kellyanne conway being willing to have that conversation with me. >> mission accomplished. a civil exchange of ideas. good morning, it's friday, december 23rd. i'm hallie jackson in washington along with louis burgdorf in new york. we want to start with breaking news about the berlin terror attack. according to an associated press an italian nus agency is reporting the prime suspect in the attack has been killed in milan. i want to get to hans nichols joining us live from berlin. this is happening in the last 45 minutes or so. what can you tell us? >> according to local reports it happened in the san giovanni neighborhood. amri was pulled over during a routine police stop. he pulled a gun and was shot and killed. here's what german authorities are saying. we've just heard from the federal prosecutor's office,

they are in touch with their italian counterparts but we need to stress these are still unconfirmed reports. and just to give you a little logistics hallie, milan is about 11 hours south of berlin. that would be by car. that would give you a sense of just how long it took from him to travel here where we know he was on monday. again this confrontation with police happening at 3:00 in the morning and amri allegedly unconfirmed, shot dead. hallie? >> hans, had there been any suspicion that anis amri had travelled to italy or is that a surprise to investigators, perhaps? do we know? >> well, it's not necessarily a surprise. because remember we he came here from tunisia, he originally landed at an island off sicily, off italy. he spent 3 1/2 years in italian prison in sicily. and that is where his brothers, at least according to reports out of tunisia, say he potentially was radicalized.

he gets out of prison in italy, makes his which up through europe, traveling to switzerland, germany 2015 in july, applies for asylum. has that rejected. had been under surveillance by authorities in berlin. they didn't have enough to continue to go with surveillance. they eventually take their eyes off him in september of this year and four days ago you can see behind me the christmas market now returning to normal. but such a scene o carnage. >> hans nichols coping us updated on this. i want to bring in nbc news foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin. we know that the german prosecutor's office is in touch with their italian counterparts. talk about the cooperation now between these police agencies that needs to happen and the next steps moving forward. >> there's no doubt about it. first of all they're going to try and absolutely verify the identity of anis amri. they're going to check his dna, fingerprints, make sure all of that is, in fact, what the germans have at the scene of the crime there in berlin. make sure all of that adds up. and more importantly they're

going to try to piece together the journey that he made from berlin to italy over the past several days since this incident happened. they want to try to make sure that there are no accomplices involved that help him escape. keep in mind if he was traveling from berlin to italy throughout all of this ordeal did he buy a ticket? did he take a train? did he drive a car? who drove that car? whose car was it? did he rent it? there are a lot of questions in the investigation that are going to push authorities to try and trace every step he took from the time that he actually carried out this attack in berlin to this incident now according to italian news agency where he was shot dead. that's going to be one of the more important things in the coming hours. in addition to that it's going to be to the lead-up to the attack in berlin. they're going to go back and try to time everything out from the moment he arrived in italy to tunisia, as hans was reporting, what led him to ultimately carry this attack out. and again, the key question here is going to be did he act alone, was this an attack that was

inspired or coordinated or directed by somebody else as we've seen in other attacks like brussels, as well as in paris. that's going to be a central question for the investigators going forward. >> you raise an important point. the question is how will they end up getting to the bottom of whether or not he was alone. who may have helped him, as you point out, in the journey from germany to italy. can you talk about the investigative procedures here? what might italian police be doing? how german prosecutors and authorities might be working with them, as well? >> there's a few different elements here. one, some of the intelligence that we've learned from italian investigators suggests that, in fact, anis amri had spent se time in italian jail. now they don't believe he was necessarily radicalized. and this is according to the head of the italian police union. they don't believe that he was necessarily radicalized in italian jails. they described him as a criminal. as a troublemaker. somebody that was ultimately put in solitaire confinement. but they're going to start by looking at any associates that he may have had inside any of these jails, and other networks that he may have established. but one of the key pieces of

evidence going forward is once they've identified this individual, confirmed that he is who he is, they're going to try to see if he had any links and that includes things like social media foot prints. did he have any kind of communication, cell phone, tracing the cell phone records, seeing where it pinged in terms of his movement. see who bought the cell phone for him. find out if he had any bank accounts. where was he getting any money? was he working? there are key pieces of evidence that they're going to use to try to establish what they call pattern of life behavior. what was his pattern of life that led him to commit this crime? and this terrorist attack. and they're also going to see if he had any overseas travel that may have or should have been flagged. we know that the united states had anis amri on their radar for his isis affiliation, or his isis leanings, if you will. so he certainly had something that had been flagged by both u.s. officials, and perhaps other european counterparts. why was this individual not in jail? well that's going to be a central question perhaps down the road. why was this an individual that they knew because we've also

