republicans want to focus on oversight. this is their agenda they don't have the numbers to pass legislation they don't have control of the senate investigations is the way the republican congress is going to move forward at issue is where they go down political investigations or go down less political investigations and the white house is signaling if it is afghanistan, they are readily interested in cooperating as opposed to something like investigating the president's son. >> we see the time has been ticking down for the investigation committee as of the last two years and now moving forward it is certain to look different. hugo lowell, thank you. that ink you for getting up "way too early" with us.

"morning joe" starts now. >> historic winter storm in western new york statement storm system is blamed for dozens of deaths across the country. it made holiday travel almost impossible on the roads or through the skies with thousands of passengers stuck at airports searching for new flights. meanwhile, the republican governor uses the christmas holiday to play hole papolitics migrants with no warning for groups. and we will take a look at the latest testimony released by the january 6 committee. including a conversation the former president had with one of his closest advisers in the days after the attack on the capitol. also ahead, we dig into the latest action by the democratic controlled house and how the white house is preparing for a divided congress good morning welcome to "morning joe. it's monday, december 26th

i'm jonathan lemire. also with us at the table is affairs analyst and executive editor of recount and host of the podcast. >> like gene wilder in "blazing saddles. >> we want to get with that storm which impacted the people across the country over the christmas holiday. at least 46 people have died nationally due to the storm that impacted millions this weekend hundreds of thousands are still without power and thousands of flights have been delayed. during one of the busiest travel ti times of the year. 12 people have died in erie county, new york it was hit with four feet of snow this weekend. at times, the storms hurricane-force winds caused whiteout conditions that

paralyzed emergency response efforts and also caused the city's airport to completely shutdown nearly three days after the blizzard began, people remain stuck in cars on highways and side streets overnight on saturday, more than 50 rescues were made by a specialized team many rescues, including saving other stranded emergency workers. new york governor kathy hochul confirmed sunday evening she is working with the biden administration to get federal assistance and commented on the history making nature of the storm. take a listen. >> you talk about the scale of the storm. those people of my age talk often of the blizzard of 1977. that was the reference today, i'm here to say that is in the history books we have surpassed the scale of that storm in its intensity and

longevity and veracity of the winds. we will talk about the blizzard of 2022. meanwhile, four people are dead after many more injured after the 46-car pileup on the ohio turnpike on friday. it was a result of the whiteout conditions with 15 commercial trucks piled up on the interstate photos show sccrumbled 18 wheels and traffic backed up for miles. we have jesse kirsh with us now. jesse, tell us the latest on the storm and how many people are impacted >> reporter: jonathan, you look at the images from ohio. that is what we see in recent days across states this is why officials in

buffalo, new york still want people to stay off the roads this is someone trying to dig out. this is what it looks like on the streets. having been in buffalo in november for a different storm, you don't want to be on the roads. this is a widespread scale different event. nearly 4 feet of snow. the governor talking about winds hitting 80 miles an hour the death toll keeps climbing. we are looking at almost 50 people dead. those deaths all kbblamed on th weather over the past weekend. this is supposed to have been a joyful holiday weekend this is not the white christmas that people want the number of power outages has been dropping. you talk about delays and cancellations, too as the weather improves -- it is

possible the days before the crews and planes are fully back on track back to you. >> the power outages is so important as temperatures remain bitterly cold. nbc's jesse kirsch, thank you. and that continued to halt operations over the weekend. airlines canceled 1,800 flights. that is an improvement to christmas eve with 3,500 flights canceled southwest canceled 15% of the schedule yesterday let's look at the weather and meteorologist angie lassman. anged spangie, will it get bett? >> the system has moved in canada and that continues to be the lake-effect snow band.

they could see another 12 inches of snow by the end of the sday. they will see improvement, but we will have to monitor that there were blowing winds that left 16-foot snow drifts difficult situations there and they saw blizzard conditions for more than 35 consecutive hours just to put that in perspective for you. the good news for them and many places, we will see improvement as far as temperatures we are monitoring this next system that has come down from canada it will bring snow to parts of the tennessee valley and midwest. not expected to disrupt travel we will see the disruption continue from the last storm, but this next one is not expected to do a lot we have a secondary low pressure system that will move down and bring snow to michigan as well we also still have the freeze watches and warnings along the gulf coast and sunshine state. temperatures at this hour in the 20s and teens in montgomery and

orlando right now at 39 degrees. the improvement comes as we go into the next couple days. still on the eastern side of the country and below normal 34 for cincinnati. check out amarillo at 64 by the time we get to the later part of the workweek and tomorrow, we see improvement that warmer air is filtering in and we talk above normal for pittsburgh and chicago and little rock will see temperatures in the 60s. >> angie, thank you those below freezing temperatures were what migrants from texas faced on christmas eve at the home of kamala harris in washington, d.c this trip was arranged by governor abbott. three buses dropped off 140 people outside the naval observatory on christmas eve activists called this particularly cruel because there were young children and babies

among those dropped off. many migrants lacked shoes and other clothing the solidarity mutual aid network picked up the migrants where they received clothes and shoes at shelters. many others were looking for transportation for the final destination. the white house accused governor abbott of abandoning children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on christmas eve without coordinating without any federal or local authorities elise, we say two things can be true the situation at the border needs to be addressed. this here, leaving families and children, outside in frigid temperatures are christmas eve is hard to describe that as anything other than cruel. >> how does that accomplish any political the purpose? given what these men and women were used as political pawns on christmas eve. it was a disgusting act which

had no place, at anytime, but especially on christmas eve. it is hard to believe that abbott saw this as politically ex- expediant. >> it you would like to dump abbott on the side of the road on christmas eve there is never a moment when the stunt and they have been doing it for months and there has been a moment when it has been anything other than that it is the theater of the cruelty and absurdity. the republican governors see political mileage out of it. i don't think there is any imperial evidence that it paid off for anyone who has done this people like ron desantis and his team will say it hurt me and my re-election efforts.

because they have not paid a price for it, i think the logic is, well, if it was politically astute, in their minds, to do this over the summer, in martha's vineyard, it is more astute because it lights the case and makes the case more dramatic for normal humans, we say these are children and you are using them in this disgusting way. it is the case with republicans who do these things or any politician if they don't pay a price for it, they will do it again. they have not paid a price for it. >> what is the audience? is this cheered on fox news or other cable networks we know title 42 which is days away from the scenes at the border get worse that is a separate issue than this christmas eve and freezing temperatures >> i don't see the hard core

trump supporters watching state media enjoying this. it's christmas eve who wants to see babies and children and people with no chews dropped in freezing temperatures i do not know why abbott thinks this is actually something that is going to bolster his political fortunes >> give me a half hour on the internet >> that is where we are, i guess. >> i agree it is disgusting it is the thing in the end that people who want to play the games -- >> trying to one-up the other. desantis at martha's vineyard and desantis finding migrants out of state and using his own money. >> no matter what lives are impacted it is owning the lips. former president trump spent

much of christmas holiday on his social media network the committee concluded he was responsible for the insurance ele -- insurrection and the committee released more tran transcripts. hope hicks spoke with former president trump days after the insurrection he complained it was unfair. my answer was yes. i thought it was she added i think he felt like it wasn't fair the response to it wasn't fair we also got to see the transcript of the committee's interview with the former white

house press secretary. she revealed that former president trump tried to call her after the subpoenas part of the investigation. she said she did not answer the call and hasn't spoken to trump since being subpoenaed joining us now is political reporter for the guardian hugo lowell and new york times reporter luke broadwater luke, the piece for the magazine and taking us inside the january 6th committee. luke, let's start with you in terms of what we saw, we will get your reaction with your piece in a moment. what we heard from the testimony with hope hicks and mcenaney what do you think about the reaction >> i think you are correct to highlight the hope hicks transcript she was a later witness brought in by the january 6 committee.

