there's other days you see where he goes with priebus as chief of staff and he didn't undercut ryan when he could have. >> good luck on new venture, jim. >> thank you. appreciate it. he could have. >> thank you, appreciate it. on the road again, the president-elect has kicked off a thank you tour and last night he announced his pick for another key role in his incoming administration, the secretary of defense. >> and while he may have saved 1,000 jobs in indianapolis, trump's deal with the carrier plant is facing criticism about setting precedent. plus, families continue to search for loved ones following the massive wildfires in tennessee. the concern over hot spots remain.

hey there, good morning, everyone, it's friday, december 2 7bd. i'm alex witt alongside ali velshi and louis burgdorf. president-elect trump began his thank you tour. trump made multiple diversions from his prepared remarks and about a half hour into his speech made the surprise announcement that james mattis is his choice for secretary of defense. >> are we doing a good job with our cabinet and our people? i don't want to tell you this, because i want to save the suspense for next week, so i will not tell you that one of our great, great generals -- don't let it out tonight, right? we are going to appoint "mad dog" mattis as our secretary of

defense. but we're not announcing it till monday, so don't tell anybody. mad dog. he's great. he's our best. they say he's the closest thing to general george patton that we have, and it's about time. it's about time. >> mattis, who also went by the nickname "warrior monk" is revered in the marine corps. he headed u.s. central command from 2010 to 2013. he has quoted controversy in the past saying, "it's fun to shoot to people" while talking at a forum in 2005. because mattis only recently retired, he must pass a waver for his appointment, but at least one member has already come out in opposition.

senator kirsten gillibrand said, while i deeply respect general mattis' service, i will oppose a waver. i will not vote for any exception to this rule. yet the committee chairman, senator john mccain, said he looks forward to fast confirmation and america will be fortunate to have general mattis in its service once again. the president-elect began the first leg of the thank you tour, a victory lap of sorts which he talked about his plans for the country and frequently broke from his teleprompter to relive some of his campaign battles. >> i'm going to discuss our action plan to make america great again. we're going to discuss. although we did have a lot of fun fighting hillary, didn't we? right?

we spend too much time focusing on what divides us. now is the time to embrace the one thing that truly ewe newts us. you know what that is? america. america. we're going to seek a truly inclusive society, where we support each other, love each other, and look out for each other, and that means that people coming into our country have to be people that have the potential to love us, not to hate us. we condemn bigotry and prejudice in all of its forms. we denounce all of the hatred, and we forcefully reject the language of exclusion and separation. we're going to come together. we have no choice. we have to. and it's better. >> earlier in the day, donald trump savored his trip to indianapolis.

his administration cheering their first victory, even before formally taking office, but as he began his remarks, he relished another victory. >> if you remember during the primaries this was going to be the firewall. this was where they were going to stop trump, right? and that didn't work out too well. and it was a firewall for me, it was a firewall, and we won by 16 points. and the election we just won by 20 points, almost 20 points, and that was some victory. that's pretty great. >> trump went on to say he was watching the news recently when he was reminded of a common refrain from his days campaigning. >> i was watching the nightly news, i won't say which one, because i don't want to give him credit, because i don't like him much, i'll be honest. and they had a gentleman worker, great guy, handsome guy, he was

on. he said something to the effect, no, we're not leaving. because donald trump promised us that we're not leaving. and i never thought i made that promise. not with carrier. i made it for everybody else. i didn't make it really for carrier. and i said, what's he saying? and he was such a believer. then they played my statement, and i said, carrier will never leave, but that was a euphemism. i was talking like carrier, like all other companies from here on in. so now because of him, whoever that guy was. is he in the room by any chance? that's your son, stand up. you did a good job. united technologies is one of the top 50 companies in the united states. they make many other things other than air conditioners, believe me. >> in fact, he's right. united technologies also has billions of dollars in defense contracts with the federal government and sources familiar

