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deal for decades. donald trump's tax returns reveal major losses for the self proclaimed billionaire. he wants more those losses than meets the. i could long-awaited loss of his tax returns and to the laundry list of investigations into the former president? and with the new year comes a new congress and a new republican majority in the house. let's just say the gop literally need to get their priorities straight. plus, deadly explosions rocked cave on new year's eve. i talked to a member of the ukrainian parliament about the latest attacks on the capital city. and the suspect arrested in connection with the murder of four idaho college students, will likely be quickly extradited to idaho to face murder charges. velshi starts now. it is, sunday january the. first i am andy hassan, in four ali velshi. we start with breaking. news new york city officials are investigating what could be a targeted attack on police officers on new year's eve.

three new york city police officers are recovering this, morning after officials say they were attacked by a man wielding a machete. if the subpoena 10 pm last, night outside a security screenings down in times square. not far from the new years eve festivities. police have identified the suspect as a 19 year old trevor pickford, of maine. he said he allegedly -- a large knife of three. officers it in two of them in the. and one -- striking him in the shoulder. sources were looking into whether the suspect had previously -- what they call jihadist writings online. travel to new york city to target this on new years eve. officials say they are not looking for any other suspects at this time. what >> we are really pleased by the response, and how officers handled the situation. all three of the officers are in stable condition. and then there are no credible that threats to new yorkers at this time.

this attack took place out side of the area. that the police department has identified as the area that we wanted to have the primary focus. on these officers responded in an admirable and professional manner. >> the officers of recovering in hospital, and expected to survive. the suspect also obtained threat life-threatening injuries. we'll be following the story throughout the day and following any news as it comes in. turning now to our top story this morning, it may be a new year. donald trump might get a fresh start in 2023. the numerous -- handing him into the new year, and perhaps beyond. on friday, one of the last acts of the party in the house, democrats released six years or so worth of tax returns. was the former president spent years hiding from the public. the documents detail shows massive financial losses, business. connections they say that some

years he got away with little or no taxes. it is clear wrongdoings, but it's an important piece of trump's larger financial puzzle. officials in new york already spent years investing into finances as well -- as just a few weeks, ago the trump organization is convicted of tax fraud by attorney melvin -- letitia james has a separate case. in september, james filed are under sweeping lost against trump, three children, and the trump organization. alleging that they often -- the value of their assets to obtain favorable loans. james is seeking c steepness for the trump's, including barring them for serving as a head of any company in new york ever again. she lacks the authority to pursue a criminal case against the trump, but has for them to to the u.s. maternity in manhattan, which could be on your investigation to adjust to

the comprehensive list of legal troubles. denny, georgia fulton county district attorney fani willis is wrapping up a grand jury investigation regarding the trump team's efforts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election in that state. trump's legal troubles also include a lawsuit with eugene carroll who claims that trump raped him in the dressing room or freedom or store in the mid 1990s. the, biggest and perhaps darkest legal clout hanging over the whole trump not is -- jack smith's investigation into the january 6th insurrection and the mar-a-lago classified documents. both of those cases put could put trump himself in legal peril. that said, there are a lot of complexities in these cases. but the justice department still needs to figure out the january six case in particular is a massive investigation. attorney general merrick garland has called in the most wide ridging investigation in the department history. so many many people want offices, and want justices, what we want to go into this

new year is that these trump investigations won't be going away anytime soon. joining me now to discuss all of this is and more's special correspondent for vanity fair david anderson a civil rights attorney former prosecutor, idea by would obviously host of the show and serious at him and msnbc columnist. happy new year to you all into good morning. thank you for joining me. molly, let me start with. you what is 2022, the year that accountability finally kind of caught up with trump, whether do the investigations, committee hearings, the release of his tax returns. what we see more of that in 2023, do you think? >> i hesitate to say that this is the moment that trump has been gone. because we have been here before. but it certainly seems like the release of the tax returns, while they didn't necessarily show crimes, they ask lots of questions that need to now be

