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good afternoon, i'm milissa rehberger live from msnbc world headquarters in new york. president-elect donald trump is wrapping up his 30e69 election thank you tour. he landed in mobile, alabama a short time ago. we will take you there in a moment. also this hour, winter weather creating dangerous conditions in the midwest and northeast. which areas are hit the hardest. and the fight for aleppo. tens of thousands of syrians are there try to escape the besieged city as evacuation efforts are still on hold. we start this hour at trump's final rally before the holidays. nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us from mobile, alabama, where the president-elect is set to take the stage any minute. a lot of talk about russia and

hacking and what the president-elect largely ignored yesterday. >> reporter: we don't expect him to touch on it. he's ignored it for days when he's had many opportunities talking with supporters being in crowds like this when it is in the news, on people's minds that russia, highest leveling of government, according to the intelligence community as well as president obama attempted to interfere with the election. not the vote count or elections day, but mess with the process along the way. hacking into the dnc and e-mail of a top aide to hillary clinton. donald trump has not recognized that publicly, that russia played a role, and that it goes 2 to the highest levels of their government. he has avoided it. here we expect him to talk about the axiom that all politics are local. in alabama, in mobile, a big tart of the most early days of donald trump's campaign, where he was here as a candidate, here

they're taking credit for the lift he had throughout the campaign season and touting the fact alabama had one of the highest margins of victory for donald trump in the election and the greatest for a republican candidate since 1972. all is to say that alabama is behind donald trump, and they're also proud of the fact jeff sessions, their senator, chosen to serve as attorney general. he will be here as well. on the foreign policy issue, donald trump is avoiding discussion of russia, but being willing to tweet about china after there was an incident in the south china sea, a chinese vessel confiscated, seized, u.s. property, and underwater drone. that's a bit of a skirmish. trump acknowledges it's u.s. policy and they'll give it back. donald trump saying they were stealing it. it wasn't hesitant to weigh in on china but nothing on russia,

and we're not expecting that today in mobile. thank you, for more reaction joined by a national reporter for the "new york times" and an msnbc contributor. also a former chair of the missouri republican party and co-author of a book "the conservative case for trump." start with you. we know trump questioned the intelligence on russia. does that concern you? >> no. i think what we've heard from him -- by the way i disagree with kelly. if conclusive evidence he'll look at it, acknowledge it then. what we're seeing amongst the people, mobile, alabama is an scamp, out in st. louis, missoumont missouri, people are seeing people put in the cabinet, jobs saved. president obama is now digging into it. if he can produce and have the cia produce evidence. the cia won't even brief the congress on this question, as i understand.

seems like a problem for president obama and the congress. i think donald trump is right to keep plowing ahead to get ready to be in office. >> what do you think? and what do you think is the reaction among the intelligence community? >> both the cia and the fbi have said and told multiple news organizations there wa issues with russia hacking into different organizations and trying to sway our electorate and delegitimize the election process. i think when ehear people say and him say this is really obama and congress' problem. it's going to be problematic, because president trump including, or president-elect trump will lead a nation that's going to really be still rocky when he comes into office and people will hook to him to not just stabilize the situation and reassure both americans, and those who voted and who didn't support him we're a nation that is strong. the idea you could have a foreign entity, even if he doesn't want to talk about it. the reason i think donald trump

is somewhat avoiding the conversation, he doesn't want to feel he's an illegitimate president, but there are a lot of people who will be looking for him to speak about this issue. >> scott, you have something to say, i want to hear it. but mixed messages from donald trump himself? >> constant mixed messages. change what he said in the afternoon to what he says in the evening and this is the problem in this post-factual world he's created, where who wins the headline is what matters. it's no surprise what you said at the beginning of the show correct. he's going to talk about what he wants to talk about. doesn't want to talk about the russians or die investment of personal businesses continuing to name billionaires and military personnel to his cabinet. it's not a surprise who he's named to his cabinet or what's happening during transition. an allegorical light cabinet, were show fully expect from him. >> we are expecting the

