the 2016 cadillac ats. get this low-mileage lease from around $269 per month, or purchase with 0% apr financing. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" meet the press. president obama tries to get his message straight in a final news conference before heading out of town for the year. >> we have prevailed over much greater threats than this. we will prevail again. behind bars. syed farook's friend enrique marquez talks about plots planned but not delivered. >> what kind of guy is enrique? >> what you see on tv. eps a dorky kid.

doughboy that wears glasses. mother of the poor. after years of waiting for mother teresa to be cannon joon pope francis is paving the way. >> we just thank god for his great love to bring us together to show our love for the poorest of the poor. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president obama will try again today to reset the record after acknowledging to a group of columnists he was slow to reassure the public after the terror attacks in paris and san bernardino. the president's low key approach in a series of events led americans to worry he was not doing enough to keep the country safe, he acknowledged.

chuck todd is nbc news political director, moderator of "meet the press" and host of "mtp daily" at 5:00 eastern. chuck, this president academic, no drama obama, no surprise here. but now acknowledging in a roundtable with newspaper columnists that he did lack the rhetorical reassurance that commanders in chief need. >> it's interesting, when he -- it's funny, like they deny, deny, deny that they mishandle something, then the criticism keeps coming, keeps coming and they relent. it reminded me, the last time i interviewed president obama was right after the james foley beheading and a lot of people were wondering boy, he gave comments and then went right back on the golf course. >> on vacation. >> on vacation. then he admitted to me i don't always get the theatrics of the presidency right. that was september of 2014. here we are again. this was essentially a theatrics of the presidency issue. this is part of the commander in chief job.

sometimes it is getting tone and tenor right in a situation like we have in this country right now, which is a very nervous public, a very insecure public, looking to the commander in chief to be consoler in chief, to be the reassurer in chief, whatever cliche you want to put together with "in chief" and this, they never actually learned this lesson. he knows it, again, this is sort of what makes president obama so fascinating to cover sometimes is that he is very self-observi self-observing. it's the anthropologist in him. never forget he is the son of his mother and his mother is an anthropologist and this is how he ends up saying awkward things like people who cling to their guns. he knows he can look inward on himself, okay, but sometimes i wonder if he's doing it just to make the columnists feel as if okay, he gets it but he hasn't

changed, you know. they seem to miss it constantly in the moment. >> we allude to the role of consoler in chief. now, for whatever pluses and minuses you can attribute to ronald reagan as president, when we think of the "challenger" tragedy and the way he came out and those incredible words from peggy noonan, so it's both the words, the delivery and it's filling the space that some would say donald trump and others are filling and the politicians on capitol hill whom he's trying to get to vote for his things or he was when he had a legislative window in the last year or two, they see that and they see the absence of it. >> what's interesting here, by the way, sometimes, let's not -- this guy can nail it. charleston, probably -- >> absolutely. >> -- as important and wonderful as a speech and healing that was, you know, how about the tucson speech. when gabbi giffords was shot. so he meets the moment. if there is a line here when he

doesn't meet the moment, it's usually with national security. >> it's part of his ambivalence about taking military action as an option. >> he is not a bravado guy on national security. he's more comfortable with it on other issues. you wonder if that's why there's a mess on tone sometimes. >> do you think it will be different at the news conference today? >> no. i don't think so. because i think this is a little bit of ending the year. don't forget, this question will be all over the map. i think he will still try to do a victory lap. we heard from josh earnest yesterday, for the first ten and a half months of 2015, lot of us thought even he worried that it was going to be lame duck central after getting shellacked in '14, he figured out how to be more than relevant in 2015. he got cuba, iran, climate done in ways by basically going around congress, challenge them on immigration. that of course was rolled back by the courts. but he didn't disappear. and i think his goal today is to send the message i'm not