learned, hallie, that he was under surveillance by german authorities who suspected him of potentially carrying out a terrorist attack. so there's going to be a lot of revision about some of the key decisions made by authorities but also trying to piece together every aspect of his life. >> nbc news foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin. >> one day after meeting with top military offices, president-elect donald trump released a vague twitter post indicating a major shift in u.s. security policy. quote, the united states must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. his comments came on the same day russian president vladimir putin said russia needs to strengthen the strategic nuclear forces, praising their triad launch capabilities. now the united states and russia possesses 95% of the world's nuclear arsenal and in recent decades have agreed to shed epens which they have done to a dramatic extent since the 1980s.

now president obama recently introduced a long-term plan to modernize america's nuclear weapons delivery systems which critics say will cost a trillion dollars. but in july the president was exploring options to reduce the cost and limit nuclear weapon use. it is still unclear what is the exact meaning of trump's words. transition spokesperson jason miller released a statement. president-elect trump was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it, particularly to and among terrorist organizations, and unstable and rogue regimes. he is also emphasized the need to improve and modernize our deterrent capability, as a vital way to pursue peace through strength. and senior adviser kellyanne conway says that she spoke with the president-elect directly about the matter. >> i don't think the tweet was groundbreaking in this regard. it seems that president obama himself has invested, has called for an upgrade in our capabilities. i read in one or two articles up to $1 trillion is the price tag. we all, president obama,

president-elect trump, everyone shares the same, i think, core value and their first duty is to try to keep us all safe. we kw it's a dangerous world and that includes nuclear weapons. >> president obama, and president-elect trump have talked privately a number of times over the last six weeks. but yesterday the incoming president sent a very public message to the white house about a united nations vote critical of israel. diplomatic officials say the obama administration had planned to abstain on a security council resolution calling for an end to israeli settlement building in palestinian territory. basically a bitter end to another president's peace efforts. and a particularly fraught relationship with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. now after this resolution circulated on wednesday night, netanyahu publicly called for the u.s. to use its veto power as a security council permanent member. and a senior israeli official confirms the israeli government asked president-elect trump to weigh in on the united nations vote, essentially helping to, in effect, stop the resolution. in a statement, trump said, as

the united states has long maintained peace between the israelis and the palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the united nations, this puts israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all israelis. what happened hours later? the scheduled vote was delayed by its egyptian sponsors who also reportedly faced pressure from the israeli government. israel was also reportedly alarmed at secretary of state john kerry planned to deliver a speech on the israeli/palestinian situation, which his spokesperson confirmed at a briefing. listen. >> the secretary was preparing to -- to deliver some remarks today. about a vags for the middle east, and certainly the middle east peace process itself. and he decided that in light of the postponement of the vote that it would be prudent for him to postpone his remarks. >> in washington earlier this

month, secretary kerry called the israeli settlements a barrier to peace. >> with president-elect trump weighing in on the middle east peace process ahead of taking office some are questioning whether trump is hampering the obama administration during its final month in office. something his senior adviser kellyanne conway has denied. >> president-elect trump is being incredibly respectful toward president obama and toward the fact that until january 20th we have a sitting president. at the same time he's asked his opinion on many different matters and in most instances, this is not the first time he's been asked or has provided his opinion. he's done that all through the campaign. so it should really surprise very few people this is his position. at the same time he's not going to act on it until he's actually in the white house. >> and president-elect donald trump announced the position of kellyanne conway to the white house staff while also unveiling his communications team with sean spicer as press secretary, campaign spokesperson jason miller taking the role of white house communications director,

and two of the original trump staffers, hope hicks, and dan scavino are getting west wing offices, the directors of strategic communications and social media. it seems the president-elect will rely on social media for many of his statements. last night trump tweeted quote the so-called "a" list celebrities are all wanting tickets to the inauguration. look what they did for hillary, nothing. i want the people. this comes after reports of high profile entertainers turning down offers to take part in inaugural festivities. a report from politico that former president jimmy carter it the only ex-commander in chief currently planning to attend trump's swearing-in. others are waiting to decide. yesterday it was announced that the mormon tabernacle choir will be performing for the new president, having last performed at george w. bush's 2001 inauguration. turning now to syria where after a devastating and deadly four years of fighting, the battle for aleppo has apparently ended.

