rubio is saying. crui ted cruz has been flirting with the idea that there is a hypothetical version that he supports. there is not a middle ground there and he is getting called out on it. he has to hope that this ad is what people see. >> i have run over time. i don't want to get caught saying something i shouldn't say on the air. we will be back monday with more. if it is sunday, meet the press you can catch, little yoda there. erica hill picks up our coverage next. tonight on msnbc, the president ties a bow on year seven in the oval office. >> the unemployment rate has been cut in half. years of steady implementation of affordable care act, on climate we have shown what is possible when america leads.

>> mr. obama weighing in briefly on the 2016 race. we will have those comments ahead. the president on his way to meet with families who lost loved ones in the san bernardino terror attack as we learn new details about the man charged with buying the guns used in that attack and what else the group may have been planning. untangling the motivations which particular terrorist propaganda remains a challenge in these investigations. on capitol hill today congress manages to surprise the american people once again but we think you like this one. breaking news in the race for the democratic presidential nomination, things just got a whole hot molot more interestin donald trump goes all in on his new political bromanse with vladimir putin all ahead. >> thanks for joining us. i'm erica hill in new york.

we begin at the white house where president obama held his final news conference of the year before heading off on vacation. >> taking this office i have never been more optimistic about a year ahead than i am right now. in 2016 i will leave it all on the field. >> on thursday the president met with his national security team. in today's press conference he tried to calm fears in the wake of recent attacks speaking about defeating isis abroad and fighting terrorism within our borders. >> squeezing isil's heart will make it harder to pump terror and propaganda. as we know from san bernardino where i will visit with families later today we have to remain vigilant. >> president obama will be visiting tonight with families

of the victims of the san bernardino massacre as we are learning new details. the president heads to hawaii for the holidays. ron allen is with us from the white house. nice to see you with us. give us a little more context in terms of what we heard from the president on his final press conference of the year. >> it was a year ender looking back and looking ahead and looking from something of an elevated view of what was going on. the president didn't get involved in discussing the nitty-gritty especially the 2016 presidential campaign. he wasn't asked a question about. the questions came from print journalists and not tv journalists which was an issue for the press corps that was there. terrorism certainly an issue. the president saying the united states and coalition partners are going to defeat isis. on the domestic front he talked about how it is impossible to

guarantee that there won't be more lone wolf attacks and how difficult it is to stop these attacks from happening and how important it is to be vigilant. if you see something say something. he also listed a long list of what he says are accomplishments as we heard in the sound byte about the economy doing well and unemployment being cut and opening to cuba and so on. looking ahead his priorities seem to be focussed on criminal justice reform and the trans pacific partnership trade deal that he initiated with our asian partners that still has to be approved by congress which is a contentious battle of sorts. most of the support for that initiative has come from the republican side. the president saying that he is going to be here working every minute every day leaving it all on the field and being relevant. of course, this is a challenge

for every incumbent to remain relevant during a campaign. president said he will be out there and he took a couple of swipes at the gop saying he expected his predecessor will be a democrat. he pointed out how the american republican party is the only major party in the western world, he said, that are still climate deniers. again, the bottom line, the president saying he is going to be relevant, engaged and will leave it all on the field until he leaves office. >> ron allen at the white house tonight. want to bring in white house reporter for the washington post and congressional correspondent for the washington examiner. let's get your impression of the final news conference of the year. the next time we see him up

there, it will be president-elect at the time. >> after the terrible terrorist bombing in paris and the san bernardino attacks so much public concern about terrorism. the president was trying to make the point that a lot of other things have gone on this year. the white house felt it had great momentum with the iran deal, opening to cuba, trans pacific partnership trade deal. they wanted to highlight that. you saw right before the news conference the white house put out that the president had sentences of 95 cases of inmates for drug offenses. so the president wants to work on criminal justice reform. they talked about bigger than expected sign ups for obama care. the public gets caught up too often in the day to day crisis. they are concerned that they don't want the final year