we haven't heard a lot of her testimony yet. i think one of the things she pointed out in addition to what you highlighted is she and eric hirschman, had had concerns of the potential for violence before january 6 and hirschman and hicks said you need to put out a statement telling supporters to be nonviolent and he refused to do that. that gets to the central question that everybody is wondering about which is how this rally turned violent and who is to blame for it and if the right precautions were taken. what they are showing clearly that trump was aware this could turn violent and choose not to o anything about it. there were other revelations in the report and documenting how

many times that trump officials reached out to state and local officials to pressure them to j overturn the election results. we will see hundreds more transcripts released this week it will be a busy holiday season for reporters tracking the story. >> hugo, i was struck by hope hicks testimony that she has no contact with trump anymore given she was such a close adviser for so long and left the white house and came back again. much like ivanka saying she wanted no part of another presidential campaign, this is another long-time adviser who has seemingly fallen off the radar with trump what is your reporting is the inner circle deciding we are out of control and we are going to step back >> reporter: i think the people who are in the administration on january 6 and around the

decision making have largely stepped away as ever with trump, it is a revolving cast of characters in the place of other aides at the white house that day, you have survivors from the 2016 camp and 2017 administration step in. you see a shifting dynamic in trump's world. the current inner circle is limited to a small number of people involved in the personal challenges if you think about boris epstein and steven cheung and who was in imposed exile when bannon left the white house. you are seeing the generational and sea change of who is talking to trump and advising him. that speaks to his mindset as he goes into another campaign >> luke, when you and i last

spoke on television, it was thursday while we awaited the release of the report. it is now monday, if i have my calendar straight. there have been a few days that normal people would spend opening presents and unplugging from the work grid i know you have been plowing through all of the documents i want to ask from the slightly higher perspective like stepping up into the clouds here. now you have your arms around the final report which has been put out and you are making your way through it you know there are more transcripts to come out this week in terms of documents that you are waiting for with eagerness because you believe they may be important or things you are still going through documents with advances in the story that is material, what is left to be exhausted that may yield

something to move the needle in the investigation as opposed to adding illuminating color? >> i think that is a central question i think we have more than 200 interview transcripts yet to be released that i know about there could be evidence in from. you have to figure if there was a big finding, that was in the report or hearing. from the transcripts, we find details or color or new stuff that adds a little more to the mountain of evidence we have seen already you have to believe if there is going to be any really material revelations that change the course of the events, that's going to have to be done by the justice department or the prosecutors in georgia of they are going and reinterviewing a lot of the same people and sometimes new people. they have greater investigative

tools and abilities than congressional committee would have i think if there is going to be additional real big breakthroughs, that will be done by prosecutors and what we likely see from the transcripts, more damning information, but unlikely to change what we already know from the january 6 committee has discovered and put out. >> luke, we mentioned the sweeping piece you authored for the times. you talk about the power that congress member liz cheney wielded as vice chair. i will quote back to you as the stress and friction among committee members grew, one constant source of conflict became increasingly acute. how liz cheney turned the ceremonial role of vice chair into a position of unmatched power. much the same way her father transformed the vice president 20 years earlier trump had the hand in the

writing of the scripts some worry that the vice chairwoman would be used to advance her own political future rev reviled by the republican base, cheney's roots remain deep unlike her father, when he was vice president in 2000, liz chairman chairman publicly vowed that her designs on higher office were behind her you continue what was impossible to ignore in the end was the cheney contribution to the committee that was expected to flounder and so many other hearings before it. the vice chairwoman was the most public facing member her position of leadership complicated the assertions by members of her own party that the january 6 inquiry was nothing more than a democratic

witch hunt luke, take us behind the scenes with the tension between cheney and the committee members. >> i think there were more tensions with the members of the staff than internally among the members. liz cheney took what is normally a ceremonial role of the committee, vice chair, which doesn't have any real role or responsibilities and slowly became the most powerful and important member of the january 6 committee. she didn't do this through some sort of sneaky overtaking of the committee. it was that as she basically out worked every single person, including staff, sitting in on the vast majority of the interviews and reading almost every transcript and becoming super aware of every detail of the multi-part plan to overturn the election, other people started to cede ground to her

because they saw how driven she was. when she would speak at a meeting, she would speak with a high level of authority and backed with the evidence she blamecame the singular forco the committee. she was a difference to chairman thompson when an idea took shape. there was a deferring to liz cheney and the committee one thing the democrats stated they could not have gotten key witnesses in the door without liz cheney and top staff with deep ties to the republican party and well respected in conservative circles some would have never spoken with the committee if liz cheney hadn't asked them to do so if you recall, every witness was

republican it made them feel a republican and republican staff was bringing them in the door. >> terrific piece. worth reading. luke broadwater, thank you elise, hugo agreed to come on the show he had one condition he needed to appear at buckingham palace. we made that happen. hugo, we greatly appreciate it good job by your agent who insisted that happen in arizona, a judge has rejected republican kari lake's latest bid to overturn the loss to katie hobbs the two claims of misconduct by the maricopa county officials. the ruling by the judge came down after a two-day trial the judge said lake and her witnesses failed to provide evidence of misconduct to change

the outcome. the court quote cannot accept salt l speculation. lake lost the arizona gubernatorial race by 17,000 votes. hobbs is set to be sworn in next month. john, the losing streak continues for election deniers another legal setback. give us your prediction. what is next for kari lake >> good question if you have seen kari lake kari lake on the campaign this fall, and you ran across her and put aside her election denialism, you would have thought here is a person with good candidate skills first time run for office. good energy with the base. she is on camera she can tell a story in a normal candidate context. she lost a narrow race for

governor first time out. this woman has a bright future she'll be back that is what you would say before we had trump and election denials. this person, who is not trump, with no national following, and now she is playing the sore loser card going back again and again and do what trump did in 2020. she will lose. these will not be validated. does she in the state of arizona turn into something that solidifies her with the republican base and gives her more credibility going forward because that is how loopy the republican base is there or do we go back to a more normal construct of politics where republicans go, you know what? i liked her until she acted like a sore loser let's find somebody more

traditional for a candidate. that is what the party faces around the country she thinks she has a big future in arizona politics and national politics whether this sore loser or denialist view helps or hurts her? that is not just for kari lake, but all. >> she was a good candidate until she misread what they wanted it wasn't the crazy election denier she did not pivot. >> she did that thing that has been remarked on and joe and the show talked about it it was something to mccain voters as we don't need you. failing on the fundamental test of ever political campaign, including trump's. you need more people more voters is good. you don't turn away people who

may be thinking of voting for you and turn to normal republicans saying we don't want you. that was lunacy. it suggests real problems of her ability to do math. >> and no attempt to moderate or move to the middle in the general election staying on the extreme right it may be helpful in the trump republican primary still ahead on "morning joe," we break down the achievements of the biden administration. there is a bill headed to the desk of the president without a vote from one democratic lawmaker. we will tell you what that lawmaker has to say. and the war in ukraine and vladimir putin makes a sus suspicious claim of negotiations to end the conflict. you are watching "morning joe.

we'll be right back.

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playing this defense tight in the red zone. >> trying to do it again the blitz by the giants. coming to the end zone what a catch >> hughes lanes for the running backs. >> third and two cook cook to the 10 to the 5 to the end zone. >> good point. third and four going deep he's got him touchdown, kittle! >> having fun. on third down and goal mahomes stepping up. looking. mahomes chased diving for the pylon patrick mahomes. is it a touchdown? no signal -- yes, touchdown, kansas city skam >> michael can continue with

t.y. hilton. >> going deep. has lam. the spin and he's in touchdown, dallas. >> from the raiders 14 pickens. over the middle. touchdown! george pickens with 46 seconds to go. >> they give it to dylaillon ag. he spins in for the touchdown. >> some of the biggest touchdowns by winning teams over the weekend and including a big win for aaron rodgers who keeps the playoff hopes alive. tom brady and the buccaneers are on the brink of another playoff berth. it wasn't pretty, but brady led the comeback victory against the

cardinals. i argue tom brady looks good he drove down the field to tie it in regulation with the field goal tai tampa bay faces a huge showdown with the panthers next week. if the bucs win, they lock up a division title and playoff spot. let's turn to baseball with the deal to bring correra to the mets is on hold this morning this comes as the two sides try to work out the issue with the physical performed on friday the mets have an issue with the ankle injury that he suffered in 2014 that required surgery it is said to be the same injury that the giants had an issue with causing that team to put its deal on hold last week which then allowed the mets to swoop in and sign correa in the middle of the night john, i just received the

unlikely news that you actually passed your physical to be here this morning >> very, very low bar for my physical am i ambulatory? if i can walk 15 or 20 steps from the house or car is all i need to do >> we are glad you are here. especially on the holiday week happy holidays. >> merry christmas what did you do to celebrate >> santa was generous. stayed home. both boys were well taken care of it was brutally cold as we talked about at the top of the show it was a cozy and warm christmas. how about you? >> taeshat's what we did. who wanted to leave the house in the weather? the windchill. we had a generous santa. my toddler wanted a rocket ship. she got one, but i think she wanted one that took her up.