the syrian army announced it's completely retaken the ruined city adding that they have quote, liberated it from terrorism and terrorists. evacuations now ending with the last remaining rebel fighters and civilians who wanted to leave doing so. about 40,000 people just since last week. despite all of this, though, the more than six year long civil war is not over. rebel groups are holding other parts of the country, including as you see there the city of idlib which president assad has promised to retake. at least 23 people are dead after a car bomb exploded in mosul, iraq, yesterday. 15 civilians and 8 police men are confirmed to have died. it occurred in the area of the city which iraqi forces previously liberated from isis, and is the deadliest bombing in that area since that time. and a passenger on a -- on board a jetblue flight claims he was removed from the plane after an incident involving vancouver ka trump, donald trump's daughter. vancouver ka, her husband jared kushner and her children were preparing to travel out of new york's jfk airport when they

were confronted by a fellow passenger. ivanka and her family landed safely in san francisco but two men were removed from the flight before takeoff. before the incident one of the men removed from the plane tweeted that his husband was, quote, chasing them down to harass them. he got on and said oh, my god this is a nightmare. and he was shaking, and jetblue sort of approached him, and he said -- jetblue sort of approached him, and he said -- he said, you know, they ruined our country, and now they're ruining our flight. he was upset. he walked on as soon as he saw her he started shaking. he was visibly shaking. he was agitated. >> jetblue later released a statement saying in part the decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. if the crew determines that a customer is causing a conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane. louis, still ahead it was a night where the new york giants couldn't seal a spot in the

playoffs. but those philadelphia eagles ended up snapping their losing streak. plus, today's expected to be one of the busiest days of the holiday travel season. we'll tell you what to expect on the roads, and in the air. plus, how weather could affect your weekend plans. we'll be right back.

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welcome back. we have some new information about that breaking news about the berlin truck attack. nbc news has now confirmed that the prime suspect has been killed. in an overnight shoot-out with police in milan. this is according to the italian interior ministry. we're going to have a live report from berlin coming up in just about the next 15 minutes or so. in the meantime, with the world on high alert after berlin's christmas market attack, police in australia say they've stopped a plot to bomb parts of melbourne on christmas day. seven people were arrested in raids from overnight. three of those people are facing charges, one is waiting for a court hearing and three others have been released. the terror plot reportedly

involved the use of improvised explosive devices. police say the plan also involved a surveillance mission of the area that was supposed to be attacked. investigators think the suspects were self-radicalized but certainly inspired by isis and isis propaganda. louis? >> scary stuff. with the long holiday weekend about to begin americans are heading into what could be a record-setting travel season. in fact, today and yesterday were expected to be the busiest days of the entire holiday travel period, and all about 103 million people will be traveling over the course of the holidays. about 6 million traveling by air. inside the terminals the tsa insists it's staffed up to handle the record crowds. let's hope they are. weather is always a huge variable for anyone traveling for the holidays. >> we're probably not thrilled to be here two days working before christmas, but better than being in lines at the airport. >> that is very true. how's the country looking? >> the east coast is fantastic for all the travel. but all the issues are in the middle of the country. this is our winter alert map,

and when it looks like a christmas tree itself with all the different colors that means we have a lot of active weather. that's the blizzard watch. this area up here in the dakotas, that's christmas day. you're under a blizzard watch that will go over to a blizzard warning probably tomorrow. that means christmas day you don't want to be traveling in the dakotas. and where you start your day is where you're going to want to finish it, not on the roads. that's the biggest issue over the holiday weekend. this area here, the white and the pink, we have freezing rain this morning in kansas, light snow that's now broken out from omaha, northern portions of iowa, just north of the des moines and ames area, and rochester, minnesota. and all of wisconsin, a good chance of about an inch or two of snow today, including the milwaukee area. just enough to make things a little more difficult than you'd like. then out in the west, a storm coming into california and that's why we have winter storm warnings from all the mountain areas of the sierra. also the mountains of utah are going to get it pretty good with snow. that will be on saturday. let me take you in to some of the maps. here's the snow fall forecast. for those dreaming of a white

