people are struggling to survive and, yes, haiti has a long and brutal history of intervention from abroad. so these questions are extremely complex. but there's no doubt that the suffering happening right now is at an extreme level. >> thank you so much for being with us and thank you for keeping the light on this very important humanitarian crisis that is happening right where we live and just so close to us. i thank you for being with us. >> appreciate it. the holiday season kicks off tonight. the annual rockefeller center christmas tree lighting, this is a live look at the tree. the tree is waving back. it's 812 feet tall. it will stay lit from now until the new year. the event kicks off at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 p.m. pacific tonight on nbc and there are tens of thousands of people all around. that wrapping up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of

your time. lindsey reiser picks up with more news right now. good morning. i'm lindsey reiser at msnbc headquarters in new york. a lot of big stories this hour, including a changing of the guard on capitol hill. house democrats are voting right now on who will lead them next year when they lose the majority. as speaker nancy pelosi and her top lieutenants step aside, a new generation is poised to take over. while on the other side of the aisle, republicans are still facing an uncertain path. kevin mccarthy facing a challenge to be speaker. not seen in a century. all of this happening during a busy lame duck session with major issues still at play. the house is set to vote on one of them this hour. a deal to avert a looming rail strike. here's what speaker pelosi said in just the last 30 minutes. >> let me be clear, nationwide rail shutdown would be

catastrophic. it would grind our economy to a halt and every family would feel the strain. time is of the essence. we must act now. >> president biden urgently wants a fix and the house is moving on an agreement. but are the votes for it there. also this morning, guilty of seditious conspiracy, that's the verdict for oath keepers founder stewart rhodes and another member for their involvement in january 6th. what this could mean for other cases. and a path of destruction. millions of americans across the southeast forced to take cover from dangerous weather with more than a dozen tornados spotted overnight. we're live in one of the areas hardest hit. >> it was terrifying. >> you hear about it on the news and you're like, yeah. no, it literally sounds like a freight train. thanks for being with us, everybody. we're going to start with the democratic house leadership elections and a vote on a rail agreement this hour. ali vitali is on the hill, kelly

o'donnell is at the white house, also with me, former spokesperson for the house oversight committee and david drucker, senior political correspondent for the washington examiner. ali, a big moment of transition and we've already heard of a challenge here with one democratic leadership role. take us through the latest and also with kevin mccarthy aiming to be republican leader, how these new leaders will potentially work with each other. >> look, we're seeing two very different battles for leadership between democrats and republicans. on the republican side, there's a lot of drama about whether or not kevin mccarthy will get the votes he needs to become speaker. he's playing that bargaining right now with members of his conference. and on the democratic side, a law-drama day. most of these roles are pretty much decided. you have the top three positions here endorsed by the outgoing slate of leadership including house speaker nancy pelosi.

those votes are ongoing right now. the first of them is going to be to con confirm agular as caucus chair and it will move on from there over the next few hours. there is one challenge, the fact that jim clyburn is looking to stay in leadership in the role of assistant speaker. he's not physically here, but he is getting a challenge from david cicilline. cicilline arguing for lgbtq representation at the leadership table in the democratic caucus. that's going to be a role that we see voted on later in the day. right now they're just dealing with that core three, that trio of leaders who we already talked about. i spent time with hakeem jeffries last night on the eve of his ascension. it's clear that he's thinking about what this moment means for this caucus that has been hankering for new leadership for many years now, but also a moment of transition in his

words because they're transitioning into the minority. this is a caucus that we've seen the range of them ideologically from the most progressive to the most moderate. but what he said at the end of the day nothing gives unity to a caucus like being in the minority. that's the message that he's putting out there as he rises into this leadership position. >> democrats bestowed nancy pelosi with the title of speaker emerita. tell us what's going to get done? >> i think it's a meaningful moment of transition and passing the torch from a leadership that was there when i first came to washington in 2006. our leadership was pelosi, hoyer and clyburn. to have this moment now where we're having a very seamless transition really compared to what's going on on the other side of the aisle is very meaningful and important and this is a new leadership that's going to come in and face a lot of battles right from the very beginning. republicans have not made it a

secret that they intend to launch the oversight grenades on day one. and so this leadership is going to have some real tests. not on the legislative side, but really on the political bare knuckle knife fight that republicans are looking for to try to bring the biden administration under siege. it's a playbook that we've seen before, that we saw back in 2011 when the new congress came in with barack obama as president and did the same thing. how this new leadership responds to that test is going to be very important for how the rest of the year is going to go. it's going to set the tone from the very beginning and i think a lot of people are looking to see is this leadership up for that kind of fight. and it's the reason why they've given speaker pelosi this title, this position because i think she's someone who is going to be a major resource for them as they face these kinds of battles. >> on the republican side, mccarthy has suggested that if republicans play games on the floor, the democrats can end up picking who the speaker is.