disappearing in 2016 which is going to make -- he is a relevant player. bush faded in '08. bush accepted the idea that he was a problem for his party and he did not make a lot of -- he sort of -- >> and the two big remaining things are the trade deal which is going to be harder than ever, especially with the democratic -- >> nespecially in the middle of the democratic primary. the timing of that deal, you wait until the democratic primary's over. >> also guns. the private meeting not acknowledged until it was uncovered with mike bloomberg or leaked by the mike bloomberg people, the gun control issue which has been his and joe biden's greatest regret and failure and whether or not they can do that. i want to ask you about 2016 and first, the democrats. bernie sanders, we have been following him around and reporting on, you know, this unlikely candidate, no entourage, consistent with his values, not your typical

candidate but still closing a gap in iowa, possible in iowa and leading in new hampshire, and i'm told in minnesota and other states -- >> caucus states. >> in the caucus states he's got real advantages. he acknowledges to me in an interview we will be playing later today that he still has work to do with the african-american community. very powerful moments with muslim americans, went to a mosque the other day. now we have this data breach and here's sanders just now leaving the hill, exclusively with frank thorpe. >> reporter: senator sanders, do you have any response to -- >> i think we will be doing a press conference at 1:00. >> reporter: okay. but personally, are you disappointed with this staffer? >> we will be doing a press conference at 1:00. we will talk about all that at 1:00. >> it's complicated but the

democratic national committee has party lists that are shared, proprietary lists the hillary campaign, the sanders campaign, o'malley as well, and they had a vendor who put out these computer lists and at least one staffer acknowledged by the c campaign has been fired by sanders because for at least a half hour the hillary lists were visible to all the other campaigns and at least one sanders staffer in burlington, vermont accessed it, read it, debbie wasserman schultz said to tamron hall that the vendor says it was more than one staffer. this was just moments ago to tamron hall. >> i would ask any sanders supporters or anyone who is formulating an opinion about the actions that we have taken to put the shoe on the other foot. if it were the clinton campaign that accessed the proprietary information of the sanders campaign, you can be darned sure

understandably that his supporters would expect that we would take the exact same action that we are taking. >> so there's been a big push by moveon.org and other sanders supporters to complain that the democratic national committee clearly is quietly supporting hillary clinton in other ways. the democratic national committee has now denied access to these computer lists. how big a deal is it that they don't have access to the computer lists just weeks before the iowa caucus? >> today, tomorrow, through the weekend, not a big deal. if this is something that they don't have access to say in the next week, ten days, well, we're getting close to iowa. this is the stuff, in case you're wondering, this is where democrats, both parties have this, voters lists that will say here's everything we know about this voter and these are the issues he cares about. these are the things they have been accumulating over the years. then for instance the campaigns will then say okay, then they

have talked to john smith and found out boy, the issue he cares the most about is, you know, campaign finance reform and maybe the clinton people had knocked on john smith's door and knew this. the bernie people hadn't, you know. this is the type of -- and it helps you target direct mail or target e-mails, things like that. so it's an incredible tool. not a big deal if they are denied access for a couple days as a slap on the wrist but it's an interesting line the dnc has to walk. their vendor messed up. there's no doubt somebody in the sanders campaign played fast and loose with the dnc's walking the line here, if they keep this ban in place for awhile, you and i both know how the bernie sanders supporters are. they are very aggressive. you can just tell actually by congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. she has already been feeling the heat. they are going to get heat if this goes on awhile. my guess is the pound of flesh, they fired one staffer, sounds like the chair would like to see a little more flesh before they

give access. i bet you they work -- my guess is this gets worked out before the caucus. >> at this hour there's no evidence that sanders or the high command knew anything about it. >> you don't want this hanging over the debate if you are either candidate. i don't think the clinton campaign wants it, i don't think sanders, they do have a debate tomorrow night. and i don't think she wants -- i don't think the chairwoman wants to be -- she already got raked over the coals during one of these debates over the debates so my guess is this gets resolved pretty quickly. >> one other thing that has been acknowledged by other senators on both sides and actually most of the other senators are in the clinton camp, that he has been very respectful to hillary clinton, not taking off after her, and she to him. this has not been loike the republican -- >> no and this goes to a big challenge for bernie sanders. is he running to win? that's a question that i think he has to answer. is he running to win or not? look, sometimes you got to do