with the negotiations say that was a motivating factor. united technologies gets 10% of its revenue from the federal government. inside this deal with united technologies, $7 million in financial incentives over ten years from the taxpayers of indiana, the home of vice president-elect mike pence. that money comes in exchange for a guarantee that carrier retains at least 1,000 jobs and invests $16 million into its indiana operations. still, according to "the wall street journal," 600 jobs from that particular plant are still destined for mexico and cnbc reports 700 jobs will still be lost when a plant in nearby huntington, indiana, closes. during his speech trump also vowed to slash corporate tax rates and regulations he says are hindering american business and spurring an exodus of jobs abroad. alex? >> reaction to the deal to keep carrier jobs in the u.s. spurred

some craze from the left and criticism from the right. former senior adviser to president obama david axelrod tweeted, without knowing details of what was promised, any fair reading is the carrier intervention is a good early win for donald trump. while david beaux, executive vice president said, when the president does it himself, it makes clear this is a crony economy to benefit the president's friends and that individual companies can be subject to pressure and punishment directly at the hands of the president. that's not something that normally characterizes a democratic or republican form of government. frankly, it brings to mind the term banana republic. ali? >> senator bernie sanders is criticizing the deal, as well, writing, "carrier just showed corporations how to beat donald trump. carrier says united technologies took trump hostage and won." >> during the campaign we had mr. trump running around the country saying he was going to be really tough on these

corporations if they outsourced american jobs. and for american workers out on the street. what he's doing now is saying to these corporations, well, it's okay for half of the jobs to go to mexico where people will be paid $3 an hour, and for the other half, well, we are going to give a very, very profitable corporation, united technologies makes $7 billion in profits last year, we're going to give them a $7 million tax break in order to keep these jobs. united technologies today has $6 billion in defense contracts, and what trump should tell them is you're not getting a tax break, you're going to lose your defense contracts if you don't do the right thing and keep these workers, all workers, here in indiana, rather than sending half of those jobs to mexico. what trump is doing is setting a very dangerous precedent. my guess is today there's some corporation who may not have thought one second about leaving america, now they are going to

announce, hey, we're going to mexico, we're going to china. hey, mr. trump, what are you going to do for us? turning from politics now, as crews scour the mpts of tennessee, the death toll rises once more. 11 confirmed dead from the wildfires. days later, others remain missing. no word still on the family of michael reed, his wife and two daughters are unaccounted for. this morning home, business, and rental owners will be able to return to gatlinburg for the first time, but only until 5:00 p.m., as there are still curfews in effect. the johnson city fire department posted this photo to facebook. the caption, as close as we got to seeing sleep in 36 hours. those are some real heros, ali. >> no kidding, louis. health scares forced one of the first men on the moon, astronaut buzz aldridge, who abandoned his trip to the south pole just days into his

exertion. this photo was posted of aldrin recovering in new zealand. he is in stable condition and good spirits and he's got fluid in his lungs, but responding well to antibiotics. the 86-year-old was scheduled to be in the south pole as part of a sightseeing trip. his manager also shared these photos. earlier this week posting this photo of himself preparing for the trip simply capturing it, "south pole here i come." alex? >> good for him. still ahead, new details about an apparent road rage incident that left a former nfl running back dead. plus, senator elizabeth warren offers a few kind words to former rival and possible trump cabinet pick. those stories and more when we come back.

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welcome back. see this guy? just days after telling new jersey voters he's, quote, not going anywhere, governor chris christie is reportedly making the case for himself to become the next republican national committee chairman. according to politico, christie has told members of president-elect trump's transition team that he's interested in running for the position. sources tell politico the governor has embarked on an aggressive full court press style campaign for the job, which is currently held by trump's incoming chief of staff reince priebus. christie may be facing an uphill battle for the job. several members of trump's team have been encouraging the president-elect to consider other candidates, which itself is creating divisions amongst that team. at the center of the reported battle are priebus, who has

connections to the gop's establishment, and steve bannon and top donor rebecca mercer, who pushed the president-elect toward his populist base. politico says vice president-elect mike pence's team is also getting into the mix. final approval of the next chair will come from the rnc's 168 members who are expected to vote on the matter during their annual winter meeting next month. congressman keith ellison is responding to new questions over his bid to run the democratic party. the antidefamation league cites audio from the 2010 speech by ellison touching on u.s. foreign policy in the middle east. in it the congressman questioned why decisions regarding the region are, quote, governored by what is good or bad by a country of 7 million people. the adl said ellison's remarks are deeply disturbing and disqualifying, implying u.s. foreign policy is relaced on