how likely is it that we could see a scenario in which moderate republicans and democrats actually team up to elect a more moderate speaker? >> i don't think that that scenario is very likely. i think in the end, republicans would pivot and try and pick a speaker who could get 218 votes. what mccarthy is saying is correct and that the more republicans play games amongst themselves, not being able to agree on who the leader is and what the agenda is, the more power it gives to the democrats in the minority. we've seen this movie play out before where republicans even with very large majorities often struggled to get 218 votes for the speaker, but then even once they did, couldn't agree amongst themselves on major pieces of legislation or even just legislation to get the government funded, to raise the debt ceiling.

they tried to do more than the politics of their majority allowed. they tried to do more than voters gave them a mandate to do and with such a thin majority here, i think what kevin mccarthy is trying to tell his members, if we cannot hang together on these tough negotiations, not only are we not going to get anything done that we want with our majority, but we're going to empower the minority democrats in the house to work with a democratic senate and a democratic white house to do what they want versus anything that we want. >> kelly, let's pivot to the rail strike vote. it's expected to happen this hour. and it's on the agreement plus a separate vote to add paid sick leave. we have reporting that mary paltola said she would vote against a bill that didn't include paid sick leave. >> the president and the whole administration supports this plan. and it's one they do reluctantly

as do a number of lawmakers because typically you want to see it play out in the marketplace. where unions and corporate leaders come to these agreements and resolve disputes in the traditional way of collective bargaining and trying to reach a settlement that is okay for the members of the unions. but when it comes to the rail system and the threat that poses to the national economy, this is where congress needs to step in. the administration has been working behind the scenes with the labor secretary and other key figures trying to talk to all parties involved and now reaching a point where they feel because there are enough unions that support this but not all of the unions, that this compromise package is a way to resolve this dispute and to keep a rail service open in the u.s. and to avert what could be a crippling economic problem. we've already seen what can happen with slowdowns and supply chain problems related to covid.

imagine what would happen to the economy if rail, which provides so much of the transport of goods around the country in addition to some of the other components of simply the passenger rail, the commercial rail, all of those things, getting goods where they need to go, if that was shut down, the implications are really tremendous for impacting the economy at christmastime and at a time when the -- certainly factors in the economy like inflation and concerns about a recession are so heightened. and so taking this action, again, most lawmakers and the administration are reluctant to do it. but they believe this is the right package. we've seen the president who was involved earlier in the process working with congressional leaders here at the white house and the administration standing behind this plan. and so they're hoping that with the inducements of the paid sick leave, the wage increases that are involved in this, this would be a way to resolve it before

the deadline which comes in just a little over a week to try to avert a strike which would have just devastating consequences which is a view shared by many. those who oppose this want to see the labor process move forward and have the workers who get a chance to speak on this really have their voices heard. now, the administration is saying they've had time to do this and they have to intervene to avoid a terrible crisis. and the administration will be watching closely as that vote takes place. >> that vote taking place. what's going to happen? >> reporter: most of the lawmakers who had concerns and were reluctant about this idea of undercutting union workers' ability to negotiate for themselves, most of those concerns have been assuaged because of the growing sense of urgency around how cataclysmic this strike would be for the american economy. when you hear president biden

and others estimating just the sheer number of jobs that would be lost, including union jobs in the first two weeks of a strike like this if it were allowed to happen, all of that speaks to why congress and the white house both were sounding the alarm in these last few days about why they do need to avert this strike. and that's why we're going to see the house undertaking this double-pronged approach to this crisis. one is ratifying that deal that would avert the strike itself and a second vote around the paid sick days for these workers. that's something that for progressive members, especially in the house, although it was always assumed that this deal was going to pass on the house side, it's something that we did see progressive lawmakers here advocating for more sick days. in fact, alexandria ocasio-cortez, one of those lawmakers who we hear speaking about unions, although she didn't want to come at the front of ratifying this amendment, she

