Good morning, its wednesday, november 16th, im betty nguyen alongside ali velshi and louis burgdorf. President elect donald trump is facing backlash for violating a longstanding tradition after slipping out of his home without bringing the press along. Mr. Trump left trump tower in new york city last night to have dinner without notifying the pool of reporters covering him that he was leaving or where he was going. Early in the night his spokeswoman said the president elects day had ended, signaling hed remain in his home for the night, but later an unannounced motorcade departed from trump tower. The press was alerted trump had left the building after a bloomberg reporter tweeted a photo of him at the steakhouse. He was joined by melania and sons donald jr. And eric, this video captured of trump inside that restaurant. Trumps spokeswoman confirmed trump had dinner with his family and claimed she did not know of the plans. Its the latest incident in whats been a series of frustrations for the press covering the president elect, not getting access to his schedule, and raises concerns about trumps accessibility to the press and the public. Hes refused to travel with the press corps during the election, nor have their briefings been about the transition, which were customary for past administrations. Donald trump got his first president ial Daily Briefing yesterday, but a simple question remains as he makes his transition from candidate to president , how are things really going . Check out the front page of the New York Times. Firings and Discord Put Trump Transition Team in state of disarr disarray. Firing back on twitter, very organized process taking place. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are with an exclamation point. The wall street journal reports mike pence is ordering all lobbyists off the Transition Team. Mike rogers, whos a former fbi agent and House Intel Committee chairman was thought to be near the top of the list for security position like cia director, but he announced he was handing off his duties. Sources tell nbc news rogers departure was part of a stalinesque purge aimed at ousting christie and his allies. Emerging fiefdoms have complicated things, then concerns about rudy giuliani. Politico reports he was paid to do consulting work for foreign governments, including iranian exiles and groups from qatar and venezuela. I think it is worrisome some of the ties to foreign governments, because that was a big complaint about many of us with Hillary Clinton and her ties and the money she received from foreign governments, so whether or not you have divided loyalty, obviously, is very important. The thing donald trump said over and over again was he was opposed to the iraq war and he learned that lesson that regime change in the middle east was not a good idea, yet i dont see giuliani coming out with statements like that. You want to have a diplomat in charge of diplomacy. You dont want a bomb thrower. No, john boltons totally unfit to be secretary of state. Id say its a stiff uphill climb for me with giuliani, because hed have to convince me he understands now the iraq war was a mistake and i havent heard anything like that coming from him. Senator rand paul joins morning joe later this morning. Louis . There are plenty of others seen coming and going from trump tower, marla maples seen in the lobby, senator ted cruz, who upstaged the Republican Convention seen there, as well. Others wanted to be known they are interested, like the mayor of tulsa, who interrupted his state of the city address to let everyone know hes interested in being the transportation secretary, but frequent trump surrogate ben carson cleared speculation he might serve as secretary of health and human services. His Business Manager told the hill hed serve only as an unofficial adviser adding, dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, hes never run a federal agency. The last thing hed want to do would be take a position that would cripple the presidency. Worth noting he ran for president. We were talking about people loyal to Chris Christie may be forced out of the Transition Team. Andrea mitchell reports its related to ivanka trumps husband, jared kushner, and a case involving christie years ago. Reporter throughout a tough campaignjared kushner, ivanka trumps husband, was never far from Donald Trumps side. Jared is a very successful real estate person, but i actually think he likes politics more than he likes real estate. Reporter so what kind of influence will the 35yearold publisher and Real Estate Developer wield once his fatherinlaw is in the oval office . One clue, while trump was meeting with the president , kushner was referring with his chief of staff. Nbc news learned kushner was asked to sit in on Daily Briefings. Harvard educated kushner comes from a devout orthodox judaism family. Hes the person i lean on the most. Reporter jared took over his familys real estate business when his father, charles kushner, went to prison in 2005, pleading guilty on tax and conspiracy charges. The prosecutor, thenu. S. Attorney Chris Christie. Mr. Kushner engaged in a conspiracy with coconspirators. Reporter now kushner is at the center of the purge removing christie from the Transition Team. Obviously, his soninlaw is going to be involved in decision making. Reporter antinepotism laws hold back kushner from holding an official job. For someone to have those powers is itself a contradiction. Reporter no doubt Donald Trumps soninlaw will play a big role in the new white house. Andrea mitchell reporting there. House republicans anonymously nominated paul ryan for another term as house speaker. Hell face an election in the full house in january. He pledged to work closely with the president elect, though they have often butted heads. Welcome to the dawn of a new unified republican government. Were on the same page with our president elect. I talk with donald trump virtually every single day. I spoke with mike pence this morning. Were on the same page, working hand in glove and going to make sure this is a successful administration, but more importantly, were going to make sure the voices we heard from the American People are acted upon. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has greed to move leadership elections until after thanksgiving. Pelosi, whos held her position for 14 years, could face a potential challenge from congressman tim ryan. The democrat will be a guest on morning joe coming up later this morning. Senators sanders and warren are voicing concern about Donald TrumpsTransition Team. Both argue that the president elect is breaking his Campaign Promise to drain the swamp. Washington has been dominated by lobbyists, powerful special corporate interests for decades, and it is time that we rid washington of their influence. Unfortunately, what we are now beginning to see is what i feared, and that is a lot of what mr. Trump was saying to get votes turns out to be not what he intends to do as the president of the United States. What is the trump Transition Administration do that its not doing now . It doesnt start by hiring a bunch of lobbyists to run a transition. It doesnt start by floating names of people who have run giant hedge funds to be or been part of that, to run the treasury, or people that come from industry to be able to run the regulatory agencies. You know, the American People understand about the revolving door, and i think they are really sick of it. Senator warren penned a letter to president elect trump. If you truly stand by your commitment to making government work for all americans, you must remove the lobbyists and financial big wigs from your Transition Team. Senator tim kaine was back on capitol hill yesterday, he reflected at being back at his day job. The role of the Democratic Senate minority is going to be very, very important, so its nice to get back to work after a little bit over the weekend. Its good to get back. Later this morning, president obama will give his final speech abroad in a little more than an hour from now. Yesterday he held a joint News Conference with alexis tip sipp police. Its going to be a busy morning for president obama, who will be giving his final speech on foreign soil. A big picture look at the world, but a very different view than he might have given had donald trump not been elected. Now all the questions that are being asked by foreign leaders, including the groeks. President obama has tried to help them deal with a crushing debt. Unsalvageable is the way donald trump has looked at it, and so these kinds of questions, these kinds of concerns, hes going to be addressing today in a speech that im told has kept at least one senior aide up for most of the last three days. Now, yesterday he gave a press conference with the greek Prime Minister and i asked him about whether or not he feels any responsibility for the outcome of the election. Heres what he told me. I was surprised by the election results, and i said so. I still dont feel responsible for what the president elect says or does. But i do feel a responsibility as president of the United States to make sure ive facilitated good transition and i present to him, as well as the American People, my best thinking, my best ideas, about how you move the country forward. The president did get a break from the pressures of the trip. Last night there was a state dinner at the president ial palace in athens and later this morning hell get to see what he really wanted to see, which is to go up and take a walk around the part non. Then he gets on a plane and goes to germany and meet with angela merkel, someone criticized he y heavily by donald trump. Other european leaders will be there, as well. Then the final stop on this trip, which will be peru, ending the week there, where he had hoped to, frankly, be giving them good news about tpp, a signature trade agreement that he hoped to get passed in a lame duck session of congress. That is now dead. So a very different kind of trip than president obama would have planned just a little more than a week ago before donald trump was elected president. Back to you. All right, chris jansing, thank you. Still ahead, details about denvers new first in the nation law legalizing social marijuana use. Plus, tony romo giving a heartfelt speech. Those stories and a check on weather when we come right back. When you find something worth waiting for, well help you invest to protect it for the future. Financial guidance while youre mastering life. From chase, so you can. An expression of disgust caused by inadequate litter tidy cats is the cure. With new guaranteed tidylock protection, you wont have to face one more stank face. Tidy cats. Every home, every cat. Theres a tidy cats for that. Welcome back, everyone. A tragic story in chicago to tell you about. Police there have arrested a man in connection with the death of a toddler, whose body was found dismembered in a lagoon a year and a half ago. The