reiser and for yasmin vossoughian. we continue to follow the latest developments and a machete attack on a group of new york city police officers. plus the breaking news we brought you first just last hour, kevin mccarthy holding a sunday call with a gop members. just one hour. as he scrambles for the votes he needs to become speaker of the house on a vote on tuesday. it's not the only issue facing the gop as they take control of the house. they also have to figure out what to do about congressman -elect and alleged serial liar george santos. >> i think this is troubling and so many ways. certainly he has lied repeatedly. again, this is a decision whether he resigns or stays that needs to be made between he and the voters who elected him. he certainly going to have to consider resigning. >> the democrat who lost two santos certainly has some ideas about what should be done. robert cimarron joins me in a few minutes.

plus a look ahead at what is expected to be one of the key political storylines of 2023. trump versus desantis. more on that ahead. we are going to start with some breaking news. kevin mccarthy set to hold a call with a gop conference in about an hour's time. he's facing some tough numbers in his fight for the house speaker. abc's ali roth joins me now from capitol hill. ali, what more can you tell us about your scoop. just about an hour from now, this big gop meeting. >> yeah, lindsay, my colleague haley talbot and i getting the scoop about an hour ago that really explains what kevin mccarthy is doing in these last two days before that make-or-break moment, the speaker's election on tuesday. sources are telling us that in less than an hour at 4 pm he's going to hold this call with members of the house gop caucus, really trying to solidify every last gop vote, every ounce of support he can be for that critical vote on tuesday.

the last thing he wants to happen is for, is to not have enough support in that first round of votes that this is then triggered into multiple rounds until someone reaches a majority of the votes, something that hasn't happened here on capitol hill in around 100 years. so, right now we know that there are more house republicans publicly opposing mccarthy than the amount he needs that he can afford to lose and still win this race. we know that over the past few weeks he has been making concessions to far-right members of his caucus. some holdouts in the party in exchange for their support. this is still coming down to a numbers game to reach the magic number of 218 votes on tuesday, lindsey. >> this isn't the only gop headache. incoming republican congressman george santos has been exposed as a proven liar over key parts of his background. how are house republicans dealing with this in the fight for the next speaker? >> this is just adding really to the headache that kevin mccarthy is likely to have right now. it has been a quiet and silence

from mccarthy as well as house gop leadership. after multiple requests from an nbc news as well as other media outlets for reaction to the story, despite that, there are rank and file democrats and republicans who are growing louder in reaction to this. i want you to take a listen to some reaction from democrats or republicans here. >> the republican leadership and new that george santos was a fraud and said and did nothing. so, as far as i'm concerned, republican leadership is complicit in the fraud that george santos has perpetrated against the public. >> he certainly going to have to consider resigning. he has two choices, one, he can politically ride it out. we have seen that happen in washington, d.c.. or he can take the tougher choice. which is, i think, own every lie that he's made. apologize to everyone and anyone for as long as it takes. >> you heard them say there. there are calls for santos to resign. there are also cause from even

republicans in the house who say that even if he is sworn in there should be an ethics and best occasion into the claims that he made on his resume that he has now admitted to embellishing. santos after all helped republicans flip that district and earn back their majority in the house. so, mccarthy, there's no incentive or advantage for mccarthy and house gop leadership to come out and condemn santos. possibly losing support that santos has already pledged to for mccarthy and that speakership about. possibly other house republicans who mccarthy could lose if he stands up against santos. so, this is all teeing up for what's likely to be a very, very interesting vote on tuesday. we know before santos can even be sworn in or before this house majority can even begin to function, they have to elect a speaker. so, even raising the stakes even more for mccarthy before tuesday, lindsey. >> ali roth, thank you. joining me right now is robert's interim, the democrat who came up short on george santos in his congressional

