mitchell reports." >> thanks to stephanie. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," confirmation clashes. donald trump's cabinet nominees can steamroll the opposition. they've got the votes but facing some tough questions as hearings start tomorrow, about their failure to file ethics disclosures and coziness with russia, even from some republicans. >> right now the biggest problem i see coming out of the president-elect's team is russia. if after the briefing he is still unsure, that will shake me to my core about his judgment. inside the rampage. the alleged ft. lauderdale airport shooter in court today charged with murdering five people as new surveillance video shows the horrific shooting unfolding. today we'll talk to one survivor who credits a strange we are saving her life. >> i was just praying to god just praying to god, and i had an angel protect me. >> and star strike.

trump slams meryl streep tweeting her as one of the most overrated actresses in hollywood after the three-time oscar winner accepts golden globe's lifetime achievement award with a speech eviscerating the president-elect. >> disrespect invites disrespect. violence incites violence. when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose. good day everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. as we gear up for a momentous week in politics, cabinet meetings tomorrow, president obama's farewell address, clbt clinton's return to the state department and donald trump's first news conference since july on wednesday. the first of nine scheduled confirmation hearings, alabama senator jeff sessions nominated for attorney general defending himself against criticism he had a bad record on civil rights and is hostile to immigration.

tuesday evening president obama goes back to where it started, chicago, to deliver his farewell address, as hillary clinton makes her first return to the state department for a dedication ceremony. on wednesday, more fireworks on the hill, hearings for secretary of state nominee rex tillerson and education secretary designate betsy devoss, possibly overshadowed by donald trump's first news conference since july. kristen welker joins me now. kristen, a lot going on. >> certainly is. busy week. >> perhaps no accident. so, so many questions first of all for the president-elect. questions about his twitter, foreign policy, about going on twitter again today, taking on meryl streep on a day when there is so much else substantively at stake and importantly, the failure of so many of his nominees, you've got more billionaires than we've ever had up for confirmation, and so many

have failed to file the basic ethics disclosures. this is not a procedural matter as mitch mcconnell said. this is actually a requirement by the nonpartisan office of government ethics. >> and that's why you have senator chuck schumer saying we've got to delay some of these confirmation hearings, because we need all of the paperwork to be in place. you talk about the nominees who haven't yet completed those ethics forms. steve mnuchin his pick for treasury secretary, wilbur ross for commerce and andy putzer pick for labor. former goldman sachs ceos, ties to wall street. are there any ethical conflicts, conflicts of interest that senators need to know about before the confirmation hearings begin and part of what is fueling this fire. they feel like these nominees are being rushed through, nine confirmation hearings this week. we should say first up, senator sessions has completed his

paperwork as has rex tillerson. these are going to be two of the more controversial picks, andrea. >> mitch mcconnell was just today -- let's go to donald trump right now. >> he loves this country and he loves china. >> i do, china and i love america. [ inaudible question ]. >> reporter: there were some questions about your relationship -- >> we'll talk more about that on wednesday. we'll be talking to you very soon. [ inaudible question ] >> we'll talk to you about that at another time. yes we had a great meeting. it's jobs. you just saw what happened with fiat they'll build a massive plant in the united states in michigan, and we're very happy, and jack and i are going to do some great things. >> small business. focus on small business. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> how are the confirmation hearings -- >> the confirmations are going

great. >> they haven't started yet. >> i think they'll all pass. i think every nomination, they're all at the highest level. jack was even saying, i mean, they are the absolute highest level. i think they're going to do very well. >> yes. >> there are concerns about jeff sessions in particular? >> no i think he'll do great. high quality man. thank you so much. >> donald trump and jack ma, alibaba of china an extraordinary figure from china next to the president-elect. the last thing he said was that jack, senator sessions will do very well, that he's a high quality man. just as we were talking about this, mitch mcconnell was just in also obviously laying the strategy. they've got the votes, they only need 51 votes including vice president pence but this is what mitch mcconnell had to say at trump tower just moments ago. >> everybody will be properly vetted, as they have in the past, and i'm hopeful that we'll get up to six or seven

