♪♪ this sunday, rising threats. the country is on edge after a deadly new year's day terror attack that investigators say was inspired by isis.

>> this was an act of terrorism. it was premeditated and an evil october. >> plus, the new majority as republicans in congress prepare to advance donald trump's latest i will talk to john thune. >> how would you describebe yur relationship with donald trump right now? >> it's evolving. >> and minority report. >> we are here to fight for the american people. >> how will democrats navigate their new role in the minority? i will speak to adam schiff and shuck schumer. joining me, carol lee, jonathan march continue of politico, and symone sanders townsend, and marc short. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press."

>> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with kristen welker. >> good sunday morning. on this first weekend of 2025, the nation is on edge after deadly new year's attacks in new orleans and las vegas. federal officials are on high alert about potential security threats as washington prepares for a series of key public events, the certification of the election on monday, and jimmy carter's state funeral on thursday, and in 15 days, president trump's inauguration. president biden on the tragedy in louisiana. >> to all the families killed, to all those injured, to all the people of new orleans who are groving today, i want you to

know i grieve with you. our nation grieves with you. we will stand with you as you mourn and as you heal. >> according to the fbi, the new orleans attacker, a u.s. citizen and army veteran from texas who was inspired by isis to kill 14 people planned to use a transmitter to detonate two explosives he placed near the site of the bourbon street attack. the top officials warned the ongoing war in the east increased the threat of terror attacks inside the united states. >> at a time when the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the middle east raised the threat of an attack against americans inside the united states to a whole other level. >> we have been warning for quite sometime now, both the justice department and the fbi and intelligence community that we are in a heightened threat environment from maligned foreign actors including in

particular, isis. >> all of this comes as the 119th congress convened on friday, narrowly re-electing house speaker mike johnson after he and president-elect trump persuaded several initial holdouts. i sat down with the new first senate republican leader in 18 years, majority leader, john thune. >> senate majority leader thune, welcome to "meet the press." >> good to be with you. >> unfortunately we have to start with the news o of new orleans, the terror attack. you have now been briefed it claimed 14 lives. what is the latest you have about the investigation? >> horrible news, obviously. our hearts and prayers go out to all of the victims' families and those still injured, praying for their recovery. what a horrible way to start the new year.

and it points to the need to get the answers and to make sure it doesn't happen again. as more information comes out and the investigation is more fully compl rs. clearly it's a dangerous world and i think it's a reminder we need to be doing everything we can at every level to keep the american people safe. after the horrific attack in new orleans that the threat posed by isis, quote, is a clear example of why the senate must get trump's national security team in place as quickly as possible, and there are some senators that have questions about the of pre trump's picks. >> it's a process. what i promised them is a fair process. these nominees are going to go through a committee where they will have to answer questions.

there will be hard questions posed. we will do everything we can to wants, and i think you live latitude to the president he wants in key positions, and the cocoen a role seriously.ise and we will make sure that theses a to make their cases not only with the memberscot also the am. that's underway as we speak. my open expectation is the president will get the people he agenda. >> i think you are not prepared to say you are nominees? >> that's why we have a process. there are some i have been

really impressed by and as they go through the process there will be opportunities where getting their questions answered. we will a -- again, it's why we have the checks and balances in our system we have, and my expectation is, and as the leader the senate, we will get the president his people as quickly asas posns a patel and his book, and people of the deep ai do you kash pate instead of settling political scores? >> i thinkhe getting that confi position in the fbi, the fbi is an agen t is in need of reform and needs a good speak,, probably a good amount of house

ari of it.en it comes to just these institutions that the american people need to have confidence and trust in, i think that confidence and trust largely is eroded and there's an opportunity to fix that.i think the mission. if he's successful through the nomination process, i hope he will take very seriously that responsibility and focus on what he can do to make the fbi operate in a way that is protecting the american an also being accountable to the same. >> when you say you think he does ust mean, yes, you think he will put national security ahead of settling political scores? >> in my conversations with him, i feel like he fully understood what i think what the president wants out of the agency, and i gets