race in new york. you have called for a congressional probe of santos. what would that look like? given everything we just heard from ali about the silence and the gop majority, do you expect it will actually happen? >> good to be with you, lindsey. yes, i called for -- an immediate house ethics investigation into him. it's also encouraging to know the department of justice investigation, that it vacillation by that new york attorney general, and the dea's in these counties. before, that he should not assume his position and resign from even having the opportunity to assume his position as a member of congress. george santos didn't embellish his resume. he committed and out now to fraud on the voters of our congressional district. lying about his education, his job career, admitting to crimes, passing bad checks, not paying rent that he was legally repo wire to pay. the point is this. republican and democrats, we can have a philosophical difference. what we should be able to trust,

the integrity of our public officials. that's why you see bipartisanship in the district, calling for his ouster, and it's actually absolutely shameful that the republican party leadership in the house who knew about his situation, knew about him have not stepped up and an acknowledged that he in fact is not just a threat to the integrity of the institution, he may very well be a national security threat because he fails to the clothes where his money comes from. he fails t o the clothe where his money comei want to re reporting from puck news about how your campaign handled research on santos. after being handled a half baked apple packet on santos on the democratic congressional campaign committee, he, zimmerman, eu, decided against spending between 30 and 50 grand to develop that research which would've made it easier to report and might have also turned up other falsehoods. can you confirm this, if this is true? if it is, do you regret not spending more here? >> it's not true. first of all, i spoke to a reporter directly, it's her interpretation of the resource.

it was an 87-page report. it laid out a number of issues that we use in our campaign. george santos and his involvement in the needs direction movement, his lies about his position on reproductive rights. comparing abortion to slavery. for that matter, saying women use rape as an excuse to get an abortion. we use many aspects of the opposition. there are many red flags, they're brought to the media's attention, regrettably, because there are major -- and national hot midterm election, we could get the national media's attention. many of them, frankly, we're just overstaffed and had the personnel to do it. so, i don't agree with that analysis. we took the opposition and did the best sound the alarm. to the credit of local media, steve a blank state media for that matter, grant lolly of the nor sort leader, members of the staff at newsday, they raised many of these issues and did sound the alarm. unfortunately, it wasn't enough. that was ultimately the frustration with it. we certainly did the opposition

research. it was down with the congressional campaign committee. raise a lot of important red flags. if we want to make sure this doesn't happen again, i would encourage every viewer to invest in your local media. pay, get subscriptions to newspapers, support local media. the other front lines and defending democracy. >> i support that. robert, i want to ask you, if you could do anything differently, if you wish maybe the national parties could've done something differently -- would you? >>,,. , obviously, i wish i knew the information that's out. now we try to get it. let me be very clear, lindsey. we got the nomination. i got the nomination on this 24th. we had ten weeks to the general election. we had to raise money, we had to build a campaign, plan our field operations, raise money for our media and for our direct mail. so, we had to do a lot in ten weeks. i'm very proud of the effort we made. frankly, while it's frustrating,

believe, me no one is more frustrated than me about the fact that this information wasn't available at the time, all the details. the truth of the matter is, we did our best to tell the story and notify the media. frankly, i think the most important way we can address this in the future, support local media. stand up to make sure that we deal with going forward, that we hold george santos accountable and demand the republicans in congress call for his ouster and demand that he finally discloses where the money comes from. that is the real issue. where the funds came from. >> and about the national parties? do you think that anything will be learned for either the democrats of the republicans moving forward? >> it's interesting, this is the second time santos has run for congress. republicans every vetted him either time. this is the only time george santos was vetted by the democratic congressional campaign committee. obviously, that is important. i think what's really critical here, as we look forward, a look to the future, it's so