>> p what did she get >> eh. santa brought her a toy rocket ship >> a fake rocket ship? >> santa did >> it was servicious here this weekend. cold i'm hesitant of traveling over the holidays if i go some place, back time it a week and don't get near the holiday crowds you saw it coming. it was well advertised just looking at the number of people stuck this weekend. i was very happy to be here in new york city. >> the coal you received in your stocking was useful to warm the house. >> exactly right all right. coming up on "morning joe," we move to the war in europe and russian forces continue the assault on the part of ukraine they once controlled this comes as president vladimir putin tries to blame western allies for the deadly months

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welcome back russian troops over the weekend shelled the city of kherson. the attack killed aftet least 10 people and injured dozens others ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy posted photos of the assault on telegram and wrote in part this, this is not a war according to the rules defined it is terror it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure. the world must see and understand what absolute evil we are fighting against meanwhile, russian president vladimir putin claims he is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the interview yesterday, putin said the negotiations have

stopped because kyiv and the western backers have stopped putin needs to return to reality. the kremlin says it will fight until all aims are achieved and kyiv says it will not rest until every russian soldier is ejected from all of its territory. joining us now is former cia officer is mark papalopalos. mark, thank you for being here this morning let's fact check putin russians have had no interest in negotiations at any point during the war. putin is suggesting it has to come on his terms. meaning ukraine has to recognize the territory that russia has seized that is a non starter. do you see we get to the negotiating table soon >> good morning. happy holidays it is great to be here today

the traffic from northern virginia was 20 minutes. a perfect day to come in when it comes to what putin said, we should be skeptical he said these things before. i put it in the context of near-term collection and opportunities for the u.s. intelligence community these are requirements that the president and national security council will put on the cia and nsa and other entities because we need to see if putin is being serious or not what does it mean? it is things like what are the spies on the ground telling us is putin serious what about communication intercepts of russian leadership c c comms? whether this is the same putin nonsense or if he is ready to negotiate. i think this is based on h hard intelligence. i think the intelligence community is focused on this

especially with the historic volodymyr zelenskyy visit to washington and the tenth month on the war ukraine is doing far better with than anyone expected >> and the volodymyr zelenskyy visit. the back drop of meeting republicans to keep funding kyiv and western allies as the winter gets hard and the economies are brittle. mark, reports of a russian troop build up and fears among ukrainians that they may be preparing to mount another assault perhaps to kyiv. can russia pull something like that off >> i don't think so. the russian military has shown itself to be, inn essence, seen ten feet tall and performed poolly i think this is where the

intelligence community is going to be for unitecused on what our spies on the ground and intercepts tell us one thing is will there be future russian offensive moves on ukraine, but number two, what about provision of additional military equipment from iran and the suicide drones reports over the last week that iranians are ready to provide more to russia and in addition to some advanced missiles. i think that is important for assessing the numbers that come and the shipment routes. maybe there are ways to in intradict them inside crimea to assist the ukrainians in targeting. when it comes back to the intelligence, they will be focused on it.

russia is still militarily weak. >> mark, the volodymyr zelenskyy visit is the coup for the ukrainians and how he brought on the world public sentiment what is the strategy with putin now and going forward with the aftermath of the visit >> it is interesting if you are putin and surrounded by hardliners, you can read this in a different fashion we saw it as historic and inspirational. it was designed to shore up republican support for what will be a fractious house on the issue. putin may be thinking about it as almost a move that zelenskyy had to make because there are cracks in the united states.

it all depends on how putin reads this i think a lot of us were buoyed by this. putin has to play for time to prolong the war as long as possible when will western and u.s. resolve waiver the biden administration has done a fantastic job of keeping nato motivated some say the war -- when will negotiations be something that have to be taken seriously i think putin is looking at this perhaps in a different light and the zelenskyy visit showed fissures in the united states. i go back to the intelligence. what does putin think? what will drive him to the negotiating table or not all signs are russia is in this

for the long haul and putin calling it an endless war. that means more carnage in the days and months to come. >> the biden administration have been surprised at europe's revolve. that will only get harder in the next few months. the president trying to keep money coming from home and keeping their counterparts abroad with kyiv that will be a tall order in the months ahead despite how well things are going for ukraine at the moment mark, we hope traffic remains light on your way home thanks for joining us this morning. still ahead, a look at the stories mies making headlines a the country. and a look behind the january 6 committee. "morning joe" will be right back ooh, the chewy app. clumping litter. salmon paté?

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a massive winter storm turns deadly in several parts of the country dropping multiple feet of snow and leaving people without power. also ahead this hour, from power struggles to made for tv moments. we'll have a behind-the-scenes look at the january 6th

committee. plus, what medical experts are expecting as the country deals with three major viruses amid holiday gatherings. welcome back to morning joe on this monday, december 26th. we're starting our second hour i'm jonathan lemire alongside elise jordan and we will begin this hour with the more than 40 people who have died following a nationwide winter storm that dropped up to four feet of snow in some areas over the weekend the weather also canceling thousands of flights, including on christmas day jessie kirsch has more. >> reporter: buried beneath four feet of snow with abandoned cars littering streets and the death toll climbing, buffalo under a gusty state of emergency getting the kind of white christmas you would not hope to see. >> this is a war with mother nature and she has been hitting us with everything she has. >> reporter: new york's governor

doubling the national guard deployment to 400, calling this the most devastating storm to hit a region that's familiar with brutal blizzards. >> we have rescued hundreds and hundreds of people out of their cars >> reporter: the storm system that tracked east last week blamed for more than three dozen deaths >> some were found in cars and some were found actually on the street in snow banks. >> the east coast is still 10 to 25 degrees below average and the cold isn't letting up. millions facing another frigid day as the northwest braces for more heavy rain, ice and mountain snow. unrelenting winter blast wreaking havoc on holiday travel for days even as the weather improves, flight aware reporting thousands of flights either delayed or canceled nationwide. >> i think about missing holding our grandson and it really does get me.

>> reporter: we met one woman trying to get to philadelphia from los angeles after missing a connecting flight. >> i have nowhere to go, i'm stuck here i've asked every single airline. we don't have enough money >> reporter: she thought she would miss a holiday, but thankfully found a last-minute flight. >> what does this mean >> pretty much everything to just be with people that i care about. >> we're so glad that she made it nbc's jesse kirsch with that report. just ahead, we're going to go live to chicago o'hare's international airport for a look at how air travel is fairing this morning meanwhile, former president trump spent much of his christmas weekend on his social media site railing against the final report from the house select committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol hill which included that trump was chiefly responsible for the insurrection it's been nearly two years since that deadly attack on the nation's capitol

for 18 months, the house select committee has conducted over one thousand interviews and poured over more than a million documents. msnbc's katy tur is taking a look back at what the committee has uncovered. >> reporter: what happened on january 6th 2021 played live and unedited across all networks at the same time. meaning all of us saw the same thing, trump mobs beating up police officers, vandalizing the u.s. capitol, ransacking the floors of the senate, free of political spin or reimagination. but that was then. and by 2022, the events of that day had gotten fuzzier, muddied up by partnership. the committee made it their task to sharpen the country's memory and to prove who was to blame. >> you'll never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength and you have to be strong.

>> reporter: in nine televised hearings, the january 6th committee set out to make their case. >> president trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack. >> reporter: using recorded depositions from the people who were there donald trump's own team. >> there's suggestions by -- i believe it was mayor giuliani to declare victory. >> it was far too early to be making any calls like that >> what they were proposing i thought was nuts. >> reporter: his own aides and advisers -- >> he said dead people are voting, indians are getting paid to vote. much of the information he's getting is false >> reporter: his own cabinet members and his own family >> i made it clear i did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which i told the president it was

[ bleep ]. >> i respect attorney general barr so i accepted what he was saying. >> reporter: all describing what happened in their own words and making it clear that right from the beginning, donald trump was told the truth >> i thought if he believes this stuff, he has lost contact with -- he's become detached from reality. >> reporter: but donald trump was so adamant ant sbout stayin power, the committee shown that he would overturn the election. >> the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged, remember that. >> he tried to do it through lawsuits 61 cases lost, half thrown out >> and in no instance did a court find that the charges of fraud were real. >> reporter: he tried to do it through pressure on the states cleaning on officials. >> so, look, all i want to do is this, i just want to find 11,780

votes. >> there were no votes to find that was an accurate count that had been certified >> reporter: and spreading lies about individual election workers. >> there is nowhere i feel safe. nowhere. do you know how it feels to have the president of the united states target you? >> reporter: when neither the states nor the courts would bend, he tried to do it through his doj. >> he responded very quickly and said, i'm just asking you to say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and congress. >> reporter: demanding that the election be a fraud and trying to install a loyal ag. >> did every assistant attorney general that you spoke to, as you said, agree to resign? >> all without hesitation said

that they would resign. >> reporter: with time running out, trump tried his vice president, demanding he refused to certify the election on january 6th. >> mike pence, i hope you're going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the good of our country. and if you're not, i'm going to be very disappointed in you. i will tell you right now. >> reporter: and when vice president pence officially refused, the committee argued that trump tried it by unleashing his masses. in a protest, the panel said trump knew would get out of hand. >> the confidential informant said the proud boys would have killed mike pence. >> if mike pences, we're going to drag mother [ bleep ] through the streets. >> mike pence betrayed the united states of america

