words might impact the case against him, coming pup. then republican hopeful herman cain said says he'll make a major announcement regarding his campaign. will he withdraw from the race? we'll have more on that. then later on, he's a major icon behind shows like "the odd couple" and "a pretty woman" now legendary writer gary marshall is giving people a reason to believe again with a new romantic comedy. i sat down with him in our bur bank office. >> did you show him your fonz. i wanted to try on the leather jacket. did you know that consumers spend almost a day trying to figure out what to buy loved ones throughout the holiday seasons? i don't think a day is enough. but many are still paying off last year's holiday shopping bill. before you head out to the mall, with we'll tell you about some of the biggest mistakes, shoppers make and how you can avoid them. let's turn to the story jerry sandusky did with the "new york times." michael isakoff joins us from state college, pennsylvania, with more. >> reporter: good morning, lester. in the interview, sandusky describes himself as a misunderstood father figure who gave gifts and money to children but never sexually abused them. he also described a crucial moment in 2002 when penn state's then at lethic director tim curley confronts him about an allegation that he was engaged in sexually improper behavior with a young boy in the penn state locker room. let's listen to what he has to say. >> in my mind, it wasn't inappropriate behavior. and i said, if you -- if you want, you could speak to the -- the young person that was involved. >> and then, what, did he take your keys or -- >> no. he didn't take my keys. i still had my keys. i still went in there and worked out. >> reporter: in another revealing moment, sandusky tries to explain his seemingly hesitant response when nbc boss costas last month asked him if he was sexually attracted to young boys. here is how he explained it. >> i was sitting there saying, what in the world is this question, you know? what is -- you know, am i going to be -- if i say no, i'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because i'm attracted to young people, boys, girls -- >> but sexually. >> right. i enjoy -- that's what i was trying to say. i enjoy spending time with young people. i enjoy spending time with people. >> in addition to gifts, sandusky also says in the interview he even opened up bank accounts for children. he says it shows how much he cared about them. but prosecutors say that sandusky's financial favors fits a apparently as an example of how he sought to gain their trust in order to sexually abuse them. lester. >> michael, thank you. joining us now with more insight is former prosecutor karen desoto. great you have to on. >> hi, lester. >> interesting that he knits some of the things, liking young people, giving them gifts, the same thing the prosecution will use to say he's grooming kids. is this an attempt to muddy the waters to say it's perfectly natural to want to do things with children? >> attempt to muddy the water, absolutely. i think this is an attempt to rally your base. the allegations are so -- lester, there's nine different children that have very specific details. so as you could tell from the interview that he cherry picks certain things and is very specific about what he's saying and what he's not saying. but it's really interesting what he does admit to, which is being in the showers after hours, he admits to tints happening. at the end of the day, this is why you don't allow your clients to talk because these statements will be used against him because it corroborates that the incidents actually happened which is half of the battle. but at the same time, by coming halfway and saying, listen, i was in the shower and trying to come up with other explanations perhaps that works for the defense on some level. >> no. i don't think it does because when you cherry pick certain facts, then it really corroborates that these incidents actually took place. so they were kind of inappropriate or halfway appropriate? really? will happen lester, let's actually think about it. i prayed high school sports. i never had a coach in the shower with me ever. i can never think of an incident where a coach was actually in the shower. so he does admit to showering with children. that was inappropriate. now you're going to say it was kind of inappropriate, but not really inappropriate. jurors don't look at facts in that way. they say well, if it's inappropriate on one level, it's going to be inappropriate on another. >> it's fascinating that he says they didn't take the keys away from him in the locker room. he was told not to go in there with children any more. is this going to blow back on the university that they didn't do enough to stop him? >> the blow back on the university is already done. you have two people in their administration that have been brought up on criminal charges. both curley and schultz and third degree misdemeanors under pennsylvania law for not reporting. so i think that the administration already has some very serious issues. >> and then he says joe paterno never talked to him about the allegations. i think a lot of people would find it hard to believe in general that the person you work for would not at least say, what happened here? give me your explanation. that there's no discussion? >> well web got rid of him, though. in 1999, he got rid of him. which leads to credibility to the allegations coming out in 199837 joe paterno, what does he do? i don't know if my boss would ever talk to me about being a pedophile and showering with boys. i think at that point you would tell your superior, which he did to the athletic director and get rid of him, which is what he did. it blows back both ways. you say he got fired. >> 1999, so they must have all known about it. >> are we leading up to a plea deal here? given the statements that he's made that you say are incriminating, might this be lead to go a deal? >> no. obviously, prosecutors always want to make a deal because they want to save the taxpayers money and resolve the situation. but if somebody is that adamant, and i can tell you in the cases that i've done, i've never had a defendant that would say okay, with pedophile ya, there's such a stigma attached to it, they will go through the whole way, through the whole trial because they don't want to admit to themselves that they did those things. nobody ever wants to admit to doing that type of disgusting thing to a trial. so