what his job will be if he gets over there. as process, more members will have the opportunity to ask the questions of him. least based on my conversations with him, i feel good about him. >> are you a yes on kash patel? >> i am not advertising disclosing nominees just yet, but my job is to make sure they get a fair process. i intend to do that andk about republicans' agenda, and when i plan was his top priority, and he wants to illegally. do you support that plan, to deport everybody here ilare cer certainly there are catego comm. there are over a million people that the current administration had targeted for deportatioio s

seriously the fact that there are a lot of people in the country today, over 10 million that came over in the last four years under this administration's policies, that are not here for good reasons. we have apprehended a a cartel members and gangmeb ababthe nex steps, the first thing is securing the border and chanheu people are not incentivized to come here nd border agents a ico their job. certain people who are here illegally. how that gets translated into actual policy and action will be

a function of the newer czar and homeland security department secretary who will be our > then more agents, more ju m deportation, and in 2016, you said deportable everybody that's here illegally unisut that? >> well, this is going to be a process and willsources obviously to get people leave the country. we will have to make sure they need to to enable them to do that. is it realistic to deport everybody? there's a lot of people in this country who are here illegally. but we have identified already -- iommitted a cri in ty

clearly ought to be on the list, and 1.4 administration's list that need to be deported, and we start from there and then go from there and figure it out.hey take decisions he hem to make sure we have a safe and secure southerneoplen't have th structure they have today, which is come to the ye are a nationonf immigrants and first and foremost, a nation of laws and you have to follow the law. >> and then trump's tax cuts, and eliminating taxes on tips, and the estimated price for everything he's exceed some $9 trillion. are you comfortable adding $9 trillion to the national debt? >> i think you have to, first off, look at what happens if we

don't act by the end of the year and that's a $4 trillion tax becausushat's essentially what you are talking about if currrr tax law. the president has other ideas that he would like to do in the area of tax reform and take those into consideration, but i think the -- we intend ensure that we don't have a $4 trillion tax american people, and we have to act collectively to extend the 2017 tax will also be a robust conversation about whether wepe wolpe tounderstand, too, tax policy is directly connected to economic growth. we have been told by all the c

taxation, for every 1% increase in gdp, many of the tax provisions in law today that will bend on grow nd the economy. i am somebody that believes in growth. with growth you get betterlso g more tax revenuely contemplated or considered when people talk t is a national security threat, and you were talking but when yp all the other potential tax cuts on to it it balloons the debt. how would you pay for that? i hear you done? >> you start with th current tax policy, and that is current policy. some people, depending on which score keepers you use, you would sayes isingtohe

low but the fact is this is the law today. i am telling you the combination of growth and offsets and an expectation, i think, that if you want to avoid a $4 trillion tax increase, you have t extd t policy. when you do that, i think you get outcomes good for themy is expanding and creating better paying jobs and people are paying taxes and tax revenues go up, and that was prpr in 2017. >> monday marks four years sinc been in this building for more with then president-elect trump says he plans to pardon those that attacked the capitol on that day and potentiao those that pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. do you support that, pardoning

people that attacks the officers that stormed the capitol that d biden inistration, he's taken it to hattm focused on is the future, and not look windshield. i think you remember the past and look but live in the present and not the future, and right now w agenda, and it's energy dominance and o those are the things we wmericae voted on in november and gave president trump decisive victory. think k wouu send to give paroh at police officers

and stormed this building four to be a decision of the president of the unid get peop positions to help implement his agenda and then get business yes on the agenda of what the american people voted for. you can't be looking that. that's four years ago. i think the american people are want the work we are doing to be done with an eye towards what we can do to improve he's open to doing a deal with democrats to protect dreamers, the psid to get a deal for the states w w lead on the policy

with restrict to the border. that is an issue that i think on wh least, there have been conversations around, if you get the right thiitspectt might be part of a conversation where you could get a package. >> i just finally in the big picture want to ask you, you replican primary and ultimately backed mr.p. relationship with donald trump now? >> it's evolving. we have a relationship where i . what i said before is we have -- there's an alignment of incenti destination. i want a lot of the same things, to accomplish powerful conversation and we will continue to build on. >> thank you so much for your time. >> when we come back, senate