completely wrapped up in that. >> he did seem fairly upbeat overall. he did seem to take a little issue with the way some of the republican candidates although not calling them out by name but in the way they are approaching foreign policy and national security. let's take a listen and then i would like to get your thoughts. >> american strength and american exceptionalism is not just a matter of us bombing somebody. more often it is a matter of us convening, setting the agenda, pointing other nations in a direction that is good for everybody and good for u.s. interests, leading by example. >> was there anything he left out of that message? >> he pretty much covered it all. it's not surprising because republicans generally and the president have different visions

for what u.s. policy should look like especially with the threat from islamic state and domestic terrorism. the president has tried to make the case that his relatively light foot print abroad especially to how and when to use the military is the right approach. republicans prefer a more aggressive approach. this is an ongoing disagreement. we haven't heard the last of it. it was the president continuing to try to defend his approach which at the current time i think americans still aren't quite sure how they feel about that given what we have seen in recent weeks both in europe and the united states. >> that is something he has done consistently over the last couple of weeks. he also answered questions. we were talking about the budget bill that passed answering questions about how he is getting along with the new house speaker paul ryan. >> i will say in his

interactions with me he has been professional. he has reached out to tell me what he can do and what he cannot do. i think it's a good working relationship. we recognize that we disagree on a bunch of other stuff and have fundamentally different visions for where we want to move the country. perhaps because even before he was elected he had worked on capitol hill i think he is respectful of the process and respectful of how legislation works. >> this is something where there is really a part in both of this for both of you. because of covering congress when you see the way the president is speaking about the house speaker and we know how americans feel about the jobs that lawmakers are doing or not doing they feel in washington, how does the president's view that we heard today, how does it

speak to their relationship moving forward? >> it sort of depends. paul ryan is a professional and the president is the president. they are going to work together and they are going to talk. i think the issue next year is going to be what happens when they really come to a major disagreement over policy because paul ryan what he did with this is not something people can expect to see again. he had a bit of a honey moon because he was new and i think republicans understood he was dealing with what was left to him and they were not going to undermine him when he was just doing the best he could with what was left at his feet. paul ryan wants to do things differently. house republicans and senate republicans expect more out of their leadership. then we will find out how well the president and speaker ryan work together. >> it will be interesting to see because the president will be in his final year and he is not running for anything. >> i think both sides congress and paul ryan's office kpt white house recognize there are limits

about what they are able to do. they haven't done a whole lot together the last few years. the biggest will probably be the trade deal. left the room open for the obama trade deal to come forward as soon as this spring. mitch mcconnell said he doesn't see it happening until after the election. one area the president said at the podium that he will present a plan to close guantanamo bay. it is unlikely that the republican congress will go forward with that but those are areas you will see the white house try to work with paul ryan. otherwise paul ryan has his ambition to put forward ideas to try to make the party look vibrant in this election year. you will see clashing with the public defending final agenda from health care to climate impact. >> they will be keeping the two

of you very busy in the year to come. appreciate you both being with us tonight. thank you. still to come here the latest from san bernardino. chilling details now emerging about terror plans the shooter and friend had years before the attacks. we are live at san bernardino next. tension mounting. bernie sanders campaign suing the dnc after it cut off the campaign's access to a voter registration database amid allegations that sanders camp improperly obtained data. and jeb bush going on the attack. what he is saying about donald trump today. could it help him gain traction in the polls? stay with us. the holidays bring many challenges to the feet.

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ahead, the latest from san bernardino. this hour president obama is heading west where he will meet

privately with the families of the 14 victims from the deadly shooting attacks earlier this month. this comes as we are learning new details about the investigation and more about the friend of the couple accused of purchasing fire arms for them. we will have more on that for you after the break. what makes thermacare different? two words: it heals. how? with heat. unlike creams and rubs that mask the pain, thermacare has patented heat cells that penetrate deep to increase circulation and accelerate healing. let's review: heat, plus relief, plus healing, equals thermacare. the proof that it heals is you. this holiday, i can count on my going off list.again, and knowing right when my packages arrive. so that's two things. introducing real time delivery notifications. sign up at myusps.com

is it keeps the food out. for me before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. super poligrip is part of my life now. at this hour the president is on his way to san bernardino where he will meet with families of the victims of the deadly attacks. there are details on the shooting investigation one day after first charges were filed in relation to the attack.