president-elect to speak very soon. trump's controversial new pick for ambassador to israel also we want to talk about hard-liner david friedman. could up-end dedecades of agree. joining me for more on the pick, former u.s. ambassador to israel james cunningham. thank you for being with us. here is what friedman said in his first statement after trump nominated hill. he said, he looks forward to working with israel and "doing this from the u.s. embassy in israel's eternal capital, jerusalem." why is moving the embassy to jerusalem, has been talked about in the past, but not done. why is it a big deal and what intended consequences would it? >> well, it would be, it's an emotional symbolic issue that's been around for a long time, and as you noted, presidents, republican and democratic, have for many years had it as a goal to move the embassy to jerusalem

but haven't actually taken the step deciding repeatedly it wasn't in our interests or israel's interesting to do that at a given time. if one considers doing that it should be done as part of a bigger picture where you're actually looking at what your strategy is for the reason and what you want to accomplish. when one does that it become s difficult to see how it could be helpful to the region. >> ambassador, criticizing, building new settlements in the west bank is is a bipartisan issue. president bush did it and president obama did it as well. but now both trump and friedman back new settlements. this is perhaps the most controversial issue there. so how big of a reversal is this in u.s. policy? how will it affect peace talks with the palestinians? and with our allies? >> i think one needs to wait and see what the president and his administration actually decide to do when they sit down, take a breath and look at the overall

picture in the region. we have a lot of difficult issues to deal with. we, israel and our international partners, there's no question about the bond between the united states and israel, but the issues that we have to deal with are, are serious. they involve syria, islamic extremism. a whole range of instability throughout the middle east. that should be the focus. how do you develop a strategy that serves our interests in the first case, but will also serve israel's interesting moving forward in creating a better region's situation? settlements, moving the embassy, all that needs to be seen in that context. >> more liberal jewish organizations are outraged over this pick. jeremy benmy, president of the lobbies group tweeted, "we will fight this with all we've got." how will this play out? what role would senate minority leader chuck schumer play in all of this? >> well, this is what the confirmation process is about.

it will give the nominee a chance to describe his views, his intentions in his own words, and it will also give the, the senate and the american people a chance to hear what he has to say and to judge their reaction to that. it's important to note, also, that an ambassador to israel or any other kurcht is not the determinant of policy. that's really a government decision, a governance process. it's the president and his team that will make those decisions. it's not a question of one voice being determining. >> ambassador james cunningham, thank you very much. next, snow, ice and dangerous cold making life difficult across much of the nation as a winter storm hammers the midwest and northeast, andoand youd rage in north carolina. a political power play to limit power of the incoming democratic governor. first, of course, we are continuing to await the presence

of donald trump, who is about to appear in the last step of his thank you tour in mobile, alabama. let's bring back our panel. panel here tonight. thank you for being here with us, and staying with us through -- let's continue our conversation that we were having here earlier. the democrats now risk plaming the outcome of this election on a foreign actor and not analyzing other things that attributed to all of this. >> i think that the democratic party, and the people i've talked to, need to analyze and i think they recognize they need to analyze all of these type of things going on. i'll say some of the things that probably have gone on and need to look at, their message to working class voters. whether or not their appeal to african-american and hispanics got out enough people. whether or not they put up a candidate that was really going to be the change that a lot of people were looking at. it is, there's definitely risk in only looking at russia and saying this is what happened.