christmas. a little coating for you today. maybe it will stick around long enough to be there for christmas morning. omaha through minneapolis, green bay included, madison, milwaukee, about one to two inches for you today. and then all of this mess, especially you see the brighter colors, that's all the mountain peaks, san juan mountains of colorado as we go towards provo and cedar city that's where we're getting the snow in areas of utah. and then the blizzard up here near bismarck, that's the possibility of about 6 to 12 inches and that will be blowing and drifting snow. as far as the forecast for today, east coast as i mentioned fantastic, no problems whatsoever. and then as we head towards christmas eve, that storm moves into the inner mountain west with all the issues. we will see pretty nice conditions in the middle of the country christmas eve. a little bit of light rain, d.c. up through areas of the northeast. and then for christmas day all the problems in the middle of the country. east coast looks fantastic christmas day. severe thunderstorms kansas oklahoma and then of course we'll have those blizzard conditions in the dakotas late christmas day. we have some problems out there.

most of them are going to be on the roads through the inner mountain west, though. >> especially lots of travel this weekend, too. bill, thank you very much. appreciate it. still ahead, did you catch the football game last night? my sports producer who is a giants fan wanted me to read how the eagles stole christmas. but you know what? i'm from philly. i'm a lifelong eagles fan, adam, lauren, i'm not going to read that. all the highlights from thursday night football next in sports.

welcome back. time for sports and a silent

night in new york for giants fans hoping for a big, blue christmas. to philadelphia where the eagles snapped a five-game losing streak to keep their nfc rival giants from clinching a spot in the playoffs for at least a few more days. philly out to a quick start. darren sproles with a 25 yard touchdown to cap their first drive of the game and eli manning pass is intercepted by eagles safety malcolm jenkins who returns it 34 yards to the end zone. philly puts together one more touchdown scoring drive before heading to halftime with a 21-13 lead. where the giants have been resilient this season, things did not get much better for them in the second half. manning with another two interceptions in the fourth quarter. first by jenkins who had his numbers for the second time of the game and with 14 seconds left in the clock manning's end zone attempt on third down is picked off, sealing the eagles 24-19 victory. it hands the cowboys the nfc east title along with home field advantage throughout the conference playoffs while new york holds the top wild card

position heading into next week's regular season finale against the redskins. they can still get into the postseason this weekend with a loss by the lions, the packers, the buccaneers, or the falcons. pretty safe to say they'll probably get there. duke guard grayson allen might end up on santa's naughty list. the blue devils have suspended the star player indefinitely after he received a technical foul for tripping on opposing player during wednesday night's win the third such incident involving allen in the last year. while allen offered a tearful apology after the game, duke's head coach, coach k., called the incident, quote, unacceptable and inexcusable. and to major league baseball an early christmas gift for free agent slugger edwin encarnacion who has reportedly agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with the cleveland indians. the 33-year-old all-star hit 43 homers and drove in 127 rbis for the blue jays this past season. and history on the ice in sunshine, florida.

the panthers, yaur mir jagr broke his tie with mark messier and stands alone at number two on the nhl's all-time points list with 1,188. the 44-year-old jagr tallied the point with an assist late in the game but his efforts weren't enough in the 3-1 loss to the bruins. and over in miami, the heat retired legendary nba center shackle ee neo'neal's 32 jersey during last night's game. the heat also gifted shaq with a replica of the 18-wheel truck he arrived in the day he was introduced to miami back in july of 2004. shaq, i love it. >> i'd go for a ride in that truck. that looks fun. >> thank you, louis. appreciate it. still ahead, following that breaking news about the berlin terror attack. nbc news now confirming the main suspect has died in a shoot-out in italy. we're going to head live to germany for an update next. stay with us. world ugly and messy.

