lawyer says they may file a petition to end the conservatorship all together at some point >>> the pentagon ending pressure on china for rare earth minutials used to make special magnets found from airpods and electric cars to guided missiles just yesterday, pentagon officials went out to the california desert to check on the only operational rare earth mine in all of america cnbc's brian sullivan is there in mountain pass brian, a lot at stake there. >> reporter: there certainly is, shep we are here. you think about it, the u.s. used to lead the world in rare earths decades ago, then we lost the lead to china. now we realize just how critical the minerals are in the rocks behind me to make some of the most sophisticated military equipment in the world, which is why as you said some of the top scientists at the pentagon were boots on the ground literally in this mine yesterday invested nearly $10 million taxpayer in this facility to make sure we have the supply of these critical rare earth minerals what are these minerals? there's 17 of them and they're in these rocks they go into these mag

a congressional committee wants answers from the pentagon. >>> america's restaurants battling a major seafood crisis. why certain items are vanishing from menus, everywhere >>> and the next, big thing in the fight against covid. a covid pill it's the antiviral that would help fight the virus during the early stages of the infection. it's the next, potential breakthrough that could help the united states curb this steadily-increasing number of cases, while relieving stress on hospitals. pharma companies, including pfizer, are betting big money behind this effort cnbc's meg covers science and medicine hi, meg. >> shep, pfizer today, saying the early data on its drug look promising and it's making a pledge to invest in ramping up manufacturing of the pill. even before knowing whether it works. ceo telling us, he just authorized an investment of a billion dollars in the program >> we are going, full speed, with all in -- for this antiviral. and we are manufacturing we made commitments. so they are providing now raw materials. we are building the equipments hopefully, it will be successful

. >> 16 years later, rumsfeld returned to the pentagon under president george w. bush, this time as the oldest secretary of defense. on 9/11, rumsfeld was at his desk when al qaeda attacked the u.s. and flew a plane into the pentagon rumsfeld, quickly, seized almost total control of america's war on terror. launching air strikes in afghanistan in less than 30 days and in 18 months, the invasion of iraq. but u.s. claimed saddam hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction were, soon, proven false. >> is there any evidence to indicate that iraq has attempted to or is willing to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction? >> there are known knowns. there are things we know we know we also know there are known unknowns but there are also unknown unknowns the ones we don't know, we don't know it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones. >> as the war dragged on, rumsfeld, himself, came under fire but president bush stood, firmly, behind him. >> i'm never disappointed in my secretary of defense he's doing a fabulous job. >> reporter: still, rum

the pentagon confirming today a that a small number of the alleged assassins participated in u.s. military training programs back when they were still active soldiers in the columbian military more than a week after that assassination the burning question remains why the answer so far has been convoluted haitian police say this man, a florida-based doctor and pastor named christian sanan was one of the master minds of the operation. they claimed this man planned to seize power after sending a hit squad of foreign purseinaries to gun down the president in his home "the new york times" reports in months leading up to the assassination dr. sanan held meetings to discuss the future of haiti with some of the key players who are now under investigation including the owner of a south florida private security company who allegedly hired that hit team. i spoke with a man who was in some of those meetings he's a retired economics professor in south florida and says there was no indication at all that dr. sanan planned to launch a coup. he says dr. sanan wanted to become a leader in haiti an

carrying out 11th-hour airstrikes in afghanistan with just more than a month until all troops leave the pentagon reports it launched half a dozen airstrikes against the taliban targets during the last 30 days two overnight in cankandahar, ts hit stolen vehicles and equipment threatening the afghan military just yesterday, general milley admitted the taliban had strategic momentum in their push to retake the country. >>> the death toll rising in central china of devstraighting floods 33 people confirmed dead the city of zheng zhou badly damaged. this is video of a hospital in a neighboring town where staff report water, electricity and gas have all been shut off and they don't have any more food. across the region, 3 million people have been affectedt some rescued by bulldozers the meteorologists are warning the rain is likely to intensify in coming days, moving to the forth and west scientists say climate change has made these extreme weather events more intense and more frequent and one culprit, greenhouse gas emissions. according to a new forecast from the international agency, carbon z dioxid

now, the pentagon says it informed senior afghan leadership and that there was a proper transfer, but here on the base, many afghans thought that it was rude and that after 20 years of cooperation, the americans simply packed up, dropped their keys, turned off the power, and left. either way, it is an end of an era. >> richard engel thank you. >>> the pandemic changed not only how americans live but where they live. about 30 million americans moved in 2020, according to the postal service, change of address data. mostly fueled by younger households fleeing the cities to the suburbs. that created a scattering of pandemic boom towns that is causing some problems. in boise, idaho, here's nbc's harry smith. >> mark jenkins and laurie crowell love their new home. >> and when did you move in here >> five days ago >> oh, it's that new house smell. >> it is >> brand new, in fact. >> man, how happy are you with this >> oh, ecstatic. >> love it absolutely love it it's beautiful >> lots in their subdivision on the outskirts of boise sell within days of going on the market boise, in case you hadn

some of the suspected assassins in haiti were in fact trained by the united states military what the pentagon is saying. >> plus, a florida doctor alleged to be the mastermind of that attack. tonight, our conversation with someone who attended the meetings with him months before. >> he was accused of exual harassment by numerous women now, investigators are set to question the new york governor, andrew cuomo >> and america's new cy cyber bounty how the state department is offering big money to anybody who can help bring hackers to who can help bring hackers to justice. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪ not all 5g networks are created equal. it's clear to see. t-mobile is the leader in 5g. t-mobile. america's largest, fastest, most reliable 5g network. not everybody wants the same thing. that's why i go with liberty mutual — they customize my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. 'cause i do things a bit differently. wet teddy bears! wet teddy bears here! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> some of the colombian c

the pentagon on track to pull all u.s. troops out of that country by the end of next month. nbc's dan delouis covers global affairs. the combat mission is ending in iraq, but not the military presence there. >> that's right, shep. the u.s. boots will still be on the ground even if the mission is changing and keep in mind, even before president biden entered the uwhite house, the u.s. had shifted its focus to advising iraqi forces and not fighting on the battlefield. there are currently about 2,500 u.s. troops in the iraq, and they have been playing a back up role since 2019 when isis collapsed. they are a shadow of what they once were. this is giving biden breathing room politically, and you have the iraqi prime minister that's also under political pressure because he's trying to show the iraqi public that the u.s. isn't quote unquote occupying iraq indefinitely this is symbolic and important in both countries politically, and for biden, this is another example of him trying to move the country away from these so called forever wars. he's already announced the u.s. is withdr

in 1975 at 43, the youngest secretary of defense in history 16 years later, rumsfeld returned to the pentagon under president george w. bush as the oldest secretary of defense. on 9/11, rumsfeld was at his desk when al qaeda attacked. laun launching airstrikes in ach afghanistan in less than 30 days, but u.s. claims that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction were false. >> there are known knowns. there are things we know we know we also know there are known unknowns but there are also unknown unknowns the ones we don't know we don't know it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones. >> as the war dragged on, rumsfeld himself came under fire, but president bush stood firmly behind him. >> i'm never disappointed in my secretary of defense he's doing a fabulous job. >> reporter: still, he started to lose confidence of the troops >> as you know, you go to war with the army you have not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time >> reporter: ultimately, rumsfeld was forced to resign in november 2006 but remained steadfast to the end >> it may well be comfortin