religiously or national origin based special interests. ellison issued an open letter in response saying he's saddened by their statement saying, "the audio released was selectively edited and taken out of context by an individual the southern poverty law center has called an antimuslim extremist. my record proves my deep and long standing support for israel and i've always had the same values embodied by the antidefamation league." senator warren is getting behind one of donald trump's potential cabinet picks, giving a full throated endorsement of scott brown's bid for secretary of veteran affairs. warren unseated brown in a bitter 2012 senate race. here she is on radio yesterday. >> if scott brown is the nominee for veterans affairs, i have no doubt that he would put his

heart and soul into trying to help veterans, and i would put my heart and soul into trying to help him do that. you bet i'd support him for that. >> in response, "my thanks to senator warren for her kind words. if nominated for secretary of the va, i would welcome her support, passion, and help to serve our vets. # troops." in 2014 he retired, endorsing trump's nomination a day after he lost the iowa caucuses and has been a vocal supporter ever since, but the republican may have some competition. nbc news reported sarah palin is in contact with trump's transition officials, potentially for a role of va secretary. alex? okay, louis, let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. what's it looking like out there? getting chilly. >> that's the big story, a lot of people are feeling the chill, but we have a lot of security camera videos of the tornados

and this was from atlanta. this was the day after the deadly ones in alabama and tennessee. this was pretty impressive. two for the atlanta area. this was an ef-1, winds around 100, 120 miles per hour winds, but still impressive. watch this tree fall right here. thankfully nothing like that will be experienced today. over the weekend, little more weather to deal with. we have a storm up in canada and the winds are bringing down the cooler air from canada. i'm not going to say cold air, because we're cool across the country. 31 in minneapolis, that's not exactly cold, but 20s and 30s across the country. even in the southeast, people are getting winter coats and maybe the hats and gloves for the kids this morning. what's going to change this weekend is that we have a big dip in the jet stream. not really a big deal today, we have the santa ana winds in areas of california, so the fire danger is always a threat, and what's going to happen is when this shifts to the south, it will begin to pull moisture out of the gulf of mexico. that will cause another

significant rain event beginning today, mostly saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday through the southeast. so that will be the story through the weekend, rainy weekend for you in texas, louisiana, eventually mississippi and alabama, too. so today's forecast, nice recovery after a chilly start in new england. no problems in the great lakes, cool and breezy, southeast warms up, too, but rainy weather on saturday and sunday will push the rainy weather here into areas of the southeast. doesn't look like we're going to deal with anything as severe as this week, the fire and tornados. calm december week. >> thankfully. thanks so much, bill. still ahead, the minnesota vikings almost pulled off a win in thursday night football, but the dallas cowboys winning streak lives on. know more aboue food you choose. with beyond, you have a natural pet food that goes beyond telling ingredients to showing where they come from. beyond assuming the source is safe... to knowing it is.

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welcome back. sad news out of the sports world. ex-usc star and former new york jets running back joe mcknight has died. the 28 year old was shot and killed in broad daylight yesterday following a road rage incident just outside of new orleans. it's unclear what led to the altercation, but a witness tells "the times" the suspect, 54-year-old ronald gasser, shot mcknight, stood over his body and said, "i told you not to bleep with me, then shot him again." that witness says mcknight was trying to apologize just before he was killed. gasser remained at at scene, was taken into custody, and reportedly turned his gun over

to police. the jets called mcknight a kind person. pete carroll said, everyone loved joe and we are going to really miss him. just a tragic story there. turning back to the nfl now and bad news for patriot fans. star tight end rob gronkowski is likely out for the remainder of the season, according to a joint statement from the team and gronkowski family. espn reports the surgery is to repair a herniated disk, his third back surgery since 2009. thursday night football, dallas cowboys and minnesota taking on the vikings. second quarter, dak prescott finds a wide open dez bryant for the 56-yard completion, setting up this ezekiel elliot td run to punch it in, giving dallas the lead there. late in the fourth, 25 seconds to go, sam bradford hits mackinnon for the touchdown.