or even looking at the comey letter saying this is why she lost, because you had a candidate, i mean, at least people that will say if you had a stronger candidate she would have been able to withstand the other criticism. a tough year a tough election, and that's what happened. i definitely think there's danger and the democrats focusing too much on russia and not internal issues. >> it's important not to overstate you can't forget the fact hillary clinton still won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes and the total difference between the three states she lost she should have won as 80,000 votes. one state, pennsylvania, makes all the difference. close enough. so it's important when democrats reflect that they don't throw out the baby with the bath arrest. >> okay. >> and can i -- can i mention on this, i was a part of the rnc, a part of the rnc when they did this so-called autopsy written by consultants tried to push a party line on trade and immigration that donald trump rejected. one of the dangers i would say for the democrats, and i'm not

democrat, but it is having to listen to a report or autopsy done by people push ang angle. one of the colleagues said trump was postfactual. i say when you talk about a governing period, kind of postpartisan. sounds funny, but he's attracting people, working class voters who on trade and immigration see a new face of the republican party. it make it is a bigger party. i'm not saying he's leading the whole country yet, but it make it is a bigger party. that's a challenge for democrats. that was space they occupied in the part on trade and to some ex-tents on immigration. >> that doesn't the change the fact it may be postelection. >> well, go ahead. >> what is the strategy among senate democrats now? where will they focus their attention? >> we have 100 different fronts to take on now, and i think some of the brilliance of what donald trump has done is, he's continuesed to name appointees who will distract. so the democrats now have this

challenge of fighting an epa secretary, who doesn't believe in global warming. a labor secretary who believes more in robots than actual labor. an education secretary who doesn't believe in public education. the brilliance of what donald trump has done, even the israeli ambassador appointment today is he's now opened up dozens of fronts that the democratic party has challenged to take on simultaneously. >> okay. thank you all. >> thank you. we are continuing to watch in mobile, alabama, where president-elect donald trump is being greeted by a very eager and very large crowd. we know that he is on the ground. his plane landed and he is in his car headed to this location right now, and we will bring that to you when we have it. we'll be right back. ♪ i tried hard to quit smoking.

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welcome back. this is a live picture from mobile, alabama, where as you can see, thousands are eagerly awaiting the arrival of president-elect donald trump. this is the last stop on his thank you tour. he is on the ground. his plane landed. we are told he is on his way to this jine venue as we speak. we'll bring that to you as it happens. meanwhile, still an nod aleppo, syria, a cease-fire. gunshots were fired as a crossing point into the rebel encla enclave. the international committee of the red cross said women and children are still stuck inside. matt bradley is in london. we've heard a new deal is in the works. what's the holdup? >> reporter: melissa, in addition to aleppo, the

evacuation of civilians includes four other towns. two thought to be pro-government and two aligned with anti-government rebels. it's all of those new towns being added into this mix that is slowing down a really desperate process. reuters is quoting a rebel leader backing iran groups for holding up evacuations even after the agreement was reached for aleppo and we can't verify this blaming a pro-govt militia. the militia groups demanding injured people in the two pro-government towns west of aleppo be evacuated at the same time. now that was part of the original agreement, but it's not clear if these evacuations of pro-government towns is anywhere near eve be beginning. whe whereas besieged yaes in eastern aleppo dominated by those that support bashar al assad, the towns of dominated by shiites,

backed by iran. rebels laid siege to the two cities much in the same way pro-government forces laid siege to aleppo. insisting over the past several days these two cities be evacated simultaneously along with east aleppo. most rebel groups in east aleppo conceded to that demand, but one hard-line rebel group with links to al qaeda resisted all week, until today. but the rebels also want the two anti-government towns near damascus to be evacuated as well as part of this deal. so as you can see, melissa, this complicated and so delicate. one errant fire could throw out this whole process. >> those hoping to get out thursday. do we know if they were able to make it? >> reporter: we haven't heard more about them and don't know

the exact fate of these children, melissa. it's fair to assume they're still stuck in the horrific atmosphere of east aleppo waiting for evacuations along with tense of thousand s others and some militants. some 47 children living in the orphanage, ages from 3 to 14 years old. following the story, remember the heartbreaking story of the children and the children begging to be rescued. of course, this was an orphanage used to exist above ground and was forced underground into a basement to protect these children in air raids. this tragedy is hardly new. children have bore the bront of this nearly 6-year-old war since the beginning. >> matt bradley, frnbc, thank y. we'll be right back. we are awaiting president-elect donald trump in mobile, alabama. you can see, thousands of people are eagerly awaiting his arrival