enrique marquez appeared in federal court. authorities say marquez conspired with him in 2011 and 2012 to throw pipe bombs into the cafeteria of the college where they both studied and they plotted to throw pipe bombs to a busy intersection of california freeway. marquez has been charged with buying the assault rifles used in the san bernardino shooting as well as powder used to build pipe bombs found at the scene. what do we know at this point? what more are we learning after the charges were filed? >> reporter: since enrique marquez was arrested yesterday people have been streaming through the memorial site here in san bernardino laying down american flags, wreaths and saying prayers. i think this morning newspaper

says it best, deadly, charges, charade. the three criminal charges yesterday. this community seems to be most bothered by the foiled plot in 2011 and in 2012 that he had planned with syed farook. he planned two separate bombings. one at the community college where he and farook attended and on this particular stretch of freeway. and the affidavit says they chose this stretch because there were no exits. they were hoping to inflict the most casualties possible. enrique marquez planning to shoot at people while on the freeway while farook was planning to go by each individual car and shoot people inside. those were chilling details that are alarming this community ahead of the president's visit tonight and ahead of enrique marquez's bail hearing monday.

>> thank you. i want to bring in terrorism expert, professor of criminal justice. he is also the director of the center for the study of hate and extremism. nice to have you back with us tonight. as we are learning a little bit more here, does it still seem that enrique marquez and perhaps syed farook are two men who were inspired by terror groups al qaeda or isis or is this starting to look more like two friends who were a little bit lost and looking for something else? >> reporter: it's probably both but more on the radical side. this complaint had a treasure-trove of information. it showed that he was influenced by among other people anwar al awlaki. he was inspired by nidal hasan who did the fort hood shooting.

what is interesting is at that time anwar al awlaki was quite active in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula's effort to conspire to commit acts of terrorism. one other interesting point that could be a coincidence, on september 30, 2011 that is when anwar al awlaki was killed by a drone strike in yemen along with his young editor from america was killed in that, as well. it was shortly thereafter, just the next month that these plots started. maybe this was in response to his killing. we don't know. there were different extremist clerics mentioned in the actual criminal complaint. i think it shows you can't copyright extremism. one group probably catalyzed

them to radicalism. and then at the end of the day his wife, farook's wife -- >> if you are looking at this now, based on what we have learned, where do you think investigators are looking into in terms of marquez's circle at this point? >> great question. what they are going to try to find out because he is the living one. melissa mollet -- it might have been a tight operation because it remains secret. i assure you that they are using him as a piece of evidence and

also all the folks that he would have communicated with and i'm sure they have his equipment. one other quick thing there was another group around the same time that was busted. they called the facebook jihaddists in the same region and included another graduate of cal state san bernardino. was he known to syed farook? there was an informant in the case and i'm sure the fbi is talking to that informant to see if there is a connection. that group was involved in a plot to attack service members in afghanistan and the leader of that group was mopped up in afghanistan a few years ago. >> fascinating stuff and so many threads there. interesting to see how they may perhaps end up being connected. a lot to look at. appreciate the insight. thank you. >> thank you so much. still to come here on msnbc,

breaking news ahead of tomorrow night's democratic debate. a bernie sanders campaign staffer fired after inappropriate actions that led to a breach in clinton voter data. the sanders campaign is suing the democratic party. jeb bush's newish strategy has a clear target, donald trump. is the assault a winning move or too little too late? a new national poll out tonight. we have the numbers still ahead. ♪

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collected by the clinton campaign. the sanders campaign says it fired one staffer today. steve kornacki spoke to the staffer who was fired explaining the motive behind his actions. >> we did establish proof that there was a problem so that we understood what that problem was and we could report that up the chain. it did take us some time to figure out. >> the problem besides the firewall being down, what are you able to establish by going into her voter file? if you went into her voter files and searched them and copied information from them, basically sounds like you are committing the misdeed to prove its possible to commit the misdeed. >> we didn't actually like use it for anything valuable.

