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Note: The following text is a quote: Members of Justice Department's National Security Division Leadership Team Announced WASHINGTON — David Kris, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, today announced the National Security Division’s (NSD) leadership team. Among others, Kris announced the appointment of Brad Wiegmann to be the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Donald Vieira to be the Chief of Staff; Todd Hinnen as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Law and Policy; Tashina Gauhar as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Intelligence; and George Toscas as the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counterterrorism and Counterespionage. “We are...

Matt Lauer, host of the "Today" show, may be leaving the show involuntarily according to a report published by Radar Online on Wednesday. Radar reported that a inside source said the writing was on the wall for Lauer, 54, who has often been blamed for the departure of long time co-host turned lead-host, Ann Curry, in June. Since the time Curry was fired from her position, numerous rumors have emerged about Lauer's inability to get along with staff and his need to be surrounded by "yes" men and women. The source said, "His years-long feuds with former co-hosts Katie Couric,...

While co-host Ann Curry on Tuesday's NBC "Today" wondered if Ron Suskind's "Confidence Men" was "fact or fiction," on August 5, 2008, then-co-host Meredith Vieira touted Suskind's claim in "Way of the World" that the Bush administration's case for the Iraq war was "worse than Watergate." Speaking of Suskind's latest work on Tuesday, Curry described how Obama administration "top officials are lining up to say they were either misquoted or taken out of context by the author." She then wondered: "Did he get the story right?" In contrast, while Vieira noted the Bush White House labeling Suskind's book at that...

When Meredith Vieira recently interviewed Donald Trump for NBC's Today show, she asked him whether he was concerned that people would have trouble taking him seriously as a presidential candidate. After all, she reasoned, here is a man who stars in his own television reality series. Who could possibly engender less gravitas than a TV reality show star? Trump, of course, pointed to the success of the show as further evidence of his ability to be successful at anything and everything. But putting aside the irony of the question being asked by a network news anchor who is also a...

Does she believe in a 100% tax rate?

Covertly taken photos of CIA interrogators that were shown by defense attorneys to al Qaeda inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison represent a more serious security breach than the 2003 outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame, the agency's former general counsel said Wednesday. John Rizzo, who was the agency's top attorney until December, said in an interview that he initially requested the Justice Department and CIA investigation into the compromise of CIA interrogators' identities after photographs of the officers were found in the cell of one al Qaeda terrorist in Cuba. "Well I think this is far more serious than...

Both Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist appeared live on Friday's Today show, and both received the same question by NBC's Meredith Vieira, was Crist's departure from the GOP just another example of the Republicans being "intolerant" to moderates? In addition to advancing that liberal view of the Florida Senate race, Vieira also questioned if Rubio was being "manipulated" by the Tea Party, as seen in the following exchange:

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau – Renegade soldiers assassinated the president of Guinea-Bissau in his palace Monday, hours after a bomb blast killed his rival, but the military said that no coup was in progress in the fragile West African nation. The military statement broadcast on state radio attributed President Joao Bernardo Vieira's death to an "isolated" group of unidentified soldiers whom the military said it was now hunting down.

Controversy continues to surround President-elect Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president, and a case involving his birth certificate waits for its day before the U.S. Supreme Court. A constitutional lawyer said were it to be discovered that Mr. Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, it would have grave consequences for the nation. According to the Constitution, a president must be a natural born citizen of the U.S. Mr. Obama's critics have failed to force him legally to produce his original birth certificate, and Mr. Obama has resisted any attempt to make him do so. Currently, only Hawaii Department...

When Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) took the role of Speaker of the House on January 4, 2007, the national average price of gas was $2.33 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. Now the average price is hovering around $4 a gallon. But Pelosi deserves no part of the blame, she told NBC “Today” co-anchor Meredith Vieira during an interview that aired July 28. “But the very idea that the Republicans would say, but for offshore drilling our economy would be great – it’s really, it’s a hoax,” Pelosi said. “It’s really a hoax on the American people.” ...more...

Vieira attempted different variations of the "When will Hillary get out?" line with Terry McAuliffe on Thursday's "Today" show as she pressed:

Vieira to Karzai: "A lot of Americans, here, are confused by this, what's going on Afghanistan. They say, 'Wait a minute, I thought we won that war, already and now the Taliban is back? What went wrong?' So I'm asking you sir-" Karzai: "We won." Vieira: "-what's gone wrong? You've won?" Karzai: "Yes, of course we won." Vieira: "What have you won?" Karzai: "The war against terrorism. The liberation of Afghanistan. These guys, the al Qaeda, Osama and their associates were running Afghanistan. Today you're talking to President Karzai, elected by the Afghan people." Vieira: "There's also killings everyday. So...