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you are looking at live pictures from mobile, alabama, where president-elect donald trump is expected to speak any moment. his final thank you tour appearance of the year. we will have that for you live when it begins. president obama warned he will take action against russian hacking during the election. the message came during his last press conference of the year and he defended himself against criticism he was not more forceful with the russians. >> i wanted to make sure every understand we were playing straight, not trying to advantage one side or another. >> president obama said he confronted president putin at the summit in china and warned there would be consequences. sources tell nbc news obama refrained from retaliating against the russians sooner because hillary clinton was expected to win and the administration didn't want to appear to be interfering with

the election process. joining me now is nbc's intelligence and national security's correspondent ken dilanian. thank you for being here again. donald trump consistently questioned reports the russians are behind the hacks. how does intelligence prove it was, in fact, russia? >> we don't completely know the answer to that, melissa. it's probably a good thing we don't, because it involves sensitive sources and methods, but it was interesting to hear president obama say yesterday he expects the american public to take the intelligence community at its word about this. i can relate. i talk to these people a lot. they are patriotic americans and non-political bought whole cadre of people who aren't willing to accept this intelligence and at some point there has to be a measure of proof offered. it's difficult to do. we're talking sensitive sources and methods. again, human agents who risk their lives to give information to intelligence officers or communications intercepts. for example, if they have an e-mail or phone call they've

eavesdropped on, a russian intelligence officer talking about this operation and show that could the world, that channel goes away. they don't have the it anymore. >> ken dilanian, thank you. and bringing in a former u.n. ambassador to georgia and senior director forerussia, ukraine and eurasia affairs under bill clinton. going back to the days of bill clinton, when you were his russian expert kbhap were the dynamics then that laid the groundwork for hillary's relationship with vladimir putin? >> well, putin, when he first came to power in 1999, as prime minister, was heavily involved in a war in chechnya. that caused problems. after he became president in 2000, at farris reformer. wanted more cooperative relations with the united states. as time went on he became a little more threatened, if you will, by his own internal

situation. while there was a lot of economic growth in the 2000, after the financial crisis in 2008, the economy stopped growing. putin then became more conservative at home. >> what would hk a hillary clinton presidency have plemean for him? >> probably not what the kremlin expected. the kremlin depicted her as almost evil. in 2011 after stolen parliamentary elections in russia, president putin claimed then secretary of state hillary clinton sent a signal to those demonstrators. that was really not true, and, in fact, what happened after that was, putin tightened up internally and in terms of repression, and became more aggressive in his foreign policy. she is a very steady, thoughtful, experienced international player. she would not have been an ideologue against putin. >> what does he stand to gain now under a trump presidency? >> president-elect trump has

said friendly things towards putin. the kremlin now seems to be almost giddy relations are going to change without the kremlin making concessions. that's not really the case. the main problem in the relations between russia and the west is the russian military campaign in eastern ukraine where people are still dying. a minsk group led by french and germans to negotiate a solution to that. so far russia is not implementing a solution and until russia pulls out of eastern ukraine, it's not going to be possible to have normal relations between russia and the west. >> according to what he said, president obama, said yesterday. he promises to get tough on russia, but how does he really send a strong message to russia if there's no will under president trump to punish them? >> well we don't know what president obama's going to do in the last few weeks in office. there's been various speck lakeses instead of a cyber response perhaps the u.s. could

release information on corruption in the kremlin. others suggested the u.s. support political opposition groups in russia, which are really quite small in respect may be other responses that the white house is considering. but certainly the kremlin is hoping that when president trump comes to power, yo reset. the last three presidents tried to do at the beginning of their terms and in all cases they've achieved some gains but also disappointments at the end. the kremlin i thinks trump may be different and be more inclined to have a longer term possible relationship with russia. >> and that president pitt nput out to weaken the alines. shue that good for russia? >> in the sense if nate so weaker in its military response. for example, nato is moving more forces aa result of russian aggression in ukraine. if nato were to break up, weaken, dispirited, the security threat as russia perceives it,