we didn't take custodianship of it. >> now that the sanders campaign is suspended from using the website the manager says they can't access their own information. for more on the technical side of all of this, calperry joins us. what is the technical glitch? >> the company provides a database of voter information. it's really the kind of company, the data provider for anyone who is looking to run for president in this country. all campaigns use it. it was a bug in their software which allowed anyone to view the other campaign's information. as you heard the firewall is down. somebody from the sanders campaign and we think it was three or four individuals were able to access information about clinton's campaign, information that hillary clinton's people had put together on voter registration, on individuals in certain areas.

so that was the glitch. it was open for 40 minutes until the company realized that this was open. they shut it down and then traced the steps of who could have gotten access to this information. imagine you log into your e-mail account and someone else's g mail is there for a short period of time that is what happened. >> what was the data exposed? >> we don't know. what we have heard is they say a one sheet summary was downloaded on the other end. the clinton campaign is saying their data was stolen. they are obviously using politics to make politics. they are saying their data was stolen. that is still unclear what kind of data was taken and whether or not the sanders campaign downloaded it? did they take it off the server or just look at it? >> a few things we are looking into. appreciate you cleaning up some of that for us. still to come jeb bush versus

donald trump. it is former gop front runner versus gop king. who does the back and forth benefit the most? congress passing a budget bill today. the two sides coming together avoiding a government shutdown right before the holidays. we'll return to the bernie sanders fallout with a look at what the latest setback could mean for the sanders campaign and how it could effect his run for president. that's ahead. may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp. it relieves cold symptoms without raising blood pressure. so look for powerful cold medicine with a heart. coricidin® hbp. redid you say 97?97! yes. you know, that reminds me of geico's 97% customer satisfaction rating. 97%? helped by geico's fast and friendly claims service.

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sanders campaign manager jeff weaver this afternoon about an hour ago the sanders campaign sued the dnc for breach of contract. there has been bad blood between the sanders campaign and the dnc for some time. this suspension according to the campaign is another way the committee is promoting clinton's campaign. here is what debbie wassermann schultz told cnn about the decision. >> we are following agreements that both parties entered into. this is not unreasonable. it is the only way that we can ensure that we protect the integrity of our voter file. i can be quite certain if the shoe were on the other foot and the clinton campaign inappropriately accessed sanders campaign i'm confident this is the decision they would expect from us. it is the same decision we would make if the shoe were on the

other foot. >> i want to bring in steve kornacki. i watched fascinated as you were interviewing earlier today the staffer who was fired. i found it at times a little tough to follow in the story. so break it down for us. what did he say happened and why? >> he seems to be saying the sanders campaign is stressing this has been a long standing issue where this firewall between the sanders side and the clinton side the firewall keeps collapsing and are blaming the dnc and the vendor that manages that. they are arguing they were so frustrated that when it came down this guy decided and he brought three others along with him decided i'm going to go into the clinton side. i'm going to perform a series of searches. i'm going to look at lists of voters who are 70% likely to support clinton. i'm going to do searches.

i'm going to hit the copy button, copy them and therefore i will establish it is possible to do this, that the data is exposed and that something needs to be done about it. the analogy he made it is like walking past a house, seeing the door is open, going inside, leaving a note to tell the owner your door is open then going around to the back and leaving another note to make sure the door is open back there, as well. i'm scratching my head and people are saying most people seeing a house where the door is open would keep walking, would call the police would call the owner. the instinct would not be to go inside. >> did he say he sort of called the police meaning was in touch with the company running this? it was just the frustration of them not addressing it? >> the dnc is saying it did not get this from the sanders campaign. the sanders campaign insisting

we didn't -- you can copy it. i have an education. you can be on the clinton side of this and you can copy it and save it on the clinton side. >> you can't take it to the sanders side. >> it is possible. it would be very naive on their part because you see how this looks. it is possible that he did think this is the way you establish that there is a problem here but the sanders campaign is totally defiant bet this. the bottom line is the sanders campaign did this. at least one person, maybe three others acting who did this. it is not established and no accusation that anybody on the clinton side did this. debbie wassermann schultz saying -- it is hard to argue.