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♪ far-xi-ga ♪ (♪♪) welcome back. and joining me now is the senate minority leader democratic senator chuck schumer of new york. leader schumer, welcome back to "meet the press." >> kristen, good to be back and happy new year to you and your family and to all of america. >> happy new year to you. thank you so much for being here on this first sunday of the new year. i do want to start off by getting your insights into the attack in new orleans. as you know, a lot of families are sitting at home. they feel afraid. they feel on edge. there are a lot of big events coming up from the inauguration to the super bowl which is going to be in new orleans. what are the security gaps that you think need to be addressed? >> well, first, i want to express my condolences to the

families who are in mourning for the loved ones who were lost in new orleans. we grieve for them. i also, you know, the former soldier, a member of the armed forces who had ptsd and committed suicide in front of the las vegas hotel showed, i think that we need to do more for our veterans who have ptsd and other things there. as for security, the bottom line is that i believe the authorities are on full alert in terms of security. look, terrorism is a greater threat here in america. we have isis and we have other groups. the terrorist who rammed his car and killed so many people was a from fessed member professed member of isis. we know he acted alone and we don't know if ices sis directed

to do it. we are very, very vigilant. i sent a letter to john thune suggesting we had an all-senators briefing this week on the preparations for the big events that are coming up and for the ability to ask questions of our law enforcement. i believe they are on top of this, but having an all-senators hearing giving us a chance to answer questions and for them to reply is a good thing. so i'm hopeful senator thune and i can work that out and get it done this week. >> well, i know you will continue to watch that closely. i do want to turn to how you see democrats' role in this new congress. your fellow democratic congressman colleague tom swazy says the party has to deal with president-elect trump. >> i know my party will be tempted to hold fast against mr. trump at every turn. that would be a mistake. only by working together to find

compromise on the president-elect's agenda can we make progress for americans. do you agree with congressman swazee. >> i think it's clear whenever we can do bipartisan things that is very important. it creates programs that are long lasting and very popular. back in 2021 and '22 when we had the most successful session of the senate, of the congress in decades, seven of the eight major bills were done in a bipartisan way. so we always look for bipartisan cooperation and would welcome the ability. on the other hand, when there are things we can't agree with, for instance, tax breaks for the wealthiest of americans paid for as many republicans have suggested by cuts and social security in medicare and making it harder for new families to buy their first home, they're

going to have to go through us and we'll oppose those kinds of things very, very rigorously. so we will be bipartisan when we can, and we are also when they are trying to do things, our republican colleagues who are so bad for working people we'll oppose them. >> leader schumer, i'm curious where you e those areas with president-elect trump. he said he's open to potentially getting a deal for dreamers those brought to the country as children to stay here permanently. do you think that is feasible. you heard leader thune say yes, there are areas of bipartisan there. do you think a deal on dreamers is possible? >> well, we'd love to do that. our party has been strongy fighting for the dreamers for a decade. we've been blocked by our colleagues on other side of the aisle. if we can have some change -- people, they were tiny children when brought over the border. they've been here for decades and many served in the armed

forces and many of them have been working productively and have families. yes, if we can find a solution so that the dreamers can stay here, we'd welcome it. >> you heard of president-elect trump's cabinet that the senate should vote as quickly as possible to get his cabinet picks in place and basically saying that if his national security picks are not in place quickly, that could undermine the nation's national security. do you agree with leader thune there? >> look, we've asked for three things that are reasonable. first, that there be thorough fbi background checks of every one of the nominees at the cabinet level. second, that there be hearings where members have the opportunity to fully ask questions that they want answereded and third, there would be a vote. there is the democratic and republican presidents and it's been advised and consent and look, any american who applies for a job has to undergo a