we're going to go to a trial. >> difficult subject. >> it certainly is. >> we're going to talk more about this in the coming hour, so stick around. >> absolutely. republican presidential candidate herman cain is expected to announce today whether he's going to continue on with his campaign or withdraw from the race amid scandal and skull harassment allegations that have playinged the candidate for weeks now. peter alexander reports. >> reporter: late friday night, herman cain returned home to face his wife, gloria, for the first time since his campaign became public. >> i am reassessing because of all this media firestorm stuff. why? because my wife and family comes first. >> karen's most recent comments come days after atlanta businesswoman ginger white came forward claiming sme and the former godfather pizza ceo had a 13-year affair. >> my wife did not know about it and that was the revelation and the surprise that my wife found out about it when she went public with it. >> the unemployed mother of two claims it was more than that. >> it wasn't a love affair. it was a sexual affair. >> reporter: this latest controversy has heavily damaged cain's standing in the polls. a new des moines register poll shows cain's support is now down to the 8% among likely republican caucus goers, down from 23% one month ago. but his campaign is still pressing forward, launching new ads in iowa, including this one that targets the media. >> it's time for the truth. >> the media won't tell you what one of the foremost lie detector experts in america said about herman cain. >> reporter: peter alexander, nbc news. david gregory is the moderator of "meet the press." he joins us this morning. one person says cain is staying in. another insider says he's out. what do we know this morning? >> my information is, speaking to the campaign last night that he has not made up his mind, that he was meeting with his wife. and there were mixed signals, too, that they were planning for a december campaign. he's announcing a new campaign headquarters where he'll be making the announcement today. but a source that i talked to who is close to cain has indicated that all indications are that he's decided to withdraw from the race. his concern is all of the impact on his family, his wife, because of these allegations and he simply doesn't want to go through it as much any more, the source telling me he has a lot of work to do at home now. >> now, of course, he was on the campaign trail yesterday, i believe south carolina before heading home here. how much of an influence do we know that his wife has in this decision? he's spoken of her, but he says she wouldn't ask him to leave the race. >> well, we know that the relationship, whatever it was with ginger white was a surprise to his wife. the fact that he was helping her financially was a surprised to his wife. as i said, the sources i've talked with say this is a real problem and something he has to deal with. even though they insist no decision has been made as of last night, allcations are that he was leaning towards getting out of the race today. we put the caveats in here because here is the reality. among people that i've talked to, there was some dissension in the campaign. there were people pushing for him to keep on. leaning towards getting out. >> but if he stays in the race, we saw the numbers there. he's down 8% in some of the polls and iowa here. how does he contend at this point? >> i don't know that he does. i think the des moines political poll, that's a real problem. on "meet the press" sunday, we're going to have new polling, our own polling out of iowa and new hampshire that will give the latest indication of where the race is. i think the inability for him to raise money, the inability for him to get back on any type of message and the damage that this is doing to his family at some point is going to have to ask himself whether it's worth it and i think tha has come. >> let's say he does drop out of energy.. could he go on and maybe be a running mate and give some endorsements that count? >> i don't think. i think when you have things like this, this personal baggage, i don't think somebody wants to take that on. this has been amplified that he has demonstrated that he had some real problems being prepared to be president, foreign policy gaffes and things like that. i think if he decides to get out today, i don't think how much power he has left. >> so gingerich would be the person who benefits most if he's out? >> we're seeing that so far in the polling, yes. >> i know you have a great show planned sunday. thanks a lot. >> thanks. tamron, thanks. new job numbers out on friday are giving american hope. the unemployment rate has falling down from to 8.6% from 9%. a third of those jobs are in retail, many of them temporary for the holiday season. we get more now from nbc's tom costello. >> from the mall to main street to wall street. today's unemployment numbers seemed to catch the country by surprise. but analysts say you've got to go inside the numbers. >> part of the game comes from people dropping out of the workforce. but another part comes from more jobs and fewer unmroit employed. >> that's critical. 315,000 fewer people were looking for jobs in november and, therefore, aren't counted as unemployed. the jobs that were created come from the private sector and there were more jobs created in september and october than first reported. government employment shrank by 20,000 jobs. the president today used the numbers to urge congress to extend the payroll tax cuts and renew unemployment benefits. >> now is not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. right now, it's time to step on the gas. >> so who is hiring? the retail sector added 50,000 jobs, most in clothing and electronics stores. temporary hiring, much of it seasonal, was up big. leisure and hospitality businesses hired 22,000 people. 