longley will go down. russia things russia is aggressive. it's not pap defensive alines, always has been since its founding seven decades ago. >> president obama said ronald reagan would be rolling over in his grave given how republicans have been responding to the russian hacking ish a u. what is your reaction how republicans are responding to both russia and president putin? >> well, we see a variety of views. so senator mccain and senator graham from south carolina have called for strong respongss to russian interexperience in the election process, clearly aimed at helping donald trump. others, republicans, are a bit more wary. they're waiting to see what president-elect trump is going to do once he sgeegets into off. traditionally, firm with moscow with regard to aggressive behavior. >> william courtney, thank you. >> you're welcome. we will be right back, and when we come back, we are still

awaiting the arrival of president-elect donald trump in mobile, alabama. the last stop on his thank you tour before he gets sworn in 34 days from now. you can see it is an enthusiastic crowd of thousands, and we will bring that to you just as soon as we get it. at the marine mammal center, the environment is everything.

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install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. pg&e has allowed us to be the most sustainable organization we can be. any time you help a customer, it's a really good feeling. it's especially so when it's a customer that's doing such good and important work for the environment. together, we're building a better california. welcome back. i'm milissa rehberger live from msnbc world hezquarters in new york. we continue to watch mobile, alabama. president-elect trump is expected to speak at any moment. we'll have the president-elect live when he begins. president obama made it clear the united states will not be influenced by russia and their will be consequences for their apparent meddling in this year's presidential race. donald trump, however, questions the intelligence reports that point to russia's hacking of the election. the university of minnesota football team will play in the holiday bowl reversing a throat boycott the game because of the suspension of ten players

accused of participating in a sexual assault. they will play washington state on december 27th in san diego. funeral services under way in columbus, ohio, for john glenn. glenn died last week at the age of 95. the pentagon says china agreed to return the navy's unmanned underwater drone it seized in international waters on thursday. the seizure off the south china sea came just as the drone was returning to a u.s. ocean a collection ship. it came after direct engagement with chinese authorities. officials say the device was collecting data lawfully as part of a routine survey. extreme winter weather is creating dangerous travel conditions this weekend in baltimore, maryland, three people died in two separate incidents on an icy stretch of highway. two of them killed when a gas

tanker truck skidded off the road overnight and burst into flames. police say debris from the crash flew across the highway trigg triggering a 55-vehicle pileup. crews still out this afternoon working to remove damaged vehicles from that road. icy conditions created gridlock in indianapolis stranding drivers for hours. >> i've been here about nine hours now. so haven't really moved. >> been in the car since about -- >> 11:00 last nyp. >> good christmas party, though. for toys for tots. >> morgan radford in suffern, new york. what's the latest? >> reporter: melissa, temperatures in the 20s here in suffern, new york, and earlier today snowing. then the snow turned into freezing rain and began to coat the roadways here. that's part of what we're seeing happen throughout the country, and it's caused major accidents, like the one in baltimore. that was a multi vehicle crash. first responders are still removing cars from the side of the highway nap has people here in the northeast extremely alert. take a listen.

>> you just have to go really slow and when you come to a stop sign, it's not the normal procedure. you have to start slowing down way before you would normally do so in normal driving conditions. >> i think it got cold a little earlier and took some people by surprise, but we're ready for it. so -- i have a four-wheel drive. it's no problem. >> reporter: hundreds of flights have also been cancelled throughout the country. this is a major airways have had to close down runways because of those icy roads. now, 150 million americans still under a winter weather advisory. melissa? >> nbc's morgan radford. thank you. we'll be right back. when we do, we are hoping to hear from president-elect donald trump due to speak any moment now at mobile, alabama. his last thank you rally of this tour. we'll be right back. earned overnight.

