we're watching live pictures right now just before the top of the hour from the white house, where president biden and first lady jill biden are set to welcome the president of france, emmanuel macron, and his wife to the white house for an official state visit. it follows their private dinner last night at an italian

restaurant in georgetown. president biden tweeted a picture of the double date. it's going to be far more elaborate this evening and actually starting right now with the receiving ceremony. you can hear the music starting. the bidens are hosting their first state dinner of this administration, and it will be quite an affair to watch. we're watching people gathering right now, being greeted. welcome back to the fourth hour of "morning joe." 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and 6:00 a.m. out west. we have former white house press secretary and now msnbc host, jen psaki, peter baker from "the new york times," white house reporter for politico and "morning joe" senior contributor, eugene daniels, and democratic senator gary peters of michigan. we's chairman of the democratic senatorial campaign committee, chair of the homeland security committee, and a member of the armed services committee. we have a lot to talk to you about today.

we should keep the live pictures up, especially if it gets interesting, so feel free to pick them back up and watch these ceremonies at the white house as emmanuel macron and his wife are going to the white house for the day and of course all in preparation for the first state dinner of this administration at the white house tonight. senator, you met with the french president yesterday. tell us about it. >> i did. we had a luncheon with him and other members of the delegation, both democrat and republicans in the house and senate. the president was talking about the need to invest the biodiversity and deal with climb change, a discussion about how the united states and france could work together. >> very good. joe, as we're looking at these live pictures, i'm looking at the really symbolic gifts that each leader is going to be giving the other as part of this grand occasion, including a copy of a movie that president biden

and jill watched on their first date, which is kind of poignant. >> how nice. how nice. that'll warm the relationship up between the two countries. peter baker, a rough run in the last year, year and a half. we go back again to the united states interfering in a nuclear deal between france and australia, no heads up there, led to some really hard feelings. and that's a hole the biden administration has been trying to dig out of for some time, and perhaps this is the final step towards healing all wounds. >> buttered lobster goes a long way, obviously, toward making things better. it will be a fancy dinner tonight i think the french will appreciate. but the submarines deal from last year that soured things from the beginning of the zrags.

you have today some tension over the incentives that were in the inflation reduction act intended to make preference -- made in america, electric vehicles, something that has the french a little unhappy. and there are important differences of opinion about how to handle ukraine. i think that's one of the most important issues right now. the solidarity between the united states and europe has been one of the most important aspects of the move to counter russia's invasion. they want to keep on the same page. >> and jen psaki, i know you want to go to senator peters with a question, but let me ask you first about the importance of keeping the french first of all, keeping them happy but also keeping them shoulder to shoulder the united states. president macron has at times made maddening moves trying to negotiate one-on-one with

vladimir putin, at times has left not only the white house but the rest of the eu flummoxed at his intentions. so them singing off the same song page, music page obviously critically important when talking about a unified front in ukraine, isn't it. >> yeah, absolutely. and i would say the rift from 14 months ago, yes, the united states definitely made some mistakes. i was there at the time. but it was very embarrassing for the french on the global stage. i mean, they just looked like therm passed over for this major deal. so, a big part of this visit for the french is also looking like, look, we're buddies with the united states, look how close i am, president macron, with president biden. they had their double date last night. it looked like they were old friends having after-dinner drinks. >> the soundtrack. >> very romantic. >> to peter's point and yours as

well, joe, this is a pivotal moment in ukraine. on the ground right now, the issue, it's harder to fight now because it's muddy. it's going to get colder. the big issue they're having is this energy, pending energy crisis they'll have in ukraine but also in europe, where energy prices are skyrocketing. those are domestic challenges. president macron has to think about them. he has different objectives than the united states. so that's where the rift comes about. >> senator, do you want to chime in on that? this is going to be extremely brutal, if it's possible, more brutal than it's already been for the fighters in ukraine. >> absolutely. the people in ukraine are really suffering, many without power, walter, basic services. that's why we're sending more resources to fix that, bring power and water to more people. but the europeans as well are going to feel it more this winter as well. we have to keep the alliance strong. i think this meeting is to