solved. they asked questions, they showed foreign bank accounts. they showed foreign entanglements. so i do think that it seems like there is a lot of trouble, but also the third election cycle that trump has now lost for the republican party. so there is, i think, a fair amount of irritation on the part of the party. >> david, you are a former prosecutor. of all the potential trials and indictments that trump may be facing, where do you think he has most criminal exposure? which one should he be most concerned about? >> that is becoming a difficult question to answer because he is facing so many different charges and some different places. i think in terms of prosecutors, he has the most severe down in georgia. because fani willis is not going to back off. there would be arguments over here about prosecuting former president made possible to her. the january six and by indictment and forthcoming invite indictments are also appearing exposure.

because here's the thing. we've been talking about the taxes and we said did he commit attacks crime? i don't think that's the best question to be asking. the best question is is this a good example of how he defrauded the public? as one of the january six deferrals. i think that is notable now because essentially he did the exact same thing that we are accusing george santos of doing, misrepresenting who you are in order to gain elected office and raise money for that purpose. so i think that all of these different issues kind of compound, and make some of these cases even more persuasive in front of a during jury. >> david, i've got to ask. just a follow-up we talk to georgia and fulton county. that's one case i've had a man in the lead people have said that is the case where shortly is a lot of trouble. what i don't get is does he ever get out there? he is literally on, tape we have all heard him, telling the georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger to find 30,000 extra votes. should he already be in prison if we did that? >> we. would-be that isn't

understatement. he is good at is the fact that he is the former president of the united states. here's what comes back in place. something you and i am discussed before. we talk about where how the law works. trump actually understands how the law works. the way it works in this country is that whenever you can afford a lawyer, you can mount a defense. if you can afford a good, lawyer you can have a good defense. if you want to indict, home you will have to question former's of the united states and convince 12 everyday people that they should convict. tim that's his, our people are gonna be reluctant to do it. >> just following on from, that are you concerned that we are now in 2023 officially and donald trump still has not been indicted for anything? his company just got found guilty of tax fraud, but as usual teflon and trump was not implicated either. a lot of liberals think merrick garland at the doj, and alvin bragg in manhattan, if drag their feet on trump these possible of years. do you agree with that? >> i do. happy new year.

second, this is a horrible groundhog day. it is the same conversation. one of the going to get trump? this is an adjustment. the council is, coming the liberals likely john wick attorneys. no matter, what will get him. we don't know is gonna get him. that's the problem. and one of the first nations can you attempt a coup and incite a terrorist attack on the capitol as the january six committee has said trump did and walk free two years later. forget how long it takes to indict somebody. look at the real world. two years of gone by and what is our message for fellow americans. which hunted couldn't have been that bad. if it was a, kruger played a role in tariffs attacks. they can charge right. now i know people are like, calm down, it's not line order. i'm not against law, order but it is to. years he should've been charged with something a long time ago. this is outrageous and undermines companies unaddressed a system even more than we had questions before. that is the problem.

he should have been charged already. >> your analogy between jack smith and john wick is not feeling me with hope, given that in the last movie we saw john white being shot and pushed off a building. sorry for the spoilers on new year's morning for those of you haven't seen the john wick movie. >> molly will see the race for the presidential nomination heat up this year. do you think we can actually see trump's republican rivals use his legal troubles against him in a primary race? >> i think that is pretty. likely he has the tax returns. you can see there is a lot of loans to the kids. a lot of stuff in there that is pretty sketchy. all of us paid more federal tax returns than he did. that is completely crazy. i do think they will do that but the problem with this republican primary will be the math. a 15 people run against trump, he will be the nominee. and one person runs against trump, maybe that person will be the nominee.

i think ultimately if they split the field again, we will have 2020 again. which will be a nightmare for all of us. . >> it is a very good, point i just don't see one person running against trump. they do have the unity in the party. you know mike pompeo wants to one. you know mike pence wants to run. so many of them want to. what if it was just, desantis trump, maybe. but even, then i think desantis is overrated. personally. as i said before on the show. , jason going back to the legal troubles i want to trickle one thing you said a moment. go going back to the 12 jurors, we've been talking a lot about that. it does not discussed enough that we live in an era of political violence. we live in our way donald trump threatens violence anytime the world seems to be closing in on him. as a former prosecutor, do you have to stop and think, who are these 12? people whether these 12 people up to? i can't imagine that the 12 people who, try to give a verdict for donald trump, never get to live normal lives again. >> mehdi, that is absolutely.