particular national security team in place on day one. >> to say that they're going to be properly vetted does not speak to the fact that generally the staff and the senators have had a chance to read through these very complex forms before they have to have the opportunity to question, and if they go through committee and are passed on through, it will be after the fact before they get these disclosures that are usually done before any nomination is sent, even sent up to the senate. >> and as we were just discussing before president-elect trump started speaking, that's why you have democrats saying this is being rushed through. this is not how this process is supposed to work. senator schumer over the weekend calling for a delay to this process but mitch mcconnell saying we're not going to delay this process. look, they have control of the senate, andrea, so there's no indication that they're going to slow this down and in fact they're touting the fact that they've been having these very robust practice sessions with all of their nominees, and repeating what you just heard

from president-elect trump, that they believe they're going to get confirmed. just one more point, senator sessions a lot of focus on his confirmation hearing tomorrow and the fact that he has a very controversial past. of course he was nominated by former president reagan to serve as a federal judge and he didn't pass his nominating process then because of some of the comments that he's made in terms of race and otherwise. now, no indication that that's going to be a problem this time around because this is of course a republican-led senate, but i think you're going to see a number of fireworks on capitol hill this week. >> jared cushner, son-in-law, ivanka's husband. all indications a statement from his attorney, jimmy garelick, high profile top democratic appointee and administrations at the cia and dod, the pentagon, who is representing him, saying that he will file all of the necessary ethics forms and

divest from firms. it's very clear they are getting ready to announce on wednesday that he'll have a major role as some kind of senior adviser. >> absolutely right. this is the clearest sign yet that jared cushner is poised to become a part of the administration, and of course, we've always thought that this was going to be the case, and a andrea. he played a huge role in his father-in-law's campaign and one of his closest advisers. in fact, during this transition, the white house pointed to jared cushner on issues of foreign policy, so just underscores how significant he is, but there are some real questions. i mean he comes from a family that in essence has a business empire as well, relations with a number of chinese companies that have come under the microscope, and so he's saying, look, i'm going to divest. i'm going to step down. there won't be any questions or conflicts of interest, but this is just one of the many topics that the president-elect is going to get questioned about on wednesday when he has that conference. >> after the election, he was according to the "new york times," there's been no denial

of this meeting with top chinese investors at the waldorf, now owned by china, about a major cushner real estate property, 666 fifth avenue. >> right. >> 666 fifth or madison avenue, one of, a major building in new york city. >> yes. >> thank you very much, kristen welker. good to see you. angus king joins us now. senator thank you very much. you caucus for the democrats but you are an independent from maine. arely it number of the appointees, nominees i should say about whom you have real questions and if so, what are the issues? >> i have a lot of questions and that's what this conffirmation process is all about. it actually starts tomorrow. we're going to have as you mentioned, jeff sessions at the judiciary committee, mike pompepompeo of the white house to be cia. i've met with families private len and then if through the

confirmation process. i'm not prepared to take firm positions on any of them at this point until i see the paperwork and by the way, we shouldn't really use that term paperwork, because that implies that it's not important. what we're really talking about are background investigations, which can be very important, and the danger it seems to me of moving these nominations through before that work, the fbi background check, for example, is done, or before we have all the financial information is embarrassment to the administration, or to the nominee, if they move somebody through and then some news comes out that's damaging, so that's why i think we ought to be taking enough time to have that material in hand so it can inform the confirmation process. >> and just to explain to people who haven't followed as closely as you do, in my experience, nominations don't even go to the hill until that fbi background check is done, because as you point out, the president-elect, the white house wants to be

protected. we had an experience certainly in the clinton administration when several nominees for attorney general were not put forward because it they did not pass that background check and you don't want it to get to the stage of a confirmation hearing when something comes up and how can you ask questions if if you haven't opinion able to look at the financial disclosures, especially in a case where you have all these balance nairs where they have complicated back dprounds. >> well and they have complicated backgrounds and of course one of the questions is, how complicated are those backgrounds as they relate to foreign countries and foreign interests. that's a very important part of this process. you're absolutely right and nobody is trying to filibuster or slow down or be vindictive here. it's really a question of our ability to do our job base the upon the information, the longstanding proto do fbi background check to require various financial disclosures. some require tax returns, others don't. the fundamental question,

shouldn't we have that in hand before we vote. as a person who votes i don't want to cast a vote for somebody and find something in a record that would be diskfg. i think we are moving it rather fast. the number of hearings this week they overlap. i have leagues that are on two different committees that have two different important confirmation hearings at the same time. i don't really think that's necessary, and particularly i agree we ought to get the national security team in place, perhaps that could be the priority but i think slowing it down, just to be sure that we have all of the information necessary makes a lot of sense. >> we should point out james mattis and pompeo and tillerson are three of the nominees who have conformed with the government of ethics requirements. >> that's right. >> wilbur ross and others who have not. one question i had for you, you're going to sit on pompeo