important, the french as an ally together, that strength will be important to get through this crisis and make sure we stay with the ukrainian people and military. >> live pictures from the white house, dressed up for christmas. the official receiving ceremony of french president emmanuel macron and his wife, and u.s. president joe biden and jill biden will be greeting them. eugene daniels, if you want to add more to the color or the conversation at hand, but tonight is a big night symbolically for not only just u.s./france relations but u.s./europe, there is kind of a shift in power taking place subtly, possibly. >> absolutely. one of the things that's interesting talking to your sources as something like this is going on, it is taking all hands on deck, kind of usually don't have anything to do with decor or decorum. they're dealing with that quite a bit over the last couple of days, weeks, and even some months planning this kind of

deal. and when you talk to them about how much it means for the united states to have something like this, you know, the pomp and circumstance aspect of it, just fancy and great, but then like you guys are talking about, undergirding that, the intense geopolitical issues, france and what the united states is trying to get. also important this is a president, jen, you know more than anybody, that pulled together that entire european states to come together and fight against russia in ukraine and keeping them together and making sure this looks like a united front even though there are these different issues between the groups. >> yes. and getting the french president in line in their approach toward vladimir putin will be important moving forward. so, we're watching this ceremony, beautiful ceremony where the white house will welcome the french president and

his wife for the official state dinner tonight to the white house today. but senator peter, as democratic senatorial campaign committee chairman, i have to ask, i have to say, good job. >> thank you. thank you. >> but still some work to do in georgia. and in our last segment, we were talking about how herschel walker -- well, first of all, the warnock campaign is letting herschel walker speak for himself in their ads because they're finding that adds value and gives people a sense of what the heck is going on with this person, can i really vote for him. do you think it is planned that herschel walker is not appearing much on the campaign trail? is that going to help him possibly and make it tighter? >> i think it is planned because they know that every time he gets on the campaign trail it's not good for him. >> they surround him with two people. >> absolutely. >> who don't help the -- well -- >> it shows we have a deeply flawed candidate. >> what are the stakes in georgia and what's the possibility warnock can win it?

>> i feel good about where we are. we have 50. we need to get to 51, which we're working to do, but this is ultimately a campaign about the people of the state of georgia. who do they want representing them in washington, d.c. who's going to stand up and speak for georgians, and i think the contrast is clear, but it will be a close race. it's about getting our voters out. we've seen encouraging early voting. >> senator, we're all looking for tea leaves. everybody is focused on georgia right now. with the early vote numbers, what can you glean from that? what does that tell you about how warnock is doing versus walker? >> we're pleased with the early voting. it's record voting as you know. we did have to go to court. the s.e.c. went to court to make sure there was saturday voting, a great victory. those numbers are very encouraging. but we still have a long way to go. election day could be tough. we'll be working until the end. >> joe, jump in? >> yeah.

i wanted to ask peter baker about the other side. peter, we've been talking all morning, hell, i've been talking for six years about republican party that is playing a game of subtraction instead of a game of addition in politics, which is of course something you never want to do. but we're just so flummoxed by what's happening in the house, what kevin mccarthy is putting out there, talking about investigating how insurrectionists on january 6th, rioters, some would say terrorists on january 6th, are being treated. they're choosing to make that one of their causes. they're talking about investigating the investigators again. again, this is a republican party that got crushed by expectations. kevin mccarthy thought they were going to win 60 seats. they end up barely squeaking by in a majority and losing again in the senate. in a year that should have been a red wave. so, what are you hearing?

is there any recognition by republicans on the hill, especially on the house side, that they have got to stop talking to the smallest fraction of their base and start reaching out to the suburban voters, independent voters, swing voters that they just keep losing every two years? >> well, they're torn right now, joe, of course, between the imperative of doing what you just talked act, going back with suburban voters that they lost, did well with two years ago even losing the presidency, and the imperative of kevin mccarthy needed to keep in line the people on the far right part of his caucus in order to get the speakership. he can't afford to lose more than a handful of votes. and right now he's got biden declared, house republicans saying they're not going to vote for him, not enough for speakership. he is packing hard toward the right, the more pugilistic version of politics.

