian interference having to do with collection of data, microtargeting, fake news, is the aspect of it that i think we havy et to fule yet to fully un. It may be months, if not years, before we fully understand the full extent of what the russians launched and were in jeopardy of the exact same thing happening again, according to our intelligence chiefs. It is ongoing right now and the 2018 midterms are ongoing right now. Primaries have already started. In your conversations with your successor who testified alongside you today, the head of the administration at the nsc level, had they done an administrationwide agencywide effort to defend against our democracy depends on it. We certainly had countless meetings on this subject in the obama white house. At the nsc level, at the Principals Committee level. What about now . I cant count them all. Now im concerned this is not getting sufficient attention at the top. I think what the Treasury Department did the other week is a good sign. But the message has to come from the top. It has to come from the president of the United States in terms of issuing sufficient deterrents. President obama had a direct conversation with president put been this in 2016. And theyre still at it, theyre still doing what they are trying to do to interfere with our democracy. President trump, after his meeting with vietnam with president putin, seemed to indicate his denials at least he repeated his denials. Yesterday the president ignored explicit capital letters warnings from his own National Security team. Whats your reaction to that . Well, i can understand the temptation sometimes to want to try to establish a warm personal relationship with another leader, and then your staff gives you here are five things you must say. And sometimes you feel like, well, i dont want to say those hard things. Id rather just have a nice, easy conversation. With you when you a but youre not just representing yourself. You are representing the entire United States government and the interests of the American People. So if it is incumbent upon a cabinet secretary or a president to deliver a hard message, the whole nation really does depend on it. Do you think there is a nefarious reason . Is there something sinister going on or just donald trump having great confidence in his own personal diplomacy . Thats a great question that i dont think we fully understand the answer. Thats one reason why the special counsels investigation is so important. How worried are you about it being interfered with or mueller being fired . Well, the rhetoric has not been helpful and director mueller is somebody who will persevere. He is immune from political pressure. You work with him closely. I have worked with him in the past. I believe he is being very thorough and he is going to reach whatever conclusion he reaches. And literally he will go where the evidence leads him. I have a lot of confidence in him. I hope and believe that most of the congress does, too. What do you think should happen if he is fired . Wouldnt be by the president but it would be a series it would be a serious game changer as a number of democrats and republicans in congress have said. Jeh johnson, as always, thank you for being with us today. Digital divide. New insight into who really drove the Trump Campaign victory and the critical timeline from wikileaks. John podesta joins me next. You are awatching Andrea Mitchell reports. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. No one burns heon my watch try alka seltzer. 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Mark zuckerberg is finally said to break his silence at some time today as facebook is facing growing pressure from lawmakers and employees over his relationship with Cambridge Analytica, the campaign that worked on President Trumps digital campaign. The ceo has been suspended in the wake of the controversy and newly released video obtained shows Alexander Knicks bragging about his role in electing donald trump. Have you mentioned this to donald trump . Cambridge analytica denies collecting information improperly saying it never claimed it won the election for President Trump, its patently absurd, we are proud of the work we did on that campaign. Facebook issuing a statement saying the entire company is outraged, we were deceived. We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect peoples information. Joining me now, nbc reporter Anna Schecter from our Investigative Unit who is tracking all of this. What do we now know about how zuckerberg is likely to respond . Ive just been heard from a facebook insider that hes been planning to respond to the Cambridge Analytica scandal all along but its been five days of silence. No word on exactly the format that he will address the public but we do expect that later today. Obviously the markets are having their say. Theyve lost some 5 billion in value. Reputationally its really stunning that they ha