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welcome back. i'm hallie jackson in washington, louis burgdorf is in new york and we are continuing to follow that breaking news out of berlin. the suspect in monday night's terror attack has been killed in a shoot-out. we're going to go live to berlin in just a moment for more details but we'll start first with the morning's top stories. president-elect donald trump now unveiling his white house communications team. there they are. starting from the left, sean spicer the rnc communications director who will be the press secretary in the next administration. campaign spokesman jason miller taking on the role of white house communications director and then there's hope hicks and dan scavino both original trump campaign staffers getting west wing officers as directors of

strategic communications and social media and president obama plans to dlimp a farewell speech in chicago next month. that speech will apparently include a thank you to the state of illinois for launching his political career. politico says that speech is set for january 10th. and that the secret service is currently checking out venues. after a bloody four years the battle for aleppo has now come to an end. the syrian army says it has completely retaken the city and that it's been, quote, liberated from terrorism. but the six-year civil war in syria still is not over. rebel groups are holding other areas like the city of idlib, which president assad has promised to retake. >> hallie, back to that breaking news on the berlin truck attack that we're following this morning where the italian interior ministry says the suspect has been killed in an overnight shoot-out in milan, italy. joining us now live from berlin, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley. matt, what more can you tell us this morning? >> well, according to the italian interior ministry, he says that the suspect was killed

beyond any reasonable doubt. he's very certain that the man who was killed this morning around 3:00 a.m. in milan in a shoot-out with two police officers was, indeed, anis amri. the 24-year-old tunisian who rammed into this christmas market right behind me here in berlin late on monday night -- or excuse me around 8:00 p.m. monday night. just to give you a sense that milan is about an 11-hour drive from where i am here in berlin. and where the suspect was at about 8:00 p.m. on monday night. now, again, to give you a sense of just how expansive this manhunt was, there was another suspect who was captured, matching the suspect's description in northern denmark, just in the last several hours, and days. so really we're talking about a continent-wide manhunt that has all come to fruition just this morning. now these two officers who stopped mr. anis amri, he -- they're being, you know, applauded by the italian ministry, and they're saying

that these two men did an extraordinary service to the community. the italian interior minister said at least one of them was injured. it's not clear exactly how severely he was injured. now all of this is going to become a major relief not just to a jittery german public who were very alarmed to know that there was a terrorist who was on the loose in germany, and throughout europe, but to angela merkel and her allies in government. if you remember, angela merkel's government actually arrested and was about to charge a young pakistani man who they accused of perpetrating this crime at this market behind me. they actually had to release him and then they went looking for this other suspect who not only had been under surveillance by german authorities for several months but marked for deportation and wasn't deported because of some bureaucratic snafus invvi identity papers. this is going to be a major relief, not just for germans, but for europeans as a whole. >> nbc's matt bradley from berlin, thank you. we will have a live report with

the latest coming up next on "morning joe." hallie? >> louis, new reaction now to the latest controversial tweet from the president-elect. donald trump stunned nuclear experts yesterday when he tweeted this, that the u.s. must kwoeth greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. that would, of course, mean reversing u.s. policy, which is focused on drawing down our nuclear arsenal. also interesting, the tweet came on the same day that vladimir putin said russia also needs to strengthen its nuclear forces. we get more from nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: after setting off alarm bells throughout the campaign about how he would handle nuclear weapons, donald trump signaled he wants more nukes, shocking nuclear experts by tweeting, the united states must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. reversing u.s. policy since ronald reagan to cut the number of nuclear weapons.

only hours earlier, vladimir putin, who u.s. intelligence officials say was personally involved in the cyber attacks to influence the u.s. elections, told his generals, we need to enhance the combat capability of strategic nuclear forces. last spring trump drew fire for saying he might use nuclear weapons in europe, or against isis. >> they're hearing a guy running for president of the united states talking of maybe using nuclear weapons. nobody wants to hear that about an american president. >> why do we make them? >> reporter: now less than a month before trump takes office arms control experts are stunned. >> all during the campaign donald trumpas dealt with nuclear weapons very loosely, very cavalierly. and this tweet may have just started a new nuclear arms race. >> reporter: what is your concern when you see what sounds like new policy being made on twitter? >> every word matters. strengthen the nuclear arsenal? fine. expand it? everybody's harping on that word. whether donald trump meant it or not, he is changing u.s. policy. le. >> our thanks to nbc's andrea