and governor of speaker, managing the house as speak we are a slim majority is going to be really tough. nancy pelosi had a tough time as a democrat doing it. kevin mccarthy with an even more ideolodge capitol hill charged caucus, trumpian caucus, will have bigger challenges. >> and republicans are going to work on this autopsy we saw before in 2012, they listened to it, when it came to 2016, but that's one thing my eyes are on. they say it will be next year. whether or not they pay attention is really interesting. senator peters, back to georgia, you know, one of the things i found really interesting is warnock has run for this seat four times in the last two years, which is absolutely insane. when you talk to folks -- i spent time in georgia -- we talked to people, and they said how much of a ground game they have, his team is able to pop back in. that is not the case with him. talk about the two different

approaches. kemp does have a sizable team to do the same thing that warnock wants to do. >> senator warnock is going through an awful lot the last two years which is good because he's never skipped a beat. he's worked hard for the people of georgia, delivered meaningful things to the people of georgia as a senator, and he has a very robust ground operation. we have invested significantly. it's how we got to 50. we have great candidates. there's a clear contrast between candidates. and we understood it was the ground campaign that makes the difference on these tight races. we were successful and in georgia as well. he won more volts there, and that just continued. in fact, right now if you look at the investments we're making on the ground and the number of people, it's about double where we were on election day in november. it is an incredibly robust effort. i believe that's going to get senator warnock across the line and he will be a senator. >> we'll put the georgia runoff to one side for a second and go full screen into the white house

here. as you can see, there is an event under way where the white house, president biden and dr. jill biden will be welcoming officially to the white house french president emmanuel macron and his wife, brigitte. there's going to be greetings we'll be witnessing here and introductions, the 21-gun salute. we will hear the french national anthem, the u.s. national anthem. ultimately we'll hear from both leaders. of course the french president will speak in french with english translation, but this is a highly symbolic and really important event. it's the first state dinner tonight for this administration, but it's about much more than parties and fancy food. this is about geopolitical relations, a shift in the dynamics of power in europe, and the u.s. relationship with france, which is increasingly important given the dynamics in

europe and also, joe, given the war in ukraine. >> well, yeah. >> the united states relationship with france, the rest of europe, nato, emmanuel macron first becoming president in france in 2017, was re-elected by a wide margin despite lower approval ratings. the first french president since 2002 to win re-election there, so he has maintained a coalition that's kept him in power. the first four years he looked across the table whenever he was talking to an american president, to donald trump, who was of course not only a skeptic of mr. macron but also of our alliance with france, with nato, with the eu in general, and obviously had tilted --

sympathies tilted towards russia, towards vladimir putin and towards other authoritarian leaders. he was hypercritical of many democratic leaders and would praise autocratic leaders. here joe biden gets a chance, despite rising tensions in europe, with his made in america plan, he gets a chance to underline what he's been saying all along, that america is back, it's back on the world stage, it's reengaged, it is the friend, strong ally of pro-democratic forces in france and across europe and the world. let's listen in. >> present -- >> present -- >> arms! >> present arms!

♪♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, the president of the united states and dr. biden. ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪

>> we're watching live the greeting ceremony at the white house of the french president, emmanuel macron, his wife, brigitte, with president joe biden and his wife, dr. jill biden.

they just did that on the red carpet, and now they are going to greet the many guests here at the white house for this greeting ceremony starting out with a big hello for vice president kamala harris and her husband. there's going to be a number of introductions at play during this event, and we will hear also the 21-gun salute, and ultimately after the french national anthem and the u.s. national anthem, we will hear from these two leaders themselves. they will each make remarks and most probably will talk about their relationship, the relationship between the two nations, between the two leaders, and how they connect so vitally at this point to world events that so many countries in europe and in the united states as well as the united states are

interconnected in terms of the war in ukraine and different economic issues that impact all the nations. and these two leaders creating a union, a friendship that speaks volumes to the rest of the world. and it seems to me, peter baker, that they're definitely making a show of this, and i'm not only talking about the state dinner tonight, the first state dinner of the biden administration, but even going out last night and releasing a picture, i feel like there's a bigger message there. what is it? >> there is a bigger message that we are on the same page, we are allies, we are friends after four years of trump berating the allies and threatening to leetch nato. the point here is, yes, we could have differences, and there are important difference ps. they'll discuss their differences but they are friends and amallies. that's the message they want to get across.