things to win and you know, that are something that you don't like. he has decided he's not going to do some things that some might say win at all costs. nobody is saying that. but it is interesting here, i think there is a larger question if i were a sanders supporter, is he running to win or running to make a point? >> he told me yesterday he's running to win. >> the question is when you are running to win, are you willing to do some things it takes, are you willing to be tough enough? hey, negative ads are a part of the campaign. if he's not willing to run one, makes you wonder. do you think hillary clinton would be afraid to do that? she has already proven in the first debate she has no problem going after him on policy. she did it very early. >> we have to leave it there. chuck todd setting the table. brian williams will lead msnbc's coverage of the president's end of the year news conference starting this afternoon at 1:30 eastern. chuck will have full analysis later today on "mtp daily" on msnbc. be sure to watch chuck this sunday on "meet the press." he will have an exclusive with

house speaker paul ryan. up next, terror charges. new details emerging about previous plots from the san bernardino shooter and his friend who bought him those assault rifles. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. so we asked them... are you completely prepared for retirement? okay, mostly prepared? could you save 1% more of your income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now, could make a big difference over time. i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it, it helps in the long run. prudential bring your challenges

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enrique marquez, the long time friend and former neighbor of san bernardino gunman syed farook was in federal court yesterday charged with three criminal counts, including providing material support to terrorists for allegedly plotting attacks in 2011 and 2012, attacks that never happened. and for illegally purchasing the assault rifles three years ago that farook and his wife used to kill 14 people in san

bernardino. authorities say there is no evidence that marquez was involved in that attack. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. pete, you have been studying this indictment and going through all the documents. fascinating information about the past of both farook and marquez as well. >> so we learned some things that we didn't know before. there had been some questions about whether tashfeen malik came over here and radicalized farook. now we know the fbi believes he was radicalized by 2010-2011 by al qaeda. there is very little reference to isis in this entire complaint. he was following the preachings of al awlaki, the al qaeda in yemen propagandist and he in turn, the fbi says, converted marquez to islam, then got him interested in jihad. it says they plotted these attacks to bomb and shoot at people in either the library or the cafeteria at the community college they both attended and to do the same thing to people, they would throw bombs on a freeway and shoot people in

their cars. interestingly, it says that when marquez bought the assault rifles that were eventually yod in san bernardino, he knew they would be used for a terror attack, the one they were plotting. that was his intent. same with the gun powder and other components for the bombs. so it's not an innocent purchase of the guns, according to the fbi. >> how did the guns get stored at farook's house? >> interesting you should use that word. what the fbi says was after the san bernardino shootings, by the way, i should back up a little bit and say the fbi says marquez has basically told them that after some unrelated terror arrests in late 2012, he and farook stopped going to gun ranges, stopped plotting terror attacks and he sort of gets out of the terror picture, and then the guns end up being used in santa barbara. he has nine beers, he don't drink much, he makes this sort of drunken call to 911 and says i think my neighbor shot at san

bernardino using my gun. the operator says how did he get your guns? he says i had given them to syed farook for safe storage which is odd given that he had been plotting to use these guns for terror attacks. >> what about the role of his wife? not marquez's wife. >> tashfeen malik. she doesn't really feature much in this indictment which is understandable. this is -- i shouldn't say indictment, in this criminal complaint, because these are charges against enrique marquez and it all has to do with syed farook and what they did together. it doesn't even say that tashfeen malik was one of the people who shot at the inland regional center. it just says at least one person fired shots there. now, i'm not sure why they word it that way. the only reference to her is that it says that after the shooting, a statement was posted to a facebook account associated with her pledging support for al baghdadi. doesn't even say she posted it. could have been her husband, could have been her, but that's the only reference to isis in

the entire complaint. >> so based on this complaint and obviously their interview with the only surviving associate of farook that they have and that they have indicted, isis was not even potentially inspirational. they were each radicalized previously back in 2010 as far as farook is concerned. >> correct. >> and he could have been responding to impulses from first al qaeda, then al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, al awlaki, and then pledging allegiance to isis but it may not have been even isis specifically inspired. >> the answer is they don't know. the fbi director has said as much. he said it may be a mixture of things. a lot of analysts have been saying nowadays it doesn't really matter where the message comes from, it's so all blended together. but there's no, you know, there's been a lot of talk about isis by the administration since san bernardino, but if you look at what the fbi actually knows