sees it as a win because they could end up with more sick days than they initially had negotiated for. this has nothing to say about the senate. but the house will vote first and then it will go to the senate where we'll see more negotiating around that. >> ali vitali, kelly o'donnell, thank you. a bill that enshrines federal protections for same sex and interracial marriages. just 12 republican senators voted in support of the bill. it heads to the house for final package before it heads to president biden's desk. urgency around this issue intensified after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. this morning, a deadly storm system is slowly making its way up the east coast after ripping through parts of the southeast spawning multiple tornados. there were well over a dozen

tornados reported in louisiana and mississippi overnight. the storms left a path of destruction pulling off roofs and even destroying a fire station. so far at least two deaths have been reported in alabama. authorities in montgomery and flatwood counties say the victims were killed in tornados overnight. sam brock joins me now from mississippi. a lot of destruction behind you there. >> reporter: and it's miraculous that there weren't more fatalities or perhaps there will be. but it's only two at the moment. given the fact that you're talking about the two dozen reports of tornados. there's a really sad rhythm to this situation, the aftermath of a tornado. you're going to hear sounds of chainsaws as i talk, as people sever the trees that ended up on their lawns. you'll find people sifting through giant piles of rubble seeing if there's anything recoverable. and, of course, power restoration as well. this is all happens on blocks

here. two dozen homes were impacted on this stretch. not a lot of area geographically that was affected, but those who were hit, they were hit very hard. this gentleman came back to this, he was not here last night. look at this pole that came from a couple hundred yards away and pierced the interior of his house. he sleeps on the other side of this trailer. but he acknowledged this was the difference of life or death potentially if you were inside of here last night. i talked to a couple of girls who live a half a mile away. they heard this touch down. here's what they described. >> it was terrifying. >> you hear about it on the news and you're like, yeah. no, it literally sounds like a freight train. >> we have a built-in tornado shelter in our house off our bedroom. we were in there prepared.

once the power went out, we had no internet, we had no power. so we were just kind of winging it and listening. >> reporter: you mentioned that fire station that was destroyed. the way that the firefighters learned of that last night was the distress calls. they saved six or seven people. but when they got to the fire station they realized all the damage that had been inflicted there too. lindsey? >> so terrifying. sam brock, thank you. still to come, guilty. a jury conflicted stewart rhodes of seditious conspiracy. what it means for other cases. six days out, the final push to rally georgia voters as early voting numbers in the senate runoff keeps smashing records. and a controversial new plan to tackle new york city's mental health crisis. police will be able to take people showing severe symptoms to local hospitals even if they don't want to go. so is that legal?

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no sentencing date has been set for the founder of the oath keepers and another member found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their roles around january 6th. stewart rhodes and another member are facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. three other members were not convicted on the seditious conspiracy charge, but all five were found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding and aiding and abetting. ryan reilly joins me now along with glen kirshner. stewart rhodes lawyers says he plans to appeal the sentence. when will that happen? >> the sentencings are scheduled out for 90 days. that could be what we have on the books for all of these defendants.

but nothing has been set in stone yet. there's a busy calendar coming up for the judge who oversaw this prosecution as well as other judges at d.c. court who are handling a boatload of these january 6th cases. there are more than 900 that have made their way so far with hundreds more to come and hundreds of people who have already been identified to the fbi who have not yet been arrested. there's a long trajectory here. in terms of the oath keepers case, i think the most -- the implications that we'll see will be the second oath keepers trial. we have another group set to go on trial and for the proud boys who are set to go on trial after that. in that case, there's more evidence of preplanning in that case. especially with the verdict that came back against two of these oath keepers, that's not spelling anything great for those proud boys who are facing those seditious conspiracy charges given that the prosecutors were able to get the jury to go along with the guilty