important that we demand accountability. we come together in a bipartisan way. santos -- $700,000. very middle income. about $50,000. where the money come from? we know is disclosed. he received over $50,000 from relatives of russian oligarchs. so, we don't know where -- did you get mother other money from oligarchs again disclose? did he lie, in fact, not loan's own campaign 700,000. did you put that on his farm? that's why you need an ethics investigation. an important test of a getting going on speaking at the facts. hopefully, out of this we can demand a greater accountability. no one in congress should be able to defraud the american people. it's a national security risk. the voters of our district and not be held accountable. >> if you seated, will you run against him in 2024? >> lindsey, i've asked that question a lot. truthfully, this is not about me. it is not about my agenda. we have to keep our focus on santos, be focused on making sure we build bipartisan

support to -- make sure we keep the pressure on the republicans in congress to demand and meet vessel geisha and an immediate accountability. it should take a year for george santos to come forward and tell us about his finances, what was real about, them where the money came from and disclose what has to be disclosed as accountability. >> is your answer to skate undecided? >> i'm sorry? >> is your answer undecided? >> my answer is, this is not about me. i want to keep the focus on george santos. that's my answer. i want to keep the focus on the republican leadership of congress, demanded they step up and address the threat he represents the institution. >> robbers iterant, thank you. >> happy new year. >> shifting gears now. investigators in new york city are working to determine why a man would attack three and ypg officers with a machete. police say a 19-year-old man from maine attack the officers adjustable ox away from times square last night. the officers are now recovering. police want to know if this was

a targeted attack against police. abc's kathy park reports from times square. >> several law enforcement sources are telling nbc news that the suspect has been identified as 19 year old trevor backfired of maine. we have just learned that fbi agents are at his home right now. t officials are saying that he doesn't have a criminal history, but he was now into law enforcement because of his social media postings. and now they are looking into whether the suspect -- before coming here to new york city possibly targeting officers on new years eve. as you can imagine,, it certainly was pretty chaotic when this all unfolded. officials are saying that they reacted very quickly. they were able to secure the scene right away. earlier this, morning they provided this update, take a listen. >> a 19-year-old male approached an officer and attempted to strike him over the head with a machete. the male then struck two additional officers in the head with a machete.

one officer and eight year vet veterans suffered a laceration to the head. the second officer who graduated from the police academy on friday was also struck in the head, resulting in a skull fracture and large laceration. one of the officers fired their service weapon, striking the subject in the shoulder. >> we are still waiting for an update on those three officers. we are told they are all expected to survive. officials are saying there is no threat at this time, the suspect acted alone. obviously, this is still very early on in the investigation. we're still trying to figure out what motivated the suspect to carry out the attack. back to you. >>, kathy park, thank you. still ahead, the do or you can see coming. a look at president biden's plan for a kentucky meet up with mitch mcconnell. plus the dueling new year's messages from ukrainian vote presidents lens can russian president putin, and what it says about the wartime ahead.

and -- >> -- to start the year, it is the best way. >> from the netherlands to coney island, people are taking a new year's day deep to ring in 2023.

>> just hours ago, kim jong-un ordered a, quote, exponential increase of north korea's nuclear arsenal. state media reports the leader speaking a six-day summit of

the ruling party where he doubled down on plans to target south korea. he also called for the development of a weapon powerful enough to strike the u.s.. kim jong-un's comment comes after months of increasing militarization. in 2022, north korea fired more missiles than ever before. the country began the new year with tests of its largest rocket launcher. it's a deadly start to the year and ukraine as russia continues to launch missiles into kyiv and other cities. ukrainian officials accuse russia deliberately targeting civilians, a move designed to create a climate of fear across the war torn nation. those strikes have now claimed the lives of at least three people. russia continued the bombardment against ukraine today, interrupting your celebrations with a barrage of missiles. joining me now live from kyiv as nbc's matt bradley. so, what are you learning there about the latest attacks and how ukraine is responding? >> yeah, flimsy, they are missiles but also drones.