about the role of isis, it doesn't appear to be the traditional model, which is people who sort of innocently receive and then follow isis propaganda and are moved to commit a violent act. that doesn't seem to be the case here at all. farook was talking about killing his fellow americans as early as 2010-2011. what role isis played in the san bernardino shootings at this point, the simple answer is they don't know. >> the president is going to san bernardino after his news conference today on his way to his vacation in hawaii. it's really interesting in this case, because you could infer from this information that when the president briefed on san bernardino, there was a lot of ambiguity and it's after paris, america is all worried about isis, and he's being faulted for not reassuring the american people about isis, but it could well be because it wasn't necessarily a trigger point. >> they just don't know the answer to that question. but to be clear, when we have asked law enforcement people

this question for the last two weeks which is what role did isis play, what we are told is hey, don't -- make no mistake about it, isis is still a huge threat. it is the guiding force behind the paris attacks. there have been just yesterday, two more indictments of people who were following isis dictates. so it still remains a huge concern for the government. but what role it played in san bernardino, they don't know yet. may never know. >> pete williams, thank you so much. miracle worker. mother teresa set to become a saint. details next from rome. they come into this world ugly and messy. ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are.

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mother teresa, the roman catholic nun and nobel peace prize laureate celebrated for her lifelong devotion to the poor is going to be made a saint. pope francis moved a decree attributing a second miracle to teresa for the healing of a man suffering from a viral brain infection. the path is now set for mother

teresa's canonization. one of the highest honors of the catholic church. joining me from rome, nbc's claudio lavanga. how does this actually work? >> reporter: well, usually the sainthood or the process here at the vatican is a long and complicated process. it may take usually decades if not hundreds of years. in the case of mother teresa it was quite fast, almost a fast track to canonization which is the process to make a saint. why? because of course she is very popular. how does it work? usually a catholic to be considered a saint needs to have two things. first, you need to have lived a [ inaudible ] life through the eyes of the catholic church and the pope, and secondly, you need to be attributed two miracles, one during your lifetime and the second one after her or his death. in this particular occasion, mother teresa has been

attributed -- recognized to have interceded for the healing of this brazilian man whose healing of the several tumors he was suffering from is inexplicable. why was this a fast track sainthood? if you consider it, the saints are the icons, the faces of the catholic church, in particular in the time they were elevated to sainthood. who is better than mother teresa to be the face of the church of pope francis? pope francis always said he wants a poor church for the poor, especially, you need to consider the time when pope francis is going to elevate mother teresa to a saint. the jubilee of mercy has just started. it will last a year. she will probably be elevated to saint during this jubilee of mercy. who is more merciful in the eyes of catholics than mother teresa? >> claudio, thank you so much from your beautiful spot in rome. at the vatican. mutual admiration society. donald trump returns the compliment of vladimir putin. two tough guys.

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you have said that hillary clinton does not have enough energy to be president, but you and she are about the same age. >> right. >> so -- >> i have a lot of energy. look, she doesn't have the strength or the stamina. >> her people would argue as secretary of state and even now, she traveled all over the world, she speaks everywhere. is it because she's a woman? is that what you're saying? >> she will do an event, then she goes back home and goes to sleep. you don't see her. >> you don't know that. >> i think so, though. i think so. >> donald trump trying to do to hillary clinton what he did to jeb bush, that low energy thing. joining me now for our daily fix, "washington post" editorial writer jonathan capehart and ruth marcus and nbc white house correspondent kristen welker.