[ chanting ] >> i overheard the president say something to the effect of, i don't care that they have weapons. they're not here to hurt me. take the effing bags away. >> and even planned to join. >> the president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. mr. engle grabbed his arm, said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel we're going back to the west wing we're not going to the capitol mr. trump then used his free hand to lunge towards bobby engle. >> reporter: back at the white house, the committee showed how donald trump stayed silent, unmoved by the images of bloodied police. the gallows erected on the lawn, the pleas from republican lawmakers to say something and do something >> mr. president, you have got to stop this >> i heard my phone ringing,

turned the shower off, saw it it was leader mccarthy, he told me it was getting ugly at the capitol and said anything you can do to help i would appreciate it. >> i already talked to the president. i called him i think you need to make a statement. make sure that we can calm individuals down >> reporter: unmoved for 187 minutes until 4:17 p.m >> i know your pain, i know your hurt we had an election that was stolen from us i know how you feel. but go home and go home in peace. >> reporter: in the end, liz cheney knew the loyalty he inspired and he preyed on that loyalty, turning their love of country into a weapon against our capitol and our constitution

>> what happens when the president disregards the court's rulings as illegitimate? when he disregards the rule of law? that, my fellow citizens, breaks our republic >> during the committee's final meeting, they vote today make four criminal referrals to the doj for the former president inciting an insush recorrectiong false statements and defrauding the united states. investigation is now in the hands of special counsel jack smith. >> thanks to katy tur there. joining us now, "new york times" staff writer robert draper you wrote an expansive behind-the-scenes look for the "new york times" magazine. we encourage everyone to take a look at that good morning, thanks for being with us. this committee has done a good job commanding, dominating at times the media spotlight. but it's final report slipped out late one night last week,

sort of overshadowed by the zelenskyy visit. a lot of americans are just catching up to it now. give us a few takeaways. >> broadly speaking, the final report reflects the hearings themselves, almost structurally it does. literally, sort of deconstructs the seven or eight ways in which a sitting president under took to turn back the election results. there is a lot of controversy within -- during the writing of the report as to what should be front and center, what should be to the side. liz cheney, the vice chair, was adamant, that the report be laser-focused on the person who was primarily responsible for the events of january 6th, that being president donald trump and so the report especially captures those things. it does have some new testimony in it and i think that as luke,

i know my colleague, delineated to you a half an hour or so ago, has some interesting bits here and there. but more than anything else, i think it reinforces the commanding role of president trump in attempting to overturn a lawfullily held election >> this is a wonderful peace and gives you -- puts you in the scene with all of these participants there's been so much attention on congresswoman cheney's role, making ranks and going over to the committee and how she really did just spend so much time and dedicated her last days in office to working on this committee. but i want to focus a bit on the role of congressman bennie thompson because he was the one who really brought her on board saying i don't want this to be a democratic witch-hunt. we need liz cheney can you talk about his role? >> sure.

the congressional black caucus has lobbied heavily for bennie thompson which had jurisdiction over a lot of the january 6th-related investigations to be the share of this as well, and so he did so and became in a lot of ways the sort of moral authority of the committee but he -- because he had additional chores with the homeland security committee, delegated a lot of the nitty giddy to the vice chair. and originally, he thought about giving that role to jamie raskin and congressman raskin prevailed upon thompson, i think it was tantamount to pushing an open door, that accentuating the bipartisan nature of the committee would be a great idea and cheney would be a useful way to do so thompson didn't need much convincing in that regard and i think that ended up being the

most consequential choice, really, in the committee not just to have liz cheney on it, which was nancy pelosi's decision, but to have her as vice chair and the most public-facing individual on the committee. >> i have so many questions. it's a tremendous piece as often your pieces are. and there are things that as we went through the 18 months of this committee, there are questions that were raised -- questions that ran through my mind throughout that there are answers to in this piece i want you to talk about a couple of them i think there was an enormous amount of skepticism that these hearings would be successful giving the recent history of congressional hearings they were successful by any metric and i want you to talk a little bit about one of the reasons for that which you go into in wonderful detail in this piece about decisions made, lessons learned, james goldstein from abc news crafting these as television -- as a made for television spectacle, story

telling as opposed to speechifying who gets the credit for driving this committee towards making these hearings appropriate to the media and that they needed to play on and telling stories as i say rather than letting members speechify? >> well, yeah, john, i think the selection of goldstein to be the producer in essence of the january 6th committee hearings was among the most consequential decisions and he really did play an outsized role it hopes that goldstein wasn't some hollywood guy or something. he was a newsman he understood how historically important these hearings were, he understood as well that as you alluded to, past hearings have been far less successful and a flop here and there. that was the kind of thing that liz cheney and goldstein agreed on early could not happen that there was -- that farrell w -- failure was not an option. looking to cast it as boring,

overly partisan or in some other way, not worthy of the viewership that it ultimately did get. so goldstein recognized from the outset that these really had to be put on -- liz cheney saw them each as a kind of making a case, each of the hearings but he saw them as documentaries. and that's essentially what they became as jamie raskin said today. each one was 2 1/2 hours long and they were not thrown together but they certainly don't appear that way. it's essentially what happened goldstein was hired with a month to go. it was under a very, very compressed schedule. and recognizing that they had -- that there were a lot of moving parts, what was intended to be one hearing as a stand-alone became doubled with another hearing. hearings got moved around and everything was done at the last minute >> one of the great questions for anybody who works in television, is there a control

room and people saying, no, no, control room the other thing that -- to go back to elise's question, the other side of it is liz cheney every time you mentioned liz cheney's name on tv, you will get a bunch of democrats who come on twitter and say, you give liz cheney too much credit. why are you always talking about cheney talk about somebody else everybody deserves credit to the extent this committee has been successful but your piece points out not only that she was the most important member of the committee, but why she was and, you know, from the very outset, it was clear that there was skepticism, fear on the committee itself, certainly among staff members about what her game was here. and over time you sort of tell the story in this piece how she won people over through in some sense that she was in this for the right reasons and she was willing to work harder than everybody else talk about the dynamics

inside -- this is still a congress committee all these people still have egos and their own politics how did she go from being an unlikely member to being someone that over time won over the trust and respect and admiration of his democratic colleagues on the committee? >> a lot of the democrats on the committee, john, remembered liz cheney when she was the republican -- the house republican conference chair and was a partisan brawler and they remembered as well that it hadn't been too long before cheney was saying i refuse to rule in or rule out the possibility of running for president. they had every reason to wonder, what's her game here is she going to use this as a political platform i think she won them over in two ways first of all, she simply did more work than anybody else. she was in more depositions, she asked for questions, she read more transcripts she was always more prepared but the second thing, it's been commented on more than once that

the vast majority, practically all of the witnesses were republican well, a lot of these republican witnesses would have been reluctant to appear on a mostly democratic committee, but for the fact that liz cheney, a fellow can i have, lent a kind of comfort level and that was particularly the case with cassidy hutchinson who was coming from a very, very vulnerable position. basically one foot still in trump world and did not want to appear to be coming over to the other side, trying to drop the sledgehammer on president trump. and cheney, i think, really, really provided a level of comfort and a level of assurance that this hearing was going to be on the up and up and would be something that people would be proud to the participants in. >> and you just mentioned cassidy hutchinson in the piece you outline how the committee was compelled to act when it heard her testimony. quote, at one point in the conversation, former trump white

house deputy press secretary sarah matthews observed that the committee was unlikely to gain the cooperation of mark meadows. then she said, the person you should really talk to is cassidy hutchinson she was his shadow hutchinson's first deposition on february 23rd ran long and she agreed to answer the remaining questions a day or two later hutchinson received a phone call from someone she knew. a caller named ben williamson said somebody had something to tell hutchinson. as the transcript would read, mark told me, you have your deposition tomorrow, mark wants me to let you know that he knows you're loyal and he knows you'll do the right thing tomorrow and that you're going to protect him and the boss you continue, after the meeting, goldstein was called at his

home there's going to be a hearing next tuesday, he was informed. adding that the matter was sensitive and should be confined to a very small production team. so this feels like a very key moment here. hutchinson's testimony, perhaps the most stunning, the most headline-grabbing of anyone we heard from during the entire process. give us assignment more as to the circumstances around how that came about and what -- people on the committee told you the impact of her testimony was. >> sure. hutchinson had been deposed a couple of times early in the process, early in 2022 and at that point in time, was represented by a lawyer from trump world. and over time, she became concerned that, first of all, she was being dissuaded from telling the full truth by her