tomorrow. >> that's right. >> whether you have concerns about donald trump's reluctance to acknowledge russia's role after getting the intelligence briefing that he received. lindsey graham said that, after seeing that report, he doesn't know how anyone could not be 1,000 percent certain of russia's role. the president-elect seems to be conflating it with past hacking by china and north korea and iran and others. this was a report about russia's role for a very specific reason. >> right. >> and it did not come to any conclusions. it was completelying agnostic on whether it impacted the election or impacted the results. he seems to be fixated on what he sees as an attempt to dele t delegitimize his victory which everyone is acknowledging. >> he's going to be inaugurated in less than two weeks. this isn't about delegitimizing the election. it's about understanding what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it in the future.

th th that's what's so concerning and his sort of blowing it off i guess would be the term, it's no big deal, china does it and other people do it, maybe somebody innier bedroom particularly after seeing the report. i have seen the declassified and classified report and the only difference, andrea, the conclusions are identical. the only difference is that the classified report goes deeper into how they know, how they formed those conclusions, and the reason it's classified is we don't want the russians or other adversaries to know how we learn these things and what our sources and methods are. that's very important, because it would compromise national security to give those away. i understand people say i hear people from maine saying i want proof. maine people are skeptical, how do we know this is the truth? well, you got to find the balance there and we've got

lifetime professional intelligence officials drawing these conclusions, the classified report gives the basis of the conclusion, and i joined lindsey graham. this is very strong stuff. is it a slam dunk, is it a for sure? no. these are cessments but the evidence is very strong, and it's also consistent with what the russians are doing around the world. i encoukouncountered it when i visiting with the intelligence committee in eastern europe last year and this fall meeting with people from the baltic states, latvia, lithuania and estonia. the russians do this and it's absolutely what they're doing here and we've got to figure out how to combat it or you know, in four years it will be well we have the democrats, the republicans and the russians. they should not be a part of our political system. >> angus king, senator, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. busy week on capitol hill. >> yes, ma'am. and coming up we are following two breaking stories out of florida. in orlando, a manhunt is under way today after a police officer

was shot and killed. and in ft. lauderdale the suspected gunman in the airport attack has been formally charged in court today with murdering five people. the latest on both coming up next right here on "andrea mitchell reports." tastes. honey, what do you want for dinner tonight? oh, whatever you're making. cheesy chipotle pork quesadillas? mmmm... ravioli lasagna bake? yeah, i don't know... grilled white chicken... grab something rich, sharp and creamy. triple cheddar stuffed sliders. sold! we aim to cheese! kraft natural cheese: we make cheese for how you love cheese. and i thought, well, you need to go to the doctor. i was told that is was cancer, and i called cancer trereatment centers of america. dr. nader explained that they can pinpoint the treatment. once we identified that there was this genetic abnormality in her tumor, we were able to place her on very specific therapy.

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and we are following breaking news out of central florida right now. manhunt is under way after a police officer was shot and killed near a walmart in orlando earlier this morning. master sergeant debra clayton was a 17-year veteran of the orlando police force and a mother. police are searching for 41-year-old markeith loyd. he shot at another officer and carjacked a vehicle before fleeing the area. cal perry joins me with the latest. cal, do they have any clues as to where he might have gone? >> they think he's in the pine hills neighborhood nearby the

walmart where that initial shooting took place. also very sadly the orlando police announcing a deputy sheriff also died. he was responding to that initial call, the call that went out of an officer in distress. that was of course debra clayton, who you mentioned there was killed. loyd has been wanting since december for allegedly murdering his pregnant 24-year-old girlfriend. police believe he has help somewhere in the orlando area and that's why he's been able to elude capture for the past few weeks. >> a terrible situation. thanks for staying on top of that for us. breaking news in the deadly shooting at the ft. lauderdale airport, the suspected gunman 26-year-old esteban santiago appeared in federal court last hour, formally charged with five counts of murder. if convicted the iraq war veteran could face the death penalty. we're getting a new look from security footage obtained by tmz showing the horrifying incident as it was unfolding. the alleged gunman pulls out his