right nobody will realize that better than the people who were on that pool, who could end up being one of those potential. 12 here is the reality the way law works in this country, how it comes into play. the law is a game of nerves. when a lawyer was to push a case to trial, everyone gets scared and nervous. they specially do not like to lose publicly. no prosecutor wants to be at the home when donald trump goes to trial and does not get convicted. the 12 juries, they do know that life is gonna blow up and they're gonna say -- it's just not worth that, it wouldn't guilty. the difference it's gonna make. i am voting to equip, the rest of you do whatever you want to, and that's all it takes. >> -- . >> you will definitely, dean, get past the vetting process, i'm sure. trump's lawyers will be convinced of your neutrality and the fact that you have no

agenda whatsoever. serious question, do you, but i want to ask, actually. you are not on the jury. but one, trial forget watching a. trial we are very, clear january 1st 2023. will donald, trump in your view, dean, ever see the inside of a person? cell regardless of the evidence against him. will america for the former president behind bars? i'm throwing find it hard to see that happening to be honest. >> other first will countries have done. it we've seen prosecution in south korea and france and israel. let's be a first world nation, america. if you want to prevent in the future democrat or republican because there could be a democrat demagogue one day he doesn't like trump. if you want that to happen again and then succeed overturning an election and ending our democratic republic, ignore trump. so he doesn't need to be charged. but if you want to protect this democratic republic again, i

might be naive but i am hoping that some republicans will join on this. and say he must be charged, if he is acquitted i could live with it but he must be -- he must spend his last days in a prison cell as a living cautionary tale of politicians, if you ever attempted coup. if you ever try to overturn our election. if you ever incite a terrorist attack on our capitol. this is where you spend your twilight days. in a prison cell on cell block six somewhere, with donald trump only decides his lunch choices in the present commissary. >> yeah. i'm not sure what's the stake is in the prison commissary. do not go to, far everyone. you're gonna be joining me after a very short break. why? because there is renewed scrutiny over the personal finances and unusual campaign spending of incoming, very trumpy republican elected congressman george santos. added to the long list of his peculiar claims and outright lies. the end of the january six

committee isn't an enormous undertaking with enormous consequences. we'll look back on that underway. tha underway

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heard about the wild lies and ridiculous fabrications from george santos, the incoming republican congressman from long island. santa slide about attending college, he lied about where he worked. he lied about his background. he lied about his past philanthropic efforts, in his business dealings and more. nbc news is time to reach george santos for comment, but has not received any response. sanders has said he made mistakes, and admitted to, in his words, it was on his resume. now scientists turning to the. money -- is saying that san jose's finances are the sort of hidden restorations. santos came into some great wealth, right before his run

for congress in 2022. san jose even loans $700,000 of his own money to his minturn campaign. according to a new york times report. about 2022 we reported the 750,000 dollar salary, and claimed his company's organization was worth more than 1 million dollars. here is a, thing though. only two years older or are in 2020, he reported $50,000 a year. what on earth has his explanation for all of this? my panel is back with me now. molly don, fast dane anderson, and -- how concerned do we have to be, molly, what were all this money came from? >> i think this whole thing is screw up upon this group on screw up. this should have been a democratic see, even with the redistricting. this is long island. this is nasa, this is a largely jewish area. not just jewish fish. they don't necessarily need to