attorney and secondly, that what she was saying was getting back to trump through some channel or other. she began to suspect that that channel was her own legal team she switched over to a new attorney, became more forthcoming in her testimony and when she did so, liz cheney, who was really the one driving the train on all of the hutchinson conversations realized that this material was remarkable, could not wait they didn't want for it to leak and particularly didn't want it to leak. there had been a lot of leaks in the committees and that was in the committee's work and that was a problem. but they were concerned for her safety and were afraid that you mentioned the ben williamson conversation, there were others saying, we'll give you a job it was clear they were trying to keep her on the team and she knew how things worked if you got off the team it was because of that that cheney and chairman thompson made the decision that this testimony can't wait and they called all of the other members into washington, told them we can't tell you what this is

about except it's going to be a special hearing and only when they went into ascif where classified information was discussed did they reveal to the other members that in three hours, there will be a hearing and it will be focused on one witness and that witness will be cassidy hutchinson. >> one last quick question we know the committee had to get its work done by the end of the year because republicans about to take control of the house preview for us, if you will, what the gop is now going to do on january 6th, what sort of investigation are they going to launch >> this is an interesting question they've already implied that there's a -- well, there is a real appetite among certain portions of the republican party to investigate the investigators, to use what has -- they're convince that had somewhere in that trove of information is documentation that suggests that speaker pelosi was somehow at fault for the security lapses. and so they can put all of this on her

but i think other members of the house republicans are saying be careful what you wish for. the more we keep focused on donald trump and even if it's in our version investigating the investigators, the more difficult it's going to be to move away from trump to try to pass our own agenda, to actually governor and so i think there is a conflict that has yet to fully metastasize but is likely to do so in the coming weeks that's exactly what they do with the january 6th materials. >> the remarkable piece is online and in print for the latest issue of a the "new york times" magazine. robert, thank you again for joining us this morning. >> sure thing. >> when draper does a piece -- >> it's always great. >> the dude never misses he takes on the big topics and always scores. it's really great. >> it will be entering to see. he makes the point here about how republicans who feel like they're on the verge of

overreaching on any number of subjects, once they take control, there are questions to be raised about things like afghanistan and the border, january 6th and hunter biden, elise, these feel like tricky subjects. >> just january 6th, it's -- from a calm standpoint, i would say, just don't go there, give up, no one liked this. the country overwhelming disapproved and voted out people and voted against people who were election deniers, move on >> certainly those who litigated january 6th at the ballot box the past year, didn't fair so well. still ahead, who attracted the most attention in the political world this year? we'll have that new analysis ahead. plus, from the war in ukraine, concerns about a recession and what's being called revenge tourism a look at what to expect from next year. you're watching morning joe. we'll be right back with that. there's a different way to treat hiv.

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welcome back just before 7:30 a.m. on the east coast new this morning out of the war on ukraine russia's military claims its forces shot down a ukrainian drone approaching the air base located within russia's region more than 370 miles east of its border with ukraine. according to russia, it killed three people the air base is the same facility struck by drones back on december 5th. meanwhile, nbc news correspondent matt bradley reports from ukraine on the russian attacks that continued over the christmas holiday >> reporter: christmas in ukraine is an act of defiance. soldiers at mass as russia's war rages, ukraine's president urging his countrymen to keep the faith. we'll celebrate our holidays as

always we'll smile and be happy he said in a christmas eve message in his christmas address, pope francis calling on the world to see the faces of our ukrainian brothers and sisters this christmas comes a day after russian bombs pummelled the southern city of kherson leaving ten dead and dozens injured. but from the front lines to the home front, christmas carries on even for those whose homes are gone russian bombs leveled this family's house outside of kyiv last christmas at this time, you were making christmas dinner here yes, we were decorating a christmas tree here with homemade toys, she said. now they live in a modular home next door. but her 7-year-old grandson david let me decorate the christmas tree with him. i was told he was distraught when his home was destroyed. it was tough for us to accept what happened, she told me, much less to explain it to david.

his brother is deployed as a military cook. he's busy cooking christmas dinner for his comrades, fried fish, meat and salad are you guys in a good mood? they are, he responds. even though they're not at home. a bit of christmas spirit even has the conflict continues >> nbc's matt bradley with that report and the future of the ukraine war has been named one of the top issues in the economists special year-end issue looking at the world ahead for 2023. it dives into ten topics and trends expected to play a big role in the coming year. joining us now, deputy editor of the economist, tom standish. you outline some of the factors that went into deciding these trends writing this, after two years in which the pandemic was the force shaping the media future, the main driver now is the war in ukraine in the coming months, the world

will have to grapple with unpredictability around the conflict's impact on geopolitics and security, the struggle to control inflation, chaos in energy markets, and china's uncertain postpandemic path. to complicate matters further, all these things are tightly coupled, like an interlocking series of gear wheels. today's world is much more unstable unpredictability is the new normal tom, let's start right there dive in a little more about this theme, this idea of chaos and unpredictability as the world sort of comes out of the pandemic but is confronted with all sorts of new challenges with the war chief among them >> absolutely. i think in retrospect, the pandemic did mark the end of a relatively calm period we had a period of very low inflation, very low interest rates and we didn't have conflict between great powers invading other countries and that's what -- invading their neighbors. that kind of thing

people have called this a holiday for history, for example, and i think that's a good way of thinking about this, because an awful lot of things we thought we didn't have to worry about anymore have come back whether that's inflation or stagflation or whether it's worrying about nuclear conflicts, that kind of thing, and so i think in retrospect, we may look back at the first couple of decades of this century and say, actually, that was a relatively calm period and, of course, it's not just things have come back that you're used to worrying about, we've got the added complications of the pandemic and, of course, climate change and so that makes it evenmore complicated. >> tom, elise here, your second prediction is not much more uplifting, recessions loom a mild recession in the u.s., but in europe, going to be hit harder can you talk about that prediction >> yes, we think there is likely to be a brief and mild recession in the u.s. and a deeper one in

europe because europe is struggling with these high energy prices as it tries to wean itself off russia gas it's rising prices for industry. we think that's going to be a lot more painful in britain, we have both of those problems we have the postpandemic inflation that america has, plus the high energy price inflation that europe has, plus we have the impact of brexit we think the uk recession which has probably already started, is going to be deeper and longer and last the whole of next year. >> the list introduced me to interesting new phrase that i had no idea about, quote, revenge tourism, can you explain what revenge tourism is? >> sure, revenge tourism is where travelers get their revenge on the coronavirus by having the holidays that they were denied in 2020 and 2021 and we've seen a lot of this happening in 2021. sorry. 2022 we saw the total number of international tourists trips go up by 60% this year. we think it's going to go up

another 30% next year. and in 2023, that means the airlines will be profitable again and it means that the amount spent on international tourism will get back to its prepandemic level of about $1.3 trillion globally in that sense, tourism is back, but, actually, the number of trips will be lower than it was before the pandemic, 1.6 billion rather than 1.8. what's happening, each trip costs more and you'll have notice that had going out for me, buying a plane ticket costs more than it used to that's why even though the number of trips is slightly lower, the overall spending ends up in the same place people say revenge is best served cold. all of those people flooding to beaches and things, they preserve revenge to be served hot. >> revenge tourism is otherwise known as tourism tom, i have a question for you i see new year and new jargon. we always have a word of the year gaslighting was the word of

2022 i see here nimbies are out and yimbys are in. can you tell us what those are post quantum -- >> nimbies are the people who say you're not building in my backyard and yimbys is associated with places like san francisco where it's difficult to get any construction. but we are seeing yimbys breaking out elsewhere we have a piece by the mayor of new york city saying we need yimbys, not nimbies and we need to say yes where we previous said no. and i think housing shortages is a real problem in many parts of the world. that's what yimbys are yes, let's build stuff and change rules so we don't just

build suburban housing, we can build mixed use housing that's close to public transit. there are quantum computers, if you can make one work, and nobody has done that yet, if you can, it will undermine all of the encryption we use to secure our data on the internet one day if somebody makes these things work, that could be very bad for internet security. what's happening is, people are saying, we need to switch to new kinds that cannot be broken by these possible future computers and we need to start switching now. if we wait until they stop working, it will be too late so, nist, which is the american standards body which makes the rules for this thing have has started to say what software it thinks we should be switching to and that starts in 2023. >> before you give me -- i want to be clear, basically you're saying unlike cryptocurrencies,

which are basically just a total fraud, that post -- >> crypto currently is a use that using the techniques. i'm talking about incrimination. we need to start -- cryptocurrencies, a complete waste of time. >> you are nothing but delivering grim news for 2023. a bleak forecast. >> so much smarter than we are we should have people on the show that are that much smarter than we are. >> just to -- other thoughts here, divided america, flash points to watch, this might be the moment that china thinks it might be a time to move into taiwan sounds like a pretty rough 12

months ahead of us thanks for that. the issue is out now thank you for joining us this morning. coming up here on morning joe. nbc news dr. vin gupta will be our guest. and we'll talk to him about the three viruses spreading across the country and the recent data that shows one of them may have peaked we'll have the highlights from king charles' first christmas address. that's ahead on "morning joe" with bonus cold play -- >> that's radiohead. >> that's better the unknown is not empty. it's a storm that crashes, and consumes, replacing thought with worry. but one thing can calm uncertainty. an answer.