this is one of the great tools of any president, the idea you can welcome a foreign leader on the south lawn, have a state dinner, this is a powerful instrument of international relations. back home, this will be broadcast on french television, this will inure to the french president, he'll look substantial on the world stage. reagan loved state dinner, bush 41, clinton. obama didn't like them. >> he was not into them. >> i think president biden will like them. this day is very important for him as well because he ran obviously as somebody with decades of foreign policy experience who had long relationships with allies around the world. he sees emmanuel macron as an important partner but somebody he's taking under his wing on the world stage. he spoke with him nearly every

time president macron spoke with putin, president biden spoke with him afterwards. he's going to louisiana after this trip, so to him he's extending this trip to show -- also going to french quarter there. you have to make decisions sitting in the white house or any capitol to extend the time, the dinner last night, the trip to louisiana shows you how important this is to the two leaders. >> the two leaders are on the stage and they will be introduced. oh. here are the anthems. >> present -- >> present -- >> arms! >> present arms! ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪

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♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ >> senator peters, i know that they're going to be speaking soon. we'll break-away for that. but while they're walking, let's talk about another topic at the top of the list, john kirby, admiral kirby says china will be at the top of that list. talk about the importance of these allies getting it right on china. >> oh, talk a little bit about china and trying to get it right on china. >> it is absolutely critical. there's no question that china

is an economic competitor for sure and adversary in other way, and it's important for western democracies to stand strong together. our alliance with france obviously is critically important, it goes back to the revolutionary war of this country. it's important to continue -- >> talk about your mom. >> and my mother, exactly. this is a personal thing i was saying while watching. my mother has passed but she would be enthralled by this. she's a french war bride. my father met her as a soldier in france, met this beautiful french woman, brought her home to america, surprised my grandma. >> that is incredible. >> but it's very special to see this and obviously my relatives in france. >> absolutely. >> speaking of your mom, happy birthday today, senator. she had something to do with that obviously. >> yes. >> peter baker, talk quickly about the strain on joe biden's

made in america push. it strikes many white house officials as rich, that anybody from europe would be complaining about the united states investing in their own companies give than this is more of a pattern of what eu countries have done in the past. >> europeans of course always more protectionist than the americans. but it is a source of tension. i think this is something you'll hear them talk about. >> peter, thanks. we're going to listen in to president biden now, who's just beginning his remarks at the ceremony greeting the president of france at the white house this morning. let's listen in. ♪♪ >> in the words of don maclean, but the marching band refused to yield. they're looking over there, looking at them i think, mika,

trying to send the message it's time to let the big guys talk. but we will let the marching band continue before we -- >> exactly. >> straight out of a don maclean song. as the band exits stage left, we now go center stage and hopefully we'll be hearing from the president of the united states and then the president of france soon as the drums conclude. >> they have a very tight list of what comes when, but for these two leaders they don't have that in front of them so trying to figure out when their moment comes, and they're waiting for the music to stop. >> president bush invited hu jintao, the chinese president in

2006, i was on the south lawn and they referred to him as the president of the republic of china, which of course was taiwan. not go over well. and about ten feet away from me a woman started shouting. didn't go over well. >> not in the protocol. but this is part of the review of the troops from both countries that is happening. it's kind of a symbolic thing that they do at these events. >> it is. yep. >> and it appears to be winding down. >> well, it's quite a review, isn't it. >> yes. >> you said, peter, george w. bush didn't like state dinners, barack obama did not how about donald trump? >> well, the problem for him was he wasn't on good terms with the kind of people you would invite to a state dinner. he was on good terms with putin and kim jong-un. he was on good terms with emmanuel macron and angela merkel and theresa may. >> caused some problems.

>> yeah. there was a tension there that didn't lend itself -- >> this is a return to normalcy to an extent. >> of course biden has had covid, so that's inhibited these kinds of events. interesting to see if he does more of them. >> i suspect he will. this is exactly the kind of -- >> he loves pit. >> he values the tradition. >> and here is the president. >> ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, the president of the united states. >> good morning. the temperature may be a little chilly on this december night -- day, but our hearts are warm and to welcome such close friends to the white house. president macron and brigitte, members of the french delegation, distinguished guests, it's a genuine honor to host you for the first state visit of my administration. [ cheers and applause ]