pistol and starts shooting while scared passengers are scrambling around those baggage carousels. one of the passengers told nbc his laptop saved his life. >> the top of my backpack was slightly open, a bullet ricochetted and went into my backpack through the small opening, hit my laptop, and went through my backpack. >> joining me is nbc's gabe gutierrez outside the federal courthouse. the stories from the survivors and some of the other witness explanations of what happened are just incredible, horrifying. >> reporter: yes, that's exactly right, andrea, simply incredible. you just heard from that survivor, who barely made it out with his life after that bullet got lodged in his laptop. we've heard others walking by calmly picking up their bags as this rampage unfolded and we saw from that video obtained by tmz just how calmly the gunman was

walking down that terminal. now today just a few minutes ago here in ft. lauderdale, the suspect, 26-year-old esteban santiago was charged and read his rights. he faces one charge of committing an act of violence at an international airport, as well as other weapons charges and he faces life in prison if convicted. he was in the courtroom, his hands were chained to his waist. he was in a red jump suit. didn't say much other than to answer the judge's questions about his finances to be able to qualify for a public defender. he also said that he worked as a security guard for two years until november. andrea, you'll remember that, in november, that's when authorities say that he walked into the fbi offices there, complaining that the government was controlling his mind and forces him to watch isis videos. he was sent to a mental health facility in anchorage, alaska, and released after about four days, according to his family. according to the charging document that the federal authorities have put forward, he told authorities that he planned this attack buying a one-way

ticket from alaska to ft. lauderdale, connecting through minneapolis. again he is facing life in prison, if convicted, the next court appearance is scheduled for january 17th, andrea. >> as we see him leaving the courthouse in a secure obviously a secure motorcade, this is going to continue to raise questions about the legal packing of guns, unloaded guns, he followed all the rules in baggage but obviously reclaimed his baggage at the airport and the tragedy then ensued. gabe gutierrez thank you so much. coming up we'll talk to a survivor who took cover and was protected by a complete stranger. she calls him a hero. first, meryl's moment, the speech that has the legendary actress among trump's latest twitter targets. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. . >> but there was one performance

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the stars came out for one of hollywood's biggest nights the golden globes but amid all the cheers and the champagne a serious note when meryl streep received a lifetime achievement award, and paused to speak about a controversial campaign moment. >> but there was one performance this year that stunned me. it sank its hooks in my heart, not because it was good. there was nothing good about it. but it was effective and it did its job. it made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. it was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in

privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. it kind of broke my heart when i saw it, and i still can't get it out moof i heaof my head becaust in a movie. it was real life, and this instinct to humiliate when it's modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. disrespect invites disrespect. violence incites violence. when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. >> streep was referring to donald trump appearing to mock a disabled "new york times" reporter in november of 2015. this morning trump fired back tweeting "meryl streep, one of the most overrated actresses in hollywood, doesn't know me but

attacked last night at the golden globes. she is a hillary flunkie who lost big. for the 100th time i never mocked a tis abled reporter, simply showed him groveling, when he totally changed a 16-year-old story he had written in order to make me look bad. just more very dishonest media." joining me is upeen robinson, of "the washington post" and msnbc analyst. the president-elect of the united states taking time to respond to meryl streep today. >> you know, i thought it was an extraordinary moment last night, we were watching and meryl streep got on and she had kind of lost her voice, but it became more powerful as she went on, and i thought it was an extraordinary moment. but then this morning at 6:27 a.m. the president-elect decides to respond, and that's even more fascinating to me, and i'm

actually writing about it for tomorrow. you know, there's a temptation to say is this all trivial? it's meryl streep. there are lots of important things a president-elect is doing. >> and speaking of the president-elect, here he is. >> all i can say is it's very simple. very easy. sure i'm ready. i've been ready for a while. going to be very easy to do. >> 500 businesses? >> yes. lot, but it's really a very simple process. [ inaudible question ] >> who? we'll talk about that on wednesday. [ inaudible question ] >> we'll see. we'll talk. one of the great men, you know that, right? so thank you very much. appreciate it. tremendous honor. and they all love this country. that's important. [ inaudible question ] >> what?

they're going to do some wonderful things in this country. >> such as? >> great things. jobs, a lot of jobs. [ inaudible question ] >> we may expand our factory that we have in california and build one either in carolina or -- >> and maybe in the midwest. >> we build some original products for 25 years in california, and we are going to expand because of the success of the product and we are going to do that either in carolina or in texas. we are looking at two possibilities, but it will be done shortly. >> the affordable care act several republicans are concerned it's an overplacement plan. are you worried -- >> not even a little bit. that's going to all work out. thank you very much, folks. see you later. [ inaudible question ]