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let's go live to mobile, alabama, where president-elect donald trump is just about to speak at his last tour on this thank you ral ply. let's listen. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you very much. this is where it all began. remember that incredible rally we had? and people came out and it was like this. it was packed, and incredible, and -- people said, something's going on there.

right? that was the beginning. wasn't it? that was the beginning. and if you remember, even though you don't have to vote for me, maybe four years we'll take a look. right? but, you know what? i said, i'm coming back to see you in alabama. right? and this is our last rally. our last stop, and i just want to thank the people of alabama, a and i want to start by wishing you a very merry christmas. merry christmas. [ cheers and applause ] but i'm here today for one reason, and that is to thank the incredible people that i recognize so many of you. i have so many friends from alabama, but to thank the people of alabama, we are really the people that love this country. we have so many people that love this country, all over. i went -- i went to a little victory tour, but, really, they

were thank you tours in pennsylvania, all over, but this is alabama, and if you don't mind, we're thanking the people of alabama, and we're thanking the people of the south, because, boy, did we do well. boy, did we do well in the south. [ cheers and applause ] so i don't know if you noticed. i added that on. the people of the south. because, i'll tell you -- in fact, i said if i lost i think i'm going to move to alabama, or some place in the south. because we won -- we didn't win like okay here. we won at a record setting. nobody's ever had the numbers that we had. so i just want to thank you. this is our last stop, and i'll tell what you. there is no better place to celebrate than right here. okay? so thank you. you propelled to victory a grass roots movement, the likes of which the world, frankly, has never seen before.

and you know if i was saying something that was slightly off these very dishonest people up here, they would be correcting us. right? that be correcting us. they'd be correcting us. and because of the weather, by the way, the buses are still pouring in. i think we shouldn't wait. do you agree? so they're coming in, and we're just going to wait. you'll explain to them as they walk in we're having a great time. right? but the incredible patriots of this stadium today defied the pundits, defied the pollsters and the special interests and delivered a historic win for the american worker, and for the american people. totally. i want to thank so many great people, but having franklin graham who was so instrumental. i tell you, we won so big -- with evangelical christians. we won so big. where is franklin?

he's around. he's right there. what a great -- there he is. look at him. he worked so hard. thank you, franklin. anybody that has anything to do with the great billy graham, i love, and that's the son. and that son great. so -- so thank you. and billsy doing well. well, he's 98 years old, but he's doing well. i also want to give a very special thank you to the men and women of the united states military. [ cheers and applause ] incredible. incredible. because not only did we win with evangelicals by massive numbers, not by, like, two points. by many, many, many points, but we won with the military and we won with law enforcement, big league. so we are in your debt, and we will never, ever let you down.

we will honor your service and sacrifice that begins with restoring respect for the american flag. right? the american flag. [ cheers and applause ] which has been taking abuse lately, and i can only speak for myself, but i don't like it. okay? i don't like it. and we're going to finally take care of our great veterans, and that's another group. so amazing. so amazing, the veterans and we're going to be naming somebody very, very soon to head up the v.a., and we're going to get it taken care of, folks. it's time. it's time. people that come into the country illegally, people that come into the country and cause problems, they're taken care of better than our vets in many cases. so -- yeah. time to take care of our vets.