elect it, too. but it would be estranged to elect somebody who claims to be jewish-ish. whatever that means. and so i do think there is a lot of room to go around. republicans, again the candidate that ran against him said he did not to opt. oh i think we should put some blame, here, andrea jacobs. the head of the democratic party of new york. who democrats lost a lot of seats in new york that they could have kept. so i do think there is plenty of blame to go around. so, yes this is absolutely beyond the pale. >> yeah, he did not just pretend to be jewish. a reminder to our viewers but he also claimed that his grandparents were holocaust survivors rather disgustingly. falsely, of course. david, federal and local prosecutors in new york are monitoring the lengths of santos's deception. what could be the consequences before this incoming republican. here's >> the thing. when you line you lied to get

money. that's fraud we do over the inhibits that's wire fraud. every modern politician raises money over the internet. he's trying to say all i did was pad might resume but obviously goes far beyond that. putting a resume as when you say i am the assistant regional manager and the truth is you are the assistance to the regional manager. this is more like saying i work for thunder uncle and we never did it, all is basically what he did. the problem with that is when you lie and people give you money that's when you can be convicted of fraud. the bigger problem is that you committed a crime, which every person eventually serving in the jury can relate to. that means every one of us has been to the gas station in somebody walks up to in cuts hubs and say is my families in the car. can you help me. out if you are like me you look over their faces and give them money, and you go home and express it tells you, you know you just got, household right? that is a total sham. the problem people is that everybody who has -- seen knocked on their doors by investigators who want to be in a position, and nobody likes being the person that got puzzled. which means they are in a spill the beans. when you're the longer the head

of. you >> dean congressman james comer, the top republican in the oversight committee said earlier this week, but he's pretty confident the ethics committee cannot wait to indict santos. do you buy that? because we all know that kevin mccarthy needs desantis's vote for a chance of becoming speaker this week. >> first, can i just say with george santos what is amazing. we have all heard the self made, man but this is before self made up man. he created himself for. nothing this is the civilly dilley of american politics. but civilly, d'amelio in they committed fraud he won a grammy award. but -- because the republican party is no problem being. there i think they're gonna do some investigation, sure. but with a four seat majority as the house republican, they're not going to indict anybody. they're all about power. that's all they're gonna do. giving back the money, i think it's a big question. here he was paid a salary of 750, 000, dollars and then some help himself $7,000.

i think it is a question about the donors involved, money laundering. that's all gonna be investigated and one of the big things is the 2028 disclosure said he had no money in the bank and less than two years later he has 1 million to $5 million in cash in the bank. where did that come? from that he was property in 2020, to lie on the forms. there was no question about was their money laundering, what is really going on here? i'm just being quite investigated. i've no qualms with the gop to investigate them. but i do the nasa and the u.s. attorney. >> dean, just a follow-up on. that you mention that you have no confidence in the republican party to investigate him. the, problem the, is that george santos is basically trump in many ways. it's very hard to say that george santos is beyond the pale. he's a serial fabulous, it many would argue a combatant.

>> why would george santos think there is wrong to lie? and there is a -- internal. trump wanting this, clear mehdi. at least this version of the republican party -- what we kevin riccardi do? we still have to work with january six. when he bad-mouthed -- so something bad about santos one day and then go the next. he has no principal and stands for nothing but power. >> and on that, subject to quick last words to, you. molly on the subpoena power, is kevin mccarthy going to get, power do you think? prediction time, will he be speaker later this week? >> again, he does not have the votes right now. it is going to be soon. and then there is a lot of republicans who want him to pass this motion to vacate. which means they can call a speaker election, anytime they want. which really knew for his power.

i think if he gets, it he will not have it for a long. there's also a chance that scalise gets, it or someone comes out at the last minute and takes it from him. >> i would laugh my head off of that happens. -- well thank you, all happy new year to you. >> happy new year. still ahead, a barrage of missile and narrate sirens mock the start of the new year for the residents of kyiv. a live report from ukraine next. ukraine next some people think that's worth more than my skills. i've run this place for 20 years, but i still need to prove that i'm more than what you see on paper. you gotta be so good they can't ignore you. it's the way my mind works. i have a very mechanical brain. analytics and empathy. that's how i gain clients. i am more... i'm more than who i am on paper.