background check, and has to answer questions that the potential employer asks him or her. so, of course, we should do those things, and i hope we will. the bottom line is these positions are really important as senator thune said for our national security and the american people should have the ability to know who is being nominated and what their criteria are. >> are you a yes right now? are you a yes right now on any of these picks? >> no. i'm waiting for this process, this reasonable process that we've asked for to unfold, background checks -- thorough background checks, hearings and votes. >> let's talk now about the future of the democratic party. democrats have said this is a reckoning after losing the white house and the senate not winning back the house. here's what democratic strategist james carville had to say. we lost for one very simple reason. it was, it is and it will always

be the economy, stupid. do you agree? what do you think was the root cause that democrats across the board lost? >> look, i told my caucus, and i'll say it here, too. we should regard this election certainly, it was a loss, but it is also a challenge and we did some things right against veriy is rear headwinds. we had seven contested democratic seats and we did some things wrong and then there are some things we didn't do that we should have done. one of the things we have to do is we must focus on the working families of america. we believe in them and we passed all kind of legislation that helped them, the infrastructure bill which made our economy stronger and employed lots of people. the chip hubs where we are having chip hubs to do new manufacturing and new research that were left out, missoula,

montana, bloomington, indiana, and lowering the cost of prescription drugs as of january 31st. drugs will be greatly lowered because we finally allowed under our leadership we forced them to negotiate with medicare. we did a lot of things and all too often, we talked about the mechanics of the legislation and the details of the legislation, and we really didn't show the kind of empathy and concern to average or show enough of it to average working families who didn't realize how much we had done and how much we care for them. so what we are going to do is spend a lot of time talking to working families, showing them how much we care about them and not just talk about legislation, but talk about the conditions that have made so many working families worried about their futures and that's going to be a significant change. i think it will make a

difference. >> obviously, there has been a lot of focus on president biden's role in this. you were, obviously, in close contact with president biden well before the public tuneded into that debate that ultimately led to him stepping down. i want to play you a little bit of something you said last year. take a look. >> i talked to president biden regularly, sometimes several times in a week or usually several times in a week. his mental acuity is great. it's fine. it's as good as it's been over the years and this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong. >> what do you say that you and top democrats misled them about president biden's mental acuity? >> look, we didn't and let's look at president biden. he's had an amazing record. the legislation we passed, one of the most significant groups

of legislation since lyndon johnson's great society, putting 235 judges of record and he's a patriot. he's a great guy, and when he stepped down he did it on his own because he thought it was better not only for the democratic party for america, we should all salute him. we should all salute him. >> do you feel as we have this conversation today that president biden could serve another four years had he stayed in the race and potentially won? >> well, i'm not going to speculate. as i said, i think his record is a stellar one and he'll go down in history as a really outstanding president. >> before i let you go, leader schumer, in two weeks you will be the highest ranking democrat serving in washington. do you believe you will be the leader of the democratic party? >> look, i think we have a lot of great leaderses in our part. we have a great bench of people coming up and i am optimistic

about the future of the democratic party in the future. as i said, there are certain adjustments we have to make. we are going to do those, and i think people are going to realize that the democratic party is the party of working families, of working people. we are doing more for them. we will show them that some of these republican things like tax cuts for the very wealthy individuals which were -- they did it in 2017 and they lost the election in 2018. they haven't learned, but we'll hold their feet to the fire when they do things that hurt working people. we'll stand with the working families of america and that will bode very well for us. >> all right. senate minority leader, ck schumer, thank you so much. i hope you come back soon. i really appreciate talking to you this morning. when we come back, democratic senator adam schiff o senator adam schiff o califf have you always had trouble with your weight? same. discover the power of wegovy®. with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds.