the strength and vitality of the great friendship between france and the united states of america. [ translator ] >> as my friend and i were talking, france is our oldest ally, our unwavering partner in freedom's cause. from the spirit of lafayette who helped secure the success of our revolution to the sacrifice of american gis who stormed the beaches of normandy, our history

has been shaped by the courage of the women and men who crossed the atlantic, carrying in their hearts a flame of liberty. today that flame burns more brightly than ever, and the alliance between our two nations remains essential for our mutual defense. [ translator speaking in french ] >> as allies in nato, together with our european union and the

g-7 and partners around the world, france and the united states are facing down vladimir putin's grasping ambition for conquest and russia's brutal war against ukraine, which has once more shattered peace on the continent of europe. [ translator speaking french ] >> france and the united states are once again defending the democratic values and universal human rights which are the heart of both our nations. the wellspring of our strength is a shared commitment to liberty and justice for all.

[ translation in french ] >> we are proving to people around the world that democracies deliver from our joint leadership to make sure partners everywhere, everywhere and parents everywhere can feed their children, to cooperate and tackle the climate crisis, to preserve our planet for generations yet to come. and on this world's aids day, we reaffirm our shared commitment to end the aids epidemic by 2030. [ translation in french ]

>> president macron, you've heard me speak before about the inflection point we stand at in history and how the choices we make today and in the years ahead will determine the course of our world for decades to come. and the united states could not ask for a better partner in this work than france. for centuries, we've come together, charted a course toward a world of greater freedom, greater opportunity, greater dignity, and greater peace. [ translation in french ]

>> stalwart friends in times of triumph and of trial, france and the united states will make the future, just as we have, confident in our shared capacity, sustained by the strength of our shared values, and undaunted by any challenge that lies ahead. and the connections we are building today between our students, our businesses, our trail blazers will see our alliance continue to prosper and grow stronger for decades to come. so, mr. president, welcome

again, and welcome to the french delegation. i'mored to have you here and looking forward to a wonderful day together. god bless both our nations, and may god protect our troops. mr. president. [ translation in french ] [ cheers and applause ]

. >> ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, the president of the french republic. [ cheers and applause ] [ speaking non-english ] >> thank you so much, mr. president, dear joe, madam, dear jill, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests. [ speaking non-english ]

>> we are both honored and moved, mr. president, to be here with you today at the white house, honored and moved, like you said, mr. president, because our two nations are sisters in the fight for freedom. from the beginnings of american independence, the inception of your country, and the united states in the sacrifice from the trenches to the beaches of normandy. [ speaking non-english ] >> as we continue to listen to the french president speak, just a vim of what president biden said, he talked about the united

states and their alliance with france. the united states could not ask for a better partner across the ages than our friends in france. also said the connections we are building today will strengthen our alliance for decades to come. and then picking up on a theme that we were discussing before, the difference between the trump administration, its predecessor, and the biden administration, france and the united states are once again defending democratic values across the world and international human rights, also delivered the pointed statement democracies deliver, that we're proving together that democracies deliver. that is of course a message not only to vladimir putin and president xi in china but also of course illiberals and in the

trumpist wing of the republican party where leaders like that are praised. i thought that was very telling coming off the top of president biden's speech, peter baker, that there was a real contrast between joe biden trying to lay down a contrast between this relationship and how it was just a few short years ago. france and the united states are once again defending democratic values. >> yeah. it was interesting because they do have their differences we've talked about, trade and economics and even how to handle the ukraine situation, but they are on the same page on these values. i was with president trump when he visited paris and had a very scratchy meeting with macron who was talking about how damaging and dangerous nationalism was as a direct rebuke to president trump at the time. and it was a very, very stark contrast in values that was on display here. here you're seeing -- you'll see a contrast in some policy

issues, and those are important, but there's not a contrast i think in values, at least that's the message they're trying to send today. >> yes. and of course also some very strange back and forth, seemed a handshaking contest by biden. president macron -- really kind of bizarre. i guess donald trump wanted to see if he could get president macron to flinch first. bizarre, but such things are behind us, we pray. >> in the past. >> let's talk about things other than handshakes. the united states ambassador to nato, julie smith, madam ambassador thanks for being with us. what a difference a few years make. i don't mean to keep sort of focusing on the last president versus this one, but it's a heck of a difference between a president who was openly hostile to nato, openly hostile to ukraine, openly subservient to