as of exploding drones that ukraine says we're sourced from iran. they are called drones. they are reportedly 45 of them and just the past 24 hours. a lot of these devices, the missiles, the drones, they get shot down by ukraine's incredibly effective anti aircraft methods, which have resulted in not necessarily neutralizing the threat, and the fact of the matter, is when you shoot down something that's coursing over the sky, it still has to fall. debris still has to go somewhere. some of the places we visited today and yesterday and the day before, this has been going on now for four straight days, constant bombardments. it's not just a direct attacks by these missiles or drones, it's also fallen debris that can kill people. and that can destroy homes. we saw some of its landing next to children's playground. this is something that, to be honest, lindsay, this, capital this country, it's getting used to it. this has going on not to for the past for days, for the past several months. ever since early fall.

regular strikes targeting as you mentioned civilian infrastructure. specifically electricity. that is something that the european union has described as a war crime. it's targeting civilian infrastructure. it also seems to be part of putin strategy to demoralize, terrorize, and generally antagonize the ukrainian people and just snapped their will and push them into negotiations of surrender, lindsey. >> -- like you just said, debris falling next to a playground. matt, we heard speeches from both putin and zelenskyy this weekend. how are they framing the war as we enter this new year? >> yeah, we can call them two dueling speeches. new year's eve is a big deal in russia and in ukraine. it's actually, in certain ways bigger than christmas. so, the two leaders took the time to address their nation, their respective countries. now we saw vladimir putin, for the first time, you know, he actually delivered his speech not from the kremlin, from his office. but from an and named a southern military outpost where

it looked like he was flanked by uniform soldiers the. tone and tenor of the speech matched the visuals. it was a speech where he was taking aim at those dissidents within russia who are opposing the war, this is often a bugaboo flattery of putin, the dissent from it in his own nation. also describing the war in the parameters that he's used in the past. describing it not just as russia versus ukraine, but as russia taking on the entire west, all of europe, all of america. the kind of antagonism that really recalls a soviet parlance. the sort of more of the worlds that a lot of his viewers will remember from the cold war. and that is why he's tapping into that. now, by contrast, we also heard from president volodymyr zelenskyy. his speech which was filled with images of the war, images of ukrainians fighting and supporting each other and also pictures, as i was watching this last night, of demonstrations in support of

ukraine from around the world. he named specific cities, specific weapons, specific battles and trying to rally his people with really what was in contrast to putin a message of hope. i was sitting in the hotel lobby watching this. i turned around and saw the staff. they were in tears. >> wow. incredible, matt bradley, thank you so much. joining me right now is maria aviva, resource director at the european expert association. maria, to close out the, year we're seeing russia launching missiles and drones against kyiv and other cities. what have the last 24 hours been like in ukraine? >> they are drones and missiles attacked -- ukrainians -- [inaudible] this will help russia -- [inaudible] [inaudible]

they confirmed a raids. major ukrainian cities. [inaudible] december and now on the 1st of january eight has continued while i'm speaking to you. [inaudible] that should heed drones. this is the russian tactics, which aims specifically on critical infrastructure. and nights in the winter. shortages to bring as much harm and to the civilians as possible. this is what russia tries to do. to stop it, ukraine uses new western weapons that were supplied just recently.

there was a report that there were some systems used yesterday which were very effective to stop this attack. and not to allow russia to bring and destroy as much critical infrastructure as could be possible. >> -- -- let's talk about the new year speech from zelenskyy. in part he said there's no other option, we have no other option other than to win. do you feel like this was successful in keeping up that fighting spirit among ukrainians? >> absolutely, this is the common wish of all ukrainians. everyone was wishing each other for christmas and for the new year the only thing, victory. for ukraine, a victory means -- the occupation of all the territories that are now illegally occupied by russia. this is what all the people

living in ukraine are fighting for. this is the only real, and ukrainians believe this will happen. only after that, after all the territories of ukraine will be liberated, there might be some possibility to talk, not before. that because russia for sure tries to use some type to regroup, to get more resources and to attack. again that's why they start speaking about some kind of negotiation. what we see from russia, they continue to be aggressive, hostile toward ukraine. they don't want anti kind of talk. they only need time. and that is why they tried to do this, and they will probably try to attack again. russia is not stopping in its aggressive politics for any days at all. >> maria, thank you so much for

joining us, i appreciate it. coming up, what could president biden and mitch mcconnell together for a joint appearance mean? i'm going to tell you next. to tell you 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.