verdicts in the oath keepers' case when there was evidence of preplanning. that's not a great indicator for those proud boys coming up. >> seditious conspiracy dates back to the civil war. what do you make of the doj using this charge and getting a conviction? >> the doj took a calculated risk here, lindsey, and it paid off. they believe they have the evidence to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for this, you know, infrequently used charge, seditious conspiracy, the attempted violent overthrow of the government or violently impede the execution of the laws of the united states. but now that they've won convictions of really the two leaders, as i sat through the seven to eight-week trial, the picture emerged of stewart rhodes engaging in lots of

violent rhetoric and it was clear that they were determined to stop the certification of joe biden's win by any means necessary. as ryan points out, there are other seditious conspiracy trials coming up. there are other oath keepers who are charged with and pending trial for the same charges seditious conspiracy as there are proud boys. i have to believe, lindsey, that those defendants through their counsel may want reopen plea negotiations with the prosecutors given that a jury has bought the government's theory that it was a conspiracy to deny joe biden his election win and hopefully if that happens, if more of these defendants who are pending trial decide to plead guilty, that cooperation -- that plea may come with cooperation which would mean that these defendants might assist the federal prosecutors in continuing to build their way up the criminal food chain.

>> thank you both so much for that analysis. a programming note, rachel maddow will join chris jansing at 1:00 p.m. eastern to talk about the oath keepers verdict and her new podcast. on capitol hill today, more witness testimony before the january 6th select committee. robin voss, the republican speaker of the wisconsin state assembly will be testifying. he refused to overturn the state's election results. the committee meanwhile is winding down its work with republicans poised to take control of the house. committee chair bennie thompson told reporters last night said, quote, we're close to putting pens down. >> more people voted in georgia yesterday than in any other day of early voting ever. the enthusiasm ahead of next week's runoff. >> heads i win, tails the election was rigged. that's how an opinion contributor with the hill describes kari lake's posture as

she refuses to concede. the hobbs camp is firing back, suing a county that has refused to certify its election results and it's happening in pennsylvania too. we'll break it down. ania too we'll break it down. you need. 'tis the season to switch to verizon. they'll give you the new iphone 14 pro. (scrooge) amazing phone! (vo) this holiday season verizon gives you the new iphone 14 pro. plus an apple gift, like apple watch se, ipad and beats fit pro. all on us. that's a value of up to $1900. (scrooge) wow! (vo) and there are unlimited plans for everyone starting at just $35 a line. it's our best deal of the year. get the network you deserve and the savings you want. only on verizon. covid-19. some people get it, and some people can get it bad. and for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a high-risk factor. such as heart disease, diabetes, being overweight, asthma, or smoking.

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this morning voters in georgia have shattered another record for early voting in the senate runoff with less than a week to go. according to the secretary of state's office, more than 309,000 votes were cast yesterday and that's after voters blew past the previous record monday with 300,000 votes cast. there are now only three days left of early voting and it's clear that people in georgia are feeling the weight of this race. >> i think that the opportunity to be able to voice your opinion through the ballot is very important. >> this is my side kick. we do everything together. but the reason i came out to vote was because it's important for him. >> meanwhile, the candidates are pushing full steam ahead. in the last hour, democratic senator raphael warnock greeted voters in the southern part of the state and next hour republican herschel walker's bus

tour is making a stop in northwest georgia. trymaine lee joins me now. what are you hearing from voters and voting groups where you are. >> reporter: lindsey, you mentioned this earlier, that georgia voters are absolutely smashing turnout records. folks are excited. the stakes couldn't be higher. we're in southwest atlanta here. but there's a party at the polls. organizers are getting folks excited to vote. one of those people is debra scott of georgia. stand up. what do you attribute so much excitement? >> when people try to suppress your vote, the response is we're going to fight back and we're going to fight back with joy and love. we moved a couple of feet back and we're giving out free food to everybody who comes whether they vote or not. we are really trying to make it a party at the polls, get that voter excitement. it's a party. we're excited about the turnout.

the turnout has been record breaking. this is our 16th party at the poll. we've been all over. we're knocking on doors, calling people, but we're showing love and joy at the polls. >> every election matters, but what's at stake at this one in particular? >> what's at stake is this democracy. when you look at the senate and what's happening in georgia and southern states, our democracy is at stake and people realize that it is. our job is to be the counter balance to that. when there's disinformation, we're going to give correct information. when there's disservice to our community, we're going to give service to our community. everything is free out here. it's open for all and we're just celebrating voting. >> reporter: of the new law, has it been different getting folks engaged? >> once we started talking to people about why it's important for them to come out and vote, they got the message. the other thing is, talking to parents about getting your kids out to vote has made a difference.