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welcome back. as we approach monday's anniversary of the january 6th attacks, president biden this past week awarded the country's second highest civilian award, the leaders of the january 6th committee. former congressman liz cheney and congressman bennie thompson. democratic senator adam schiff of california who is a member of that committee is with us. welcome back to "meet the press". >> great to be here. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. tomorrow, as we said does mark the anniversary of the january 6th attacks and in my interview of president-elect trump he said he does plan to pardon those who attacked the capitol, potentially even those who pleaded guilty of their crimes.

you heard leader thune say that's ultimately a decision for the president to make. how do you respond to that? nah first of all, that day when we peacefully transferred power, historicallypeacefully transfer power is a solemn occasion for the whole country, but it has ago meaning that we had this violent, terrible attack four years ago. for those of us in the capitol it will be quite an emotional exrience to be back in that environment on that day. i invited daniel hodges, one of the metropolitan police officers to remind people what that day was like given the revisionist history about it, but if the president goes forward with pardoning vast numbers of people involved in that violence he will begin his new administration the way he ended his last administration and that is by celebrating violence against our democracy. i think that would be a terrible

start, send a terrible message about our democracy and lawlessness, about people when attacked police officers. it would be exactly the wrong message and the wrong way to start out the administration. >> let me ask you about something else the president-elect said to me. he believes everyone that was on the committee should go to jail. that includes you. senator schiff, are you bracing to be targeted by the president-elect, by his incoming administration? >> i don't think any of us really knows what he means by any of that, whether he's serious about it or whether it's trumpian hyperbole or whatever it is. the committee is very proud o o the work that we did. we stand behind it. i'm glad to see president biden acknowledge the role of senator bennie ompson and liz cheney. adam kinzinger showed great courage and the witnesses that came before the committee were so powerful because they were republicans that put the country first. so who knows what the president means?

i guess we'll find out, but we stand behind our work. >> there's been a lot talk about whether president biden should issue preemptive pardons to those who served on the committee. you have been very public about saying you don't want a preemptive pardon. i wonder, senator, have you conveyed that directly to the president himself, to his administration? >> not directly to the president, but i have conveyed it to the administration and the concern that i have which is what i conveyed side the precedent that it would set that you have an outgoing president giving a broad group of pardons to members of his party or others because i think the precedent could be abused. people have pointed out, donald trump may abuse that precedent regardless, but the idea that each administration hereafter gives broad pardons to the people who worked with the administration or aligned with the administration, i don't think that's a road we want to go down, but the president will do what the president does, and

if he goes forward i'm sure it will be responding to these baseless arguments of donald trump and the threats to retaliate against people. >> we learned this week that sentencing will be scheduled for president-elect trump in that hush money case. the judge has said he's not going to seek jail time. that sentencing's going to happen a little bit later on this week. do you agree with that decision not to seek jail time? >> what i've always said about what the judge will do vis-a-vis sentencing is the whole process of this case is he should treat donald trump as he would any other criminal defendant charged with like offenses. so if the judge concluded that someone else charged with similar events of fraudulent business records to conceal a campaign finance violation, and that would lead to no jail time then it should get no jail time, but i particularly concur with his decision to go forward with

the sentencing. the federal justice system really let down the country. the supreme court certainly did. it didn't timely investigate and prosecute the offenses around january 6th. i think new york has demonstrated, frankly, how the justice system ought to operate. no one should be above the law. >> so much of your time in congress was ent basically conducting oversight over then president trump for a range of different reasons. the russia investigation, ukraine and then january 6th, given that the two federal cases as you just referenced have been dropped for now. how focused as a senator, will you be on overseeing oversight of donald trump's actions? >> a lot of that will depend on what the president's actions are. does he take a different approach in the second administration or does he once again try to abuse the powers of his office. >> do you continue to focus on

his election interference? >> my focus will be on getting things done for the people of california and the country and particularly on the economy. i know i'll have to face very early on the tax cuts for rich people and large corporations. what the voters of california elected me on do was to try to bring down the cost of living the cost of housing and the cost of child care and not give tax breaks to wealthy people and corporations. so my focus is on the economy. to your question earlier about james carville. i think james carville was right. i think it is still about the economy. i think we lost the argument on the economy. we need to win that argument. we need to persuade the american people once again that we are focused first and foremost on delivering for them, and that means helping them with the small businesses and helping them pay their rent or their mortgage. that's going to be my first priority, but if the president is trying to take away the rights and freedoms of the american people or abusing his office, i'm certainly going to stand up and defend our country and our constitution. >> let's talk quickly about the