>> we're going to be talking about it on wednesday. >> and that was the president-elect again, eugene i would only interrupt you for a moment like that. he had come down earlier with jack ma from china, and the many brands of french products. >> jack ma, bernard arneault. >> some of the richest people in the world. >> richest people in this wonderful world. >> talking about jobs. >> right. >> pick up where you left off, it was hard to hear those questions. >> that's an illustration. the president-elect has a lot of things to do and in addition to the meetings, nominees pending on the hill, he's got an administration to put together, he's got plans to make for day one, day two. >> he's got a speech to write. >> right, exactly, he's going to be inaugurated in a week or so, and meanwhile, he gets up at 6:27 in the morning and he tweets back this sort of ridiculous response to meryl

streep calling her the most overrated actress in hollywood, when in fact she's the most acclaimed actress in hollywood history, having been nominated for the academy award 19 times, which is more than anybody else, and this instinct, this reflex that, whenever he's criticized, to sort of hit back almost reflexively is not just fascinating but it's something that we need to look at. we can't just ignore and say this is just trivia. i think we need to look at it and we need to absorb the fact that this is the president-elect. i mean, this is how he reacts. >> there is controversy within the news media, talking about meryl streep. she was also talking about the committee to protect journalists shall the need to support this organization, full disclosure, i have always been a supporter of this organization, and it is a nonprofit that defends journalists in totalitarian regimes and they did say at their dinner in november right

before thanksgiving that, for the first time, they are also going to turn their focus on the united states, that they see challenges here at home. >> um-hum, yes. >> to journalism and to the freedom of the press. >> yes, and different kinds of challenges, right? there are countries in which reporters literally risk life and limb every time they sort of just for trying to do their job. >> or jailed in egypt or turkey or other places. >> exactly. here i would argue, and this is again mostly about the trump, the incoming trump administration, but not entirely, i would argue that, over the years, the reporter's access to information, access to officials has been shrunk and continues to shrink, and increasingly we sort of get herded into places where officials want us to be. we are fed information officials want to feed us, people who leak information are actively

prosecuted, almost persecuted, and look, it's not just about trump. this is about the obama administration, about the succession of administrations that have sort of restricted our space in which to do our jobs, and so i think that is an important issue, and then comes trump who has just blatantly threatened that he wants to crack down on the president, with his tweets and dishonest media, more, you know, bad media or whatever, helping to create this atmosphere about, you know, the free press and look, we're enshrined in the first amendment for a reason. we're part of this democracy. >> and on wednesday he'll have his first press conference since july. during that press conference, it's when he said russia, why don't you go find hillary clinton's emails, inviting them to hack, if you will. >> right. >> taking it as a joke, repeatedly over and over again referring to wikileaks as

providing important information, but showing extreme sensitivity to the results of this intelligence report. all that said, the lack of paperwork, the lack of disclosure, of financial entanglements, foreign investments by the billionaires who are nominated for cabinet posts is not a trivial matter. it's never before been the case in my experience where nominations go to the hill before the background checks are done. >> nor in mine. i've never seen it before. administrations don't send nominees to go for background checks because they don't want the embarrassment and the potential scandal of a sitting cabinet official who was later found to have some compromising relationship or conflict other to have done something with his or her finances in the past. there's a huge potential for that given we're talking about billionaires like wilbur ross

and devoss and other. >> steve mnuchin for treasury. >> very complicated financial laws. >> eugene robinson i look forward to reading your column. >> thank you. more to come, thank you, as always, and coming up, a survivor story, we'll talk to a school teacher who survived the ft. lauderdale airport shooting thanks to heroic actions by a total stranger. you're watching reports on msnbc. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job,

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annika dean is a florida school teacher, she's been through school shooting drills but nothing could have prepared her for the moment when she saw a man with a gun walking towards her at the ft. lauderdale airport friday. when the shooter opened fire dean dropped to the ground. thanks to a stranger who protected her she escaped unharmed. i'm so relieved for you and thanks for telling your story. first of all, how are you doing? >> i'm doing okay. i have just been overwhelmed with the tremendous support that