russia, and now two allies three on issues of nato and ukraine, for the most part standing shoulder to shoulder against putin's aggression. >> yeah. you're absolutely right. it's a whole new day here at the nato alliance. you heard then president -- or then candidate joe biden on the campaign trail talking about his interest in revitalizing alliances, and that meant the nato alliance. and he's done just that. you'll also remember president macron saying nato is brain-dead many years ago, but now what's happening here at nato headquarters is really nothing short of remarkable. the allies are united in our support for ukraine, the ukrainian people, the ukrainian military, and we saw that just this week. we had foreign minister, secretary blinken was just in bucharest just yesterday where we had an important meeting where allies came together and talked about what more they could do for ukraine.

so, yes, what a difference a few years makes. things feel very different here at nato headquarters. >> i bet they do, madam ambassador. and president biden started out pretty sharply saying that the alliance between the two nations standing before you are essential to our mutual defense. and i wonder the message that you think he's sending symbolically and in his words to the rest of the nato countries and the world. >> yeah. absolutely. what we're seeing here inside the nato alliance is a strong foundation, the relationship between france and the united states is exceptionally strong and helps drive what happens here at nato each and every day. france has been critical in everything we've done vis-a-vis ukraine. we've been focused together on how we can apply pressure on moscow. we've been focused together on getting that critical air

defense to the ukrainian military forces. we're now focused together on how to fix the electrical grid inside ukraine as the russians continue to move forward with these barbaric attacks to leave the ukrainian people in the dark and in the cold. but also i would just mention the french have been very helpful, incredibly effective in reinforcing the eastern flank. you'll remember when the war started nato countries decided to move thousands of troops onto nato's eastern edge, and france was a key part of that. france actually moved 900 troops into romania and signed up to lead one of these new battle groups there. so, france and the united states, we work together each and every day here in brussels, we work with them on everything from cybersecurity to space policy, to deterrence and defense and even climate security. so, we count on that

relationship being strong. that doesn't mean that occasionally we don't have disagreements. we do sometimes see things differently. but i think that's the mark of a strong partnership, the ability to occasionally disagree and then just to work through those differences each and every day. >> the united states ambassador to nato, julie smith, thank you very much. as the war in ukraine enters another month, secretary of state antony blinken is warning that vladimir putin has, quote, no interest in reaching a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. joining us now is a man who has dealt extensively with the russian president over the years, former member of the u.s. national security council, andrew weiss. he is currently the vice president for studies at the carnegie endowment for international peace. he's the author of a new novel entitled "accidental czar." great timing as the event at the white house between two leaders

forming a close bond amid malk tension in the world to talk to you about the problem challenging the safety of the world. that would be vladimir putin. tell me what you think his thoughts are as he watches this relationship strengthen and biden and macron send a message of unity. >> think about the problems vladimir putin is creating for himself. when he started this war, how many u.s. tanks were there in europe. there were zero. he's reanimated the nato alliance and turned it into a threat. so the person who port trump administration himself as this grands chess master acted impulsively for emotional and other reasons that really dealt with his opportunityism and his impulsivity. now has given russia a far less good strategic position and made

russia arguably put it in a long-term grudge match with the united states, which is going to be outmatched in every potential way. >> you have been studying russia and putin since long before people in this country had heard of him. what should people understand about how people in russia are taking in the actions of putin in ukraine? >> we have to remember the russian people don't get a vote. so vladimir putin is not running for reelection. he's a czar he will be there until the tables permit. the question for the russian eem is do they want the to stick their necks out. they have seen time ask time again that political activity is risky. we have put a lot of myths out there that if only the people were to jump up in protest or if the elite were to march into putin's office, they would bring this to an end. they have been sub misive timid and i don't think we should bank on any change.