[ chanting, "build that wall" ] >> do not worry. we are going to build the wall. okay? don't worry. [ cheers and applause ] don't even think about it. we're also going to rebuild our badly depleted military. we have the greatest people on earth, our military is depleted. but we will be smart with how we spend our money. we're not going to spend $4.2 billion on air force one. is that okay? i mean -- we all like beautiful aircraft, but boeing is going to do a much less expensive job than that. they ordered a new plane. they're in the process, and i said, how are you doing? well, there's massive cost

overruns. i said, no, there's not. there's not going to be cost overreturns. you're going to see it. we got in towards the end, but that's okay. we got in time. but no $4.2 billion airplane. america will be a strong nation again. but we will also be a fair and just nation. there is a very, very special guest. okay? and i want to bring that guest onstage in a moment. he is someone who cares deeply about justice, who believes all people are equal in the eyes of the law. s he is a great, great man. he's an alabama native. he could have run for the rest of his life. nobody even wants to run against him. he spent 15 years as federal prosecutor. served as the alabama state

attorney general, and represented you in the united states senate for 20 years, including 20 years on the judiciary committee. and people don't even know, because we think of him as a senator. he was a great, great legendary prosecutor. a lot of people forgot that. he appeared right here at this stadium 16 months ago, and put on a "make america great again" hat. he was the first senator to endorse me, and, really, the first major endorsement i had, and he never endorsed a presidential candidate, and very few candidates before, but he saw what i had to say, and he saw the response from the people of alabama. he's someone i'm very proud to call a friend and a man i've chosen to be, and by the way, this is a great honor for the

state of alabama. remember that. [ cheers and applause ] to be the next attorney general of the united states. alabama senator jeff sessions. come on up, jeff. come on up. [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you, mr. president-elect. what a great honor it is to have you back in my hometown, mobile, alabama. [ cheers and applause ]

i do remember that event 16 months ago. how many of you were here on that day? [ cheers and applause ] whew! it was an eye-opening event for the entire world, and certainly the united states political establishment. i don't think there's any doubt that for your effort and your campaign mobile played a historic role in that, a moment momentum it built. there's just no doubt about it. [ cheers and applause ] i -- that's -- i think where people began to see that there -- this was more than a normal campaign, but a movement. and i think the american people have spoken, and in so many ways in this election. thank you for the honor you've given me, the opportunity to perhaps have a different role in my life that would occur. i will give my hon effoest and

effort every day to make you proud, the american people proud to serve everybody with equality and justice, but i want to tell you. this country needs hope. they believe that you have the ability to lead us in a new way. i think they're encouraged by the new and fresh cabinet you are assembling, putting people in there that have determination and dedication. [ cheers and applause ] i want to say thank you to mayor stenson and his team and the city, to the county and all of those who have helped make this possible now and last time. that's ban really, a great thing there. so mr. president-elect, thank you so much for the opportunity to work with you, the opportunity to see you develop as a candidate. the opportunity to participate in a movement that i believe can

help make america great again. god bless you. [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >> he's an amazing man. [ chanting "trump" ] >> jeff is an amazing man, and working with him i know we will make these incredible strides that our country has to make, and in restoring safety and justice for all of our people, and, again, alabama i know, because i get so many letters from the people of alabama, and every other form of

communication, including tweets. and -- they are so proud. they are sow proud of him, and we're proud of him. so, thank you. thank you, jeff. fantastic. so great. you know, jeff talked a little bit about the election and his endorsement and i think -- if you want, you want me to discuss that evening one more time? because this would be it. should i? yes or no? [ cheers ] because i could give you a beautiful rhetorical, flowing speech, and we could all fall asleep together. right? or we can discuss it, and this is our last stop, as i said. and i'm really hear because i promised you during that wild day that we had in august, a long time ago, seems like a long time ago, and just a lot of things came out of that day. it opened up the eyes of the media. even the media that dislikes us all. it opened up -- no. but it opened up their eyes.