i can imagine the sanders campaign would be saying this was spying, this was trying to get our information and you better cut off their access. >> we are hearing a lot from the clinton campaign -- >> they just concluded a conference call. they are saying the sanders campaign changed the story a little bit and there has been some evolution in the sanders story about this. they are trying to -- the goal is to shift this to the democratic national committee has it in for us and trying to promote hillary clinton and ignoring the fact that it was ultimately somebody on their side who went to the clinton side and the clinton side is trying to remind people of that. >> appreciate you clearing some of that up for us. for more on the political reaction to the story we want to bring in bill preston and roland martin, host of news one now. when we are listening to everything unfolding here, as steve pointed out there are many

who do feel that debbie wassermann schultz and dnc are clearly in the hillary clinton camp and this is in their view one more sign based on the reaction. bill press, is that what we are seeing? >> i think we have to keep in mind, number one, as cal perry told us, this is a vendor that screwed up. the sanders campaign didn't screw up. why don't they fire the vendor? secondly, i have been to dnc meetings. there is no doubt the dnc is a cheering squad for hillary clinton. if you look at the number of debates, the little number of debates. martin o'malley made the same point. on the that score the sanders campaign is absolutely right. and third i think the timing is suspicious here. this whole thing -- this breach was all a big deal the day after

bernie gets the endorsement oft communication workers and democracy for america and the day before the next debate. i smell a rat. >> and others have brought up that interesting timing. roland, when you look at this and the reaction, one thing that is interesting is we weren't hearing much from the clinton campaign until a conference call. does that raise flags for you? >> no. if you are the clinton folks why should you say anything? you allow the dnc to do what they do. let congress woman debbie wassermann schultz be out front. the lawsuit is sanders against dnc. i will go a different way here. for the last several weeks you see his campaign complain that the networks ignoring his campaign and release studies

showing how much time donald trump is talked about and bernie sanders talked about. when is the last time bernie sanders got this much attention. this plays into the hand of a campaign saying look at him they are trying to take us down and we have the primary coming up. this is going to be act chb in social media. this plays into the sanders camp because it is giving him a massive amount of attention when they have been ignored by national media. >> does that help them with tomorrow night's debate getting more people to tune in? the saturday night debates not your primetime schedule. >> why you are bearing debates on saturday night. i think you want 18 to 20 million people watching your debate. senator bernie sanders is going to go into the debate. you will have more media paying attention, more people and he is

gogoing to be able to rail against that and call on secretary clinton to say we should be standing for fairness. this drives the monday conversation. this is the best thing that happened to the bernie sanders camp in about two months. >> what does martin o'malley need to happen so he can get more traction? >> maybe martin o'malley should come in amuon this lawsuit. there is a democratic primary. there is a contest on the democratic side which who has been talking about that in the national media? nobody. you have a real issue. i think it is a gross overreaction on the part of the dnc but i think the sanders campaign has handled it brilliantly. they are making it a bigger deal than it is. they are getting all the attention.

>> i know what the two of you will be doing tomorrow night. you have a dvr. you can do that, too. >> christmas party. >> bill press, is a man with a lot of invitations. nice to see you boetth. >> we want to point out and thanks to one of our viewers on irt twitter. bernie sanders as we mentioned landed an endorsement from the communications workers of america. we mistakenly reported the size of that group's membership at 70,000. the organization boasts 700,000 members. we appaologize for that error a thank you to our viewer for pointing it out. new orleans no stranger to wild costumes and parades. last night the city's party had a slightly different theme. santa and reindeer won't be the only things flying through the sky on christmas eve.

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bone playing storm trooper and traditional second line parade into the french quarter. a warning for anyone in the skies christmas eve the space walk is an estimated 1.2 miles in length and expected to glide past our planet on christmas eve. the good news scientists say it will pass safely at 28 times the distance between the earth and the moon which is safe for flying. probably no chance of it landing in your front yard. the jabs between jeb bush and donald trump. how are those attacks playing with voters? we have new numbers. stay with us.

donald trump versus everyone else. sound familiar? coming up we look at the latest attacks from the gop. are any of them working? padvil pm gives you the healingu at nsleep you need, it. helping you fall asleep and stay asleep so your body can heal as you rest. advil pm. for a healing night's sleep.