they got the message about early voting. we're going to keep doing it all through friday and coming back strong on tuesday. >> reporter: thank you so much. certainly a party at the polls. a party with a purpose. lindsey? >> debra scott, i absolutely love her enthusiasm, thanks. looking at the data hub for this election, 52% of voters are white, 35% are black, more than 55% of voters are women and the biggest voting chunk between the ages of 55 to 75 years old. this race isn't over yet. how encouraged are the campaigns by what they're seeing so far. >> both campaigns said they've seen things that they're encouraged by in these early voting numbers. we heard from herschel walker's campaign where they said they like that some of the counties with the highest turnout percentage-wise are republican-leaning counties. however, when you hear from

warnock's campaign, they talk about not the percentages but the raw number of voters and the raw number of voters seems to benefit warnock thus far. the democratic-heavy counties had that early voting over the weekend, were able to build up an advantage that appears to benefit warnock. they're also encouraged that although the biggest chunk of voters tends to be those older -- you know, those middle age and older voters, that younger voters are showing up in a higher percentage than perhaps what we saw in the general election and that has democrats also encouraged. >> so your colleague is out with a piece this morning titled herschel walker's stumbles complicate the final stretch. there's a quote saying herschel walker can't find a closing message because he doesn't have the capacity. we nominated the only guy who could possibly lose this race.

democrats maintaining senate control took away a clear message for him, but walker shouldn't be counted out, right? >> walker should not be counted out because georgia is still a swing state. the election is expected to be close. and right now it's all about turnout. if republicans find a way to energize their voters, not necessarily just about herschel walker, that's what we've seen throughout this contest. once herschel walker became the republican nominee, it became more than just being enthusiastic about the candidate. the message that we're hearing from the republicans is be enthusiastic about putting a republican in that seat, that republican nominee just happens to be herschel walker. >> thank you both. well, weeks after the midterm elections, there's a fight over certifying election results in two key counties in two critical states. in pennsylvania, elections officials are on attempt number

two to certify election results today after failing to reach monday's deadline. republicans voted no on monday citing paper shortages on election day. and as one of the, quote, handful of counties still working to submit full certification results comes as the county has been sued by a democratic state representative which will be moot if the board of elections does certify the results at 1:00 today. and in arizona, katie hobbs has sued a county for failing to certify election results by monday's deadline. she's asked a state court to order them to certify the results by tomorrow according to court documents obtained by npr. joining me right now, rick hassan. what do you make of the deadlock in the county and the paper shortage that republicans are pointing to? >> i'm less concerned about what's going on in pennsylvania than arizona right now.

in pennsylvania, it looks like the democrat who controls the outcome decided to abstain as they investigated why there were these paper shortages. but i think everyone expects that they're going to certify and that will be the end of it. i'm more concerned about what's going on in arizona because that stems from this election denialism. these are unfounded concerns about voting machines and it's just -- it just shows that even though the election deniers lost their election in arizona when they were running for secretary of state or governor, there's still plenty of people with power who can try to use those levers of power to express discontent about how the elections were run and to further conspiracy theories about whether elections are free and fair. >> do you see the county certifying their results by tomorrow and is this delay more of a political statement? >> i think the delay is a political statement. it's not going to affect the outcome of the election. i think it's important to actually have this happen now

when we're not in the midst of a presidential election which is even more important time. the courts have to step up. there are a couple of lawsuits, one filed by secretary of state hobbs and another one filed by some voting groups that are trying to force the county to certify the results. we saw something like this in 2020 in michigan when there was a concern about whether a state canvassing board was going to affirm the results. when these county boards or canvassing boards don't do their jobs, it's up to the state courts or federal courts to make sure that the rules are followed. we can't be complacent. there's good to know that there's a backstop and it's the judiciary, to make sure that our elections remain free and fair. >> what should we think about in terms of the next election here. if neither counties get their results in on time and it ends up being the judiciary, what should we know for the next election? >> you know, this is not the

first time that we've had to have state courts get involved. we saw in nevada they were going to do a hand count of all the ballots which was against the state law. the nevada supreme court had to issue two orders to hold them in line. we saw earlier, last year in new mexico the state supreme court had to step in and issue an order to tell the county to certify. i think what we're going to see are these continued isolated pockets of election deniers in these rule counties who are going to try to thwart the rules and see the judiciary step up. as i said, the best thing is for these counties to get the message from a these less high profile elections when there's nothing really on the line that they better do what their job is or they could potentially face sanctions or contempt for disobeying court orders. >> thanks for joining us. coming up, team usa is still in it. we look ahead to their chances against the netherlands in