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from youtube, our sound track. the next few weeks might be a critical turning point for this country's fight with three different viruses. new numbers from the cdc show that early signs o that the flu might have peaked. at the same time, covid infections are climbing. sam brock has the latest >> reporter: it's the most wonderful time of the year to see family, but, unfortunately, the holidays have also proved fertile ground for transmitting viruses and many americans are all too aware. >> i'm vaccinated and boosted and even got the flu vaccine >> we're trying to be safe try not to see a lot of people during the time. >> reporter: those all-important get to gets are coming at a time when the numbers have fallen and covid infections are

beginning to gather steam. over the last two weeks, covid hospitalizations are up 7% and deaths up 15%. the places with the biggest change in hospitalized patients span the map to louisiana in the south and wyoming in the west where the figure has jumped more than 40% in a week in miami's largest health care system, jackson health. >> especially quadrupled -- >> reporter: this doctor says there's been an uptick in patients just in recent weeks. >> we saw covid was in the teens maybe, three, four weeks ago it was a relatively low. we saw that number jump up to the mid to high 90s about a week ago or so. >> reporter: and with americans crisscrossing the country, many finding weather and costs, the best option it's to assume those around you are sick. >> on the return trip home and the first few days going back to school, back to work, what kind of advice do you have.

>> made sure you're wearing a mask it's better if you're wearing a mask and have your vaccine if you can schedule your travel at times where it's a less busy travel time, that's a good idea as well. >> medical experts say getting a flu shot or a covid booster could make a big difference. >> soam brock with that report. and joining us now, dr. vin gupta. good morning happy holidays thanks for being with us let's start with covid we have talked about this a few times in recent weeks. those numbers really starting to climb, a lot of public health officials say because of so many family gatherings around the holidays and the terribly cold winter weather keeping people indoors, probably going to have a major spike in the next couple weeks into january what are you seeing so far >> jonathan, happy holidays, great to be here just exactly that. we are gearing up for a winter surge that's not going to look as bad as 2020, 2021

that's the expectation remember, jonathan, everybody is testing at home, they're not reporting those numbers. so the estimated infection rate is going to be much higher than what we're actually seeing in terms of a report in numbers in media. we're estimating infections to peak at 1. 6 million it's forecast 6,000 to 8,000 deaths week over week. so the worst is yet to come for covid, we think. that's going to be the second half of the cold and flu season. and to your point, flu hospitalizations are at a peak, at a ten-year peak at this point in flu season, hopefully coming down rsv similarly coming down. good signs, but we're at a high peak for the two viruses i want to get your take on a troubling development when it comes to covid we're seeing this massive outbreak right now in china as they ease their zero covid policy restrictions.

what is your degree of concern about the virus, not just spreading from china, but if that's going to be such a -- we may get a new mutation and a new variant that we're all going to have to grapple with. >> exactly that. to make global security lens, the chance that a variant could arise, we're seeing tens of millions of potential estimated infections day over day. that type of transmission there will be a variant. whether that causes vaccines to no longer be effective, it remains to be seen but the chance of that happening seems to be higher i'm optimistic that they're going to escape a severe surge in terms of hospitalizations getting really, really high and people dying at rates of millions and millions. i think i've seen some numbers out there that are very extreme. 98% of the chinese population has at least two vaccines in them those vaccines are not the mrna

vaccines they're somewhat protective against severe illness they have some level of protection against this severe surge. >> dr. gupta, with so many viruses swirling around, rsv, the flu, covid, people are suffering the common cold, can you have more than one of these at the same time alongside covid? >> that's a -- that's such an interesting question my patients who, for example, have asthma will ask that question because they're at a higher risk. if your body is fighting off one virus, like, say, flu, it's possible that you could be coinfected but it hasn't been likely where you're covid and flu at the same time a hypothesis is the lungs are revved up and the immean cells and fight off a second virus as they take on the primary fight

against whatever infected them first so it appears to be protective to two viruses at is same tie. >> all right dr. gupta, with the cases so high i'm certain we'll be speaking to you again soon thank you for joining us this morning. up next on "morning joe," wasn't that long ago that parts of ft. myers, florida, looked like this. we'll have an update and how they celebrated this holiday season we'll be right back with that.

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welcome back just a few months ago that fort myers, florida, faced utter devastation. now the community is rebuilding and celebrating the holiday season the best way it can

nbc news correspondent kerry sanders has the story. >> reporter: sheriff carmine landed on fort myers beach. >> lots of progress. this is ground zero hurricane ian. you couldn't walk one foot here without walking over debris. >> reporter: the beach front empty. >> tough to get holiday spirit when you look and and looking at debris but the christmas spirit is here. >> reporter: the yucatan bar and grill is gutted. a makeshift kitchen in the parking lot works for now. >> it is going to be different but we are alive and thankful. >> my boy. >> bring him to headquarters. >> reporter: they had a surprise for sebastian and his mom.

>> for you, buddy. >> reporter: to see the residents come together. >> everyone helping for the better cause. >> mama sanya is coming to town! >> reporter: neighbors like sanya rodriguez turning the home into santa's workshop through facebook connections and donations. >> i love christmas. >> reporter: bringing joy to 30 families in linda loma. >> they lost everything so i have everything from bicycles, $500 gift card this is fort myerses this is for you, mama. >> reporter: the martinez family beyond grateful. >> i love you. >> we undefeated we will rebuild. we got this. >> rebuilding slow but steady. nbc news's kerry sanders, thank you for that report. there were hurricane force winds over the weekend in the

midwest and northeast. as a winter storm caused whiteout conditions and buried cities we'll have the latest on that brutal winter weather that has millions digging out or hunkering down "morning joe" will be back after a very quick break at booking.com, finding perfect isn't rocket science. kitchen? sorted. hot tub, why not? and of course, puppy-friendly. we don't like to say perfect, but it's pretty perfect. booking.com, booking.yeah. there's a different way to treat hiv. it's every-other-month, injectable cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable.

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you can see it there this is not the white christmas that some were hoping for. a massive storm brings multiple feet o most attention. >> what was that video >> i believe driving snow. >> like -- just like a - >> a lot of it. >> very disorienting. >> pay attention. >> i know what that is makes sense. >> basic images.

so wind blown snow you can see a backyard. >> before "morning joe." >> if i say -- i can look at that for hours. >> might be a comment on you than the footage i think more on the winter storm and a look at who got the most attention in the political world this past year including maybe you expect and maybe a few you didn't and the latest from eastern europe as vladimir putin's war drags into the new year. welcome back to the third hour of "morning joe" on this monday, december 26. we'll holding down the fort for joe, mika ancountry duth impacts this past weekend. hundreds of thousands are still without power and thousands of flights delayed in one of the busiest travel times of the

year the storm impacted erie county, new york, especially hard and hit with four feet of snow over the week at time it is storm's hurricane-force winds in late december caused whiteout conditions that caused the city's airport to shut down why "the new york times" reporting that nearly three days after the blizzard began people are stuck in cars on highways as well as on some side streets overnight on saturday more than 50 rescues by a specialized team and many of other emergency workers stranded trying to help civilians. governor of new york is working for federal assistance joining us is the town supervisor of hamburg, new york, in erie county on the shores

about 20 minutes outside of buffalo. thank you, sir, for being with us this morning. tell us how things look in your town right now. >> so this morning we are beginning the cleanup efforts. we have stranded motorists we have a dozen cars on the road and looking to get them to safety. >> what about power where you are? is there power restored? >> so most of the folks that were without power in hamburg power has been restored. we have a few homes to keep an eye on but we are many pretty good shape with power. >> what was it like to walk outside? i think most of the country can't imagine living through such a storm. >> with wind and snow like this it doesn't take long you step outside and realize it

is not a good idea look at that snow and you realize how disorienting it can be and unfortunately there were 17 people in erie county that lost their lyes to storm some because emergency responders couldn't pass the storm but they were in the blizzard and succumbed to the temps. >> when are the pofolks in the cars going to be rescued >> it looks that way we have seen a reprieve in the snowfall and the wind. the wind was what really hurt us most in this event we are hopeful to have the roads clear in hamburg this afternoon. perhaps back in their vehicles but we have a lot of work to do

yet and the city of buffalo a ep the county is even worse national guard has been able to add to those efforts but a lot of folks and cleanup to be done in the county. >> weather improving hopefully people stay indoors. perhaps watch the highlights of the bills victory. >> it's been a great team to watch, a great season and during this blizzard nice to have something to rally around so the bills win is good for buffalo and we do want to reiterate to folks, please stay home. stay home. let the emergency crews do their work >> we saw foot age of the bills returning to the cars snowed in at the stadium good luck with the work ahead.