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i'm so sorry. come on sweetie. it's okay. and knowing right when my packages arrive. introducing real-time delivery notifications. one more reason this is our season. you like putin's comments about you? >> sure especially when the person heads up russia. >> and the person that kills journalists, political opponents and invades countries. >> at least he is a leader. >> jeb bush continues his attack on donald trump today. you heard trump talking with joe. taking to twitter to do a little

criticizing saying does donald know putin backed iran/assad? does he care? an hour later jeb bush posted this campaign ad mocking donald trump. >> how do you think barack obama is doing right now not only in terms of strategy and policies but in terms of the appointments he has made? >> i think he is doing great. i think he is doing a great job. >> you are impressed. >> trump went after jeb bush on twitter saying i have an idea for jeb bush whose campaign is a disaster try using your last name and don't be ashamed of it. the last thing the country needs is another bush, dumb as a rock. donald trump increasing his lead 11 points since november up with 39% among republican primary voters. senator ted cruz in second place with 18%.

senator marco rubio is in third at 11%. perhaps one most interesting is ben carson with 9%. he is off nine points and jeb bush with 3% falling down since november. that poll was taken just in the last couple of days after the debate. joining me now republican strategist susan dell purseio and erin mcpike. nice to have both of you with us. one of the things that is surprising to me is the fact that jeb is starting to push back a little bit against donald trump. donald trump is actually going after him where in some ways you would almost expect donald trump to say he is not worth my time. >> donald trump doesn't do anything that anyone expects. that being said, jeb bush, this is it. this is his six weeks to go until iowa. he has to do something to mix it up. everyone has been saying -- the establishment has been calling

for someone to attack trump hard. this is what jeb bush is going to do. he has the superpack doubling down on ads. they need a big ad buy attacking donald trump as well as other candidates. he has to try to ride this home. that poll indicates it may not work but that being said if he is going to try and at least position himself to take over rubio or cruz he has to get his numbers up. >> when we look at some of the numbers one thing we were noticing is the drop for ben carson. he is at 9% but lost nine points. that was split among other candidates. is that surprising or is that how you expect it to shake out at this point? >> one thing i point out is john kasich spends a month attacking donald trump and it didn't do anything for him. his poll numbers went down. this is jeb bush's last chance to try to make something happen.

as a strategy i don't know that will help jeb very much. he has to campaign and the establishment wants somebody to go after donald trump. donald trump the more he gets attacked the more his numbers go up. today getting closer to 40%. we had many strategists telling us that donald trump would have a ceiling of 25%. he is blowing right through that. >> it is interesting in terms of attacking donald trump. does it work for anybody? it seems like it back fires on everyone. >> when you look at focus groups done especially after the last debate. voters do not want to see republicans attacking each other. they want to see strength but when they see one candidate attacking the other they don't view that as strength. they view that as devisiveness. they don't want to see that. the attack is a very dangerous strategy for jeb bush. what else does he have? nothing. he is giving it a shot. >> among the other candidates are they still continuing to try to play it more from a position

of strength? the issue is when you have a field this broad there is no real way to stand out. >> that's right. i would point out what marco rubio and ted cruz are doing. those two are attacking each other and it has gotten very intense. they are ignoring donald trump and focussing on each other because marco rubio has to try to take some of ted cruz's support. right now it looks like donald trump or ted cruz will win iowa and that looks like marco rubio could come in third and chris christie is on the rise in new hampshire. rubio and christie will start going at it there with donald trump looking like he will win new hampshire. some of the aert candidates have to break away from trump to try to get higher in the polls and votes so they can move on to south carolina. >> nice to have both of you with us tonight. thank you. thanks to all of you for watching msnbc live. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today." "hardball" starts right now.

obama grabs the mic. let's play "hardball." good evening. today president obama trying to find his way into the news. he pushed his successes, climate change agreement in paris, the opening to cuba, initial trans pacific trade accord. he first had to push past concern over terrorism, a topic of which he had little good news to share today. we heard was a tale of two cities. he wanted to talk about the firs