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he assures his teammates he'll be ready saturday. meagan fitzgerald is live with more. >> how did team usa celebrate their big win? >> reporter: they are so excited and want to continue this momentum. they had a late night yesterday. they slept in today. they took the day off. they're relaxing, recuperating, spending time with their family. they're hitting the pool. but the bottom line is, they say they came here to doha, qatar regardless of what the odds are to win a world cup title. they're staying focused. they'll practice tomorrow ahead of the big game on saturday where they take on the netherlands. the fans are ready to party. take a listen to what they told me yesterday. >> how did it feel? >> it's amazing! we waited eight years for this, to be back in a world cup. >> how did it feel for you? >> great. >> it feels really exciting to

get a win for the u.s. >> what was it like inside of the stadium? >> it was very intense. we're so happy that we won. >> reporter: so much excitement here. and, look, team usa not favored to win against the netherlandss. they're ranked eighth. team usa is ranked 16th. what we've seen is it's -- you got to expect the unexpected. you don't know what's going to happen. we've seen upsets every day. team usa has every reason to believe that they can get this win. >> i was at a watch party yesterday and fans were so excited. even the ones who told me at the beginning of the game, the team is looking good. thanks. the european union is now joining ukraine's president zelenskyy in calling for a specialized court to hold russian soldiers and leadership accountable for war crimes in ukraine. that new push comes as zelenskyy warns of further attacks in the

south. earlier today, a missile strike in the zaporizhzhia region reportedly left dozens without gas. andrea mitchell asked secretary of state antony blinken about how russia now appears to be targeting civilians in ukraine. >> what putin is not able to do on the battlefield, he's actually not taking to civilians across the country by trying to deny them heat, deny them electricity, deny them water, to freeze them, to brutalize them in ways that we haven't seen in europe in decades. >> ellison barber is live from kyiv, ukraine, with more. what are you seeing here today? >> reporter: a lot of the focus today has been on the discussions taking place at that nato summit the last couple of days in romania. ukraine's foreign minister participated in some sideline sessions. he told reporters today that he has received assurances in terms of ukraine and i'm quoting here,

he said that ukraine has received a number of new commitments from various nato members in regards to defensive weapons and energy equipment. he didn't get into a lot of specifics after that in terms of exactly what specific air defense systems have been discussed or any technical details in terms of electrical equipment. listen to more of what he had to say. >> when you have neither electricity nor water supply, you literally become a part of the front line. and you need an immediate support. the people of ukraine will be most grateful if this support is delivered as fast as it is necessary and it continues as long as it is necessary. time really matters. >> a third of ukraine's electrical infrastructure has been damaged because of russian air strikes. that is according to nato. rolling blackouts, they're

becoming an everyday part of life here and the threat of another nationwide outage due to a massive attack hangs over people's heads. you had the beginning of the week you had president zelenskyy warning ukrainians to really pay attention to and respond to any air raid sirens they hear this week because he said they had intelligence information indicating that it was possible russia could try and carry out another large-scale missile strike sometime this week. that is a nagging fear for people here and you think about it any time you see the lights flicker. we were at a gas station earlier today and standing in line waiting, the lights flickered on and off. the electricity situation is a constant struggle for people here. the threat of perhaps a bigger massive missile strike that leads to another nationwide outage, that's a real, constant worry for people. and ukrainian officials just earlier this evening, they were talking about the what they think russia has the capability to do in terms of additional

large-scale strikes. one official said they believe that russia's weapons stockpile is big enough to allow them to carry out three to four, at least, additional large-scale missile strikes like the one we saw here last week. lindsey? >> thank you. and coming up, secretary of state tony blinken sits down with andrea mitchell. we want to get you to breaking news, house democrats have elected hakeem jeffries to be their leader. he becomes the first black man to lead a committee's caucus in either chamber. talk to us about the significance of this moment and the challenges ahead. >> reporter: well, look, when i spent time with hakeem jeffries last night, it was the eve of his ascension into this historic leadership role. but he said he didn't have much time to reflect on what it meant to be the first black person elected to this position in congress. instead, he was focused on the road ahead.