thank you so much for joining us this morning. joining us is national columnist for "the washington post" phillip pump with a piece out that examined in the political world maintained the public's attention thank you for being here i'm going to hazard a wild guess. >> sure. >> donald trump is on the list. >> amazing the foresight. brilliant. donald trump is near the top i looked at appearances on television mentions of people and google search interest donald trump at or near the top. >> the top >> no. not always joe biden was jockeying back and forth with donald trump. one thing that's interesting is getting to election season biden sort of went underneath fetterman in pennsylvania. >> we have heard a lot of talk

about this past year trump's grip on the gop may have slipped in recent months speculation that the channeler in waiting might be desan it is, governor of florida. where did he fare on the tracking >> not as high as i expected you expect him and donald trump to be neck and neck with the polls but that wasn't the case donald trump commands more attention than ron desantis. he did so well in the re-election bid but beyond that donald trump still remains at the top. >> there's a -- think aboutthe midterm election cycle as you point out for periods of time there was more traffic and interest in candidates than there was the sitting president of the united states by judging the october, november

time frame who are the breakout stars in terms of conversational traffic from the midterms to pay attention in congress now? >> you can break out and vanish. kari lake emerged but she has staying power. sort of hard to gauge. we saw lake. fetterman. that's a function of the close race and hard to look into the future jonathan is good at this but it is hard to know and people spiked bike cassidy hutchinson and fade >> yeah. i meant like midterm candidates never break through and like fetterman the capacity to generate traffic tell me about elon musk,

"time's" man of the year last year getting attention but hard to tell whether there's attention outside of twitter what's the broader conversational traffic about >> celeb city a factor here. that's why donald trump tends to do well. when you look at television and cable news coverage musk not that much. he got a lot of attention and taking over the platform on search very, very high. people have a lot of interest in him. in general so he and for example kanye west at love search interest. >> who surprised by breaking through on the list that you wouldn't have expected to command that much attention? >> i was sur pridesed how much

marjorie taylor greene gets attention. i wasn't expecting that. now i understand that. also surprised madison hawthorne. people talked about him very little which is to the point of predictiveness is suggested. >> was there a name you though wod do well that didn't break through in any way despite perhaps being the attention in certain quarters >> desantis stuck out there. so that may change i took about 30 people and my goal really was to figure out each week who are the political world fascinated by? it was donald trump and joe biden. desantis probably will get more attention. >> is there a flicker for

anybody else kari lake is a special case. is there other flickers for republicans where you see a little bit of a spark, someone that might grow into something among republicans? >> not really. i had in the mix in the national piece i limited it to 30 people. i had people that are not getting attention and tend to look at fox news where the republican party is looking. compared to trump and desantis doesn't get much on fox news beyond that, not really. >> mike pence not a magnet for conversation >> hard to believe. >> trump for all the weaknesses has an ability to command attention. talk to us about your sense how hard is it for other republicans

to break through and turn that into votes >> it depends on what trump will do but from the time -- before he decided to get into politic trump generated enormous amount of interest. he is a huge television star he is outrageous colorful people that like him mock him. people that like him mock him and people that mock him like to watch him. he is a giant figure the question of whether now that the losing, whether that for a guy who i'm a winner is the brand for that long time, whether that diminishes him as a cultural force, i don't want to make predictions, no one else is

like trump with the eighty to be at the top of the attention heap it will be hard to go against trump. >> it is a question of is he getting attention for unforced errors like attacking ron desantis he had dinner with kanye gets negative attention and things republican voters don't like. >> i was saying that when he attacked john mccain can't survive that. >> fox's coverage is different hutchinson wasn't covered much because it didn't reflect positively. >> other than president biden anybody else break through >> fetterman with the election

and joe biden like kamala harris doesn't track. that's the nature of biden and the democrats. the vibe is coop your head down and get through this thing and survive. >> the chatter about those challenging biden quieted. fascinating stuff. thank you so much for joining us this morning. overseas now and king chart delivered his first christmas address stepping into a tradition that his mother created. nbc news correspondent may began fitzgerald has the details. >> a christmas filled with first as the royal family arrived for christmas service. walking in with the three children it was the first christmas that the royal family and the united kingdom celebrated without her majesty the queen.

the couple sparking controversy with the netflix document ri all eyes were on king charles and the first christmas address to the nation. >> i cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown the family >> christmas is a poignant time for all of us. >> reporter: king charles acknowledging those struggling. >> be it for those around the world at home paying the bills and keep the families fed and warm >> let us celebrate it together and cherish it always.

>> king charles impersonation off air. still ahead on "morning joe" -- what we are learning about the batch of transcript released by the house select committee investigating january 6. kari lake getting attention online she likely will get more google searches but not because of something she would like with the war in ukraine raging on we'll be joined by a reporter who's been on the front lines. you are watching "morning joe" anwed 'll be right back.

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and now a lot more people can. so let's go. the digital age is waiting. former president trump spent time on the social media site. the january 6 committee

concluded that trump was responsible for the inrecollection on friday the committee released the latest batch of interview transcripts, one details the interview with hope hicks. hicks one of trump's closest advisers according to the document hicks spoke with trump on january 11 and he complained that the blame he was getting was unfair. she said he asked me if i thought it was really as bad as everyone was making it out to be i think he felt like it wasn't fair the response wasn't fair we saw the transcript of the interview with katie mcenany revealing that former president trump tried to call her after she received a subpoena. she said she hasn't spoken to

trump since being subpoenaed joining us now reporter for "the guardian" and "the new york times" congressional reporter luke broadwater. wrote what could be the definitive piece for "the new york times" magazine taking us inside the january 6 committee luke, get your reaction and the piece in a moment but what we heard there from the testimony to hope hicks, kayly mcenany what are the conclusions reached by the committee >> right i think you are right to highlight hicks' transcript. she was late every brought in and haven't heard a lot of her testimony yet. i think one thing that she pointed out in addition to what you highlighted is that she and

one of the trump lawyers had concern about the potential for violence before january 6 and he had gone to trump about it and said you need to put out a statement telling the supporters to be nonviolent and he refused to do that i think that gets to the central question that everybody is wondering about which is the rally turned violent who's to blame for it. whether the right precautions were taken and what they show clearly is donald trump was made aware. and chose not to do anything about it there's revolutions in this report and the transcripts so far including documenting exactly how many times more than 200 that trump officials reached out to state and local officials to try to overturn the results

of the election. we'll see hundreds more transcripts released this week and will be a busy holiday season for us tracking the story. >> i was struck by the testimony that she has no more contact to donald trump and much like ivanka releasing a statement saying she wanted no part of another presidential campaign this is another long time adviser who has fallen off the radar with trump are a lot of the inner circle deciding this is out of control and will step back >> i think that people who are in the administration on january 6 and around the decision making on january 6 largely stepped away but as ever with trump world it is a cast of characters and in the place of her and

other aides you are the survivors from the 2016 campaign step in and seeing a shifting dynamic. trump's inner circle is limited to people in the post-election challenges i think you are seeing a generational and sea change of who is talking to trump and speaks to where trump's mind-set is going into another campaign. >> luke, when we last spoke i think on television is thursday and the report is now i believe monday if my calendar is straight and have been a few days that normal people would

spend opening presents and unplugging from the work grid. that's not what you have been doing. i want to ask you from the slightly higher perspective. now that you have the arms around the final report has been put out. as you said you're making way through it and still transcripts to come out. this week. what's in terms of documents to wait for like with some eagerness or things that you are still going through that think where there can be advances in the story, what's ahead for the -- what's left to be exhasted to yield something that moves the needle to the investigation? >> right yeah i think that's a central question we do have more than 200

interview transcripts left to be released at minimum. so there could be some new evidence in there. generally you have to figure if there's a big finding that's in the report or a hearing. we find new interesting details, new coloring stuff that adds to the mountain of evidence but you have to believe if there's any really material revelations that's going to be done by the justice department or the prosecutors in georgia. they're going and re-interviewing the same people and sometimes new people and they do have in some cases greater tools and abilities than a congressional committee so i think if there's going to be additional real big breakthroughs that will have to be done by prosecutors and

likely to see from the transcripts is more damning information and unlikely to change that we already know. >> we mentioned the sweeping piece for "the times" and talk about the unheard of amount of poir that congresswoman cheney wielded. as the stress and friction among staff and committee members grew one constant source of conflict became acute how liz chiny had turned the role of vice chair into a position of power. cheney had a significant hand in the writing and editing of the scripts. some staff members worried that she could be using the platform to advance a political future.