mitchell for that report. a trump spokesman said the president-elect's tweet about quote expanding nuclear capability was actually referring to preventing nuclear proliferation while improving deterrents. and russian president vladimir putin is holding his end of the year news conference right now. you're taking a live look here. putin is expected to mention the assassination of the russian ambassador to turkey. also expected to answer questions on the latest developments in area and actually just a couple of minutes ago he touched on the u.s. election in a rather lengthy answer. this is a rough translation here. but i kind of want to share it with you because he was asked about the new forces essentially propelling people like donald trump to the presidency here in the u.s. forces similar to for example the questioner said what happened in brexit putin talked about what he called an attempt to shift the blame from the current administration interestingly and then later when talking about the electors, remember the drama with the electoral college a couple of weekago said that for democrats this is humiliating,

he said one has to know how to lose decently, adding he would love to have, with the new president-elect, and leerpd of the democratic party, constructive relations with both the united states and the russian federation. again that's kind of a rough translation. we have our moscow team at this news conference. we're going to keep monitoring for any other developments and will bring them to you when they happen. president obama and president-elect trump have spoken privately many times over the last six weeks but yesterday the incoming president sent a very public message to the white house concerning a united nations vote critical of israel. the diplomatic officials say the obama administration planned to abstain on a security council resolution calling for an end to israeli settlement building in palestinian territory. after the resolution circulated on wednesday night, netanyahu publicly called for the u.s. to use its veto power as a security council permanent member. and israeli officials reportedly reached out to the president-elect to help stop the resolution. in a statement trump said as the

united states has long maintained peace between the israelis and the palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties and not through the imposition of terms by the united nations. this puts israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all israelis. hours later the scheduled vote was delayed by its egyptian sponsors who also reportedly face pressure from the israeli government. israel was also reportedly alarmed that secretary of state john kerry planned to deliver a speech on the israeli/palestinian situation, which his spokesperson confirmed at a briefing. >> the secretary was preparing to -- to deliver some remarks today. about a vision for the middle east, and certainly the middle east peace process itself. and he decided that in light of the postponement of the vote that it would be prudent for him to postpone his remarks. >> and in washington earlier

this month, secretary kerry called the israeli settlements a barrier to peace. the obama administration has ended a tracking program from the bush area that could have been used by incoming president trump to carry out his previously proposed muslim registry. the national security entry exit registration system confidence created after 9/11 but wasn't been used since 2011. basically been dormant. the department of homeland security said it's quote outdated, obsolete and redundant and that new systems let the department achieve the same goals but more efficiently. a trump transition spokesman said the incoming administration will have a response to the move as part of a broader plan on executive orders. as you know, president-elect donald trump rarely makes an apology. but he got one yesterday. as his former surrogate, ex-house speaker newt gingrich went around making stamgts like these. >> you say you've been working on these issues. others might say you've been working in the swamp to use donald trump's language --

>> i'm told he now disclaims that. he now says it was cute but he doesn't want to use it anymore. >> well that didn't sit very well with president-elect trump who tweeted, someone incorrectly stated that the phrase drain the swamp was no longer being used by me. actually, we will always be trying to dts. former house speaker went on facebook to let everybody know trump was talking about him. >> i want to report that i made a big boo-boo. i talked this morning with president-elect donald trump and he reminded me, he likes draining the swamp. i mischaracterized it the other day. he intends to drain the swamp. he even describes it as dts. he thinks taking on boeing and the price is an example of draining the swamp. and so i want all of you to know, i goofed. draining the swamp is in. the alligators should be worried. when i make a mistake i'm going to be straightforward and tell you, i blew that one. draining the swamp is in. >> newt gingrich making a

mistake about dts. all right, former u.n. ambassador john bolton is responding to a story about his facial hair after "the washington post" reported a trump transition source said his mustache might have hurt his chances to become secretary of state as president-elect trump does not like facial hair. now yesterday afternoon bolton tweeted i appreciate the grooming advice from the totally unbiased mainstream media but i will not be shaving my #mustache. >> #mustache. louis. >> well, 2016. thank you. still ahead we'll tell you who's just been booked to perform at the inauguration of donald trump. plus a jetblue passenger kicked off a flight yesterday. accused of berating ivanka trump who was also on the plane. we're going to hear from the airline and the witness. and of course we're still following that breaking news on the berlin terror attack. nbc news confirming the suspect who drove a truck into that christmas market monday has been killed in a shoot-out in italy. we'll have the latest after the break. to do the best