authorities claim the man killed the lactose intolerant toddler after he was fed milk and cried all afternoon. We promised wed never give up on him, and we havent. Andrew cuomo is responding to a recent uptick in antisemitic graffiti and raciallybased bullying in schools, announcing a hot line for anyone who wants to report instances of bias or discrimination. The governor added, we will continue to work with our local partners to investigate all incidents of reporte bias and ensure that new yorkers feel safe and protected. Any acts of discrimination or intimidation will be met with a full force of the law. Denver is set to become the first u. S. City allowing people to use marijuana in bars and restaurants. Opposition 300 was declared victorious yesterday after campaigns both for and against the measure agreed that it had passed. Under the plan, businesses will be able to get permits to let patrons use pot indoors, as long as it isnt smoked. So vaporizers, et cetera, and smoke marijuana outdoors. Colorado approved Recreational Marijuana in 2012. Now, last week california, massachusetts, and nevada became the latest states to approve pot for recreational use. Betty . Bill karins is going to have to follow up recreational pot use this morning with some kind of weather for us, good luck. By getting outside and doing recreation. Whole southern half of the country is going to be very warm and sunny, people getting away with shorts in the middle of the nation today. Lets talk about snow. Snowstorm is going to come, starting in the rockies today and tomorrow and into the plains on friday. The blue shows you where the snow is. Green is the rain. Were starting to get snow in the Northern Rockies and cascades. We have our first blizzard watch of the winter season thats been issued here, portions of south dakota, little sliver there of southern north dakota and also a good section of central minnesota. This is the area most likely thursday into friday that have to deal with blizzard conditions. Happens to be the first storm of the season, too. Hows that for a slap in the face . Warmest november ever to blizzard conditions in three days. We could see six to 12 inches with blowing and drifting snow. The mountains here, great for the skiers, ski in wyoming, about a good four to eight inches of snow with drifts. Lets take you through the timing of this. This is throughout today, this afternoon, the storm moves over the rockies. Salt lake city just rain for you, but provo could get snow, too. The mountains of wyoming tonight, into tomorrow. As we go into thursday night, the blue is the snow. It breaks out, even denver is going to get snow out of this. Many areas of nebraska, south dakota, and into minnesota. As we go through thursday and friday, the storm gets a lot stronger, the back band is where well see the heaviest snow. Even minneapolis it looks mostly rain, on the tail end you could get snow, but the higher totals are definitely in the northern half of the state. First Snowfall Forecast of the winter season, mountains of wyoming, six to 12 inches of snow, white one to three. Thats a good coverage of snow from colorado through the central plains. This is the blizzard conditions here from north of sioux falls to northern minnesota, possibility of up to a foot of snow there. Thats a significant first event. As i mentioned, the rest of the country, guys, it is a roll the windows down type day. 70 in st. Louis, 85 dallas. Theres gorgeous stuff out there. Crazy to see 80s and then blizzards. It is 60 in minneapolis, then it could be dealing with snow and wintery conditions in two days. All right, thank you, bill. Still ahead, several nba teams are distancing themselves from donald trump after last weeks election. Well explain coming up in sports. Style lets you stand out from the herd. Whats inside sets you apart. The cadillac escalade. Enjoy our best offers of the year. I want a hippopotamus for christmas only a hippopotamus will do no crocodiles no rhinoceroses i only like hippopotamuses and hippopotamuses like me too at the United States postal service, we deliver more Online Purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. And more hippopotamuses, too. I only like hippopotamuses so whatever your holiday priority, our priority is you. For patients like lynn, advanced Genomic Testing may lead to other Treatment Options that can work. Learn how Genomic Testing is changing the way we fight cancer at cancercenter. Com genomics mshe said i should think of my rteeth like an apple. It could be great on the outside not so great on the inside. Her advice . 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Thatas an emotional tony romo delivering a prepared statement yesterday, which he acknowledged he is no longer the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback. Romo, whos missed the first nine games of the year after suffering a back injury in the preseason, has accepted his new role as dak prescotts backup, as he prepares to make his return on sunday when the cowboys host the ravens. In romos absence, prescott has led dallas to a league best 81 record atop the nfc east. Turning now to International Soccer and trouble for the usa days after dropping the opening game of the final round of the world cup qualifying to mexico with a 21 loss. The u. S. Mens National Team traveled to costa rica where they were humiliated 40 last night. Its the worst defeat in 59 years. Team usa now finds itself in a deep hole, falling to 02 for the