i've received from loved ones near and far, and it's just been really helpful. >> i can't, knopf us could imagine what you went through but tell us what happened and how this man, a complete stranger, came to your aid. >> i was in baggage claim and i heard gunshots. i knew from the trainings that i had been in, i recognized it immediately, and i looked for escape, there was no escape, so i hid next to a smart cart, just laid on the floor, and i had been there about 30 seconds, just praying, mostly concerned that my children wouldn't have a mother, or that they'd have a seriously injured one, and i didn't know if i was going to make it, live or die, and about 30 seconds into that, a man as he was laying on top of me, he said "i will protect you," and

immediately, i felt comforted and i knew that i would be protected, and i just felt like he was a guardian angel. i knew that he might not be protected but i knew that i would live and i was filled with gratitude. >> and you later identified him as tony bartozovitz, now enjoying the cruise he was headed toward. tell me about him. you connected with him afterwards and obviously this is a life changing story. >> right, we were on locktown for the remainder of the day and several times i thanked him. i met his wife. i've become friends with some of his family members through social media. i interestingly enough his nephew patrick marchesi has been friends with my cousin amy may robinson since 1984, so it's a small, small world. >> six degrees of separation,

but a life-saving one. annika thank you so much. i can only imagine your students and your family, your children and all, and the gratitude they have to this man, and forevermore. >> yes. we all do. >> thanks for sharing with us today. i hope you have a very quiet and peaceful and prayerful days to come. thank you. >> thank you, andrea. and coming up, jam session, a parade of nominees facing confirmation hearings this week but with an unprecedented backlog of unfinished background checks and reports. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. osters b. and if you want, pour a little more, because this scent lasts for 12 weeks, which is longer than any relationship i've ever been in.

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more breaking news, peter alexander reporting that donald trump's son-in-law jared cushner will be named senior adviser to the president. according to a senior transition official. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cilizza, founder of "the washington post" fix blog

and jean cummings "wall street journal's" political editor. jean first to you. this had been reported, now confirmed. it had been anticipated. we saw jimmy garelick his attorney putting forth he's going to divest from the cushner family holdings, but the role of jared cushner from my reporting has been so central to decision-making in trump tower. people have told me foreign ambassadors have told me when they want to get their government leaders a moment, a phone call, a meeting with the president-elect, the one person who can get it done is a call to jared cushner. >> absolutely. he became a central character after iowa, after the defeat in iowa. he began to step into the campaign, reorganize it, step up its outreach digitally, turn it into more modern campaign and the confidence between the president-elect and his son-in-law have grown ever since. he has been and is the top

adviser to the president. what we are hearing is that despite, well, depending on how he goes about divesting himself, this could end up in court because there are clear laws about hiring your son-in-law when you're the president of the united states. but i thought, jeanne, and chris, bear me out on this because we did get into this before when the transition first started. the office of the president there are some waivers that are possible. he's a son-in-law. 's a relative but not for a cabinet office. department. is there some distinction legally? chris, if you want to weigh in? >> we expected -- jeanne is right. i don't think we should rule anything out. this is not a move we had not expected and i believe, because we're talking about the office of the president as to the

president's cabinet, it can be done but that is not my expertise. i'll refer to jeanne if she has something that suggests otherwise. >> we'll check on the legal issues there. i know it's been debated but his attorney from the wilmer firm is one of the top lawyers in washington awas in the pentagon and cia democratic administration. so presumably they've got a lot of legal fire power here. chris, what about the fact they haven't done all these vets and they're going ahead with the confirmation hearings. they've got the votes if everyone falls in line on the republican side if they don't, you know, if the democrats don't manage to pull off a couple of republicans crossing over and if they hold firm, maybe they could stop but it seems to me that they've got 51 pretty sure votes on most of these appointees.

>> yes. that seems right to me, too. donald trump just said in trump tower he expects them all to go through. i would say i think he's right about that as of right now. look, this is the legacy that harry reid, former senate majority leader left when he changed the rules on filibusters as it relates to presidential appointments. 50 vote they should be able to get on most of these people. one of the things that's hard is the partisanship winds up being priority number one for most of our elected officials these days as opposed to sort of good government and the way we should do things. when democrats are in power republicans are stalling. when republicans are in power democrats were stalling. it's sort of one-upsmanship no good for the country. my guess is this goes through because it does not appear today to be a glaring thing. rex tillerson's ties to russia, some of the things jeff sessions, one of the reasons he

did not make it to the federal judgeship, some of his comments on race, yes. those things will be litigated, but there does not appear to be a smoking gun in anything we've seen yet that suggest one of these is really likely to go down as of right now. >> chris, thank you very much, and jeanne, i wanted to also ask you about these, the coming farewell from president obama, tuesday night, chicago, and then the very next day the first trump news conference. >> absolutely. i mean we really have been dealing with such a weird situation here with two presidents basically at once. they've tried to, in some ways not get in each other's face and in other ways they really have intentionally, gotten into each other's face, so back-to-back events from them. they supposedly have a very cordial conversation, they get along really well but it has been an odd transition in that

respect. >> well thanks so both of you. jeanne cummings, chris cilizza busy day here. coming up we have a new member of the msnbc family to welcome, my friend, newest colleague. greta van sustern.