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welcome back. did you hear about those tense moments on a jetblue flight involving president-elect donald trump's daughter? well, a passenger was kicked off the plane after reportedly confronting ivanka trump while she was traveling with her family. nbc's kristen welker has the details. >> reporter: ivanka trump, seen her with her family moments after landing in san francisco on her way to hawaii. the target of the lingering tensions of the 2016 race, seated on board a jetblue flight traveling with her three children and husband. trump was confronted by a fellow passenger who witnesses overheard saying they ruin the country, now they ruin our flight. >> he said oh, my god this is a nightmare. and he was -- he was shaking. >> reporter: the unruly passenger, daniel goldsteen and s husband kicked off the plane but not before tweeting out a picture of the moment and ivanka's stunned reaction. and it may have been planned. lazner tweeting before the incident, ivanka and jared were at jfk and his husband was

chasing them down to harass them. #banality of evil. trump accompanied by secret service apparently tried to distract her children as things got heated. and in a statement jetblue insisting the decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. if the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane. ousted passenger lazner later tried to downplay the incident. jetblue staff kicked us off the plane. >> he was visibly shaking. he was agitated. if i was security i wouldn't take the chance either. >> i have no doubt that she was fully secure during this entire encounter. they were able to make sure that the situation didn't escalate. and that's why first daughters have secret service for situations like this, when there is a potential threat. >> nbc's kristen welker reporting. we want to get a check of your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, merry two days before christmas. >> i know we're here, right?

errands just about done. now we just need nice weather conditions to get to grandma's house, correct? kansas into areas of iowa, this is where the wintry mix is. you'll be out there this morning with the ice scraper around topeka, kansas, kansas city. des moines has light snow heading in along with ames. our friends near wisconsin, chicago maybe a little bit of light snow. maybe you're dreaming of a white christmas here. people waking up getting ready to head to the airports. san francisco is going to get heavy rain today. that could be the worst airport conditions. minor weather delays are possible. seattle, los angeles, chicago, st. louis. when you talk big airports like these you could get some ripple effects. if you're traveling on christmas eve that big storm in the west, salt lake city some snow and rain and windy conditions. there will be a period of rain from d.c. to new york and philadelphia, as we go throughout especially saturday morning into the early afternoon. and then it will be over with by the evening. that could have some minor delays possible. traveling on christmas day at the airports i don't think anyone's going to have cancellations. but minor delays will be

possible in numerous airports here on monday. christmas day, minneapolis will have the best chance of actually seeing any significant problems. again i don't think we're going to have a lot of cancellations because of weather but minor delays are a possibility. today with that mess in the areas of the midwest, and look at the east coast today. florida looks fantastic. the southeast is really going to warm up through the next couple of days and no complaints, d.c., 49 degrees today. new york city at 46. then as we head through christmas eve, we're looking pretty good there, too. we will see the warmth continuing all weekend long into areas of the east. so that's good news for you. and as far as the west goes, again, the worst of it today, san francisco, late today, rain in los angeles, they do expect a little bit of flooding problems out there. and then on christmas eve we track that storm to the middle of the country, and then by the time we get to christmas day, that storm's going to be in the northern plains and one of those christmas days where we're going to have storm chasers probably watching severe storms in areas of oklahoma and kansas. hopefully doesn't look like too many tornadoes at this point but the possibility is there for wind damage.

that's not what you want to be worried about as you're going through your christmas meal come during the afternoon hours. >> storm chasers out on christmas. >> christmas day. doesn't sound right does it? >> that's significant stuff. >> thanks. 28 days to go, right, until president-elect trump's inauguration. so obviously preparations very much under way. yesterday the mormon tabernacle choir and the radio city rockettes announced they will be performing in the january 20th ceremony. now, both groups are getting some flak for choosing to perform. the rockettes' announcement led to some on social media to call for boycotts of the group. for the performers to stage walkouts. a spokesman for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints meanwhile is defending its decision saying it continues a tradition of performing for presidents of both parties and that it's a quote, demonstration of our support for freedom, civility, and the peaceful transition of power. there have been reports out, right, that the trump team's been having trouble finding celebrities to perform and apparently those caught the president-elect's attention. overnight tweeting, the