>> tech: cracked windshield? make it easy and schedule with safelite, because you can track us and see exactly when we'll be there. >> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tech vo: that's service that fits your schedule. go to safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ >> nbc news has learned that

president biden will promote the bipartisan infrastructure bill alongside senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. biden and mcconnell will speak together in kentucky on wednesday. a day after the gop takes control of the house. joining me now is jonathan allen, nbc news senior national politics reporter. jonathan, good to see you here, happy new year. hello this appearance with mcconnell set the tone for president biden's 2023 agenda? >> happy new year, lindsay. there is a back to the future quality to this. biden and mcconnell have negotiated for many years both in the senate and of course biden's vice president for

barack obama of the negotiated this very tough budget and debt limit deals with mcconnell. going back basically a decade or so now. this is a pair that has a common interest in talking about things like infrastructure, we saw a lot of republican votes for that when biden was putting it together. they are going to go out and sell this to the country together. >> we have this rare moment of unity that we are seeing this week. at the same time, we are going to see whatever it is with this new house, with the gop taking over. several issues they're dealing with. what next can we expect with republicans in the majority of the house? >> well, we are first going to see whether republicans and the majority in the house are going to pick a leader on january 3rd. kevin mccarthy, the minority leader who wants to be speaker still doesn't have the votes for that. he needs to get a majority of those in the voting. he's still working out the

details. he has a call with the conference members earlier this week. he's continuing to work that vote. i think that's the first thing. we need to know who's running the house republicans before we know which direction they're going to go in. >> on that note, do you get a sense in terms of governing that there is an agenda here at hand? do you get a sense that we will mostly see some politically driven community investigations? >> there is absolutely an agenda, lindsey. we are going to get investigations, they're going to capture headlines. they are intending to do. that they're intending to have a political effect, much like many of the democratic investigations in some cases had a political effect or a political sight to them. what you're also going to see from the house republicans is an agenda that includes a lot of pieces a policy that aren't going to become law. number, when the democrats control the senate, number two president biden is still in the

oval office. for example, steve scalise who's currently a minority with -- expects to become the majority leader, has put out a list of bills and initiatives he plans to put forward within the opening weeks of the congress, included in that all restrictions on abortion, there are some tax policies as well in there that he has put out there. none of it's going to be terribly surprising. we know where the democrats stand, we know that where the republican stand. it will be in conservative policy agenda. >> you have been looking into trump's taxes which were released in the last few days. they basically shattered the illusion of him being a successful businessman, showing a lot of financial shortcomings and the like. what does this mean for the 2024 campaign? >> great question, absolutely, right he tells the american public that he's a super savvy businessman. turns out what is most savvy about is turning losses for his businesses into shielding of

his personal taxation. when it means first, campaign i'm not sure there are many voters who actually pull the lever for or against donald trump based on his taxpaying. if that was the case, we might have seen some different electoral results in 2016. that, said i think the republican primary opponents may be able to use some of this as political ammunition against him. certainly, the chinese bank account that he had opened for a long time is certainly something you might hear republican opponents and eventually president joe biden if trump makes it to the general election. you might hear biden use it against him. perhaps taking expenses and calculating expenses and deductions and tax experts called into question. i think that's also something they might get politically. at the end of the day. most people make up their mind on a broader set of topics, maybe perhaps bigger sets of topics. >> all right, jonathan, thank