In the wake of yesterday's announcement that Rosie O'Donnell will be departing "The View," the folks at "Today" had some fun this morning with the notion that Meredith Vieira, the "View" regular who Rosie replaced there, might return to the ABC gabfest. As Vieira began a tease, in "Today's" opening, for an upcoming segment on the parting of ways at "The View," weatherman Al Roker shouted from off-camera "are you going to go back?" Vieira went with the flow, announcing tongue-in-cheek: "So yes, I'll be leaving the 'Today' show to rejoin my friends at 'The View.' Sayanora." That's when co-host...

Give Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira credit. On this morning's "Today," Lauer suggested to his boss's face that in firing Don Imus he had caved to pressure from advertisers and people like Al Sharpton. And Vieira held Al Sharpton's feet to the fire, now that he had Imus' scalp, about going after rappers and others who use similar language every day. Here's part of the exchange, which came at 7:05 AM EDT, between Lauer and NBC News President Steve Capus:View video of Lauer-Capus interview here.CAPUS: This one went so far over the line, Matt, that it was time. LAUER:...

How big was the Imus story on this morning's "Today"? The show devoted the entire first half-hour and half of the second to it. Both Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira seemed uncomfortable, struggling to sound the right note. But while Vieira had the gumption to confront Jesse Jackson with his own record of having made a bigoted statement, Lauer tiptoed to the edge and backed off when confronting Al Sharpton about his racially-charged past.View video here.In the first half-hour, "Today" simulcast its show with "Imus in the Morning," and had both Imus and Sharpton as guests. Here's how Lauer's brinksmanship,...

Having participated in an anti-war march in NYC at the time of the 2004 GOP convention, there's been little doubt as to where Meredith Vieira stands on Iraq. Even so, it was something of a shock to hear the "Today" co-host express her opposition in the first person plural this morning. Discussing the war with Sen. John McCain [R-AZ] at about 7:05 AM ET this morning, she said: "Six out of ten Americans don't agree [with you]. They want a pull-out from Iraq. So what are we missing? When you say we are succeeding, based on what?" Give credit to...

Meredith Vieira [file photo] was in a light-hearted mood at the top of this morning's "Today," joshing with substitute co-host Ann Curry about the estrogen on the set, even offering to leave her husband for the winner of the Powerball lottery. But we shouldn't have let the idle chatter fool us. When it came to discussing the repercussions of the Libby conviction, Meredith's leopard-skinned blouse should have been a clue -- because she pounced. Discussing the trial with NBC host turned star prosecution witness Tim Russert [file photo], Meredith displayed on screen and read this quotation from Republican strategist...

Has an MSM campaign for an Al Gore presidential run officially begun? This morning's "Today" devoted a big six-minute segment to the prospect of a Gore candidacy. Andrea Mitchell declared Al "suddenly cool." Not bad, but not close to Meredith Vieira, who proclaimed that Gore was "definitely the coolest guy in the room" at the Oscars. I didn't watch a minute of it, but thought I'd check the nominee list to see just who else was in that room. In addition to many un-nominated stars who were surely floating around, here are just some of the nominees in the house...

<p>When a NBC military analyst made the case that US withdrawal from Iraq would have very harmful consequences, you might have expected Meredith Vieira to argue the point. But not only did the NBC host seem to buy into his logic, she took it one significant step farther.Retired LTC Terry Francona was Meredith's guest on this morning's "Today." The appearance was sparked by reports that the US has amassed firm evidence that Iran is supplying a variety of weaponry to Shia militias in Iraq, including shoulder-fired missiles and sophisticated IEDs responsible for the deaths of many Americans. The screen graphic posed the question "Is U.S. Fighting Iran in Iraq?"</p>

It's not uncommon for an interviewer to tell a guest offering orotund pronouncements that he's sounding "like a candidate." But Meredith Vieira took that one giant step further this morning, informing renegade Republican Chuck Hagel that he was sounding downright "presidential." Of course, nothing sounds more presidential to an MSMer's ears than defeatist criticism of the war in Iraq and by extension of the current occupant of the White House. But when it came to the key question, Hagel, far from flashing presidential timber, equivocated like a garden-variety pol. Vieira: "Senator, at this point, do you believe we are...