now, i'll tell you that usually these leadership elections can have a little bit of drama to them. certainly we're seeing that now on the republican side and we'll continue to see that play out through january 3rd when kevin mccarthy put himself up for speaker of the house. but in terms of democratic leadership, i thought that gregory meeks put it well in the room. he delivered a powerful speech that had the entire democratic caucus on their feet just ahead of jeffrey's official election and what meek said was the most important part of a relay race is how you pass the baton. that's something that for jeffries, agular and clark who are going to make up this new trio of leadership for house democrats, the baton-passing was without decided that these were the three people, the new generation of leadership, that was going to lead them into this next phase for democrats on the hill, in the minority position, something that

jeffries said should be. it's a moment where they are putting speaker pelosi in an ameritus position. hoyer will still be in the building. it will be a balancing act, having these two lawmakers and leaders still in the building where democrats can have access to them, where members of leadership can talk to them about strategy, but also a moment where they are fully turning the page here. jeffries has a different leadership style than nancy pelosi, who at times ruled her caucus with an iron fist. jeffries saying to me, as we had a small group of reporters around a table, saying that everyone in the democratic party has a role to play when they have the right position on the field. very much leading with a team first mentality, as he ascends to this historic role. >> ali vitali, appreciate it. sending mentally ill people to the hospital with or without their consent. that's at the crux of a new plan

to tackle new york city's mental health crisis. is it legal? will it get people the help they need? one ups the cleaning power of liquid. can it one up whatever they're doing? for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi.

new york city's mayor is rolling out a new plan to what he describes is a mental health crisis in the city. he announced a new directive instructing police and first responders to hospitalize individuals with clear signs of mental illness on public

transportation and in the streets, even in unvoluntary cases. >> the nature of their illnesses keeps them from realizing they need intervention and support. without that intervention, they remain lost and isolated from society, tormented by delusions and distorted thinking. >> joining me now is tom winter. this plan gives law enforcement, first responders a step by step process to identifying people. what do we know? >> you are right about that. just because this issue is so incredibly complicated, even that is complicated. if you are a new york city police officer, you heard this press announcement yesterday the same way we all did. you haven't been given a directive on your nypd-issued phone. there hasn't been training yet. this is not a knock on the process. this is just part of the process. they haven't been given instructions. what can they do lawfully to be

able to take people that they think are a danger to themselves besides what they can do? if they think somebody is about to hurt themselves or somebody else, there's a threat of that, they can already do this. this is taking this a step farther. it's a policy shift by the city. they acknowledge, look, we don't have a lot of case law to back this up. this is a thin area. it's probably going to be challenged. the new york civil liberties union saying the mayor is playing fast and loose with the law on this. what they want to do is find a way to address what is not an insignificant population of those that have severe mental illness that are in the city, whether above ground or underground in the subway, and to try to avoid a way to put them into the jail in the judicial system, to try to get them help for a period of time. they have proposed an

legislative agenda to get them help for a year at least so they can get the adequate treatment. right now, a lot of times, they are removed to a hospital 24 or 48 hours, they are back on the street. that's okay if you broke your foot. if you or i did that, we could get medication for it. we have medication, painkillers, we can have surgery, we can have a cast. if you are mentally ill, you don't have the capacity to take care of yourself. this is trying to find -- it will be criticized. it will be challenged. they are trying to find a way to address this issue. >> tom winter, thank you so much. that does it for me. i will be back tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. up next on "andrea mitchell reports," secretary of state tony blinken sits down with andrea after this short break. h andrea after this short break. n. 'tis the season to switch to verizon. they'll give you the new iphone 14 pro. (scrooge) amazing phone! (vo) this holiday season verizon gives you the new iphone 14 pro.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," fast track. the lame duck session of the 117th congress kicks