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town of moscow, idaho. an extradition hearing had been scheduled for coburg this can make thursday. but his defense attorney says he plans to waive the hearing. nbc news correspondent daniel griffin is in moscow, idaho, what can you tell us about that conversation that you had on friday? >> he said exactly when you. mentioned he is planning to waive extradition, because he wants to get back to moscow, idaho, as soon as possible. because he says his client will clear his name. -- i happen to see afternoon, but -- says that he believes he'll take 72 hours to get back to moscow, idaho. if moscow bullet police had arrange transportation for him in pennsylvania. that's where the extradition hearing is happening. we've reached out to the police department to see how they made those arrangements, and to do they believe it is going to take about 72 hours to get him here? we would not confirm those details. they also talked about those clients are saying at this

point. i blankly asked, him did he killed these four college students? and he said no. he said he didn't actually ask him that. question but then he thinks he is going to be exonerated in this case. he says that his client mentioned that he was in washington. which is about ten miles from the university of idaho. and he says that he was in the area, and acknowledge. that but says that he had nothing to do with these murders. betty. >> nbc's dana griffin, thank you so much for your reporting. appreciate it. it's a air raid sirens and explosions ushered out the final hours of 2022 when ukraine. and continue to work into the early hours of the new year this, morning with a new wave of russian missile attacks. haiti and kyiv. this killed at least 100 persons yesterday, and entered at least 20. ukrainian officials are reporting that the kremlin's latest attacks are continuing to target civilian areas. our team on the ground in, kyiv capture the sound of massive explosions yesterday. unless you can see st. michaels cathedral in central kyiv.

have a listen. nbc foreign correspondent matt bradley joins us live from kyiv yesterday. matt you are in a bunker. today we're out and about. i can see, what has been happening in the capital city this morning? >> mehdi, we went around a little bit today trying to see the damage from these new year's attacks. we went to one residential area that clearly had been hit by this mistake. one of these bombs that the russians seemed to be flinging across the landscape here. it really landed right next to a children's playground. one other location we went to was a hotel. that's where that japanese

journalist had been injured. it was not clear whether it was an actual direct hit, or debris falling from a missile that intercepted either way. it essentially surely front office that hotel. unless something, that i want to tell, you many, people are just getting used to. it's becoming a daily occurrence ever since the fall, when we started to see russia blanketing the country with regular bombings and missile strikes. this is the fourth straight day of this style of attack. happening late at night or early in the morning. and the ukrainians have been very effective, as i mentioned. intercepting these weapons. as i mentioned also, some of them have managed to hit their targets, and as you said, at least one person was killed. all this comes a couple of hours after we saw speeches celebrating new year's by president volodymyr zelenskyy of ukraine and vladimir putin of russia. they were very different in, tone of course, from zelenskyy right before midnight.

he addressed a recorded message, a rallying cry to his. people in the speech which was broadcast across the country had images of ukrainians fighting into the war. images of protests and rallies from around the world. encouraging the ukrainians and supporting them. whereas president putin, speech which was shot in an unknown location, on a military base in the south of the country, putin appeared before a rank of different soldiers who were all facing the camera with him. it was a message which imprudent just hit reprising him. saying this is an accidental fight for russia's future. instead they said it was the one that was supposed to cause this disaster estimation of ukraine, in which russian people actually paid very very high price as we head into the new year. many. >> nbc's matt bradley in kyiv. please stay safe. >> that's a wrap on the january

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conducting more than 1200 interviews and depositions, receiving more than 10,000 trips, and pouring more than 1 million pages of records, in coding 100 subpoenas. the bottom line of the report, trump and his allies are willing to do just about anything to overturn the 2020 election. there is no debt to the committee's work shifted public opinion about the insurrection, about those involved. more importantly, it pulled a cut back on a coordinated, sinister plan to undermine american democracy. here to talk through it all this somebody who is at all the hearings and broke some key stories about the committee. political investigation for the guardian, hugo lowell. happy new year to. yeah what was 2022 like for you in that committee room? >> happy new year, mehdi. it was a really remarkable moment in the country and all of the hearings. but i think cassidy hutchinson really shows the kind of cooperation that can make or break investigation.