chr kristen, low energy? >> reporter: well, the clinton campaign would push back against that and against the notion that she takes naps between events. as you know because you are on the road with her, as am i, she often does a number of events every day. donald trump to some extent has helped hillary clinton, has given her a way to attack republicans. every time he makes one of these controversial comments, he sort of lumps all republicans in with him and having said that, there is no doubt that her campaign is taking donald trump's candidacy very seriously, increasingly acknowledging that it is possible he could be the nominee. >> ruth, there is an inherent sexism i think one might suggest in that criticism of hillary clinton. >> well, it's just the notion is just so bizarre, really. you spent more hours and more miles in more airplanes with

hillary clinton than just about anybody. there's a lot of criticism if you are a republican candidate you could legitimately make about hillary clinton, low energy and no stamina doesn't seem to me to be among them. i think one could reasonably question whether this stamina question has something to do with both age and gender. >> jonathan capehart, the other interesting trump comments were about vladimir putin, his new best friend, vladimir putin, praising him, putin praising trump. what is going on there? >> i wish i knew. here's a guy who is praising the leader of a country that annexed crimea, that allegedly has made journalists an endangered species in his own country, continues to threaten ukraine. this is somebody because of russia, because of very interests and because of our historic tensions, the leader of russia is somebody historically

american leaders have looked on with curcumspection at best. the idea that donald trump would wholly embrace somebody with a checkered record and as problematic as putin, i would think under normal circumstances would make him somewhat not illegitimate but certainly he has been talking about putin this way for months now and it's done nothing to his standing and it should. >> here's a little bit of donald trump calling in to "morning joe" today. >> when people call you brilliant it's always good, especially when the person heads up russia. i can also see russia being a big asset to our country and i really think that's the way it's going to be. they're a powerful nation. they have a big military base. they have a big military force. and i think they can be -- a lot of good things can happen with russia if we get along well with russia and they respect us.

he does not respect our president. >> ruth? >> well, donald trump, as jonathan said, has said a number of outrageous things about putin and russia before, but i think this one really takes the cake. just, i would say, crosses the line except the line, it's not even in our hindsight anymore. the notion that he would say that vladimir putin is admirable because he has great poll ratings, the notion that asked about jailing and killing journalists, that he would say we shoot a lot of people, too. this was just appalling. i think it's really important for those of us in our business to say it's appalling, to speak that way about somebody like vladimir putin and to suggest that he is somehow more admirable than president obama, whatever you think about president obama. i feel better having said that. thank you. >> let me just say, the omnibus bill, the big budget bill has been passed and just to set the

record for the record, the people running for president, bernie sanders voted against it, ted cruz voted against it, lindsey graham voted for it, rand paul voted against it, and marco rubio didn't vote. wasn't there. >> hello? >> but one of the big things that we have been following is the 9/11 first responders legislation that gillibrand and schumer and luke russert has been covering so vigorously, is part of the bill. i want to bring in taped reaction from one of the first responders who we interviewed several times on our program. >> in 20 years from now, they are never going to remember our names. they are never going to remember our words. but they are going to remember a hardcore front line of defense, ass kicking group of 9/11

responders came together, came together. don't make me run against you. came together to get this bill done. >> and just kudos to all of those who were involved in that effort. kristen welker, the president's news conference coming up shortly, about an hour. he's going to try to reset the tone of his response on terror, because he acknowledged to a newspaper columnist as we were discussing earlier that he left a vacuum at least in tone, if not in substance. >> reporter: that's right. we have all got our questions out about that, by the way, our list drawn up. i think you're right, the president is going to use this news conference to again try to show the american public that he's serious when it comes to fighting isis, that this administration does have a strategy that is working even if slowly, and he's going to try to reassure them that they will be safe heading into the holiday weekend but as you point out, he's gotten a lot of criticism

for not being strong enough. he's going to get asked about that and of course, all of the things on his agenda that he hasn't yet accomplished. things like new gun control laws and of course, immigration reform. so that's going to be among the topics during the press conference in just a short time from now. >> we will all be watching. kristen welker, thank you so much. jonathan and ruth. play ball. major league baseball takes the field in cuba. but first -- >> get ready! >> okay. for what? all right. let's light it up. >> "star wars." >> and the force is strong. the "star wars" fans around the world today. ♪

>> at the opening they lined up with great fanfare around the country last night. the reviews are in. >> i have been a fan since i was a kid. you don't let this kind of stuff slide. >> everything that i hoped for and then some. >> it has the feel of the old ones but just with the technology of today. >> i think the movie was great. >> really good. really unexpected. i didn't expect a lot of the stuff that happened. >> they did a phenomenal job. everything was great. >> awesome. two thumbs up. >> it was fantastic. i love j.j. abrams. >> that is welcome news for the movie's director, who was said to be terrified ahead of opening night. the hollywood reporter says the movie is projected to pull in $50 million to $55 million from last night alone. analysts expect it to make at least $1.5 billion worldwide. the frenzy around the film has been fever pitch as was evident by this brilliant creation by jimmy fallon and the roots.