that sets up minnesota for the two-point conversion to tie and after a false start penalty they were backed up to the 7 yard line, then this. >> rudolf all the way to the left. three receivers to the right. bradford looks over the middle. whoa, where was that? >> al michaels saying what we were all thinking, the cowboys have now won 11 straight, including three just in the last 12 days and proving a league best 11-1. to the nba and a battle, golden state hosting houston. james harden wide open as he goes in for the easy slam. later steph curry turns it on with his signature crossover and scoop. late in the fourth, warriors down two, kevin durant follows up his own missed three for the put back to tie the game up. double overtime after that. under two remaining, harden finds eric gordon for the drive

and bucket and rockets hold on to win for the win there. now to cleveland. before last night's game, the cavaliers received wristwatches to commemorate last year's championship. unfortunately, no amount of time would help them against the clippers. jj redick led the way with 23 points and the clippers hand the cavs their second straight loss, 113-94. alex? >> yeah, i still can't get over joe mcknight. so sad. >> sad and tragic. >> terrible. >> over a road rage incident. you don't know what happened there, but just seems -- >> yeah, unthinkable. all right, louis, thank you. still ahead, they had a rocky relationship during the 2016 campaign, but paul ryan says he and donald trump have patched things up. plus, a major cruise line gets caught intentionally polluting the ocean and now they are going to have to pay. those details and more coming up next. [burke] at farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even a rodent ride-along. [dad] alright, buddy, don't forget anything! [kid] i won't, dad... [captain rod] happy tuesday morning! captain rod here.

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welcome back, everyone, i'm alex witt alongside ali velshi and louis burgdorf. it is the bottom of the hour, so we're going to start off with the morning's top stories. the death toll of the wildfires in tennessee is now up to 11. several people are still missing, including john and janet somers vacationing with their sons from memphis. their three sons are still in the burn unit of the hospital and they are looking for their parents. donald trump has named james mattis as choice for defense secretary.

mattis headed u.s. central command from 2010 to 2013 and commanded the first marine division during the 2003 invasion of iraq. trump described mattis as a general's general and called his pick the, quote, closest thing to general george patten. the obama administration announced its support to require women to register for a military draft, coming two days after deciding to remove a provision from a defense policy bill that the house will vote on today. the pentagon released a statement saying the defense secretary does not advocate returning to a draft but thinks it makes sense for women to register just as men must. a postmortem session of the 2016 presidential campaign turned into a shouting match as top strategists from both the clinton and trump campaigns debated over how president-elect trump pulled off his election day victory. the session was part of a two-day forum that harvard university sponsored in the wake of every presidential election

since 1972. operatives from general and primary election campaigns attended. one of the most raw and emotional exchanges was between hillary clinton's campaign director of communications and trump campaign manager kellyanne conway, whether the trump campaign encouraged racism. >> if providing a platform for white supremacists makes me a brilliant tactician, i am glad to have lost. give me a minute, david. i am more proud of hillary clinton's speech than any moment on the campaign because she had the courage to stand up. i would rather lose than win the way you guys did. my proudest moments of her is her standing up and saying with courage and clarity in steve bannon's own words and donald trump's own words, the platform that they gave to white supremacists, white nationalists, and it is a very,

very important moment, and our history as our country. >> do you think i ran a campaign that white supremacists had a platform? >> it did, it did. >> president-elect donald trump started what his transition team is calling a thank you tour last night in cincinnati, ohio, like president obama's whistle stop tour on the way to the inauguration in 2009. incoming presidents have held events to see the people after their victories and while president-elect trump talked about bringing the country together, he also took some time to remember his critics. >> i'm here today for one main reason, to say thank you to ohio. we didn't have much help at the top levels, you know that, right? but i will say this, i will say this, and it was very nice, your governor john kasich called me after the election and was very nice. i've spoken to democrats, and i

said to them, look, we can't go on with this gridlock. it's gone on for so many years. it's gone on for so many years. they can't get together. we're going to get together. and i believe they want to get together. you know why? because it's time, and the people are angry. they are angry. and they are going to get together. we're going to make joint decisions. we are, and the nice part, our victory was so great, we have the house, we have the senate, and we have the presidency. i've put on some of the greatest businesspeople in the world. one of the networks said, why, he put on a billionaire at commerce. that's because this guy knows how to make money, folks. he knows how to make money. i'd like to put on a guy that failed all his life, but we don't want that, do we?