president elect's cabinet picks. kash patel for fbi director. that comes against the backdrop of this latest terror attack in new orleans. you, of course, serve on the judiciary committee. if kash patel is confirmed, will you be able to work with him? you've been critical of him. >> i think the terrorist attack in new orleans and my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in that attack just underscores the importance of having someone directing the fbi that has experience, that has judgment, thahas character that will prioritize defending the country against the violence we saw in new orleans or the violence we saw on january 6th and not someone whose top priority is political vendettas who believes in deep state conspiracy thinking and not someone as qualified as kash patel.

he's an easy one and should not be confirmed. marco rubio is well qualified and several of the other nominees, again, we should follow the regular process that the majority leader has laid out, but that one should be an easy one. >> all right. senator adam schiff, thank you very much for being here in person, we really appreciate it. thank you. >> i look forward to hopefully talking to you soon. when we comes back as the nation mourns the death of former president jimmy carter, we ok president jimmy carter, we ok lo psoriatic arthritis symptoms can be unpredictable. one day, your joints hurt. next, it's on your skin. i got cosentyx. feels good to move. feel less joint pain, swelling and tenderness, back pain, and clearer skin, and help stop further joint damage with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections, and lowered ability to fight them may occur, like tuberculosis or other serious bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. some were fatal. tell your doctor if you have an infection

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welcome back.

former president jimmy carter, the , is lying in repose in the carter center in atlanta after he passed away last sunday nearly two years after being admitted into hospice care. jimmy carter joined this broadcast 11 times. in 1976 he talked about wanting to bridge the country's divides just days before becoming the democratic nominee in his first run for president. >> i think the american people resent putting in bockes and i resented that mice. in the beginning of the year i've been heavily filtered by the news media, and i think those sharp differences that used to exist between the liberal and conservative elements of our society have pretty well been removed. so when i say i'll manage a

government in a tough, businesslike way and deal with the sensitive needs of our people on human rights, civil rights and good environmental quality, i don't believe there's as much of alienation of groups as there was before. >> president carter was 100 years old. hi, i'm greg. i live in bloomington, illinois. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person. after working 25 years in the automotive industry, i retired. eight years ago, i just didn't feel like i was on my game. i started taking prevagen and i want people to know that prevagen has worked for me. give it a try. i want it to help you just like it has helped me. i've been taking prevagen for eight years now and it is still helping me tremendously. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. most people n'realize how processed typical dog food is. at the farmer's dog, we believe dogs should be able to get their daily nutrition without the excess processing.

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welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news managing washington editor carol lee. jonathan martin, politics bureau chief and senior political columnist for politico. symone sanders-townsend former spokesperson to vice president kamala harris and marc short, former spokesperson for mike pence. thank you for being here. let me kick it off with you, you heard senate majority leader john thune who said his relationship with president-elect trump is evolving and i thought it was a fascinating answer and it underscores what we'll be watching for. how difficult will it be for the trump agenda to pass? >> he describe side as a business relationship, achieving goals in a policy genda and trump has said that he'll get a

lot done very fast with the senate and white house. what you heard from thune is more measured, more pragmatism about what is actually going to be possible. how this relationship evolves is really going to depend on whether in trump's view thune is delivering for him and if he is want, then you will see the president-elect looking to blame someone and thune may find himself on the receiving end of that. >> he has conveyed to the new house speaker he wants to get border, tax e trade done all in one big bill and it comes after house speaker mike johnson won the gavel back. >> it's all in a day's work, kristen. exactly. donald trump has not been known to accept blame for anything at all and the clock is running, and i think there's a huge challenge ahead for junethon, john thune and mike johnson because of the coalition that johnson is trying to juggle in the house.