17,000 jobs came in health care and 2,000 factory jobs, most with the automakers. >> the jobs that we're creating today are the low cost paying jobs. they're not the manufacturing sectors with good jobs and good benefits that allow one worker to parsupport a family. >> 16% unemployed in black america. in philadelphia, we caught up with mark morio, the president of the urban league. >> it's cost maybe decades of advances in home ownership to be lost. decades of advances in income to be lost with high unemployment. >> good morning to you. we start out west where several cities, including pasadena are in a state of emergency. hurricane force winds hit this week, about 150,000 people in southern california have no power. some no loerpg have homes. powerful santa ana winds, at times more than 100 miles per hour, toppled about 200 trees, splitting houses in half as they fell. that storm is now moving east. six states are under a winter storm warning. al qaeda claims it was behind the kidnapping of american aid worker warren winstein in pack tan. a gunman took the 17-year-old from his home. they'll release him if the united states stops air strikes in pakistan and afghanistan. thooel they're demanding the release of the 1993 world trade center bombers. some good news this holiday season from american struggling homeowners. fannie mae, freddie mac are not going to foreclo on homes between december 19th and january 2nd according to statements on their websites. among big banks making the same pledge are bank of america, jp morgan chase and wells fargo. there are questions this morning about whether our smartphones are spying on us. a security researcher raised an alarm when he said a piece of software hiding in millions of cell phones record virtually everything preem do with their cell phones. at least one senator is calling for an investigation and a class action lawsuit has been filed against the company behind that software. honda is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles worldwide for air bags that may inflate with too much pressure in a crash. the recall affecting the accord, pilot, odyssey and other vehicle models manufactured in 2001 and 2002. honda says there have been two deaths linked to those problems. finally this morning, a north dakota zoo is showing off its newest addition. mudjacks are may have been to china, northern russia, mongolia and tibet. at the same time, everyone, awww. that's news for now. back to lester, tamron and chris. >> is it wrong that i want a mutjack for christmas? i want one. >> he's perfecting the deer in the headlights look. >> oh, look at me. i'm so cute look. >> that's the question. >> 25 pounds. pocket sized. >> you're good to go. chris warren has our first check of the forecast. good to see you. >> good to see both of you. the east coast is going to be relatively quiet. it's right in the middle of the country where we're going to see most of the action. we're going to have rain or snow. that's what we're seeing on radar. we have the threat for heavy rain throughout parts of east texas into arkansas and missouri. it's going to be the plains, particularly the northern plains where we're going to see some of the heaviest snow falling there from parts of new mexico all the way up and aligned to the upper peninsula of michigan is where we have the best chance for seeing some of that snow in and a good saturday morning. i'm storm 4 meteorologist chuck bell, we're off to a pleasant start in the washington area. temperature its at or below the freezing mark. 36 degrees at reagan national airport. tonight in laplata, 24 in martinsburg and 21 degrees in frederick, maryland, to get your day started. plenty of sunshine, mid and high level clouds coming in later this afternoon. today's high up near 50, tomorrow near that's your weather. now here is tamron. >> chris, thank you. with just three weeks to go before christmas, the post office has been pretty busy sorting out the laerts addressed to santa claus at the north poll. ann thompson now is among people pitching in and making a difference to make people's wishes come true. >> reporter: at six feet tall, pete fontana is not your average elf. >> his workshop is hiding away in new york city's post office, the headquarters. >> i'm here to help santa open that mail and make sure as many of these families and children get what they need for the holidays. >> these are some of the 2 million letters the new york post office expects to receive this year. they are sorted by zip code and look who sits here. fontana's team of elfs sit right here and then they go through the letters and choose. some were found so heartbreaking, they had to ask. >> my mom works very hard, but we never have enough money to buy gifts. >> so sweet. i want a barbie designable hair extensions and doll. merry christmas. i love you. barbie designable hair extension and doll. >> this is a way to give back and share some of the blessings, you know? >> reporter: the toys are wrapped and brought back to the post office so santa can deliver them on christmas eve. robert lider has done this for seven years. >> every child should have that magic at this time of year. >> across the country, 75 post offices are helping santa, six times as many as last year, says pete. >> is santa a good boss? >> santa is the greatest boss. he's the funniest person and the most loving person of all. >> he is why teresa is lending a hand this year. >> i can be an elf, santa's helper. >> reporter: and all the elves giving children young and old a reason to believe. ann thompson, nbc news, new york. still to come, kim kardashian files for divorce from kris humphries after 72 days still to come on "today" the suspect of a missing woman from aruba speaks out. plus, the latest on country krooner mindy mckrooi korcready bilths custody battle. good morning, everybody. it is a beautiful morning out there, quite cold, though. the time now 7:26 on this saturday, december 3rd, 2011. i'm angie goff. in topping your news for today, protect yourself from identity theft with the nbc washington pnc community shred, going on from 8:00 to 11:00 this morning at prince georges community college in largo. you must be in line by 11:00 at the intersection of prince place and kansas city. you can bring up to five boxes of personal papers for shredding. here say list of items you should not bring with you, batteries, flammable items, electronic equipment, media materials or binders or hanging files. we will be there at 9:00 on news 4 today. chuck bell has a look at your weekend forecast right after ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. welcome back. we woke up with a little frost on the ground this morning but things are going to lighten up. right, chuck bell? >> absolutely, angie no, doubt about that. the sun is already up now, came up about 20 minutes ago. we have the sunshine out there, already starting to warm up just a touch. it's a cold start to your weekend. temperatures 36 degrees at your airport. 25 in mannasas. 29 wal kordorf today. plenty of sunshine, and we will pick up high clouds this afternoon, not causing any trouble. tod