no. i put on a killer. i've been honest. i said, i am going to be putting on the greatest killers you've ever seen. we'll compete in the world, we want to compete in the world, but we're going to compete in the world where it's a two-way road, not a one-way road. the advantages are going to come back to our country. there is no global anthem. no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship. we pledge allegiance to one flag, and that flag is the american flag. from now on, it's going to be america first, okay? america first. we're going to put ourselves first. >> meanwhile, it's still anyone's guess who will end up being secretary of state. joe scarborough was the first to

report, citing sources familiar with the transition. joe tillerson, ceo of exxonmobil is being looked at. trump also called his meetings with romney great, but is apparently expanding his search beyond the so-called final four. >> i think you've been more gracious and magnanimous than i would be, especially you now met with governor mitt romney twice, how was that? >> it's good. we got along very well. he was very nice, nice in terms of his remarks afterwards, and i think it was very good. we have some terrific people. and terrific people to come. >> meanwhile, robert gates was at trump tower thursday for meetings. earlier in the week he warned the administration against having too many former generals at the top of the cabinet. >> general flynn asked me to come in and talk about the structure of the national security council and his staff. that's pretty much what we talked about. >> did you meet with president-elect? >> no. >> the president-elect has reportedly narrowed his search for director of national

intelligence to three choices. the top choices are retiring senator dan coats, former george w. bush homeland security adviser, and nsa director michael rogers. rudy giuliani's name has also been mentioned as a possible choice, as well. congressman jeb hensarling turned down a job of head of omg. the rocky relationship between president-elect donald trump and paul ryan is apparently becoming much smoother. that's according to ryan, who in an excerpt of a forthcoming 60 minutes interview says despite being at odds with trump during the campaign, he is not dwelling on the past. >> you called donald trump a racist. >> no, i didn't. i said his comment was. >> uh-huh. i'm not sure there's a great deal of daylight between those two definitions, but he definitely called you ineffective and disloyal. have you patched it up? >> yeah, we're fine. we're not looking back, we're looking forward. like i said, we speak about every day.

it's not looking back in the past. that's behind us. we're way beyond that. >> did you believe he could be nominated, really? >> i didn't see this one coming. he knows that. donald trump was a very unconventional candidate. he's going to be an unconventional president. what i like about it, like i said, in my almost daily conversations is, he's just a get things done kind of guy. turning from politics now, princess cruise lines has been charged $40 million for an illegal ocean pollution case, the largest ever criminal penalty for deliberate pollution from a ship. the justice department says the company's ship dumped contaminated waste and oil into the ocean from 2005 to 2013 via a magic pipe which bypassed the ship's water treatment system. in one incident the ship leaked over 4,200 gallons of oil, contaminated waste only 20 miles off the coast of england.

four other ships also had illegal practices. nearly 80 ships will be monitored by a federal judge for environmental compliance. ali? let's turn to business, where the november jobs report is due out this morning. analysts are expecting at least 175,000 new jobs. cnbc's nancy hungerford joins us live from london with a look ahead. good morning to you, nancy. >> good morning to you, ali. and you might think that wall street is looking for a solid number today, but it's not always that simple, because some of the smart money is saying if that number is too strong above consensus, over 200,000 payrolls created on the month, then you might see selling of equities because people will worry that could lead the fed to hike faster than previously thought. this as we know with donald trump's promises of a stimulus package on the way, that could raise inflation concerns, so that's one thing investors will be looking out for today. elsewhere, look for continuing back and forth between breitbart