and it began to a certain extent here. it began on june 16th. remember the escalator, coming down the escalator with melania and i talked about -- i talked about crime. i talked about borders and i talked about trade. nothing much changed. we just got more severe and frankly things got worse. things got worse, and it made more and more of an impact. so when i announced we had a big primary. we had a total of 17 people. and i remember they a report one time, and it was interesting, but they did a report, and it was about three or four months into the campaign and they said, trump has four months of experience doing this. and my opponents had 236 years. right? [ cheers ] right? 236 -- you know, you add up 25

years and 30 years and 20 years. and it's going to start to -- i will stay out here. the hell with the suit. right? i didn't know it rained in alabama. but, you know, rain is good luck. right? rain is good luck. so -- and i never liked this suit, anyways. so we'll throw it away. but -- but it was an amazing -- really an amazing thing. so question that and we got into the general and we all know what happened in the primaries, and they say they were the meanest primaries in the history of elections in this country. and they were mean. they were nasty, and i generally got good support. ben carson, and chris christie and a lot of other people supported -- [ cheers and applause ] but -- and ultimately most of them came around. i few didn't. a few came around right after the election, but, you know, that's not quite the same thing. but we started off, and it was amazing, because that evening we were set up incorrectly by the

media. they all said that texas was in play. they said gar ws was in play. utah was in play, and they weren't in play. and i never thought they were in play. he shouts out, "liars!" . only in alabama could we do that. "liars." but -- but what happened is, we tend to believe the media. you know, we believed walter cronkite years ago. right? this is not walter cronkite anymore, folks. this is not the great walter cronkite. so we tend to believe them, and yet i'd go out, we'd have crowds like this. you ought to see the crowd we had in pennsylvania. the crowd in ohio and iowa. always a massive crowd, and even after the election. this is just a thank you to me and you and to the folks. but to have crowds -- we had a

crowd last night that the manager said was 30,000 people, and i read the palm beach post tomorrow, you know, the one that just came out, and there was a line in the second paragraph, now, it was one of the biggest crowds that i've seen. you couldn't even see the end of it. it was field. 2 was actual lay fiely a field. last night. orlando. it was incredible. i read "the palm beach post" it said, donald trump spoke before hundred of people. right? very dishonest. very, very dishonest, but that's okay. hundreds of people is not 25,000 or 30,000 people. do we agree with that? but they know. they know what they're doing. they all know what they're doing, but i guess it didn't work, because we're here together, folks, right? the movement. but -- but we've been hearing and i've been hearing in texas, i go to

texas, massive crowds. we had one crowd in texas that filled up a stadium. the line was so long, and those are the people that didn't get in. the line was like 30 blocks long. it went all the way back to a highway in houston, and i said, how are we losing texas or tied in texas, and -- anyway, they said texas is in play. that means we're doing badly. right? because we're supposed to win as republicans and georgia, and as soon as the polls open they go, breaking news. donald trump wins the state of texas. right? donald trump wins -- this is, like, immediately. we win georgia. we won utah. and did you see my competition in utah? this guy came out of nowhere. i mean -- my wife said, trust me. he's not doing well. but they had him even with me, and they had me maybe not winning utah, and by the way, soon as the poll, the real polls came out, we won it in a massive landslide and that guy i don't know what he was trying to

prove. all we're going to do is lose the united states supreme court, potenti potentially. okay. assume the race was closer, because we won by a lot. it wasn't even close, but let's assume -- let's assume we needed dwroout-o dwroout-o dwroout utah, frankly, we really thought we needed utah. let's assume we win lost in yut. what does he gain? i won't say a man seine ggazine worked so hard, and they are still misread us. i love it. they are still misreading us, so we won them. but then ohio came in and we almost ten points up in ohio. we were ten points, more than ten points up in iowa, and iowa you never win like that, the republicans certainly. and so we won them by big numbers, and then we came down to florida, and florida was

even. florida was even, that whole night. the big, big beautiful state. i love florida. and it's even. and then all of a sudden, we hadn't hit the panhandle, right? anybody live in the panhandle? [ cheers and applause ] oh, i love the panhandle. and you know -- you had to see the people. they were so devastated. the media. the anchors. they'd been saying for months and months that trump is going to get absolutely killed. i remember three weeks before the election, one of them, i won't say the name, he said, how is trump going to lead the rest of his life? because this is one of the most devastating defeats. he will suffer so badly. and his whole career, which is true which is good, like your