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let's play ball. major league baseball players in cuba for a good will tour as part of the normalization of relations between the two countries. for hundreds of unicuban kids i a dream come true. the benefits of diplomatic relations are slow to reach the average cuban people because of the trade embargo still limiting economic ties. congresswoman barbara lee spent a lot of time in havana and washington working to resolve these issues. thank you for joining us today. what are the next steps?

it's been slower than some had hoped for. the president has done things by executive action, there's a lot of congressional pushback by opponents. what do you see as the next big steps? >> yesterday, december 17th was one year after the president so boldly moved forward with the unio cubans to begin to normalize relations but we have a lot of work to do. the full embargo will not be lifted unless we pass legislation which we have bipartisan support for but we have to get this through the house and the senate. secondly, americans have the right to travel. this is also about personal freedom so we have to pass legislation to lift the travel ban. yesterday we rolled out our cuba working group. we have five democrats on the steering committee, six republicans. so this is part of our mission and our goal and that is to fully lift the embargo and lift the travel ban. our businesses deserve to be able to do business in cuba. people deserve the right to travel to cuba.

americans can go to any country in the world. they are not prohibited from that. we want to see it happen as quickly as possible. >> what about the cuban government's response? there has been movement on postal service, on airlines, but there still are significant problems within cuba. human rights issues. >> there are significant problems within cuba. there's significant problems on our side. the point is, we are in dialogue, we are negotiating. i'm very pleased that the commercial airlines deal has been negotiated. oakland airport in my district is one of those airports that has license to be able to have direct flights into havana. these negotiations i think and from what i know and hear from both sides, they are moving. they are moving slowly but human rights, the issues around guantanamo, the issues around land, all of these issues are on the table for discussion. but i think what's important is

that there are bilateral relations. we have an embassy opened. way i was so pleased to be there when we raised the mrflag with e marines. i think progress is being made. but this is a 50 plus year policy that has failed so it's time to lift the embargo, time to lift the travel ban. the public here in america and in cuba want this to happen. i hope people will contact their members of congress and tell them to support us to get these bills through congress. >> president obama may visit this year before he leaves office? >> i'm really hopeful the president visits cuba. this would be historic. he has made more progress on this than any president. i think it would be wonderful to see our president, president barack obama, in havana really having some very forthright discussions with all segments of cuban society and to see him and witness him meeting with president castro in cuba. i think that's a major step. some of us met with president

castro at the united nations. when he was here in new york. the president met with him. i think it's a major step to help encourage the bill to be passed if in fact the president went to cuba. finally, let me just say i took 20 businesses from my district down to cuba very recently and the economic benefits and the jobs that could be created by lifting this travel ban are enormous. for example, cuba is beginning to develop a waste management system and contractors and businesses from all over the world are bidding on those projects. there are going to be enormous profits made, enormous amount of jobs created but we can't do that because we still have the embargo in place. it's time to end this foolishness, time to really allow americans to travel wherever they want to travel, including to cuba. >> congresswoman lee, thank you very much. if i don't see you, merry

christmas, happy new year. >> thank you. happy holidays to you. republican rivals ted cruz and marco rubio trading blows over immigration. this is brad. his day of coaching begins with knee pain, when... hey brad, wanna trade the all day relief of two aleve for six tylenol? what's the catch? there's no catch. you want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol? no. for my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve.