and kellogg, because we told you earlier this week that kellogg had pulled its advertising from breitbart over concerns over certain values. now we're hearing from the far right website they want their readers to boycott kellogg. they are saying for kellogg an american bland rand it's a disgraceful act. >> let's talk about the time warner merger. how is that looking with the trump administration? >> well, ali, you may remember when then candidate donald trump was on the trail he commented on this $85 billion planned merger saying he would block such a deal because it puts too much power in the hands of too few, but now we're hearing reports that members of donald trump's transition team have met with at&t and at&t executives are feeling rter confident that the deal will get passed. they are looking to two members of the transition team who have

competition backgrounds that they think will be favorable to the deal, so at the moment it looks like this one is up for negotiation. >> nancy hungerford for us in london. alex? it's been almost two months since st. louis county police officer blake snyder was killed in the line of duty. the 33-year-old husband and father was fatality shot while answering a disturbance call back in october. now thanks to family and friends, his young son will always have a part of him. snyder's wife posted this picture of 2-year-old malachi seen holding two teddy bears made from his father's police uniforms. his mother writes on facebook she is grateful from the support received from the community. look at that precious little boy. still ahead, tense moments after officials say a man took a dozen hostage inside a bank. we'll show you how that dramatic scene played out.

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now to the drama that played out for hours in florida yesterday. a gunman holding nearly a dozen people hostage inside a bank while their loved ones waited outside hoping for a peaceful ending. jacob rascon has more. >> reporter: they were hostages, now survivors. >> it was scary. i thought it was a dream, but it was so real. it was real. >> reporter: it was around 9:00 at the community first credit union when the alleged gunman, 23-year-old nicolas humphrey, walked into the bank with a dog and a handgun and demanded money. >> when he shot up in the air, i knew he meant business. >> reporter: initial reports indicated someone had been shot. >> all units responding to district 24 gunshot wound. >> reporter: that turned out not to be true, but humphrey told negotiators he would start shooting if his demands were not met. >> he was putting the gun to the back of the hostages' head at a couple points. >> her son, deandre, one of the

bank tellers inside. >> i haven't heard anything from him. >> reporter: after an hour and a half he released two hostages, minutes later, two other people hiding inside the bank unknown to the gunman made a daring escape. they used a tank-like battering ram to breach the building, putting themselves between the suspect and the hostages. surrounded, humphrey surrendered. family overjoyed as the hostages, shaken but unhurt, were freed at last. >> she's okay. >> she okay. thank the lord. thank you. >> reporter: a reversal of fortune, the hostage taker now a prisoner. >> thanks to jacob rascon for that report, ali. all right, alex, let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, a break from the severe weather we're getting. >> yeah, that's good. tornados, maybe on monday one or

two in the deep south, but the fire is still burning in the south, too. thing about the firefighters still out there, still over 1,000 of them in the southern appalachians fighting in the wilderness, so for today, it's a pretty calm weather map. we will see rain through much of texas, dallas, not through this evening. very chilly, but the afternoon looks okay. into saturday, rain begins to spread. rainstorm starting in texas and oklahoma today, tomorrow, and spreading on sunday and monday through the southeast. the northern half of the country remains kind of quiet. here's the latest fire map. the fires are located here, i'll show you where they are dotted from georgia and the smokey mountains of tennessee, western north carolina, the 16 large fires still burning uncontrolled, so in other words they are not totally confined. this is the drought monitor, shows you the worst is still throughout georgia and tennessee. one big rain event, the one we got done with, now another heading our way. here's the current location of the 16 fires.

the one that burned the gatlinburg area is called the chimney tops fire. that's about 17,000 acres and the estimated containment is going to be december 20th, so firefighters don't think that blaze will completely be under control until the 20th. that's a couple days before christmas, so just to give you an idea, this is pretty rugged territory. calm conditions the next two days. they focus on the winds, winds are light. then the rain comes in on sunday and this will be a blessing. i think this rain will really put a lot of fires into check and get the containment up to 100%. the rainfall totals are estimated to be anywhere in the pink area three inches, red is two, and the blue and the purple shades, that's at least a half inch to inch of rain, so significant rain event coming sunday, monday, tuesday throughout the fire zone. that's what we needed. this won't end the drought in the southeast, but it will take a dent out of it, third heavy rain event in one week. >> let's hope the winds remain calm and contain that fire as quickly as possible.