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>> go pack, go. you know i'm gloating today -- >> wisconsin's own. >> i'm gloating today. i hope next monday i'm still gloating. 'a tough game next week. >> i don't know if you saw that chuck todd actually had a packers tie at the end of "meet the press" yesterday. we're all in your side now. and you've got -- >> i have to tell you in the parking lot here at msnbc in the garage, i have a cheese head in my car that i was going to bring up and then i got cold feet. i thought like you tease me too much. >> i would never tease you. greta first of all, you are, you know, an incredible journalist. you are a friend, full disclosure, and you are a booking monster. oh my gosh, i've got john mccain, reince priebus, valerie jarrett. what else, plus the biggest week in washington so far. i think people are going to be watching at 6:00 tonight. >> well i hope so. you know how it is. people are generous with their time for someone's first show so

it's probably a little easier to book for your first show than for your second one. people have been really nice to help me out because look, it's exciting. i'm thrilled to be here at msnbc. i've been chasing you for years on these foreign trips, and trying to catch up, and you know, and rachel's been terrific, chuck "today," chris matthews "morning joe" stephanie, everyone's been really welcoming to me so i'm really excited about it. >> we are excited as well, and we've had some trips together, pakistan comes to mind with hillary clinton, so it's great to have you on the team rather than competing against you, which is near impossible, and the show is "for the record" with greta van susteren premieres tonight 6:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc and greta, as you know, in this business, we can't say everything we want, but i'll be watching and i'll be tweeting and happy about that and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell

reports." follow the show online, facebook and twitter @mitchellreports. peter alexander is up next here on msnbc right across from me. >> thank you very much. greta welcome, good afternoon to our audience. i'm peter alexander in washington. we begin with breaking news on the trump administration, a senior transition official telling nbc news that jared cushner will be named senior adviser to the president coming up. cushner is trump's son-in-law, of course, married to ivanka trump and has his own share of high profile conflict of interest potential problems, this on a week where the topic of ethics will certainly figure highly in what promise to be combustible nomination hearings for the president-elect's cabinet. my colleagues kristen welker joining us momentarily and hallie jackson are here today. we'll talk to them in a moment about the latest on this, this news coming as there's been a series of headlines surrounding jared cushner, most notably about his cushner companies, with sources initially saying

that his plans are to divest most of his interest for potential conflicts of interest, that includes one property, 666 fifth avenue, it's a skyscraper in midtown manhattan, where the "new york times" reports that jared cushner as recently as eight days after donald trump was elected president, met with the individuals who were involved in that. it's part of a real estate giant. they have connections to the chinese government, as well want to make sure, do we have my colleagues with us right now? we have hallie jackson outside trump tower, just making sure, hallie, we'll get to he right now. donald trump walked down, spoke to reporters briefly as he was trying to tout jobs moment ago. he's done twice. you never know when the president-elect is going to walk in front of the cameras. talk to us about what he may have said about this relationship with jared cushner and why this is significant. >> reporter: so he was asked about it, peter, and you're right. yes, we sort of popped out of trump tower after the

president-elect came down two times in the span of about 40 minutes to answer, i would say some limited questions from reporters, who as you know, as you've been here, gather in the lobby kind of keeping an eye on the comings and goings here. let's talk about jared cushner first and i want to tell you what else the president-elect said. he was asked what role jared cushner would play in the trump administration and the president-elect seemed to play a little bit coy, peter. he said well we'll see, when asked if cushner was in fact going to be his senior adviser as you and kristen welker confirmed from a senior transition official. it's interesting in light of what you're discussing the idea there are for curb mer himself conflicts of interest he has to untangle with his own business, similar to what donald trump is dealing with at the moment. as you know, he is going through a process he says in which he is looking to disentangle himself from the trump organization. he was asked about that as well during this kind of peter i guess you'd call it an intoprom