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i oppose amnesty. i oppose citizenship. i oppose legalization for illegal aliens. i always have and i always will. and i challenge every other republican candidate to say the same thing or if not, then to stop making silly assertions when their records and my record on immigration are the same. >> ted krcruz responding to mar

rubio, their battle over immigration. joining me is former pennsylvania governor and democratic chairman ed rendell and republican strategist john feehery. this is toxic for both of them. who's winning this battle? >> this is not only a battle over immigration but also credibility. rubio is trying to attack cruz over the fact he has been flip-flopping is all over the place and you can't trust him. cruz attacked rubio because he was part of the gang of eight. this is really good for the primary for cruz, not very good in the general election for either of them. i think this whole debate we need to move on from it and start talking about other issues. ultimately it's good for turnout for primary voters, bad for general election. >> sitting and watching all this are the democrats, ed rendell. the democratic campaign has been notably polite between bernie sanders and martin o'malley and hillary clinton, in particular sanders has resisted really

going ballistic against hillary and vice versa. now you have this issue with former democratic chair, you may have a better understanding of than other people, the voter lists. now we are hearing from clinton campaign sources that they are alleging that the breach was far more serious than just one staffer, that in fact almost immediately after this staffer found access through the vendor's sloppiness or faults of the democratic party, that immediately stuff was being downloaded and shared with others in the campaign. >> well, this is an issue that we should also put behind us. i think it's inside baseball, it's process stuff. i think senator sanders and i'm a clinton supporter but i think he's conducted a very good campaign. he's spoken about the issues. he hasn't been negative and i don't think we need this dispute. we should patch it up as soon as possible. i commend senator sanders and

the secretary for doing [ inaudible ] campaign. but it's been polite, it's been respectful, it's been adult and it's been mature and it's been a lot different than our friends across the aisle. >> but at the same time, what should debbie wasserman schultz do? the democratic committee is now blocking sanders' campaign from having access. is that punishment too severe if it lasts beyond a couple of days? >> i think that they should resolve it in a way that sanders campaign should get access again. look, we have done so well in the harmony that's been in the campaign throughout. we shouldn't let an issue like this get out of hand. i think if debbie asked me for advice, i would say resolve it

in a way to let the sanders people get access as soon as you can. >> john feehery, the trump factor. here you have donald trump praising vladimir putin and putin praising donald trump, and trump certainly and several other candidates showing a real lack of understanding of foreign policy in the debate. what do you and other republicans think of all this who are not in anyone's camp? >> i laugh but it's really not that funny. putin is one of our biggest rivals globally. he is actually a really bad guy. i think that maybe trump is worried about post business dealings with putin in the future. the fact of the matter is that you cannot take a stand that vladimir putin is a good guy and hope to win the republican nomination. it's not tenable. we cannot be supporting a dictator like that. >> you think this is disqualifying? >> i think it's disqualifying. it's horrendous he would praise on someone like putin who is a really, really bad guy. >> where do you go? >> i don't think trump will get the nomination.

hopefully voters will take a look at this, long look at this, and decide making those comments is not worthy, trump is not worthy of getting the nomination because it's bad. you can't say he's a good guy. >> ed rendell? >> i would just say this is the seventh time donald has said something that his republican rivals have said it disqualifies him. i don't think it will disqualify him. i don't think anything can. i think he's a reality and i for one am going to be happy to see him make his acceptance speech in cleveland. >> i bet you would. ed rendell, if i don't see you, happy new year and happy holidays to you. thank you both. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow the show online, on facebook and on twitter. "msnbc live" with thomas roberts is next. the sanders news conference and then the president.

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good afternoon. i'm thomas roberts. two major political stories breaking in this hour. president obama holding his final news conference of 2015, this being a meet the press moment where homeland security and the threat of isis is expected to dominate the conversation. we expect to hear from the president within this hour and when that begins, we will take you to the president live. meanwhile, expected any moment from now, the presidential campaign of bernie sanders expected to hold a news conference after a major revelation which resulted in a staffing shakeup and drew the ire of the dnc. the problem involves a software glitch in the democratic national committee data base which allowed the sanders team to improperly access the hillary clinton campaign's voter data. the dnc has barred the sanders camp from accessing its data base and last hour, senator sanders spoke exclusively to our nbc news team on capitol hill. >> reporter: senator sanders, do you have any response?