you so much. now to the suspect arrested in connection with the idaho university murders. he is expected to waive an extradition hearing according to his attorney. the suspect ryan colbert is charged with murdering four idaho college students. the 28-year-old is scheduled to be back in court on tuesday. and he's steve patterson reports. >> yeah, 28 year old brian coburg are now in custody. taken into custody some 2500 miles away in his home state of northern pennsylvania. brought in at about 3:00 in the morning. his family telling police essentially that they were cooperative but they were taken aback by the arrest. now we're getting new details as coburg or has spoken to his attorney. in the details of that conversation, we now understand something major, he is waving his right to it expedition hearing, he is not choosing to fight extradition, what that

means is he will come back to idaho much more swiftly than expected and will face justice. in that, that means the affidavit, the probable cause affidavit was a sealed until he came back to the state. now that he is coming back, we should know more details about what police know, possibly about a motive, possibly about a murder weapon, possibly about a new details on the case. in relation that he may have had to those of victims. meanwhile, police saying this is unequivocal-y absolutely their man. this is the sole suspect and these murders. they believe that them staying quiet during parts of this investigation unequivocal-y led to his arrest. so, moving forward the extradition hearing wave, that means that he could possibly be back in idaho again as early as next week. we may know a whole lot more about this case. i'll send it back to you. a democratic freshman who has so she's not afraid to make

good trouble. congresswoman-elect jasmine crockett joins me next as she prepares to take her oath of office this week. of delicious subs. 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. >> tech: cracked windshield? make it easy the subway series. and schedule with safelite, because you can track us and see exactly when we'll be there. >> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tech vo: that's service that fits your schedule. go to safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

(classical piano music) - [reporter] one of the deadliest mass shootings in us history at pulse nightclub in orlando. - [barbara] walking into the building for the first time after the shooting, it was crippling, but it had to be preserved. if you are an ally of this community, speak out. there are more of us together than apart. it is the power of love in its rawest form. (classical piano music) >> this week marks the

beginning of the new congress. already it starting on a dramatic note for republicans. kevin mccarthy is desperately trying to save his steep speakership ed. congressman elect george santos is facing calls to resign for lying about his resume. how do democrats plan to offset the gop chaos? my next guest is no stranger to pushing back on. that democrat jasmine crockett, made a name for herself in a texas house legislature. she is now moving from texas to washington this week. to be sworn and as a new member of congress after the race. congressman-elect joins me now literally just arriving in d.c. to take office. might still be at the airport. >> absolutely, i just got off the flight. >> congresswoman-elect,

congratulations. >> absolutely, it's great to see, you thank you so much. let's go ahead and start with some of the issues that are facing this new congress. first off, george santos. how do you think the congress will held him accountable given the increased likelihood that the republican side won't? >> i'm going to tell you like this. you mentioned the fact, freshman leadership. i am the freshman wrap on the democratic side. one of the things that we're working on right now as a bipartisan letter. i fully anticipate that george will absolutely be sworn in. whether or not he should serve on committees while he has so many looming cases over his head, i believe that my classmates along with even those on the republican side can agree that he has some pretty agree just allegations that are pending against him. when you've cracked criminal investigations from the federal level and the state level and the local county level, that

tells you that maybe you are not in the best position to serve the american people on a committee. we are going to ask whomever the leader may be to not seat him on committees until and unless he is cleared of all the investigations that are currently pending against him. >> what are your thoughts on seeing essentially congressman kevin mccarthy's uphill battle for the speakership bid? >> i think it's great. listen, i mean, i think one thing that is going to be clear, this legislative session is that democrats deliver while republicans wrangell. we are going to see that they are not prepared to lead, but we are prepared to lead. so, i absolutely believe that it makes sense that this is what they are doing right now. considering the fact that we need to take the house back. so, i think that american people will see who the leaders are in the house, regardless of who has the, numbers i think it will be clear that the