donald trump is going to want victories and want victories fast and to john thune's credit, that's why he wanted to do two big bills because he wanted to get trump a big victory first on the border and energy and on defense spending and trump has come to the conclusion these guys in congress can only do one big bill and that's what we'll have to do, but when you do that, you've denied trump a fast, early win and that sets up a difficult spring and summer i think for johnson and thune, johnson especially because he'll get impatient. where is my bill in. >> marc, you understand legislative affairs better than most. can this get done? this big, massive bill. >> i hate agreeing with him. it's going to be difficult. there will be an expectation with the nominations to get confirmed, but getting two reconciliation bills done is always impossible. that bill will take a long time

to put together in the meantime, this spring you'll have a debt ceiling fight and you will have a continuing resolution. they should have passed one continuing resolution for the entire year. pushing it off just to march creates an enormous struggle for speaker johnson and there will be a lot of pressure. if that bill fails to fund the government the president will blame speaker johnson. >> let's talk about the democrats. i thought the conversation with leader schumer was fascinating. i asked him if he thought president biden could serve another four years. he kind of ivoted and didn't answer that directly and there is soul-searching going on in the democratic party. what did you ask about leader schumer. >> i was surprised when you asked about mental acuity he didn't push back. is the president all of the way year. unequivocal answer is yes. he's doing the onand the mental a cue sit there.

there is a conflation of two things there. it's his mental capacity and serving another four years as old as he is, but those are two separate things in my opinion and these people that have known joe biden for their entire lives and i know president biden and he's, like, can you all defend me a little more? >> he has taken the path for the turn for himself rather than the good for the party by running again, by pardoning his son and by frankly, some of these choices for the medal of freedom and going to rome for one last trip. he's not exiting in a way that i think reflects well on his party and democrats are deeply, deeply unhappy about it, and they should be, frankly. >> i've heard democrats, to try to tell the american people something they could see with their own eyes that's not true. >> it's not true that the president doesn't have mental acuity. >> the people saw it themselves in the debate. >> i recently spoke to the

president. let me say this thing about the democrats and with friends like these, the democratic friends that joe biden has had, i do think that he understands the nature of where things are going which is why he pardoned his son because the president-election has been very clear about his ire and what he wants to do to his son. after joe biden has done do you really expect him to go out on a high note for his last surviving son because chuck schumer would like him to be so? >> let's talk about the note, carol, he'll be having two major peaches. >> he is delivering two different speeches. >> breaks with tradition. >> on foreign policy which is his wheel house. he will talk about his alliances and the importance of that, and the second one, a farewell address and he'll have a message r the future and talk about his legacy and it's an opportunity for him to have one final moment on the national stage before he exits after more than 50 years.

>> the fact that he's not conducting interviews or taking questions from the press as he leaves office is a huge hit. and also after he turned the white house over to donald trump by running again at age 82 and there's no accountability for it at any kind? i think that's remarkable. marc, let me shift gears a bit and talk about the anniversary tomorrow, january 6th. you were in the capitol on that day. obviously, i'm sure the day comes with a lot of thoughts, emotions for you and it does come as we are watching and waiting to see if president-elect trump does decide to move forward with what he said that he's going to pardon those that he attacked the capitol on day one, he told me. >> i expect that he will. i think that's pretty clear that's been his intention. president trump has the remarkable ability to tell a narrative and have american people follow the narrative. from the day of january 6th he wassy is disturbed by the events he referred to them over antifa

protesters and over the course of history they've become patriots. they were put there by trump-appointed judges who heard the evidence. so i expect that he will go forward with pardons. people got caught up in the capitol in things they shouldn't have been caught up on in, and to see him pardon people who assaulted police officers is a departure from order. >> a lot of them pled guilty and that's a good point. symone, what are you going to be watching for? i talked to senator schiff about oversight. how much is he going to be focused on oversight versus actually trying to govern potentially across the aisle. >> democrats in the senate and the house they want to find ways to govern bsse they want wins so they can potentially take back power in the mid-term election and the reality of the situation is some of the things they just won't be able to come together on when it comes to the house specifically because of

mike johnson's aggressive way of wanting to take on donald trump's agenda. >> thank you all. great way to kick off the year. we'll be back next week, because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪♪

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