though reviled by the republican base and its avatar trump cheney did not renounce the party affiliation and her roots remain deep liz cheney had at no time publicly vowed that the aims of political office was behind her. the committee was expected to flounder as so many other had before jit the vice chairwoman was the most public facing member and the position of loim complicated the aassertion that is the january 6 inquiry is nothing more than a democratic witch hunt it sounds like between cheney and the fellow committee members. >> right i think there were more tensions with members of the staff than

necessarily among the members. but yeah liz cheney took what is normally a ceremonial role in a commit tee which is not really real responsibilities and became the most powerful and important member of the january 6 committee. she didn't do it through a sneaky overtaking of the committee but as she basically outworked every single person including staff. sitting in on the interviews reading almost every transcript. aware of every detail of the plan to overturn the election, other people saw how into it she was and driven she was and speaking at a meeting she spoke with the high level of authority and backed with the facts and

evidence and became a force on the committee and always deferential to chairman thompson but there was a lot of deferring to liz cheney and one thing that the members told me including the democrats is they could not have gotten some of the key witnesses in the door without cheney and some of the top staff that had deep ties to the republican party and that some of the republicans would never have spoken with the committee if cheney didn't ask them to do so if you recall nearly every witness at the hearings was a republican and i think made them feel more comfortable to have a republican and a republican staff bringing them in the door. >> terrific piece worth reading

published over the weekend elise, hugo agreed to come on with one condition needed to appear at buckingham palace we made that happen. we greatly appreciate it god job by the agent to insist that happen. a judge in arizona rejected the lake's bid to overturn the loss to hobbs citing a lack of evidence behind the claims of misconduct by the election officials. the ruling over the weekend after a two-day trial. the judge said lake and the witnesses failed to provide evidence that suggests intentional misconduct saying the court quote cannot accept speck lags or conjecture in place of clear evidence. lake lost by roughly 17,000

jobs hobbs is set to be sworn in next week the losing streak continues for election deniers your reaction and a prediction what's next for kari lake. >> if you had seen kari lake and we were in arizona two or three times this fall and if you ran across her putting aside the election denialism here's a first-time candidate compelling with the base she can tell a story a normal candidate context lost a narrow race for governor she will be back right? that's what you would have said in the before times before trump and election denialism now the person who is not donald

trump without the national following and she's out there basically still -- playing the sore loser card. doing what trump did in 2020 and litigate the unfounded claims of election fraud she will lose. does she in arizona turn into a -- something that solidifies her with what is the republican base there and gives her more credibility or go back to a normal construct of politics where republicans go i liked her until she acted like a sore loser? let's find somebody else i don't know what's going to happen for her why clearly she thinks she has a future in

politics whether this defiant denialist depending on the point of view helps or hurts her is the story. vladimir putin says moscow is ready to negotiate coming to the war in ukraine we'll take a look at what ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has to say about that next stay with us >> joe and mika, it is hard to believe that america wanted to watch a former florida republican congressman everyone is watching to hear what mika has to say seriously, millions of americans tune in every day to keep plugged in to the discussion of what's happening congratulations on a great 15 years and many more.

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welcome back russian troops over the weekend shelled the southern ukrainian city of kher sson killing at let ten. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy posted photos of the assault on telegram and wrote in part this. this is not a war according to the rules defined. it is terror it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure. the world must see and understand what absolute evil we are fighting against russian president vladimir putin claims he is ready to negotiate. in an interview yesterday he said negotiations stopped because kyiv and the western backers refused to engage in talks. an adviser to ukraine president zelenskyy said putin needs to

return to reality and acknowledge that russia did not want negotiations. kremlin said it will fight until the aims are achieved. kee said it will not rest until all the russian troops are ejected from the territory joining us is mark olyopoulos. thank you for being with us this morning. let's start with the disconnect and fact check putin russians have had no interest to negotiations at any point in this war and putin suggesting it has to come on his terms meaning that ukraine has to recognize the territory that russia seized do you see any way we get to the negotiating table any time soon? >> good morning and happy holidays to everyone in the "morning joe" family great to be here today the traffic took about 20 minutes so it's a perfect day to

come in. coming to what vladimir putin said we should be skeptical. he said the things before but i put it in the context of near term collection opportunities for the u.s. intelligence community. these are requirements that the president and the national security council put on the cia and the nsa and others what does that mean? things like what do the human spies on the ground tell us? is putin serious so ultimately the degree of whether this is the same old putin kind of spewing nonsense or ready to negotiate is based on hard intelligence there's nothing to this is my sense but i think the community will be laser focused on the historic visit to washington and

the mark of the war that ukraine is doing far better. >> that zelenskyy visit against the backdrop to reassure western capitals in europe stay with them as the winter is hard and the economies brittle. coming as there's reports of a russian troop build-up and fears by ukrainians that they mount another siege. how concerned should ukraine be? >> i don't think russia can pull that off the russian military is in essence a village. it's something that was at once seen as ten feet tall and performed spectacularly poorly but this is where the intelligence community is going to be focused on seeing what imagery and

satellites the el us and the spies on the ground and intercepts tell us there's two things that are important. will there be future russian offensive moves on ukraine we'll be looking at provision of military equipment for example from iran. the suicide drones reports on the last week that iranians are ready to provide more to russia and in addition some advanced missiles that is important both for assessing the numbers that come and the shipment routes and the bases inside russia and crimea perhaps to assist the ukrainians in targeting i go back to the colleagues in the intelligence community i think they will be laser focused on this. my sense is russia is militarily

weak on his. >> mark, the zelenskyy visit was no question a huge pr coup for the ukrainians and in contrast with putin and how terrible and failed to anticipate so much of the world public sentiment whatdo you think the strategy is with putin now going forward in the aftermath of that successful visit >> it is interesting if you are putin you can reads this in a different fashion. it is inspirational. designed to shore up republican support for what will be a frack house. but put season seeing this as almost a move that zelenskyy had to make with cracks in the united states. so it all depends on how putin reads this i think we are buoyed by this.

putin could read this in the sense that he does have to play for time to prolong the war as long as possible i think that's the big battle there. the biden administration has done a fantastic job to keep nato motivated the relationships with the ukrainians are extraordinary even as some say that the war aims in the end will be divergence i think putin's looking at this perhaps in a different light that the visit showed cracks in the u.s. what does putin really think what will drive him at the negotiating table or not they're calling an endless war that means a lot more carnage to

come. still ahead, house lawmakers approved a mass i spending bill. we'll have a live report from the white house. we'll be right back with much more

welcome back it's time for a look at the morning papers kentucky governor andy beshear is dedicating $38 million toward eviction relief efforts. the funding will be used to build more affordable housing and provide financial assistance for rent and utility costs in delaware, "the news journal" reports that car prices are expected to drop next year prices could drop up to 5% for new vehicles in between 10% and 20% for used cars. industry experts attribute the

price relief to improved inventory. "the times" reports that netflix has unveiled plans for a production facility in the great state of new jersey. the $900 million facility would serve as the streaming giant's center of east coast operations. during construction, the project is expected to generate up to 3,500 jobs and "the press & dylan sunderland bulletin" says new yorkers will see a hike in their wages earlier next year. they'll start making at least $14.02 an hour in addition, all fast food workers in the state will make $15. coming up, brutal winter weather has caused flight cancellations and delays across the country. we'll go live to chicago o'hare international airport for more on the holiday travel troubles

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♪ beautiful shot there of the rockefeller center christmas tree the day after christmas, december 26th, just a zamboni on the rink right now but the tourists and the skaters will be there soon welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." it is 6:00 a.m. on the west coast and 9:00 a.m. here in the east i'm jonathan lemire alongside elise jordan we're in for joe, mika, and willie also with us nbc contributor mike barnicle. we begin with the historic winter storm that brought a blizzard to buffalo and apartments of western new york, the same storm system blamed for dozens of deaths across the country and making holiday travel nearly impossible nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch has the latest. >> reporter: the cold christmas

storm bringing heavy snow, strong winds, and brutal temperatures, new england's deep freeze seeing its coldest christmas eve high temps since 1975 new jersey had its coldest day friday in nearly four years. central park's high just 15 degrees. and this morning, buffalo still reeling from a historic blizzard >> devastating it is going to a war zone. >> reporter: overnight, western new york's death toll climbing nationwide, now nearly 50 deaths blamed on the past week's winter weather. >> some were found in cars and some were found actually in the street snowbanks. >> reporter: new york's governor deploying the national guard, staying state police have been involved with over 500 rescues, even helping deliver a baby. first responders also needing help >> when we're supposed to be celebrating all the joys of the holiday season, there are people that will be making arrangements for funerals for family mb