>> help draw this great book out. it's a remarkable portrait of this accidental czar. where do you think is the the evolution of him? a lot of people debating whether he has gone further off the deep end. is he still a rational actor. this is not a rational act. because he has made russia weaker. he's made russia in a worst position. but what do you think about putin himself? what's happening with him? >> putin probably had the worst work from home experience of any major international lead during covid. he spent those years marinating in fake history about russia's grievances towards the west, the people being one, and now made this grand bed. we need to remember vladimir putin is an opportunist. he's had a series of wins going back to say 2013 that made him feel like the guy in the casino that going all in on black or red was a good thing. and he locked at what happened

in afghanistan in summer of 2021, he saw angela merkel's departure and thought this was an opportune hoemt and made this blunder. >> the new graphic novel is entitled "accidental czar." andrew, thank you. we're tight for time, but we appreciate it. and thank you so much for coming this on this day. it's perfect timing with the opposite visual of the french president and joe biden strengthening their alliance and we don't know what's happening with putin, put we get an idea from you. joe, jump in. >> andrew, a couple things. i'm looking at breaking news. reuters, consumer spend strong in october. weekly jobless claims fall. we see gdp numbers readjusted. almost 3%, which it's pretty good for any time, but compare that to our european allies and

it's looking down right mediocre. talk about the news from the the fed yesterday. >> the u.s. economy is actually held up remarkably well, but interestingly, if you really were thinking a about what jay powell said yesterday, and it's why the market move higher, on the become of the view that jay powell was a pouzing something new, that things were getting tougher. i had an interview yesterday with the ceo of amazon and he said people are trading down. they are seeing that. people who might have bought a large screen tv might be buying a smaller tv today. so i think we're starting to see that. in addition to that you're seeing some of the layoffs. you're seeing strong pieces of news, yesterday he was saying things are coming down.

in some ways, that's considered good news on a relative basis so he doesn't have to keep increasing interest rates. >> yeah, maybe we the get that safer landing that everybody has been hoping for. you interviewed somebody that people in the know in the finance world call sbf, the rest of us call him the weird dpie with curly hair that wrecked his company and suckered a lot of people into giving him a lot of money. talk about it. >> this is his first live interview since the collapse of ftx. the first time he's been speaking publicly this a live forthe mat like this. it's an interview that went on for over an hour. and was really, i have to say, remarkable just to hear his perspective on all of this. a lot of people this morning i think debating online and elsewhere whether he was telling the truth or not.

clearly, he had ftx ask then he had his own hedge fund. it appears that there was a mixing of funds. effectively, he was taking some of those depsits and making big bets. those big bets went wrong. irrespective whether they wept wrong or not is besides the point, if in fact, he was using depositor's money he was not allowed to use. we quizzed him about that. he said that it was not intentional and that he didn't know enough about it and wasn't on top of things. this was a company, oddly enough, with no cfo and no board of directors. so the questions continue and will persist. there's now questions about criminal liability. he's in the bahamass. his parents both law professors at stanford. >> wow. speaking of stanford, not so long ago you had these tech

motion moguls that these people are pointing us through the future and making our world better. so many of them are, but you now look at this guy. you look at elizabeth holmes going to jail for a long time, who my gosh, the puffs pieces she got, all of the puff pieces elon musk had. we had a lot of people on this show saying he's elon musk and he can do whatever he wants to do. and i'm in love. it really was absolutely crazy. talk about how the last let's say six months to a year have really made not just general population, but maybe some people on wall street a little skeptical of these young up and comers who might be able to conquer the world. >> unfortunately, we have decide

ed that a bank account is what we put on pedestals this this country. i i would argue all too often, and we decided that is what makes somebody smart or not. and i think it raises some real questions. we have now seen these very complicated situations. we will see legally are where sam lands in all this. but i think it raises questions about how we think about the world and how we think about these people. >> just a sense of perspective. elon musk, just bumbling around and making so many mistakes at twitter. when henry ford was hauled before congress to testify, people were shocked this guy that created the modern age was so ignorant outside of his one area of expertise. >> i'll tell you something. one thing that surprised me yesterday, i know we have to duo, but i spoke to reid hastings, who runs netflix. and he's considered relate tvly

liberal progressive. he was demonstrably defensive of elon musk saying he was a brave soul trying to do work for freedom of speech. so i only say that because i think we often talk about one perspective, which a lots of us are worried about freedom of speech and hate speech and the like, but you talk to some of these people in the technology world and they have a different view. we'll see who has the right one. >> andrew, thank you very much. we learned a lot today. and happy birthday. >> i get to celebrate with you. that's so nice. >> i share it with senator peters. >> and watch georgia. that does it for us us this morning. jose diaz-balart picks up the coverage right now. good morning, i'm jose diaz-balart.