so-called a-list celebrities are all wanting tix to the inauguration but look what they did for hillary, nothing. i want the people. >> all right, to a jury that saved one michigan girl's christmas. eleanor dewald lost her bear teddy in the airport after visiting family this week. that's when her mother turned to social media and the #operationteddy began. she posted a detailed description of teddy on facebook and that went viral and caught the attention of steven, a southwest airlines ramp agent. the next day he retraced are the family's steps to their baggage claim and found teddy sitting on top of a trash can. he immediately posted a picture with teddy saying he found him and began posting pictures of teddy helping him out at the airport and tagging the girl's mother as well. later that day he handed teddy directly to eleanor and her eyes lit up with joy to have her bear back. pretty nice story. >> that is so cool. christmas miracle, man. >> that's right. >> thank you, louis. still ahead a medical

breakthrough on a virus that ravaged west africa two years ago and caused quite a scare here in the u.s. plus the president-elect pitting the nation's top defense companies against each other in hopes of cutting costs. we're back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ style lets you stand out from the herd.

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tested on humans has not yet been approved by regulators. but 300,000 doses have already been stockpiled. the outbreak of ebola killed roughly 11,000 people in west africa. business and news of two billion dollar settlements involving two major banks and the u.s. government. nancy hungerford joins us live. what can you tell us about these settlements? >> the u.s. department of justice has been moving swiftly to close some pending deals with european banks before the administration turnover. the big one, deutsche bank settling for $7.2 million with the doj. that was less than the $14 billion initially requested so we're seeing some relief from investors. that stock outperforming in europe. we also got a deal with the doj and credit suisse to the tune of about $5.3 billion though credit suisse shares are just slightly lower in europe. but british bank barclays did not come to the table. they are holding out rejecting a lawsuit from the department of

justice. also, for allegedly misselling mortgage-backed securities. but barclays is still fighting that one. louis? >> well, trump also met with the heads of boeing and lockheed martin earlier this week and yet he took his effort to cut defense costs back to twitter. how is everyone reacting to that? >> well, this is a controversial one, louis, because president-elect donald trump, as you mentioned, had spoken to the ceos of both companies and n he appears to be pitting boeing and lockheed martin against one another. now, in that tweet he did say based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of lockheed martin's f-35 program he has asked boeing to price out a comparable f-18 super hornet jet. he wants to see whether or not he can get a better deal from boeing because the f-18s do cost less but some sector analysts point out they don't have the same capabilities of an f-35. given that the f-35 is so crucial to lockheed martin's revenue this impacts the stock.

that tweet alone helped drive lockheed martin shares down 2% in after-hours trade. speaking of stocks moving lower you may be wondering why we have yet to hit that big 20,000 marker on the dow jones. a lot of people were hoping we mitt hit that just in time for christmas. but not so, wall street saw declines on the dow for two straight days. we do have a full trading day today but nevertheless it's been a good year for the dow jones so that should be a merry christmas for investors on that one. >> i guess we may not get that milestone. but we'll hope for it. nancy hungerford live from london. thanks so much. hallie? >> thanks, louis. a new report from the census bureau says the u.s. population grew at the slowest pace this year since the great depression. according to the census, utah was the fastest growing state followed by nevada, then idaho. illinois lost more people than any other state while virginia had the biggest percentage drop. when it comes to sheer numbers, texas led the way, adding more than 430,000 new residents.

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before we toss it over to

"morning joe" let's get a check on the stories you will be hearing about in the day ahead. the u.s. security council could vote on a resolution today demanding israel halt its settlement was set for yesterd the vote was delayed. president-elect trump said the u.s. should veto the measure. >> today is expected to be one of the busiest days of the holiday travel season so be safe out there. aaa expects about 6 million people to fly and 103 million to hit the road. >> that does it for us on this friday. "morning joe" starts right now. >> happy holidays. >> happy holidays? where is the christmas music? i thought it was already christmas, isn't it? >> i don't understand. >> the war on christmas is coming to "morning joe." >> can you believe this? >> did you guys know it was christmas? >> i didn't know it was christmas at all. who would know in rockefeller center that it was christmas. >> good morning. it's my brother's