including the committee got it in terms of trying to figure out what was going on inside the west wing on january six. and the kind of things that trump white house officials were telling each other. when i think about all of the hearings, and i think we all the seminal moments that this committee, hutchinson really does stand out and in particular the moment that stands out are the kinds of descriptions of how she was with mark meadows. the white house chief of staff. and how meadows seemed to know that something catastrophic was going to go down on january six. how rudy giuliani seem to know that something catastrophic was going down on january six. the testimony to get corroborated by other witnesses. and i think it kind of painted a moment for the country, of just how involved the white house was in the story of the capitol attack. >> and, hugo the committee's final report released last month really capped off a blockbuster year for them. what do you think stands out in their over 800 pages of confusion? >> i think the report has a

really important role in breaking down the timeline from before the election to the january six. and to highlight the key moments. this is people have not been following it particularly closely. you can see an overview of how the trump white house and trump himself was involved, in each of the key moments leading up to january six. and that report talks about how we're not for trump, and the way in which january six went down whenever have happened. i think that breaking it down in terms of the big lie, the capitol attack, the plan to act top doj officials because he wanted to install wireless. i think that is a really good way of breaking down, as a legacy product for the committee, the product of their investigation. and i think they put it together in a coherent narrative. even though the hearings did not quite do justice. they were kind of disjointed with the report. there is now a digital version,

where they are corresponding with moving graphics. i think that is really important for the legacy. >> the committee spent the final days of the years releasing transcripts from their investigative work. what do you think the point that wasn't what surprised you most? >> the point was for the transparency, right? i think you see the report and you see the details that are still down. i think if you look at the transcript and you see the question and you really see where the committee was trying to go, you also see the obstructionist behavior from a lot of witnesses. that really stood at more than anything. you have lot of witnesses invoking the fifth and a lot of witnesses who went for the committee they did not remember the events even if other witnesses place them on phone calls or at meetings. some of the most, egregious i thought, where the i don't recall moments. staff in the trump white house.

you cannot remember talking with a presidential movement on january six. everyone else remember the discussion about potential presidential movement. and say to come into that late stage and say i don't remember, i think just goes to show the depth of the obstructionist behavior. i think that is something the justice department take very seriously in their investigation. i wonder when they are brought into a federal grand jury, that memories are reject. >> on that note hugo, looking ahead to the rest of this year in 2023, how do you see the political and legal consequences of the committees work playing out? especially their criminal referrals. >> the criminal referrals were interesting because they kind of made out a roadmap for the justice department to pursue in terms of potential charges against trump in particular. i think some are more ambitious than others. probably more ambitious, you have to get out of -- find an event that trump incited that led to eminence

lawless action. at the legal threshold. that statute. for something like obstruction of an official proceeding, i think that is much more. straightforward the current case moving all over in the d.c. circus court right now looking at what constitutes an obsession obstruction of an official proceeding. is it a document. is an actual event? i think you can get around that with trump. if you just focus on the documents and focus on the -- all of those parts are really coming together now in a way that we did not know or did not anticipate a year ago. i think don from his real jeopardy on january, six in a, way that you make of the fat six months. ago but, of course we have to remember that mar-a-lago documents case. that is moving forward quite quickly. we knew the trump's legal team is most concerned about that. they're insignificantly go power for the documents case. and then they're trying to figure to shaq smith will bring an indictment in 2023. >> quick last question, here. go 30 seconds left.

republicans say they are not going to officially investigate the january six committee has their suggested they might do earlier. but they're gonna spend the rest of the time trashing the results of that report. are they? >> of course, this is something the committee anticipated. and we will anticipate. if you go and look at the reports it turns out, if you look at the transcripts, some of the transcripts are really. jamming you look at people like -- one of these key instigators of the january 6th rally. organizers, someone in the stop the steal movement. you could not recall how he formed instance came to learn the trump wanted him to march the capitol on january six. ali alexander is exactly the kind of key witness that damage doj might want to immunize to get to the truth about a capitol attack. i think that is really important for just this problem. >> let's see what the justice department does in 2023. hugo lowell, thank you so much for your reporting. we'll speak to again in the next hour. a new congress will be sworn in in the coming days.

and a new majority will take over the house. the halls of capitol hill will not be as right aspect. the next, the one and only steve corner can look at the lessons learned from the 2022 election cycle.