democrats are the ones that need to take the house back so we can get back to delivering for the american people. >> on that note, congresswoman-elect, the american people, they want to see results, they want to see that the people that they elect to go to washington to represent them will get things done that in their best interest. what are your biggest priorities this year? how do you work across the aisle to get that done? >> yeah, absolutely. right now i think one of the things that republicans continually so to the american people is that they really want it to focus on the economy. well, i think we all can agree, no matter what part of the aisle you come from, if you decide to even subscribe to either side of the, aisle we all want our economy to be as strong as possible as we are still going through the recovery from covid-19 and the effects of covid-19. we know that we have the infrastructure bill, we know that we have the chips act, we know that democrats are delivering it. we signed something into law,

we didn't see the difference tomorrow. let me tell you something, one thing that we know happened that was absolutely life-changing, life-changing, was the fact that now as of today if you are on medicaid or medicare, you don't have to worry about spending over $35 a month as it relates to your insulin. that is a real deal that people can feel. so, what i think we can focus on and work on together, it's going to be economic opportunities. the fact that we have a meltdown when it came to the airlines, i think we really are going to be able to work in a bipartisan fashion on the faa reauthorization act that is going to be up this cycle. we will all focus on making sure that our consumers are better protected from a meltdown such as this. i think we are also going to make sure that we are protecting those that work in the airline industry a lot more. these are economic hardships, and these are real life hardships that are presented. anything surrounding the economy, while we may end up at

different extremes, i think that we will absolutely get somewhere on economic issues. >> congresswoman-elect, finally, you mentioned your freshman leadership position. what does that mean to you? >> it means the world, i'm going to tell you why. as a black woman, to be the first black woman elected to this post, and only the first of two black women elected to serve in house democratic caucus leadership, that means that there is a lot that is on my shoulders. more importantly, it means the world that my classmates thought enough of me, no matter if they came from the democratic seat or if they came from a little bit more of a contentious space, they understand that i plan to work for and with each and every one of them to make sure that they get reelected. so, i think that we have to prioritize our message. so often we are focused on urban america. we have to start delivering messages to rural america, making sure that farmers know that hey, if you want to survive, you need a democrat on

your side. making sure they understand that your hospitals are closing, because republicans fail to expand upon access to health care. expand upo>> making sure havinge conversation so my classmates that are coming from rural areas, which i'm so excited for them to get elected, and those areas, that they have a easier path. because they really deserve to be in those seats. they are going to work for them. those are the things we're going to work. on >> representative elected, jasmine crockett, joining us before even going to baggage claim. thank you so very. much >> thank you, lindsey, good to see you. >> coming up, a look ahead to the political scene and 2020. three well ron desantis officially channels donald trump for the presidential nomination. well a democrat emerge to give president biden a challenger? and he sabato and his political crystal ball jointly next to gaze into the future. the future [sfx: stomach gurgling] it's nothing... sounds like something.

♪ when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, ♪ ♪ upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief... when you need it most.

♪ma ma ma ma♪ [clears throut] for fast sore throat relief, try vicks vapocool drops with two times more menthol per drop*, and the powerful rush of vicks vapors for fast-acting relief you can feel. vicks vapocool drops. fast relief you can feel. >> [inaudible] >> very, good the campaign, you're talking about almost two years i think very. good i think we're doing really well. i saw poll numbers today that were fantastic. i think we're going to do well.

>> former president donald trump avoiding most questions except one about his campaign at new year's eve media availability. 2024 presidential races entering a new phase. according to politico, the biggest winners going into 2020 for are president biden for the democrats, florida governor ron desantis for republicans. this comes as desantis's popularity in the party is increasing. with him leading trump and several 2024 primary polls. so, what is the state of the race with the election less than two years away? are we looking at a biden desantis matchup? the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia and the man behind sabato's crystal ball joins me now. we have some technical issues. he's on the phone. i want to ask you hear about this favor billet-y among biden and desantis supporters. do you expect that to stay the same in this new year? >> well, president biden is in a much better position. i think for him, it is entirely possible that if he runs, if he