before we go to break, let's get a check on the stories we are not covering today. the iconic full house -- from full house has been sold to the show's creator for more than $4 million. since it's now off the market, we're not going to cover that story today. a new meaning for the term jailbird. check out this mug shot, a friend of one of the courthouse deputies agreed to care for the bird while the owner served time. i don't know what to say about that. one more for the holidays, a beaver causes a stir in maryland after searching for a bargain at the local dollar general. when we come back, we're watching a major political story from france that could be tellintell i ing. we'll explain when we come back.

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welcome back, everyone. the humanitarian situation in syria shows no signs of improvement. video released by the syrian army shows the ongoing assault on rebel-held aleppo is growing more complicated, as well. the pentagon has significantly raised estimates for the number of civilians killed as part of the operation to flush isis from syria and iraq, which began back in 2014. the defense department now puts the number at 173. less than a month ago the estimate was just 64. it is unclear if the civilians

killed were being used as human shields by the islamic state. russia's president vladimir putin addressed his nation yesterday, but gave what is being interpreted as a subdued response to donald trump's election as president in the united states. putin did not mention trump by name, he mentioned hope for normalizing relations with washington. he lamented, "even in the most seemingly affluent countries and stable regions, more and more fractures and conflicts on political, ethnic, religious, and social grounds are rising. much of the western world has waved instability at the russian president's feet." francois hollande announced he will not seek a second term in next year's presidential election. it is the first time in decades that an incumbent french president is not seeking re-election. hollande is one of france's least popular presidents in recent history. recent polling shows neither hollande, nor any other members of the socialist party making it

past the first round of the two-stage election. joining us from london is nbc foreign correspondent matt bradley. matt, give us some perspective around france's presidential race. >> well, if you can situate europe into a whole, it's part of a rightward populist shift affecting the entire country. he's likely the least popular president since the second world war. this would make him the first french president in more than 60 years not to even stand for a re-election. the socialist leader has suffered approval ratings as low as 5%, but the president's step down opens france to the kind of xenophobic, antiestablishment serge that's upended politics across europe. just this weekend there will be two more metrics of that. european elections in which voters decide whether to accept or reject what they would consider to be establishment politics. on sunday italians will vote on

a referendum on constitutional reforms and austrians will decide whether or not to elect a far right populist candidate. back in france, hollande's decision not to run opens the way for marine le pen, and she holds a strong, if still unlikely chance at the presidential elections next spring. her top challenger will probably also be coming from france's right, francois tifillon has classic center right ideas, which would make him struggle against le pen's populist serge. ali? >> what a great explanation, but it's before 6:00 a.m. on the east coast and you said ignominious, just saying. >> i tried to fit it in. >> matt bradley for us in london. when we come back, a look at the stories happening in the day ahead.

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mark their last lighting of the national christmas tree at the white house. as you saw the first daughters sasha and malia were able to make the lighting, but they are teenagers. >> listen, you know what, the president jokes about that. i think he would have skipped it if he could have. anyway, before we toss it to "morning joe," here's a check on the stories in the day ahead. michigan's elections board will weigh whether to consider president-elect trump's request for a recount on the ballots cast. jill stein, who called for the recount, has no standing to do so, saying she has no chance of winning that state. and it's the first friday of the month, which means the november jobs report, jobs day, jobs report coming out later this morning. economists expect the economy added 175,000 new jobs last month, but markets are bracing for the possibility of that number coming in higher. 200,000 jobs or more, that would re-enforce expectations of a federal reserve rate hike in

december. "morning joe" is going to have those numbers as soon as they cross at 8:30. residents in san bernardino, california, will mark the one-year anniversary that does it for us on this friday. have a great weekend, everyone. "morning joe" of course starts right now. ♪ >> think of it. we won in a landslide. that was a landslide. remember, you cannot get to 270. the dishonest press. there is no road.