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pulled off a big november surprise. success in the midterm elections. and beat back a predicted red wave, defeating a slew of donald trump endorsed election denying candidates especially at the state level. nbc's steve kornacki is at the big board, with a look at the lessons we learned from the midterms. >> we started 2022 asking if there would be a big republican weight and we end 2022 knowing that there wasn't. republicans do get control of the, house but they get it by very slim margin and they end up losing a senate seat so what

happens. what did we learn from this midterm cycle? >> one thing that i think really stands out is that joe biden, democrats had a good midterm cycle politically. in spite of the unpopularity of the president, 44%. this numbers from the exit poll on election day. only 44% job approval rating for biden. we have been trained. we've seen in modern elections this kind of number for a president in the midterm election as, always in modern times, meant political catastrophe for the presidents party. just take, a look here. there are recent presidents. this is their approval ratings. during midterm elections trump in 2018 and barack obama in 14. and intent, george w. bush in 2006. there are approval ratings all basically right where joe biden's was this year. and you will remember the dates he was a disaster for republicans. they lost 40 seats and. a house. 14 was a disaster for democrats, especially in the senate. side they lost nine senate seats, and that he was 13 seat loss for democrats in 2014. they didn't know that many seats left to lose.

otherwise it probably would've been bigger. 30 seat lost for republicans and this is what a low approval rating has meant in modern times. that is, number a lot of publicans or expecting that this would mean something similarly politically catastrophic. yet it didn't. why? what broken democrats favor? what stands out is this. what you're looking at here is the independent vote in the midterm elections. democrats actually won the independent vote by two points, and all of these recent presidents we are just going through had rough midterm elections, you see that in their midterms the independents broke for the opposition party by double digits. that's what we have been conditions to expect. if a president is unpopular, the independents go to the opposition party. and today doing big numbers. they didn't do that this, year even though biden still was not that popular. let's dig into those numbers a bit. more i said biden was not that popular. that is especially true with

independent voters. 60% of independent said in the exit polling landed unfavorable view of biden. majority, and unfavorable view of the democratic party. joe biden is not popular with independents. but you can see here, the republican party and especially donald trump, even less popular. significantly less popular with independent voters. i think you start to see, here we typically think of these midterm elections, referendum on the president. that is typically how they have run. i think there's probably a referendum aspect here. on the opposition party. the man who most recently lead the opposition party this year is academically cannot usually have in midterm elections. also take a look at this. we asked about the role of donald trump, his lingering presence in these hundreds who do american politics. the january 6th hearings this summer. asking independent voters about the state of democracy, nearly three quarters say they feel democracy is threatened. just look at how these voters split. there wasn't evidence to say democracy is threatened went

from democrats by 16 point margin. those who say they consider to care voted for -- by a sixth margin. a lot more, independents if they consider democracy threatened. an unusual result and unpopular president's party loses the independent vote and staves off what i think a lot of people started this year expecting to be a political disaster for democrats. instead they gain a seat in the house and come within five of hanging on to the house. >> nbc's steve kornacki, thank you. . still to come this morning, 2023 marks a new congress. stay with us. congress. stay with us there's the philly, the monster, the boss. if i hadn't seen it in person, i wouldn't have believed it. eating is believing steph. the subway series. try subway's tastiest menu upgrade yet.

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world failed. since returning to power after president biden pulled u.s. troops out of afghanistan in 2021. the taliban's crackdown has been brutal. the rights and freedoms of afghan women have, regressed and one final move to women's rights before the world and, they've been in the room attending school after first grade independent university. we'll get into that and more the next. our another hour of velshi starts right now. good morning, and i new year. it is sunday. january 1st. i'm hassan, sitting in for my