continues to be determined to run, he would easily get the nomination. maybe even unopposed. ron desantis can't hope to do that. , now he is way ahead early on. but they are at least a dozen republicans who are seriously considering jumping in. i don't think they're going to defer to desantis or anyone else, certainly not trump at this point. >> is there any room you think for an anti trump candidates in the republican presidential field? someone like a liz cheney aura chris christie, how would that candidate and of doing it? >> not well. look at the composition of today's republican party. i suppose you could argue that if there were ten candidates, including trump, maybe the one anti trump candidates would get a 20 or 25%. you can make a better argument that ten candidates would guarantee trump's nomination, even if he is and serious legal trouble, which apparently he has. >> how do you see trump

stacking up against desantis in a primary? >> well, desantis is a name and an image. republicans are generally looking for an alternative to donald trump. somebody who doesn't have donald trump's baggage, but who has donald trump's position. maybe some of his personality. well, that is desantis. you know, he's been elected florida governor twice. he's never on doggone the kind of national scrutiny that a presidential front runner has. so, i think he may be a little surprised once he gets into it. >> i want to ask you on the democratic side here. what does your crystal ball say about president biden? will he or won't he run for reelection. if he, does do you see any democrat coming in to challenge him in the primaries? >> you have to listen to what he is saying. he clearly has indicated that he's going to run. you can see why. he's had a very successful two

years on the hole. yes, there are problems. on the whole, he has had a very good and productive presidency. and that puts him in a good position, not just for the nomination, despite what the polls say today, he had a good position to be reelected. i would think as long as he is strong in the polls, he probably won't have any opposition for the democratic nomination. if he does, it's not really a question of the other candidate or candidates winning. it's more a question of whether they can somehow get 20 tribe, 30% of the vote. in history, at least that's indicated a problem for an incumbent president. right, now he's in a very strong position. 2022 ended beautifully for him. >> if he decides not to run, which leaders right now on the democratic party doocy stepping up to the plate? you always look first at the vice president, almost certainly vice president harris

would run. there will be others. just because she's running, doesn't mean others will obviously automatically defer to her. you can think of obvious candidates. maybe some who ran in 2020, amy klobuchar, pete buttigieg and others. also some who didn't run in 2020. one that i think interest people's governor gretchen rattler, given what she's been through in michigan, and how handily she won the election, she would be in the mix. governor gavin newsom said he's not running. i bet he take another look at it. there are probably half a dozen senators and governors that we don't have time to mention right now who would seriously consider jumping in. >> larry sabato, thank you so much, i appreciate you joining us. still ahead, a new year means a clean slate. these people are taking it to a whole new level. they college football championship is set with one team during the horn frogs to really thrive in the desert.

>> they are not going to catch him! no sir! the magic continues for tcu! that doesn't cost $50? pantene's pro-vitamin formula repairs hair. as well as the leading luxury bonding treatment. for softness and resilience, without the price tag. if you know... you know it's pantene.

this isn't charmin! no wonder i don't feel as clean. here's the new charmin ultra strong. ahhh! my bottom's been saved! with its diamond weave texture, charmin ultra strong cleans better with fewer sheets and less effort. enjoy the go with charmin. >> college football fans

celebrated the new year in style with two epic games. it's at the tcu horned frog's and georgia bulldogs to the national championship.

in an instant classic, tcu punched its ticket with a thrilling 51-45 upset over michigan. not to be outdone, georgia and ohio state came down to a last 2nd field goal as the clock struck the night. missed wide left, georgia clinch their 2nd straight trip to the national championship. the big game is next monday. others across the globe are celebrating the new year in a very different way by jumping into a cold body of water. it's known as a polar plunge. on your screen right now, people in the netherlands celebrating in that chilly way. to all of our viewers at home, we want to warmly miss you wish you a very happy and healthy new year. that wraps it up for us this hour. i'm lindsay reiser, i will be back here tomorrow at 2 pm eastern. symone starts right now. >> greetings, everyone, happy new year. you are watching symone. the new year, americas ushering and a new congress. lawmakers